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cats

New Release: My Cat’s Guide to Online Dating- Christian Baines

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My Cat’s Guide to Online Dating - Christian Baines

QSFer Christian Baines has a new MM comedic horror book out: My Cat’s Guide to Online Dating. A hook-up gone bad can be purrder. Fresh from a breakup, deeply closeted freshman Zach jumps at the chance to housesit his family home and enjoy a long, horny summer free of both his ex and his religious parents. But when an old enemy turned hot hook-up falls to his death, Zach turns to the only true friend he’s ever known—his cat, Grace Jones. With the dead man’s phone and a knack for texting, she promises Zach help, for a price that will … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Pyotra and the Wolf – Elna Holst

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Pyotra And The Wolf - Elna Holst

Elna Holst has a new FF Paranormal book out: Pyotra and the Wolf. And there’s a giveaway. For the space of a breath or two, that wolf had entranced her, mesmerised her, made her believe—the impossible. And that was all it took. Nothing about this wolf was as it should be. Pyotra Nikolayevna Kulakova lives in a small Russian settlement in the northern Siberian taiga, where the polar night lasts for a good month out of the year and the temperature rarely reaches above freezing point. Pyotra’s days, too, seem congealed and unchanging, laden with grief, until her baby brother’s … Read more

“Zombie” Parasite From Cats Can Make You Take More Risks

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cat - pixabay

There’s a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, and it can turn a normally risk-averse mouse into a bold, cat-seeking rodent. Cats that devour such mice can then pass the parasite onto humans. But once humans are infected, what happens to them? Do they become Toxoplasma gondii zombies, acting however the parasite deems fit? The answer is complex; studies show that people who test positive for this condition are more likely to take certain kinds of risks than those who don’t have toxoplasmosis, but it’s not yet clear how this happens. Toxoplasma gondii can live in most mammals, but its life … Read more

FOR READERS: Space Cats and Demon Dogs

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space cat - pixabay

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: Let’s talk fluff – literally. What are your fave spec fic books featuring pets – specifically cats and dogs, and why? Links please. 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: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABVMeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf

SCIENCE: Cats Have a “Mind Control Parasite” in Hawaii

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evil cat - pixabay

Toxoplasma gondii, a “mind-controlling” parasite that causes the disease toxoplasmosis, has been found in public lands in Oahu, Hawaii for the first time, researchers have discovered. This parasite was previously unknown across Hawaii’s island landscapes, so how did it get to Oahu? It hitchhiked there in free-ranging cats, which are a non-native species and are known hosts of the parasite. Thanks, cats. Though, to be fair, cats aren’t really to blame; people are the ones who first brought cats to the island and then allowed them to roam free. Felines that were abandoned then bred in the wild and formed … Read more

FOR READERS: Loving the Animals

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fantasy dog - pixabay

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Amy Mills: What are your favorite uses of non-anthropomorphic animals in spec fic (and no, we’re NOT talking bestiality)? 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

FOR WRITERS: When Pets Attack (Your Keyboard)

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cat attack - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Marie Brown: How do you deal with your pets demanding attention while you write? Have you ever had cat-on-keyboard incidents that screw up your work? Has your dog ever eaten your favorite red pen and dyed his face red? A curious pet owner, currently straining to see the monitor around a cat, wants to know. Join the chat

Video Games: Sims 4 Expansion Trailer Features Adorable Gay Wedding

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Sims 4 Cats & Dogs Expansion Trailer

A trailer for an upcoming Sims expansion featured an adorable gay wedding – with a doggy bridesmaid.,EA released a trailer this week for Cats & Dogs, the upcoming expansion to popular life simulator The Sims 4. The trailer then jumps forward to the same two pets as bridesmaids at a wedding, as their two owners tie the knot. The crowd cheers as the two men kiss, while a dog in a tuxedo is also seen barking. Players have been able to hold gay weddings on The Sims games for more than a decade, but it’s possibly the first time they … Read more

Announcement: Familiar Path, by AM Burns

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Familiar Path

QSFer A.M. Burns has a new contemporary magical YA book out: Lugh’s mother packed up and moved them from sunny Florida to tiny Steamboat Springs, Colorado after his father’s accidental drowning. Resigned to his mom having to work a lot, and only just beginning to deal with his dad’s death, Lugh is disappointed when she is called in to work on his fifteenth birthday. After an unnerving dream, he decides to head to the nearby river where he ends up following a strange, urgent, internal pull. When another boy helps him rescue a young cat from the river, Lugh discovers a … Read more

For Readers: Space Pets!

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Okay, so yesterday at QSF got a bit hairy. We had our planned discussion topics, and then a friend and QSFer innocently posted his thoughts on the whole JK Rowling thing, and the plaxce went a bit nuts. I am proud of y’all that you managed to keep things pretty civil, even when tempers ran a bit hot. It’s one of my favorite things about this group. But now it’s time for a breather. I promised you puppies and kittens, and I hate to go back on my word. So here it goes! Pets have been a fixture in sci … Read more