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ANNOUNCEMENT: Beneath the Surface (audio), by Rebecca Langham

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QSFer Rebecca Langham has a new FF sci fi audio book out: Beneath the Surface. When a change in collective conscious sends the Outsiders, a group of aliens, to the shadows below the city, humans reason that the demonization of their peers is simply more “humane.” There’s no question, nor doubt. Just acceptance. Lydia had embraced that sense of “truth” for as long as she can remember. The daughter of a powerful governor, she has been able to live her life with more comforts than most. Comforts can be suffocating, though, and when the opportunity to teach Outsider children in … Read more

OWN VOICES: Transgender FTM / MTF

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ownvoices-trans-mtf

We’re starting a new thing on Saturdays on the QSF Facebook group – #ownvoices. Each week, we’ll feature a different group of writers who don’t get the attention they should. Today, we’re featuring trans ftm and mtf authors (tomorrow we’ll continue with Gender Non-Conforming and Non-Binary authors). If you’re a transgender spec fic author, tell us about yourself, your experiences as a trans author, and the books you write (with links, please). If you’re not transgender, you can still participate – share your favorite transgender authors. Note: Today’s #ownvoices is about authors who are transgender, not about transgender characters. Please treat … Read more

SPACE: Ultima Thule is a Frankenstein Beast

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Ultima Thule

Less than three months after the New Horizons spacecraft zoomed past a distant, cold space rock, scientists are beginning to piece together the story of how that object, nicknamed Ultima Thule, came to be. In a series of scientific presentations held March 18 at the 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, mission scientists shared new data about the space rock’s topography and composition, which is helping them to refine scenarios about how the object formed. “Every single observation that we planned worked as planned,” Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission and a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: A Symposium in Space, by K.S. Trenten

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A Symposium in Space

QSFer K.S. Trenten has a new FF Sci Fi book out: A Symposium in Space. Phaedra and her lover, Pausania are invited to a dinner party. Only this won’t be like any party Phaedra has ever been to. Nor does Pausania want her to go. But Phaedra is determined, even if she has to find her own way to this symposium in space. A fateful encounter with the spaceship of her dreams and the wandering philosopher, Sokrat, lead Phaedra to a unique gathering of individuals where thoughts of love are offered up…and consumed. NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble … Read more

SPACE: Could Carbon Monoxide Be a Sign Of Life?

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Scientists hunting for signs of alien life shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss carbon monoxide (CO), a new study suggests. The substance is highly poisonous to people and most other animal life here on Earth because it latches firmly onto hemoglobin, preventing this blood protein from carrying vital oxygen in the required quantities. And the gas hasn’t typically rated as a promising “biosignature” that astrobiologists should target in the search for ET. Indeed, many researchers regard CO as an anti-biosignature, because it’s a readily available source of carbon and energy that life-forms should theoretically gobble up. So, finding lots of … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Sunkissed Feathers & Severed Ties, by Kellie Doherty

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QSFer Kellie Doherty has a new FF fantasy book out: Sunkissed Feathers & Severed Ties. Misti Eildelmann is fighting a banished one when he slips a pendant around her neck that saps her strength. The pendant is dangerous. Deadly. Misti needs help. Old and new friends join her on the quest for aid, including her crush Dylori Clyofis. The journey is risky—filled with suncreatures, evil worshippers, and betrayal—and Misti soon discovers her pendant is connected to a much bigger plan. Kellie Doherty’s work has been published by Desert Palm Press, Queer Sci Fi, and Pathos Literary Magazine,among others. She currently works … Read more

For Writers: Interspecies Warfare

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interspecies warfare - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: Interspeces warfare is portrayed in most SF as being like war between (human) nations.  But wars between species on Earth (such as black and brown rats or between native and Africanized bees) isn’t fought that way, and seldom ends other than with extinction.  Sheffield’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Baxter’s Xeelee series give examples of wars between humans and aliens who range from the damn strange to the totally incomprehensible.  Have you used this concept in your work? If you have, how did characters view it?  What reaction did your readers have? Writers: This is … Read more

Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner: “I love a soul, not a gender.”

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Sophie Turner

Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner has alluded to her past same-sex experiences, and said she loves “a soul, not a gender.” Turner made the comments in an interview with Rolling Stone where she spoke about being engaged to Joe Jonas. “I think once you’ve found the right person, you just know. I feel like I’m much older a soul than I am in age. I feel like I’ve lived enough life to know. I’ve met enough guys to know—I’ve met enough girls to know,” she said. She continued: “Everyone experiments. It’s part of growing up. I love a soul, not a gender.” Full … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: We are the Catalyst, by Tash McAdam

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QSFer Tash McAdam has a new queer sci fi book out in their Psionics series: We Are the Catalyst. And there’s a giveaway! Kidnapped and imprisoned, telepathic children are forced to gather military intelligence. Repeatedly stripped of their memories, they live in ignorance of the world above. You can’t tell anyone a secret if you don’t remember it. It’s not child abuse if no one knows you exist. Epsilon 17 appears to be just another mindless tool, empty of thought. But it’s a lie. The carefully constructed shell she hides behind protects her from their mind wipes. One day she … Read more