FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Noble: Do you open and read author and group newsletters? If so, what are your favorite features, and what do you hate? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! This is a legacy chat. Join the chat
FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Tracy Timmons: What are your queer spec-fic “comfort reads”? The books or authors you go back to again and again when you need a little happy? 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 READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Denise Dechene: I have a subject for the bucket-A lot of readers talk about covers. That the reason they picked the book up and read the blurb was because the cover grabbed them. My question is what about the title of the book? Have you picked up and read the blurb on a book because the title grabbed you and you had to know what the book was about? Has a title of a book made you turn away and not want to read the book? Writers: This is a reader chat … Read more
FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: What kind of sci-fi tech makes you go “OOOOOOOOOOOH!!!”? For a long time, for me it was transforming vehicles. The Veritech’s from “Robotech,” the cars from the short-lived “Pole Position” cartoon, and of course “M.A.S.K.” among others. I think, from a nostalgia perspective, “Mighty Orbots” is my favorite of them all, if only because of the specific mention of matter manipulation tech in the transformation and unity process. Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works … Read more
Somewhere in my files is the beginning of a bad story called “Summer Job.” It’s wordy and takes an overly long time getting started. It has a small-town Kansas setting, an adolescent protagonist and an element of dark fantasy—all things that appear regularly in stories I’ve written. But I wasn’t trying to be Jeff Baker; I was trying to be Tom Reamy. I first stumbled across Tom Reamy’s short fiction in an anthology of horror stories from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The story, “Insects in Amber” grabbed me right off with its setting in an old (and … Read more
FOR READERS & WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Freddy MacKay: Let’s discuss trans, enby and gender fluid characters in speculative fiction. How they are handled. How the world/tech/magic/nature works for them or against them. SF could be interesting because technology could be developed enough you wouldn’t ever know the difference unless a trans*/enby person wanted you to. What kind of society would that be? How would trans, enby and gender fluid people identify themselves and why? A parallel (though not the same) would be looking at the deaf community and how they feel about cochlear implants. Some are … Read more
FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Ryane Chatman: What are your reading plans for the 2018? Any goals, must reads, adventuring away from your usual haunts? 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 BOTH READERS AND WRITERS Today’s topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: I recently came across the term “skoliosexual,” meaning someone attracted to nonbinary (transgender, agender, genderqueer, etc.) partners. Another recent acquisition for my vocabulary – “enby” – or NB – non binary. There are so many terms these days for different kinds of folks across the queer spectrum that many of us loose track. I thought it would be great to bring up a bunch of these terms and what they mean. If you fall into a category that many folks aren’t yet familiar with, share it and … Read more
