After the Zombie Apocalpse
It’s easy to take for granted the basic luxuries we’ve come to expect in modern society. But what if a zombie apocalypse, or something similar, quickly destroyed our comfortable way of life and we were forced to start over? In AMC’s “The Walking Dead” (which airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST), now in its ninth season, characters have survived years after the zombie apocalypse began and are now working to expand their simple communities into a stronger, more capable and civilized society. “You’re gonna be evidence that we’re making a civilization,” Rick Grimes, one of the show’s main … Read more
ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: A Vampire’s Heart, by Kayleigh Sky
QSFer Kayleigh Sky has a new MM paranormal vampire book out: A Vampire’s Heart. Vampires live. And they hunger… Otto Jones, a cop assigned to the seemingly random murder of a vampire, would rather hide out in the nearest bar than waste his time on a dead vamp. He hates the bloodthirsty demons. But when the king of the vampires commands him to work with one of the lesser princes and find the killer, he has no choice. Prince Jessamine Senera is ready to sacrifice his happiness in a loveless marriage for his family’s benefit… but not yet. He dreams … Read more
HISTORY: How Did People Wake Up On Time Before Alarm Clocks?
Of all the modern inventions we rely on in our daily lives, the alarm clock is probably the most universally despised. Its jarring morning jangles jolt us uncomfortably out of our slumber, and back to reality. And yet however annoying alarm clocks are, they’re also indispensable in getting us out of bed. That raises an interesting question: How did people wake up before alarm clocks became so ubiquitous? Throughout the ages, even the simple act of telling the time has presented a huge challenge to humans that we’ve tried to solve with elaborate inventions. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians developed … Read more
Sources of Inspiration: Opposites
One of my favorite books, Something Wicked This Way Comes, derives a measure of energy from two of its protagonists being opposites. Jim Nightshade is brash, adventurous, seeking danger, half in love with the dark promise of the autumn carnival. Will Halloway is thoughtful, sensitive to the danger in the air, yet somehow more innocent because of it. All of this is expressed in exquisite, visual prose which fires the imagination, much of which might be lost to modern edits. Opposites were depicted in a very different way in Naruto, a pair of contrasting characters I became quite obsessed with. Uzumaki … Read more
ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: All the Odds, by R. Phoenix
QSFer R. Phoenix has a new MM paranormal book out: All the Odds. When the fae play such deadly games, falling in love with one of them can have devastating consequences… Fickle and capricious, the fae lack a true understanding of human emotions. Though they can masquerade as human, their behavior inevitably betrays them as something utterly other. When Ichabod bested him at a card game, Sebastian abandoned his human lover, leaving him only with a cursed deck to keep him alive. For a century, Ichabod has waited for his fae lover to return to him. Every day to prolong … Read more
FILM: Was Grindelwald Dumbeldore’s Lover?
The new Fantastic Beasts movie, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, will, for the first time, allude to Harry Potter favourite Albus Dumbledore being gay on screen. But is the film’s titular villain—Gellert Grindelwald—his lover? The sequel to 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them takes us back to 1927 when Dumbledore was a sprightly young man, rather than the elder statesman we see in the Harry Potter movies. Here, the Hogwarts headmaster is played by Jude Law. Fantastic Beasts hints at a close relationship between Law’s Dumbledore and Johnny Depp’s maniacal Voldemort prototype, Grindelwald. Were they gay? … Read more
FOR READERS/WRITERS: Privacy in Telepathic Societies
FOR READERS/WRITERS Today’s topic comes from QSFer Kethric Wilcox: The issue of privacy in telepathic societies, do you prefer the open invasion style of Star Trek’s Betazoid style telepaths or the regimented only with a contract and permission style of Babylon 5’s PsiCorps style or is their a happy middle ground between the two? Join the chat