As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

U=(N/T)M*G: Water Bear

Don’t let the picture of that weirdly adorable little microbe that accompanies this article fool you. That badass is the Tardigrade. And it’s tough as nails. Sent to space unprotected and survived, it’s so hardcore. So superheroic that it survived all five mass extinctions. I bow down in awe to this, the toughest sumbitch on this planet. Like some weird love child of Colossus and Wolverine, this extremophile beastie earns its awesome status because it can dry out into a hard husk, called a tun, and it has wild regenerative properties. Some species are bisexual and some are asexual too. … Read more

Where No Gay Has Gone Before: Mars Needs Interior Decorators

It probably goes without saying that the first homes on Mars will be built for substance rather than style, so what will these humble abodes look like? Since the first settlers on the Red Planet will not be able to rely on Earth for resources, houses must be self-sustaining, providing oxygen, water and food. In other words, ugly.  Imagine an igloo made from red brick.  But that doesn’t mean they have to be uncomfortable.  Maybe some nice window treatments, an accent rug, throw pillows here and there…The possibilities are endless!   I realize that at first we won’t have to … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Sour GRAPES

Well, I found something I didn’t know could even happen. Last June, that’s June 2015 for those that read this post past 2016, Earth was smashed by a pretty damned big geomagnetic storm. Massive, really. Big enough to temporarily force a crack in our magnetosphere. That’s scary impressive. And scary. It’s no secret that the Sun interacts with our little backwater mudball in more ways than heat and light and orbit. Solar storms, coronal mass ejections and sunspots are just a few of the trade offs we contend with due to our little Goldilocks spot in the system. A year … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Transgender Awareness Week

Hi all and Happy Friday! This week is Transgender Awareness Week, November 14-20. Instead of me talking about this, I want to signal boost The Trans Fiction Week blog project that Matthew Metzger spearheaded. The blogs this week focused on inclusion, on non-binary issues as writers, and on getting writers past that “can’t” mentality one often hears from cis-gendered writers. Some of the wonderful and informative blogs include: Beyond Punctuation: Editing Diverse Content Safe Spaces, and Safety Writing from the Closet (a non-binary writer’s view) Gun Control (a cis-gender writer’s view on the importance of inclusion) If it’s Cis, It … Read more

Asta’s Annotation: Taking it to the Bedroom

Asta's Annotations

Apologies for being a day late with my post. I thought I’d already scheduled this one ahead of time, but clearly I was thinking of last month’s post instead. Oops. Anyway, without further ado….

It’s summer here in Australia, and with the weather hotting up, it seemed a good time to talk about writing sex scenes. Plus, it conveniently ties in with one of our recent discussions. Below I’ll outline the four points to keep in mind to ensure your climax goes off with a bang.

Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Keeping the Creativity Flowing

I’ve written this way in advance, because November is going to be absolutely mad. Right now, I should be right in the middle of the madness. :) Anyone else involved in the month long writing dash known as NaNoWriMo? For those of you who don’t know, National Novel Writing Month is when you try to complete 50000 word manuscript within a month. It’s difficult. I had to work extremely hard to make it last year, when I didn’t have nearly as many literary and online obligations as I do now. Juggling this project, along with jobs, deadlines, and other obligations … Read more

Queer Fantasy Roots: The Changing Role of Amazons

The image of the Amazon–whether by that name, or associated with it by tropes and functions–has served a changing variety of roles in fantastic literature over the centuries. With renewed interest in Amazonian sexuality sparked by the official admission by D.C. Comics that the all-female home island of the Amazonian heroine Wonder Woman is not entirely a fortress of heterosexuality, it’ a good opportunity to look at how Amazon sexuality has been viewed over the ages. Many historians have tried to identify the historic and cultural origins of the Amazon myth, but it’s the myth that we’re concerned with today. … Read more

Jeff Baker—Boogieman in Lavender; “Armageddon or Not.”

Author’s Note: I had planned to run a review in this monthly space, but recent events seemed to call for something else. The review is saved for next time, and Happy Thanksgiving!—-Jeff.                                         Armageddon or Not by Jeff Baker             I’ve been a political observer for much of my adult life, and actually a performing political satirist (think Mark Russell) for a little of it and so I think I can speak with a little authority on the recent and not entirely unjustified anxiety over the results of the recent election. We don’t know yet what the world will be … Read more

Angel’s Bits – It’s Been a Tough Week

Well. This has just been a dreadful year and the past week wasn’t any improvement. Usually, I’d write a Friday thing about some aspect of publishing or marketing. It just doesn’t seem appropriate. Everyone I know is angry or frightened or depressed. Or all three. So. Let’s talk about what to do. The best way to combat the evil out there is to get involved, right? But how do we get involved? Donate. This is both the easiest way to get involved if you have the funds and the hardest if you don’t. Of course, it’s not always about money … Read more

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

To start this post, I must make the disclosure that I’m a Pagan. Yep. Not really a surprise, but I feel I must mention it all the same. A lot of Pagans believe that the Earth is sentient on some level and to some extent, and in a lot of ways, science has proven Pagans aren’t exactly wrong in this idea. Through a neat combination of radiation and rotation and oscillation, our blue marble as its own voice. So do all the other planets that share the light of our Sun. Its music, in a way. Heartbeats even, of the … Read more