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FOR WRITERS AND READERS: Catfishing

Catfishing

FOR WRITERS AND READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Angel Martinez: Let’s talk Catfishing – the practice of assuming a fictitious identity in order to pursue relationships with unwitting victims. Sometimes writers pretend to be entirely different people – creating a fictional life solely for the purpose of sales and/or sympathy. Just to be clear, we’re not talking about pen names here, which many writers use for totally legitimate reasons. Instead we’re talking about large scale deceptions – like when a writer pretends to be an abused teenager, or fakes a major illness, or co-opts whole-cloth an identity not … Read more

Wouldn’t This Make a Cool Writer’s Cave?

IKEA is leveling up indoor gardening. The Swedish furniture giant is known for its flat-pack everything, from side tables to entire kitchens. Now the members of their innovation and future living lab SPACE10 have set out to find a solution for gardening in cities, where space is famously scarce and expensive. Growroom is a spherical ‘urban farm pavilion’ measuring just 2.8 x 2.5 meters ( 9.18 x 8.2 feet), intended to allow people to grow their own food in the comfort of their home. By Stefanie Gerdes – Full Story at Gay Star News

ANNOUNCEMENT: Fixit audio, by Erik Schubach

Fixit audio

QSFer Erik Schubach has a new queer sci fi audio book out: The story follows Fixit, she’s out of this world! Literally as it turns out, as she mans a repair station on another planet, making sure all of the automated harvesters supply food to all the other people who live in the great floating cities of Tau Ceti Prime. When pirates attack and shipments are lost, can Fixit, fix it? And where does the alluring but cocky Sky Guard ranger, Vashon, fit into the mix? Buy Links Amazon Excerpt Fixit, she’s out of this world! The story follows Fixit, … Read more

Gay Moment Promised in New Beauty and the Beast Film

Beauty and the Beast - Josh Gad

Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast, due on March 17, will feature a watershed moment for the studio: an “exclusively gay moment” for the character of LeFou, according to director Bill Condon. Attitude reports: While the reimagined romantic classic, featuring Emma Watson and former Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens, might seem like the ultimate celebration of heterosexual love, it’s actually harbouring a treasure trove of gay secrets – and is set to make history with Disney’s first ever “exclusively gay moment” on film. …Played by US actor Josh Gad, the character of LeFou serves as the sidekick to the film’s primary antagonist Gaston (Luke … Read more

Announcement: Skim Blood & Savage Verse, by Angel Martinez

Skim Blood and Savage Verse

QSFer Angel Martinez has a new MM paranormal/urban fantasy romance out: Words damage more than just feelings as Carrington hunts feral books menacing the city. When a ferocious book attacks Carrington at his own birthday party, he believes it’s an isolated incident. But similar books soon pop up all over town, menacing innocent people with harsh bits of poetry and blank verse that deliver damaging physical blows. It’s a frustrating case with too many variables and not enough answers, and the stakes go up with each attack. With the help of his misfit squad mates at the 77th and the … Read more

FOR READERS: Glossaries

glossary

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Christine Wright: In longer series do you like to have glossaries for characters/places and if so, where do you prefer they are located in the book? 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

POP CULTURE: Sally Ride Becomes a Lego Figurine

Sally Ride Lego

Move aside Batman, for the first gay woman and American woman in space Sally Ride is to be immortalized with a Lego figure. A set of five new figurines, based on real female scientists, engineers and astronauts, will be out in late 2017. Honoring five pioneers of the American space program, the design was created by science writer Maia Weinstock who won the Lego Ideas competition. Full Story at Gay Star News

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Broken Butterfly, by Caitlin Ricci

The Broken Butterfly

Caitlin Ricci has a new MM paranormal book out: Carter is closer than ever to solving his latest cold case, but his disturbing dreams seem to be a warning to stay away from the truth. The victim, Jacob, deserves justice, and Carter can’t let a few bad dreams get in the way of that. When he goes to Malphas and Jamison for help, Carter learns that his dreams are more than they seem. What he learns is enough to send Malphas running, and as much as Carter wants to go with him and Jamison, he knows he can’t abandon Jacob … Read more

NEWS: Gun From a Time Traveler?

Time Traveler Gun

The Baltimore Police Department shared a Facebook post on Thursday that, for the most part, was pretty run-of-the-mill police fodder. It stated that police had pulled over a man and discovered a loaded handgun, along with some drugs, inside his car. Since the man’s criminal record prohibits him from owning a gun, the cops confiscated it. The only thing out of the ordinary? The gun looks like this (above). By Hilary hanson – Full Story at The Huffington Post