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Month: May 2017

ONLINE: New Plugin Makes Internet Forms Gender Free

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form gender

Denmark is making the internet gender-free. The organizers of Copenhagen Pride started a new initiative in response to unnecessary gender questions on online forms. Calling them not just ‘so yesterday’ but also very discriminatory, despite Denmark being very open. ‘At Copenhagen Pride we are proud to represent one of the first countries in the world to stop defining being transgender as a mental illness,’ they said. ‘But the gender struggle does not end there.’ So they set out to rid the internet of the need to tick a box confirming your gender. With Gender Free Internet we wish to give people all over the … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Losing Hold, by Kellie Doherty

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Losing Hold

QSFer Kellie Doherty has a new FF sci fi romance out: In the sequel to Finding Hekate, after escaping Donavin’s grasp, Mia Foley and her crew crash on a prison planet and need to deal with its inhabitants, beast and criminals alike. Mia hears Donavin in her mind once again and knows the transformation into one of his drones isn’t far off. Trapped in her own body, lashing against Donavin each chance she gets, and fearful that she’ll lose it all, Mia has to rely on her crew—on Cassidy—to save her. But she’s not the only one transforming in her … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Chanelling Your Righteous Anger

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angry - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Jerome Stueart: I’m angry. Furious over the Chechnya situation, but also angry over many injustices against people (LGBT, PoC, women, etc.) Is Anger a good place to work from? Does Revenge-Writing or Anger-Writing do anything positive—not in an essay but in FICTION? Is there a place for LGBT fiction writing that is violent and fictionally redresses wrongs that have been done to us? (I was raised as a Christian; I know the Jesus rules, but in this case I believe asserting even some fictional power would be helpful.) What say you, gang? … Read more

SPACE: A Cold and Frozen Alter-Earth

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oggie - pixabay

Astronomers, using a technique called microlensing, have discovered a planet about the size of Earth that orbits about the same distance from its sun. The catch? The sun is a brown dwarf – a tiny body that not even all astrophysicists agree is really a star. As a result, OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb (we’ll just call it “oggie”) is a frozen world. ”This ‘iceball’ planet is the lowest-mass planet ever found through microlensing,” Yossi Shvartzvald, at NASA’s JPL in Pasadena said. Maybe it has great ski resorts?  

ANNOUNCEMENT: Owned by the Alpha Set

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Owned by the Alpha set

QSFer Pelaam is part of a new MM paranormal book set out: The Alpha lives for the hunt… Driven by instinct, an Alpha shifter recognizes his fated mate from one scent, one touch. He’ll pursue his man, regardless of the cost, and anyone else would be smart to get out of his way. He won’t stop until he takes possession of his prize. Although the hunter doesn’t need convincing, his mate certainly does. The Alpha will have to prove himself as a lover and convince his man that he plays for keeps. Pelaam’s story: A Matter of Trust. When gardener Rylan offers … Read more

FOR READERS: Endings

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ending - pixabay

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Denise Deschene: If a book is labeled a romance, do you expect a HEA/HFN? If you write a story and it is about 2 people falling in love and progresses to old age but one of the MCs dies, is that a romance novel or is it something else? 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

HISTORY: Comic Book Authority Kept Gays Out Of Comics

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X-Men Wedding

A nonprofit organization ominously operating under the monicker the Comics Code Authority was responsible for preventing openly LGBT characters from appearing in comic books until the late 1980s, according to a report on History.com by comic book historian Alan Kistler. From 1954 to 1989, the Code, as Kistler calls it, enforced rules against portraying LGBT characters in comic books, Kistler wrote. Likened to the MPAA, the Code Authority had no governmental authority, but retailers were very hesitant to carry comics that lacked the Code’s seal of approval. The Code came about after psychiatrist Dr. Frederic Wertham published his book “Seduction … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: graphic noiz book 5, by Natsuya Uesugi

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graphic noiz: book 5

QSFer Natsuya Uesugi has a new Yaoi book out: Shiro Ijima, the bestselling writer of the SciFi Fissure novels is finding it hard to start writing his next book, Fissure 5 with all the drama created by his lover Noiz, the amateur manga artist. After Shiro’s editor Megumi Ito quits because Shiro is behind on his writing deliverables, Shiro has to rely on his agent Keita Shimura to get his editor back on board. With the Fissure 5 deadline pushed back twice, the publisher is angry. As Noiz starts working on the Fissure manga once again, Keita takes Shiro out … Read more