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Cheating Death

We’re going to a funeral today. It’s for one of Mark’s uncles – not someone I knew well. But it’s the latest in a string of funerals over the last several years. I’m reaching that age, I guess, where many of my friends and family members are passing on. In the last two years for the two of us, that’s included a grandmother, a mother, a dear friend, an uncle, a step mother, and several others. It’s made me reflect on family and life and death. And in the sci fi context, it’s made me think about immortality. I always … Read more

Crowdfunded Gay Sci-Fi Film Raises Over $36K in 30 days

Credence, a sci-fi film about the end of the world, and an evacuation of the earth, features a gay couple’s family, and the devastating effect the loss of their daughter The final cut of the film will be directed by Mike Buonaiuto, and feature a soundtrack by Scottish composer Craig Sutherland and New York based artist and vocalist Lucien Dante. The description on the trailer for the film reads: “Ever wondered what it might look like if a science fiction film presented LGBT people the way it should be done? #Credence will be the first Sci-Fi of its kind to … Read more

Great Author Interviews Coming Up at Gay Sci Fi (m/m romance)

Ashlyn Forge over at the Gay Sci Fi page on Facebook has some great interviews lined up next month: 9/6/14, 6 PM EDT: Live Interview With Pelaam Pelaam lives in clean, green New Zealand. She is a published author of gay male romance and erotica across time and space. When not writing, she indulges in her other passions as a foodie and wine buff. Event Link Interview Link 9/20/14, 5 AM EDT: Live Interview With Eva Lefoy Eva Lefoy writes and reads all kinds of romance, and is a certified Trekkie. She’s also terribly addicted to chocolate, tea, and hiking. … Read more

A Taste of Honey Bear Anthology: Excerpt From “Barefoot” by Lillian Francis

Editor’s Note: I’m a part of a new anthology coming out on 8/18 from Dreamspinner Press: A Taste of Honey. And while the book is not Fantasy, Sci Fi or Paranormal per se, some of the stories in it include magical realism or present-day fantasy. I hope you’ll indulge me as I share the intros to a number of these stories in the lead-up to the book’s release. :) –Scott Coming from Dreamspinner Press on August 18th – A Taste of Honey – the ultimate bear romance anthology. Guys don’t have to be in their twenties, perfectly sculpted, and hairless … Read more

The Shifter Revolution

The Twilight series, love it or hate it, served to help bring shifter romance into the mainstream – it’s been fun to watch former “monsters” become romantic bad boys, from the likes of “True Blood” and “Twilight” to the lately emerging subgenre of Zombie romance, epitomized by last year’s film “Warm Bodies”. There was even an attempt to turn Frankenstein into an action hero, with Aaron Eckhart cast in the lead in “I, Frankenstein.” A quick run through the shifter romance page at Goodreads turns up horse shifters, lion shifters, bear shifters, dragon shifters and many more. If you had … Read more

Promoting Your Book Online

As anyone who visits this blog regularly (or even looks at my Facebook page) will know, I recently had a short story accepted into a Dreamspinner anthology. It’s a thrilling first for me, but once the excitement wore off, I started wondering how to promote it – I mean, it’s great to be published, but what good is it if no one ever reads your masterpiece? I’m new to the writing promotion game, though I’ve been on FB, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest for years promoting my day job. I’ve seen some great ideas in the groups I’m a part … Read more

The Tension Between Sci Fi Romance and Gay Sci Fi

In my wanderings through the LGBT sci fi community, I’m finding that there’s a whole lot out there these days melding sci fi themes with MM romance. While I think that’s wonderful and an amazing thing, I also find very little that’s straight (pardon the pun) sci fi that includes LGBT characters, but is not centered around an MM (or FF) romance. Don’t get me wrong – there’s a lot of great sci fi out there (Angel Martinez, Amy Lane, I’m looking at you) that gets the sci fi right and includes the romance too. But I come at this … Read more

New to the Group – ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords

I’d like to briefly introduce my blog, ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords, a LGBTQ centric book blog (reviews, author interviews, essays on writing, contests and such). While I review all LGBTQ offerings, fiction and non-fiction, SciFi, Fantasy and Paranormals are deep favorites of mine.

I would like to post two of my reviews today as a sort of introduction. One was by a new author to me, Mina MacLeod and the other by Theo Fenraven (a paranormal trilogy).

Theo Fenraven wrote his Precogs in Peril between 2012 and 2013, a terrific paranormal trilogy which came to a conclusion in January 2013. My series review can be found here http://wp.me/p220KL-W0

SSS Edges & Embers - coverSwords, Sorcery and Sundry by Mina MacLeod
Suitable for YA and Adult Readers, minimal sexual content
First story in a new series
Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

“A wizard, a soldier, and an assassin walk into a bar …”

Wizard Sylvain has just recently arrived in Abelia, the large capital of the Firmiana Duchy. He’s hot, tired and just wants a drink before going up to his rooms. Soldier Ashe is at a table nearby wanting to enjoy her food and friendly banter with the bar owner. Assassin Niklas is situated right in the middle, with an agenda of his own and hopes not to be interfered with. Alas, once the trouble starts and it seems that Niklas has been ganged up on, then Sylvain and Ashe just naturally jump into the fray with sword and sorcery at hand.

But quickly things go awry as Sylvain accidentally sets the bar on fire and the culprits escape. No one has any money to pay for the damages they caused. With the Duchy’s guards at the door, and gold needed to repair the damage to the hotel and bar, the wizard, the assassin, and the warrior team up (it was their fault after all) to earn the money they required to keep them out of the jail and maybe make them even solvent. But the mission they were hired for will take them into the Deadlands and in order to survive, the three will have to become a team to contend with. What happens when a wizard, an assassin and a soldier combine and become something much more than any of them expected….

When a story opens with a tongue in cheek reference to a long-standing bar joke, I just knew I was in for a rollicking great time and Mina MacLeod’s Swords, Sorcery & Sundry delighted me at every turn. How I loved this story and MacLeod’s characters! From the very premise,three disparate people meet in a bar and bonding over a combined debt, I was hooked. And I stayed that way to the end of this adventure and the possibility of a series. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Swords, Sorcery and Sundry is that wonderful and rare story that be listed either as a YA book or M/M Romance, an element that was intentional on the author’s part. That is due largely because it is a story about the tight bonds of friendship first, and then the beginnings of a m/m romance between two of the friends second. But always it is the ties of friendship that guides them and forms them into a family of sorts as well as a business.

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Hey! Where’s the Funny Stuff?

Most people (especially non-SF fans) think of science fiction as deadly serious. Because of the often deadly serious topics SF tackles–oppression, climate destruction, discovery vs. ethics–they believe the stories don’t easily lean toward the humorous. However, comedy is the oldest form of social commentary and science fiction has a long, legitimate history with it. From Keith Laumer’s Retief books to the Stainless Steel Rat, from Red Dwarf to the Hitchhiker stories, science fiction humor may not always get the attention it deserves, but it’s always been with us. As a long time science fiction reader, (don’t ask how long, that’s … Read more