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New Queer Science Fiction Musical – The Unseen World

The Unseen World

Last week, Ira Marlow pitched me on something intriguing: I’d love to submit “The Unseen World” for review. It has a sweet queer love story central to its plot and thus far people are knocked out by the variety and quality of the songs. It’s been described as “The Matrix meets The Wizard of Oz” with references to Philip K. Dick, Mel Brooks and Sylvia Plath. He had me at “Philip K. Dick, Mel Brooks and Sylvia Plath”. :P So while we don’t generally review podcasts, musicals, or “podcast musicals” (I mean, seriously, who knew?) I thought it was worth … Read more

Deadpool vs. Eurovision

Deadpool vs. Eurovision

Pansexual superhero and all-round badass Deadpool is mad about Eurovision. In a typically topical and humorous new promo for Deadpool 2 – which comes out on May 16 – Ryan Reynolds’ charming character takes on a new foe: Canada’s inability to enter the best singing contest on earth.  A total of 43 countries have entered Eurovision this year – and before you say Canada isn’t European enough to take part, Deadpool and other fans of the annual competition will tell you that Australia, Azerbaijan and Israel fit in just fine. By Josh Jackman – Full Story at Pink News

FILM: New Short Musical Film Takes on Coming Out, Time Travel

Closets the Musical

We are all used to the idea of coming out of the closet. But in my new musical, Closets, two teens step into a closet to time-travel in LGBTI history. My original short film, Closets, is about two gay teenagers, one living in 1986 and the other in 2016. Both have the same bedroom and their wardrobe is a portal between the two periods, so they can meet. How Closets came into being I had made my first LGBTI feature films aged 20 to 27. I financed them mainly by credit cards with fingers crossed, and often met with mixed … Read more

News: An AI Christmas Carol

AI Christmas Carol

The carol is a lie — and it’s an extremely unsettling one. University of Toronto researchers tasked an A.I. with looking at a picture of a Christmas tree, writing a song about it, and then singing the results for the world to hear. The song that came out of it is definitely a Christmas song, but it’s an extremely unsettling one. It’s no “Santa Baby,” but it does show just how far A.I. has come. Nvidia revealed some more details about the project, which runs on its hardware, on Wednesday. The company said the neural network used to create the … Read more

For Readers: Plugged In

Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Richard Wood: Do you listen to music while reading? If so, do you have different songs/artists for different moods or genres? 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

Discussion: Using Music in Speculative Fiction

Yellow Dancer

Editor’s Note: Angel is hoarding her bits today, but hopes to share them with us again next week. Today’s topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: Music! What are the ins and outs of using song lyrics in a story, or novel as temporal or emotional touchstones. Is licensing involved, or only after a certain point? Does it detract from a story by anchoring it too much in a certain time and place? Great questions. I’ve used songs in stories, only to have the lyrics yanked out over publisher concerns of copyright issues. What’s your experience with music in stories? … Read more

Discussion: The Future of Music

Future Music

Every now and then here at QSF, we like to dust off our time machines, pull out our crystal balls, and make a bit of loose leaf tea to see if we can divine future trends. After all, that’s what being a sci fi writer is all about, right? So to follow up on yesterday’s post about spec fic music for Rainbow Con, I’d like to ask you to forecast where music might go in the next 20, 50, or 100 years. Will past trends be recycled? Will something entirely new arise? Will we even recognize what our descendants will … Read more