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FOR WRITERS/READERS: Their First Time

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first time - 123rf purchased

FOR WRITERS & READERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Robin Harper: It’s finally arrived… …The First Time between two characters! That magical dance of arrrrouuusal coming to fruition! For readers: What do you look for in that first time? Do you want a fantasy, or a realistic retelling of anyone’s first time with a new partner? For writers: It’s a delicate balance, to write something that is bliss filled without defying too many laws of reality. How do you write first times? Editor’s note: let’s add an extra spec fic element – anyone write or ready any great first … Read more

Space Pirates, Check Out The Skull and Crossbones Nebula!

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Skull and Crossbones nebula - ESO

Avast, mateys! Unsheathe your spyglasses and train them on the southern skies. There sails a star-forging nebula on the horizon, and it’s flying the Jolly Roger from its stellar sails! *Ahem* Enough of that. The point is, a cluster of stars out there called NGC 2467 looks like an awesome skeletal nightmare mask in the sky — hence its nickname, the “Skull and Crossbones Nebula.” Today, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) released a new photo of the nebula’s shrieking “mouth” spitting fresh stars across the cosmic sea. Keeping with the high-seas theme, the Skull and Crossbones nebula lives in the … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Death’s White Hands, by Steve Jones

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Death's White Hands - SR Jones

QSFer S R Jones has a new queer fantasy book out: The iylmin people cower beneath eternally clouded skies, living in fear of shards of dark stone that hurtle down from on high. These are the Falls, and each one bears the seeds of madness and death. The nightmare creatures born from these poisoned rocks would devour anyone that crosses their path- but not every iylmin they chase is willing to be the prey. Under the endless grey, a traveller moves from city to city, wandering the lonely country paths between sparse pockets of civilisation, hunting the unclean things born … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Green Death, by Madeline Ribbon

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Green Death

Madeline Ribbon has a new MM dystopian sci fi book out: Green Death. As poisonmaster to the Oligarch, Tryg Sant knows a lot of things others shouldn’t. But when he discovers his family’s darkest secret, his brother tries to kill him. When Tryg’s lover pushes him out of a helicopter and into the poison-filled Exclusion Zone, Tryg finds himself trapped in a dangerous new world, entirely different from the one he expects. Now, Tryg has to learn to survive nearly-feral humans and his own disintegrating mind. Luckily, he’s found an ally in Riot, one of the victims of the Green … Read more

FOR READERS: Bookstores & Queer Books

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bookstore - pixabay

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Tam Ames: Bookstores/Libraries: As avid readers/authors I think we all have an innate love of bookstores, but do the bookstores in your neighborhood (city/state/country) cater to your queer tastes? Do you have a fair selection of queer books you can flip through? And do they have a queer section, or are queer books now shelved by genre? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! Join the chat

SPACE: Extraterrestrial Life Could Be Purple

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purple planet - pixabay

Alien life might be purple. That’s the conclusion of a new research paper that suggests that the first life on Earth might have had a lavender hue. In the International Journal of Astrobiology, microbiologist Shiladitya DasSarma of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and postdoctoral researcher Edward Schwieterman at the University of California, Riverside, argue that before green plants started harnessing the power of the sun for energy, tiny purple organisms figured out a way to do the same. Alien life could be thriving in the same way, DasSarma said. “Astronomers have discovered thousands of new extrasolar planets recently … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Escaping Solitude, by Sara Dobie Bauer

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Escaping Solitude

Sara Dobie Bauer has a new MM/Bi paranormal book out: Escaping Solitude. Ancient vampire Andrew escaped his tropical island exile with his beloved human sailor, Edmund. They’ve now returned to Andrew’s home in nineteenth-century New Orleans and must navigate not only their developing relationship—and equally haunted pasts—but also a hungry coven of vampires Andrew used to call friends. Desperate to stay by Andrew’s side forever, Edmund examines the impressive coven library in search of an Elder, the only creature capable of turning Edmund. Although missing for centuries, Andrew believes an Elder must still survive somewhere; they just have to find … Read more

It’s NaNo!

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nanowrimo

Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. And don’t call it Nah-no-ree-moh. it’s Nah-no-rye-moh. Haven’t heard of it? It’s a month when authors challenge themselves to write a novel in just 30 days – at least 50k. It’s how I wrote Skythane (which ultimately topped out at 85K). Winning is easy. Just write 50,000 words. And winning is hard. You have to write 50,000 words. So… are you gonna do it this year? What are you gonna write? And what are your strategies? We have a support group for you too – the QSF Writer’s … Read more

SCIENCE: Making Mice With Two Dads

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Mice - Pixabay

For the first time, researchers have directly created mice with two dads. The mice weren’t able to survive for more than a day or so after birth, but coaxing an embryo made from the DNA of two dads all the way through fetal development was no small feat. It was much harder, the researchers found, than making mice with two moms. The findings help explain why mammals can’t reproduce with only a single parent. They also may help explain why those animals that can reproduce alone, such as some amphibians, are almost always female. The barrier to single-sex reproduction, said … Read more