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Genres

How Aliens and Elves Get it On

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Alien Sex

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette: “Alien or fantasy sex/gender dynamics. Not just the concept itself, but how it affects biology, plot, and so forth. This includes nonstandard pronoun sets, which are tricky yet rewarding to handle.” OK, so let’s break this down a little. On the sci fi side, you could create a whole new alien species that reproduces in a vastly different way than humans. Maybe they lay eggs. Or maybe reproduction requires three sexes. Or licking. With a second tongue. On the fantasy side, magic might be involved, or inter-species relationships (dwarves and elves, anyone?). And … Read more

Announcement: Where There’s Smoke, by Cari Z.

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Where There's Smoke

QSFer Cari Z. has a new superhero/villain MM book out: Panopolis is a rough place to be an average Joe. I came here looking for adventure and excitement, but nobody cares about one more normal guy in a city filled with super-powered heroes. The closest I’ve come to glory is working in a bank that villains often rob. But then I maybe accidentally-on-purpose helped a villain escape the hero who was trying to save the day. Imagine my shock when, a week later, that villain asked me out for coffee. One date turned into more, and now I’m head over … Read more

Announcement: Down, by Ally Blue

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Down - Ally Blue

QSFer Ally Blue has a new horror book out: Seven thousand meters below the ocean’s surface, the crew of the BathyTech 3 mineral mining facility has found something remarkable: a rock-like sphere of unknown material and origin. For Mo Rees, the discovery calls to his inner explorer and adds color to his dull miner’s life. Even better than the promise of new knowledge is the unexpected connection he forges with Dr. Armin Savage-Hall, leader of the team brought down to study the thing. For Armin, the object is the find of a lifetime. It could prove his controversial theories and … Read more

Writing Electronically

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Pencils

Yes, I’m back, after a five-day hiatus to move to our new digs with Mark, my hubby. Angel did a bang-up job with the discussion topics these last five days, and so she’s graciously agreed to continue the tradition with a new Angel Discussion every Friday. WooHoo! Meanwhile, back at the ranch, today’s topic comes from QSFer Anastasia Vitsky: “How has the use of electronic methods for writing changed the trends in sci fi?” I’d expand this to include cloud technology and the ability to write on the fly with your smart phone or tablet. I’m updating a story that … Read more

“Bone Rider” by J. Fally

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Genre: MM Urban Science Fiction Length: Novel   WHEN THE main characters in a novel are a cowboy, a Russian, and an alien, you know it’s going to be awesome. McClane is a highly sophisticated piece of alien bionic technology, called “bone riders”, and is self aware. In order to save himself from what he feels will be his destruction, he crash lands his spaceship on Earth, and invades a truck driver’s body to stay safe. Riley Cooper is on the run from his mob boyfriend–ex boyfriend–and he really didn’t need another complication in his life. But McClane shows up … Read more

Generational Tech

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Some of us are old enough to remember a time before computers. Some of us are even old enough to recall a time before dishwashers were the norm. What I’m getting at here is how technology becomes a part of the fabric of life and how we react to it when it’s not. My mother resisted getting a dryer for the house for a long time. Why would we need such a thing? We had a laundry line. Now it’s normal for everyone to have them, either in the domicile or the apartment’s laundry room or at the laundromat. They’re … Read more

Tropes We Love

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The word trope often sends unpleasant shivers down the backs of speculative fiction fans. We think of overused themes, tired plots, and situations that have been beaten to death with an Andromedan shock club and then beaten some more. But really, a trope is simply a recurring theme or device when we talk about stories, so all themes when we break them down into their component parts are tropes. Science Fiction and Fantasy are full of them and fans will be able to yell out dozens of examples if you name one. We even have our favorites if we stop … Read more

Announcement: Ein, by Sorcha Black

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Ein

QSF author Sorcha Black has a new Fantasy book out: In love with a girl from school and the man hired to torture her, Einan is sent reeling when she thinks them dead. Destitute, she finds herself responsible for protecting children left uncared for in the wake of the Cedesian War. Poor children are disappearing all over the city. While struggling to keep them safe, Ein accidentally sparks a rebellion. Will love find her again in the chaos, or will she die a martyr? Warning: Dark themes, kink, dubious consent, Stockholm Syndrome, sexual assault. May be disturbing to some readers. … Read more

License to Explore

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Soylent Green

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Anastasia Vitsky: “I love the challenge of creating a world that is like but unlike the one I live in, and in some ways writing a “”fake”” world lets me be more brutally honest about the world I do live in. Right now, through the lens of this made-up world, I’m exploring topics I would never dare touch in a realistic contemporary romance, such as child slavery and child prostitution. And yet, I’m still writing a romance. What does sci fi allow you to do as a writer that you couldn’t do in realistic fiction?” … Read more

Announcement: Dreams of the Forgotten, by Lexi Ander

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Dreams of the Forgotten

QSFer Lexi Ander has a new fantasy book out: For Tristan and Ushna, nothing comes easy and with each passing day the challenges grow and the dangers multiply. The safe home they are building for their family and tribe is threatened from all sides, and the peace they seek is being torn apart by enemies and internal strife. Tristan dares not reveal his condition to any but those closest to him, all the while he’s plagued by dreams he cannot remember upon waking… And over all of it hangs the knowledge that his time with Ushna is running out. Because … Read more