FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Isaac Walker-Tye: Science fiction or fantasy? Which is your preference (even if it is a slim difference), and why do you choose it (be it for the aesthetic, the plots, etc?) 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
The story was that some people had learned to read again.—-line from “The Tip of the Tongue” by Felicia Davin. That most conventional of female archetypes, the bride, figures in several of the unconventional stories in “Heiresses of Russ,” the 2016 edition of the best Lesbian speculative fiction of the year, edited by A. M. Dellamonica and Steve Berman and published by Lethe Press. Leading off is the first of several award nominees, (Nebula nominee, shortlisted for the Hugo and Tiptree awards) “Grandmother-Nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds,” by Rose Lemberg. A story of gender fluidity, magic and deepnames where men and … Read more
QSFer Jambrea Jo Jones is in a new MM superhero anthology: ‘Saving the Day’ by Jambrea Jo Jones Superpower—check. Worldwide fans? No thank you! Kent Laine and his twin brother Jimmy have superpowers in a world where most people don’t believe. Sure, comic books and movies make it seem so entertaining, but for them it isn’t. The brothers were raised to keep their powers hidden. To only use them when it’s absolutely necessary. The struggle is real for Kent. He can heal people, but at what cost to himself? He envies his brother’s ability to speak with animals. If only … Read more
QSFer Roberta Degnore has a new lesbian sci fi book out: What if you are forced to be more than you ever dreamed? And there’s a cosmic gun pointed at your head to make sure you’ll do it. Murderer or creator? That’s Evet’s choice in the 23rd Century… Evet is a boundary-testing writer in the future who is attacked from the past. Accused of murder, she races to escape an alluring police torturer and her own crisscrossing identities that everyone seems to know better than she does. In a lonely cosmos with the latest drugs, she rebels in the oldest … Read more
Welcome! Out of the Past will be a regular column discussing the history of LGBTQ+ science fiction, fantasy and horror literature from the earliest years of the genre to the more recent present (many thanks to Queer Sci-Fi for hosting me and to Scott for suggesting it). While portrayals of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) characters didn’t become relatively common in science fiction, fantasy or horror until after the early successes of the Gay Liberation Movement in the 1970s, that didn’t mean that there was “no there there, ” to borrow a phrase from Gertrude Stein. Of course, most … Read more
QSFer Hailey Turner has a new MM sci fi book out: Truth and lies. Captain Jamie Callahan knows the Metahuman Defense Force frowns on fraternization. For once in his life, he’s breaking all the rules. Having Staff Sergeant Kyle Brannigan on his team and in his bed is worth the risk of being found out. When a mission comes down requiring Alpha Team to go undercover in order to infiltrate a criminal alliance, Jamie knows it won’t be easy. Putting his family’s name on the line is nothing compared to the role the MDF wants him to play—that of a … Read more
QSFer Kim Fielding has a new free MM steampunk book out: Dante Winter makes a living repairing broken things. Socially awkward and rejected by his father over his too-fanciful work, he’s alone in the world. Dante’s life changes when he finds a badly damaged male golem, a lifelike automaton created for service and pleasure. He does his best to fix the golem, whom he names Talon, and comes to find that the creature is very human—perhaps more human than Dante. But when Talon tempts him with something more than friendship, Dante must decide whether a clockwork heart is capable of … Read more
DSP Publications author Bradley Lloyd has a new queer sci fi book out: Family is worth fighting for—and family doesn’t always mean blood. No one knows what calamity poisoned the earth and decimated the human population, but living close to the toxic ground means illness and death. Justin is determined to keep his twin sister and younger brother from that fate—no matter what he has to do. To earn enough to keep his family safe in a high-rise, Justin enlists in a deadly sport called Shadow Fray. He quickly finds himself in over his head, especially when he is scheduled to face … Read more
QSFer Carol Holland March has a new MM Sci Fi book out: The saga of the dreamwalkers of Larreta continues. Leo, who can look backward in time, joins forces with Jesse who sees the future, even when it endangers his life. The two must combine their skills to stop time rifts from destroying Larreta, and then Earth. But Jesse hasn’t learned to control his abilities. And Leo doesn’t dare succumb to his passion for the beautiful newcomer. The fate of two worlds depends on the bond of trust developing between them but the dark puppet master behind the rifts has other … Read more
FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Hank Cannon: What is your reaction for calls for “genre” purity in genres that aren’t necessarily so straight forward? And for those who to like genre purity in sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal or horror, what do you use as baselines to judge for said purity? Join the chat