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What Do You Mean There’s No Q in Catchphrase? #3

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QSF Button

We’re getting ready to order some more QSF swag. The first year, we did the Impossibly Tiny Buttons. The second year, we did “The Universe: Queerer Than You Can Imagine”, and “Queer Spec Fic: Always Forward, Never Straight.” Last year it was “Queer Sci Fi: Where Normal is Relative” and :Inclusive. Intersectional. Incredible. Queer Sci Fi.” This year, we’re gonna do buttons again with the QSF logo, but we need some new catch phrases. So here’s where we need your help. We want to come up with a couple cute catchphrases, something that will make people wanna pick these up … Read more

SPACE: Was There Life on the Moon?

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moon - NASA

Did life ever exist on the moon? Maybe! Have scientists found evidence of life on the moon? Definitely not. Why are we talking about this? A new paper was published online today (July 23) in the journal Astrobiology with a thrilling headline: “Was There An Early Habitability Window for Earth’s Moon?” Its associated press release had an even more exciting title: “Researcher sees possibility of moon life.” Wowza! This is genuinely cool stuff. But it’s important to understand what it’s really saying and what it’s not. The paper, written by a pair of astrobiologists from Birkbeck College in London and the Technical University of … Read more

GUEST POST/GIVEAWAY: A Tangled Legacy, by Mickie B. Ashling

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Tangled Legacy

QSFer Mickie B. Ashling has a new MM / intersex / bisexual fantasy book out: A Tangled Legacy. Prince Colin of Sendorra would have been the spare instead of the heir if fate hadn’t intervened. Like his father and forefathers, Colin is expected to marry and father a child or his principality reverts to Spain at the time of his death. Filling the royal nursery with healthy babies seems easy enough until Princess Charlotte—his childhood friend and intended bride—breaks off their engagement. Nobel Prize winner—and powerful gray witch—Alain de Gris isn’t looking for love. Science and research have taken center … Read more

Me Me Monday!

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Me Me Monday

Welcome to M3: ME ME MONDAY at our FB discussion group – your chance to pop in and tell us about your latest success. Have a new book or short story coming out? Let us know. Just sell something? Let us know so we can cheer you on. HOW IT WORKS: I’ll pin this topic to the top of our FB discussion page for the day. –Please post your announcement as a separate post so we can comment on yours specifically –Check out the other posts and congratulate and share them too! And congratulations!!!

TECH: Your Groceries Can Drive Themselves to Your House

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Kroger Driverless Groceries

At a time when big-box retailers are trying to offer the same conveniences as their online competitors, the biggest U.S. grocery chain is testing the use of driverless cars to deliver groceries in a Phoenix suburb. Kroger’s pilot program launched Thursday morning with a robotic vehicle parked outside one of its own Fry’s supermarkets in Scottsdale. A store clerk loaded the back seat with full grocery bags. A man was in the driver’s seat and another was in the front passenger seat with a laptop. Both were there to monitor the car’s performance. Under the self-driving service, shoppers can order … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Dyson

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The Sun lights up the sphere from the outside, and it hangs like a great golden topaz in the Universe, a jewel in the vast blackness. Surrounded by other jewels of sodalite and jasper and pale, pale rubies. The star is visible, a hazy globe of fire, its largest attendant planets vague dots through the translucent wall. That’s the first image which came to mind when I read this newest piece to come out of the science community. New Horizons, the probe we sent out to Pluto back when it was still a planet (Viva la Pluto!), has confirmed there’s … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Strawberry Fields, by Pelaam

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Strawberry Fields

QSFer Pelaam has a new MM sci fi book out: Strawberry Fields. When the shares Nicolas’s family rely on become worthless, he seeks help from their estranged Uncle Secundus Broadberry—a selfish man with no familial loyalty. Forced to live in a veritable hovel, Nicolas and his sister must find work to support themselves and their mother. Through his uncle, Nicolas meets Rufus Melbeck and accepts a post aboard his spaceship Strawberry Fields. Although the ship gives Nicolas a bad feeling, he quickly makes friends with Nathan Smith, a gentle, young man who seems very much out of place. Nothing and … Read more

FOR READERS: It’s Really You!

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fanboy - pixabay

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer MK Mancos: Ever met your fave authors in person? What was it like? Did you faint? Were they what you hoped for? If you had a negative interaction, please do not mention them by name. 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

SCIENCE: When Skin Turns to Stone

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Stiff Skin Syndrome - deposit photos

A Colorado boy has an extremely rare condition that’s causing his skin to harden “like stone,” his parents say. The 12-year-old boy, Jaiden Rogers, has stiff skin syndrome, and his parents are hoping to stop the spread of the disease before he “becomes entombed within himself,” People magazine reported Wednesday (July 18). Jaiden was diagnosed with the condition in January 2013, when his father noticed a hard lump on the boy’s right thigh, Fox News reported today (July 20). Since then, the painful disease has spread to his hips, stomach and back. But as it spreads to his chest area, … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: A Thread in Time, by Jess Thomas

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A Thread in Time

QSFer Jess Thomas has a new queer Sci Fi book out: A Thread in Time. Trend is finally back with his clan and the man he loves, and the clan has grown into something that even the Jewel couldn’t imagine. He has a family that loves, cares for, and protects him. They will do anything to keep him safe, even go to the fourth. When Zihen, Vega’s mate, is taken, some of the elders of the clan have no choice but to try to get him back. Vega is determined to get him back and is bent on revenge, even … Read more