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Writers

For Writers: You Smell… Sexy?

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Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Richard Wood: For LGBT or even “normal” sex with aliens, the pheromones are going to be WRONG almost certainly. Should a story include use of specially made perfumes or scents designed to overcome this turn-off to relationships? It’s an interesting idea. Why would an alien race smell sexy to us? Many people in the human race don’t titillate my nose buds. (Nose buds – is that a thing?). So my questions today – How would we get around this problem? Would those pheremones actually be a turn-on for some (hey I kinda like skunk … Read more

For Writers: The Future of Religion

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A bit of a hot topic today – is there religion in your future? Sci fi has a long and sketchy history of dealing with religion. In many stories of the future, religion fades away in the face of reason. In others, it becomes a driving force. And yes, sometimes Sci Fi writers even create their own religions. And we all know how that ends. So my questions today: As a writer, do you include religion in your sci fi, and if so, what’s it like in the future? Will our current religions continue to predominate, will they fade away, … Read more

For Writers: Grand Fantasy

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Grand Fantasy

Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette: Recently I came across the term “grand fantasy,” which really focuses on the sense of wonder without being restricted to traditional plots. I’m thinking that’s ideal territory for QUILTBAG fantasy: http://limyaael.livejournal.com/383804.html So have you heard of Grand Fantasy? How would you say it’s different from High Fantasy? And what can we do with it? Join the chat

For Writers: Researching Sex

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sex research

How do you research sex? Specifically, if you are writing about sex between two men or two women and you’re straight, or you are writing about heterosexual sex and you’re LGBT, or hey, you’re a virgin and you have no experience with any of it? No judgment here, just curious how you go about getting the details right. Join the chat

For Writers: Urban Fantasy vs. Magical Realism

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Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Therese Woodson: I’d love to talk more about Urban Fantasy – what classifies something as urban fantasy vs magical realism vs regular fantasy. This is a topic near and dear to my own heart – as I write a bit of both. I’d say urban fantasy presupposes a whole magical framework in our world, while magical realism is more subtle – almost a heightened reality. So my questions today – how do you define Urban Fantasy? How do you define Magical Realisim? And how do you think they are different from one another? Join … Read more

Rainbow Con Topics V2

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Rainbow Con 2017

Hey all, I was thrilled with the response to our call for Rainbow Con panel topics last week. But I know we tend to be a little MM heavy in the group (and at many cons) so I wanted to take one more stab at it and solicit a few more ideas for panels that are specifically FF, Bi, Trans, Ace, Gender Fluid, Intersex, etc – the parts of the QUILTBAG rainbow beyond the G. So if you have any ideas for these sci fi-fantasy panels in these other areas, please post them in the comments – panel title and … Read more

Angel’s Bits: A Short Rafflecopter Tour

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At least I hope it’s short. We had a request for a Rafflecopter tutorial – so here we go! Rafflecopter is a useful tool for giveaways in that it: Allows your blog visitors to complete different tasks for entries Keeps track of entries for you Randomly chooses winners on the expiration date you set You can set up a single prize or several, a single task to complete (blog comment, page like) or a number of tasks to give your visitors a choice and potentially more entries. You do have to set up an account, and as long as you’re … Read more

For Writers: Biodiversity

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A recent report showed that we’ve lost almost half of the animals on earth over the last fifty or so years. There have also been numerous reports about bee population declines, and the ramifications this could have for our food supplies. So my questions for the day: In the future, will we have to bioengineer our own biodiversity? And what would that look like? Join the chat

For Writers: Around the World in 100 Years

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I have to say, long return flights from vacation are one of my least favorite things. All the anticipation is gone, and it’s just a slow slog back to your everyday life. Which got me thinking – isn’t there a better way to do this? So my question today – how will we get around this globe of ours in three time frames: 50 years, 100 years, and 500 years? Be creative. :) Join the chat

For Writers: Future Money

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In Time

I loved the payment system in “In Time”, where time was, quite literally, money. We already have things like Apple Pay that allow you to pay with your phone (although they are still fundamentally credit card based. So for all you sci fi prophets, how will people pay for things in the future? Right now the money’s on systems like Apple Pay, but where do we go beyind mobile phone payments? What will money be in the future? Join the chat