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Announcement: Finding Matt, by JD Ruskin

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QSFer JD Ruskin has a new paranormal romance out: When six-year-old Matt Wilson and his Shih Tzu, Pixie, step out of the Stanton Community Hospital and disappear, his desperate parents convince Jaron Greenberg, a local pet psychic, to aid the police in the search. Jaron specializes in finding lost kitties and fixing problem pooches. He isn’t prepared for a case with so much at stake. And as soon as he starts, the abilities he’s had since childhood begin changing and growing in unexpected ways. Paulo Silva is a veteran detective new to the small town of Stanton. As the low … Read more

Video Game Story Telling

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: “The boundary between games and stories and what use a writer can be in that place. Where does a game end and a story begin? When we write stories which partake of games/game franchises, where is our place as creators? Since the generation below us (I am forty-eight) experiences games (such as Final Fantasy) the way that we experienced novels, where is the idea of being a “writer” going, especially given the group’s interest in QUILTBAG issues? I recently edited a novel draft by a young str9 former student which was entirely based … Read more

Announcement: Coming Together – Among the Stars

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There’s a new sci fi erotic anthology out that includes some LGBT stories: Erotica writer and geekess extraordinaire, Lynn Townsend, presents an erotic spin on science fiction. Called the “literature of ideas,” science fiction is filled with futuristic settings, alien life forms, advanced technology, and space travel. Stories about the possible future have been used for centuries to frame stories to explore identity, morality, social structure, and desire. What it means to be human, among aliens. What binds us together, and what keeps us apart. From the exploration teams studying new lifeforms, to a woman flung to the edges of … Read more

Writer’s Wait

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I’m suffering from a serious case of Writer’s Wait. It’s not quite the same thing as writer’s block. I could write any number of things. But the project I want to write doesn’t feel quite ready to be written. Sure, I could explain this in a number of ways. I just lost my Grandma Hazel, my last connection to that generation in my family – and that has taken an emotional toll. There’s also the time toll – preparing the slide show and the eulogy for the ceremony, the actual time spent flying to Tucson and spent with family. Then … Read more

Announcement – Devout

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QSFer Cari Z has a story in a new anthology just out from Storm Moon Press: You can’t fight a calling. Tyson failed at all the biggest challenges he’s ever faced: satisfying his family, saving his lover and becoming a man of God. Still, he’s got enough faith to exorcise a demon, and that’s all his employer cares about. At least, as long as they never find out that the lover he lost isn’t quite dead and gone, and that as far as Ty’s concerned, some demons are worth the pain. But demons, like secrets, are hard to keep, and … Read more

The Future of Med Tech

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Alicia Nordwell: “I adore medical technology in science fiction. You see a lot of fictional weapon, electronic, and spaceship technology advances in stories, but you don’t see a lot of stories focus on that aspect of a futuristic tale. I like playing with nano technology, personally, but I’ve also done a combination of mechanical devices and a healing biological fluid. What are other author’s favorites?” It’s an interesting topic… where will medical technology take us in the next ten years? Twenty? Fifty? And more specific to the LGBt community, what effect will it have on … Read more

How Many Characters is Too Many?

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One of my favorite things to read is Epic Fantasy – especially the kind that spans multiple books. These heavy doorstop-tomes can run to 1,000 or 1,200 pages, and are often filled with bunches of characters that would do those old “cast of thousands” Hollywood epics proud. But most forms of fiction do not lend themselves so readily to large casts of characters. Short stories, in particular, can quickly bog down with too many viewpoint characters. I’ve developed a simple rule of thumb for myself when writing short stories. If I want to write 5-10k, I use one viewpoint character. … Read more

Announcement: Playing Hard To Forget, by Piper Doone

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QSFer Piper Doone has a new paranormal book releasing December 26th: Ethan Robertson never asked to be the latest in a long line of werewolf hunters, but the war between his family and the werewolf Kinnairds has raged on for a millennium, and he is expected to fight like all the Robertsons before him. But then he meets Liam Kinnaird, a gorgeous, mysterious werewolf Ethan falls hard for. Despite the danger, they carry on a torrid affair until a terrible explosion destroys everything, including Liam and Ethan’s memories of their time together. Twenty years later, Ethan is embroiled in battle … Read more

Where Are My Banana Slug Shifters?

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: “Animal species: We see too many bears and wolves. Where are tales of kinkajous, binturongs, and banana slugs?” We do see quite a preponderance (love that word) of wolf shifters these days, as well as some panther shifters and pretty much anything else sleek and powerful. But how about a little more shifter weirdness? So my questions today – what animals would you like to see in shifter stories? And what are some of the weirder ones you have seen?

Announcement: Demons of Dundegore, by M. Joseph Murphy

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M. Joseph Murphy has a second book out in his Fantasy series: One man, one sword against an island of the undead. The Demons of DunDegore is a full-on zombie invasion within a classic epic fantasy setting. Demons have stolen the Sword of Kassandra, using its powerful magics to raise an army of the undead. Few survive the initial assault. Tadgh Dooley, a 17 year old gay werecat, travels to the island of DunDegore with his companions to rescue an 8 year old boy, the son of his best friend. But the forces of darkness have plans for Tadgh: capture … Read more