Hey all, In honor of Valentine’s Day, we thought we’d talk about our favorite LGBTIQA speculative fiction love stories of all time. Nominate yours, and tell us why. Oh, and bonus points for a picture to tell the story. It can be from manga, written fiction, film or TV. Hint for writers: it should be someone else’s story. LOL…
(from left to right: Belinda McBride, Angel Martinez, K.C. Burn from the SF panel at GLR 2013) Picture me singing this to “Karma Chameleon.” A lot of our writers and readers attend conferences and retreats large and small throughout the year. With these, we’re often confronted with the dreaded panel decisions. Should I be brave and volunteer for one? Which ones? Are there ones for which I want to be in the audience? Am I going to have seventeen nervous breakdowns before and during the con because of these damn panels? Believe me, I get it. I get nervous just … Read more
Today we’re launching the first of our new Reader Discussions – topics meant for readers rather than writers. Everyone’s welcome to participate in either discussion topic of the day. However, we ask that writers participating in reader chats avoid using the chats as a place to promote their own work (ie: please do not day “in my own book, Catywumpus, I talk about this very topic…” Thanks! Our inaugural reader topic comes from QSFer Richard Wood: As a reader rather than author I am interested in reviews and critiques. With ebooks and “Print on demand” publishers it has become almost … Read more
We spend a lot of time at QSF talking about sci fi – after all, it *is* in the name! But QSF is more than just sci fi – we also encompass fantasy, paranormal and horror stories, and other incarnations of speculative fiction as well. Today, QSFer Kathleen Charles wants to know if we can talk about Urban Fantasy. I love me some Urban Fantasy. In mainstream circles, A Man of His Word by Terry Brooks is one of my favorites, as is anything with King Arthur in the modern day. But while I have written sone Urban Fantasy in … Read more
The roots of genre fiction can be found in everything from mythology and folklore to narrative poetry and Victorian gothics and beyond. With this in mind, we asked our panelists: Q: What genre roots have you found to be most influential and inspiring for you and your own writing? Usman T. Malik is a Pakistani writer of strange stories. His fiction has won a Bram Stoker Award and has been nominated for the Nebula. He resides in two worlds. I grew up reading in Urdu first, so childrens magazines Bachon Ki Dunya, Bachon Ka Bagh, Jugnoo and Mazhar Kaleem M.A.s … Read more
Today’s topic comes from QSFer BA Brock: Sometimes it’s easier for me to read trans stories, when the worlds are fantasy. I’ve read several fantasy stories recently, where the characters have struck me as trans, but in the context of the book, there were no trans people. I love this ability of fantasy, to explore heavy current social issues, in a setting other than our reality. It allows me to let go of the minutia (did the author get it exactly right?), and at the same time still experience the pain and joy of my identity. I’d imagine these stories … Read more
It’s time for another theme week at Queer Sci Fi. This time around, we’re talking promo. :) If you’re an author, you’re gonna have to promote your work at some point. And if you’re like me, you’re fairly new to the whole process, and the thought of it strikes terror in your bones. Fear not – we’re hear to help. All this week, we’ll be talking shop, asking questions and sharing info. Here are our topics for the week: Promotions Week: Where to Get Started – making a schedule Promotions Week: What to include – Guest Post vs. Announcement vs. … Read more
(Inspired by part of a conversation with Scott yesterday…) There are as many reasons to take publishing into your own hands as there are writers. Tired of rejections. A work that just doesn’t fit a specific catalog. The desire for control. An ingrained mistrust of publishers. Point to someone who has taken that publishing plunge, and they may have several dozen reasons. Up until fairly recently, self-publishing could be an expensive proposition. You had to purchase ISBN’s if you wanted to be listed anywhere. You had to purchase cover art. You’d best have a professional editor or folks like me … Read more
And other myths harmful to the new author… I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday about a friend of hers who would like to be published. Oh, yes? says I. Cool. What does he write? Turns out said friend writes LGBT Fantasy and was interested in learning about finding a publisher vs. self publishing. And here’s where the tearing of hair and sprinkling of ashes begins. Now, to be fair, Mr. Friend of Friend is new to this game. We were all new at one point, and many of us were led astray by bad information. Many of … Read more
The old saw about judging a book by its cover isn’t meant in a literal sense, and yet it’s true. We often do judge books by their covers. A cheesy, sloppy, or visually uninformative cover has the potential for turning readers away. A visually uninteresting one can make a book invisible amid a crowd of more eye-catching offerings. Lesbian and gay pulp fiction share a checkered past with genre fiction in that the covers were at one time universally cheesy and sometimes laughable. We’ve come a long way, both in SFF/Paranormal covers and in LGBT covers both romance and not, … Read more