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SPACE: Scientists Search for Our Mother Sun

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mother sun

Image Credit: NAOJ Billions of years ago, a huge star blasted open and spewed its guts into space. At that energetic moment, the so-called core-collapse supernova formed a debris cloud of brand-new atoms, forged in the heat of its blast. Time passed. The cloud contracted, attracted to itself by its own gravity. A star formed — our sun — surrounded by chunks of rock and gas that formed our planets and other orbiting bodies. Much later, we came along. That’s the basic story of our solar system’s birth. And, mostly from watching other supernovas and other star births out in … Read more

SCIENCE: Can We Revive an Ice-Age Horse?

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ice age horse

A team of scientists in Siberia is hopeful that a mummified 40,000-year-old baby horse can provide critical genetic material for cloning the extinct ice-age species. But experts told Live Science that they are skeptical that the scientists will be able to find viable DNA on the body at all, let alone overcome the enormous challenges of cloning a species that’s been extinct for millennia. Revived after millennia? The preserved foal’s body was discovered in August and was excavated from melting permafrost in the Batagaika crater in Yakutia, a region in eastern Russia. Researchers working with the frozen remains recently told … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Gaven, by J.C. Owens

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Gaven

QSFer J.C. Owens has a new MM fantasy book out: Gaven. When the Masarians attack Gaven’s people, they are defeated and Gaven himself is taken captive by a man claiming to be his father. It turns out his entire life has been a lie, and now his “father” will deliver him into the hands of another man to indoctrinate and train him. Gaven vows he will never shame his people by giving in to the Masarians’ way of loving other men. But Vlar, the legendary warrior to whom he has been given, has other plans. The blood-drinker is determined to … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Writing Bisexuality

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bisexual

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: Bisexual characters often get shafted in fiction – either they’re erased altogether, or they are promiscuous (because, of course, the only way to show that a character is bi is to have them sleep with both sexes). How can we write better bi characters? What do we get wrong, and what should we be getting right? This is a legacy chat. Join the chat

ANNOUNCEMENT: Honey From the Lion, by Jackie North

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QSFer Jackie North has a new MM time travel tale out: Honey From the Lion. Soulmates across time. A love that was meant to be. In present day, Laurie, tired of corporate life, takes a much-needed vacation at Farthingdale Dude Ranch. The very first night a freak blizzard combined with a powerful meteor shower takes Laurie back to the year 1891. When he wakes up in a snowbank, his only refuge is an isolated cabin inhabited by the gruff, grouchy John Henton, who only wants to be left alone. His sense of duty prevails, however, and he takes Laurie under … Read more

SPACE: Saturn Sprouts Another Weird Hexagon

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saturn hexagon

A bizarre, hexagon-shaped vortex has formed above Saturn’s north pole as the planet’s northern hemisphere enters summer, data from the international Cassini-Huygens mission revealed. The unusual vortex is circulating hundreds of kilometers above the clouds in the stratosphere layer of the ringed planet’s atmosphere, a new study reported. This warm polar vortex resembles another, previously discovered hexagon formation, also located at Saturn’s north pole, but lower in the atmosphere. But how and whether these bizarre low- and high-altitude hexagons are related remains a mystery to scientists. “Either a hexagon has spawned spontaneously and identically at two different altitudes, one lower … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: A Year and a Day, by Elizabeth Silver and Jenny Urban

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A Year and A Day

QSFer Elizabeth Silver and Jenny Urban have a new MM paranormal/urban fantasy book out: A Year and a Day. He wasn’t looking for love, but he’ll break all the laws of this realm and the next to keep it. Reserved, bookish Ben isn’t looking for a relationship. Then he meets Niall, a gorgeous stranger with a knack for avoiding direct questions, and tumbles headfirst into love. Niall is perfect in just about every way, right up until he leaves town for a short trip…and vanishes off the face of the earth. A magical being trapped in his own realm, Niall … Read more