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Female Python Gives Birth Without Male Contact in At Least 15 Years

Python - Pixabay

Snake #361003 at the Saint Louis Zoo has laid a clutch of eggs despite not being near a male snake in decades. The ball python, at least 62-years-old, surely deserves a name after pulling off the remarkable feat. The snake has been at the zoo since 1961 and hasn’t even seen a male snake in more than 15 years. “We’re saying 15 plus years, but I mean, it’s probably easily closer to 30 years since she’s been physically with a male,” Mark Wanner, the Zoological Manager of Herpetology told CNN. Full Story at LGBTQ Nation

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Escape From the Holidays Collection

Escape From the Holidays Collection

Escape from the Holidays Collection For the second year in a row, Mischief Corner Books is putting out a winter holiday collection – Escape from the Holidays – ten stories revolving around various December holidays: The end of year holidays can get overwhelming for anyone. Things to do. People to see. Last minute work obligations to take care of. Sometimes it’s just easier to escape from it all, running away from the responsibilities and expectations, or ignore the underlying disappointment from relatives who don’t see eye-to-eye with you. Because escaping the holiday grind can lead to new, unexpected paths, and … Read more

Announcement: Interface, by Lucy Mihajlich

Interface

QSFer Lucy Mihajlich has a new YA Ace book out: The future always seemed bright, but it turns out that was just global warming. Meals don’t come in pills, shoes don’t lace themselves, and there are flying cars, but the gas mileage sucks. There is one difference. People have always searched the internet for answers. Now they actually worship it. Pen Nowen’s father was the founder of Interface, a computer company so big and powerful that people began praying to it. Especially when his death almost tanked the economy. Seven years later, Pen’s just finished her junior year of high … Read more

For Writers: Alien Ace

Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Matthew J. Metzger: For ace: is the tendency of asexual characters to be non-human actually damaging perceptions of asexuality rather than providing positive representation? That’s an interesting question. Yes, I know it may be a shock to some of you, but there are asexual people among us. Ace ranks way down the totem pole on LGBTIQA rights and awareness. I didn’t even know that I knew any ace folks until fairly recently. So my questions today: Why is there such a scarcity of ace characters in queer fiction? And why are so many aliens? … Read more

Asexuality in Speculative Fiction

Asexuality

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette: Asexuality in spec-fic. Asexuality doesn’t get talked about much – many folks have dismissed it, in fact, as it doesn’t seem to make sense to them. After all, the thinking goes, who wouldn’t want to have sex? On the other hand, the idea of homosexuality has long been discounted because straight people couldn’t envision it for themselves. So my questions today – how would you define asexuality? As a writer, have you included any asexual characters? As a reader, have any of the books you read included them?