As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Writing Anti Heroes

by

Google defines “anti hero” as: “a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.” In practice, this often means a character who is the purported “hero” of the story – the protagonist who carries the arc of the plot – but is often deeply flawed or does bad things. My classic go-to for this one is Thomas Covenant from Stephen Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever – a man with leprosy from our world who is transported to a fantasy world where he is suddenly healed, and, because he doesn’t believe it can … Read more

Announcement: Wolf’s Own, Book One – Ghost, by Carole Cummings

by

QSFer Carole Cummings has a new fantasy novel out: Untouchable. Ghost. Assassin. Mad. Fen Jacin-rei is all these and none. His mind is host to the spirits of long-dead magicians, and Fen’s fate should be one of madness and ignoble death. So how is it Fen lives, carrying out shadowy vengeance for his subjugated people and protecting the family he loves? Kamen Malick means to find out. When Malick and his own small band of assassins ambush Fen in an alley, Malick offers Fen a choice: Join us or die. Determined to decode the intrigue that surrounds Fen, Malick sets … Read more

What the Frak?

by

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: “Profanity from books and conworlds – The swearwords in my made-up worlds tend to be very odd, such as “Puyurh baVasola”, which means “By the Flames of Paradise!”, or “Chochvort ve’amet!”, or “Go fuck a house-ape!” (um, those are in two different made-up languages, but I think you see what I mean).” So I thought it would be fun to take a look at swearing in theoretical worlds. I loved when Anne McCaffrey used “shards’ (form the idea of dragon’s eggs) as one of her curse words in the Dragonriders of Pern books. … Read more

Announcement: Rarely Pure and Never Simple, by Angel Martinez

by

QSFer Angel Martinez has a great sci fi book out: A search for missing children throws a misanthropic human GPS and an obnoxious human torch together in a struggle to survive dangerous conpiracies and each other. Damien just wants to be left alone. Too bad his variant talent as a locator makes him the go-to contractor for the government’s missing person cases. He can refuse, but it’s not so easy when the missing are variant kids. Blaze Emerson is a sparker. People fear him as much for his ability to call fire as his obnoxious, violent temperament. He’s good at … Read more

Professional Organizations for the LGBTQ Sci Fi / Fantasy Writer

by

Today we have a question from our own Angel Martinez: “The best professional organizations for the LGBTQ SFF writer?” Well, obviously, the best is QueerSciFi.com, followed closely by our friends at Gay Sci Fi MM Romance and Queer Sci Fi, Horror, & Fantasy Creators & Fans on FB. But beyond these, there have to be other organizations, both with an LGBT bent and with a more mainstream flair that also welcome LGBT writers. So spill – what other groups or organizations should we all be joining? Keeping in mind that, in the words of the great Groucho marx, “I don’t … Read more

Announcement: Death Gets a Boyfriend, by Sophie Bonaste

by

Dreamspinner has a new paranormal romance out from Sophie Bonaste: Death is in a lonely business. Since the beginning of time he’s been reaping souls then returning home to his little condo in the sky. It’s not a bad job. There are perks. But Death would kill to meet his soul mate, no pun intended. Tommy Neilson is the next human slated for death. But when he can see Death, Tommy turns his whole world upside down. Curious, Death seeks Tommy out. The chemistry between the two is immediate and soon an unlikely romance starts to form. While Death may … Read more

The Bestiary

by

Yesterday, we had a couple fairly heavy topics on our Facebook discussion page – one on branching out into characters beyond the traditional male male couple and into mainstream sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal, and the other, posted by a Queer Sci Fi member, about the ongoing argument about who should write gay male-male romance. I was very proud of the group for keeping the conversation civil on both topics. But now I’d like to do something a little lighter. Since we haven’t done a paranormal topic for a while, I thought it would be fun to compile a Bestiary together … Read more

Announcement: Hidden Gem, by Lissa Kasey

by

There’s a new Sci Fi book out from DSP by Lissa Kasey: Misaki “Aki” Itou is a psi—a person with mutated DNA granting him psychic abilities. He’s also a contracted companion—a whore. It may not be the perfect profession, but having a roof over his head, food to eat, and not being subjected to torture is a dream come true. He is the top companion at the Hidden Gem, and it makes him enough money to buy the prettiest, most sparkly shoes he can find. Shane McNaughton is an Irishman who survived the Third World War and works as a … Read more

Moving Beyond MM in Fantasy, Sci Fi and Paranormal

by

I know I came to the party a little late. I’ve been writing since I was in my early years, and really made a go of it in my early twenties. But then after a string of rejections, I put things on the back burner, and didn’t really pull it off again until about a year ago. I’m now in my mid-forties. I always kind of figured that I would do some of my best writing at this point in my life, when I had more life experience under my belt. So anyhow, the party. As I’ve gotten more and … Read more

A Cyber(netic) Lover

by

“When I started out,” says David Levy, international chess champion and expert in artificial intelligence, “I didn’t know anything about artificial vaginas. It is quite extraordinary how much interest there is in that subject.” Levy’s book, Love and Sex with Robots, is perhaps the fullest exploration of the future of humans and robots, especially their interaction in the bedroom. It explores the details of internet-linked devices that transmit real physical contact. And Levy is no fantasist. He is the only person to win the Loebner prize – an annual competition to determine which chat software is the most realistic – … Read more