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New YA Sci Fi Novel Features Gay Character

IN THE SEA of female-centric young adult novels filling bookstores around the world, Proxy definitely stands out. Written by American author Alex London, Proxy is a sci-fi novel featuring two lead male characters — and one of them happens to be gay. The book narrates the friendship that is formed between Knox, a “patron” who gets everything he wants and his “proxy,” Syd, who takes all the consequences and punishments of his actions. “I did not want to write a ‘gay’ book, or even a book about that relationship. It was just a fact of life. I wanted to write … Read more

Child, What Be Thy Name?

Picking names for your sci fi characters for the near future isn’t too bad – just use some of the more modern recent names, throw in a curve ball or two, and you’re golden. But what about when you’re dealing with the far-flung future? Or with an alien race? For your average human in the 25th century, you probably don’t want to go with Brittany, Chelsea, Justin or Tom. But you also have to be careful not to go too far in the other direction and come up with names that people will find too strange and hard to remember, … Read more

Would They Really Look Like Us?

For the purposes of MM-Romance driven gay sci fi, alien characters are often built like us – otherwise, would we want to have sex with them? And to be fair, this is not just a conceit confined to MM romance. Many sci fi TV shows have constructed their aliens around human lines – most prominently star Trek – with two arms, two legs, and a head with two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and two ears in generally the standard human configuration. Some have even come up with semi-plausible reasons for the similarities, from “it’s the only practical configuration” to … Read more

Writing the Future

One of the most difficult things for me as a sci fi author is figuring out what I think the future will look like. Not just socially – that’s often the fun part, coming up with new social constructs to hang my story on. But also physically. What will the cities look like? What will gadgets look like? How will they work? How ill we eat? Communicate? Have sex? These can be fun things to figure out too, but they can also be writing minefields. Take, for example, computers. 50 years ago, they existed only as huge, room-sized things that … Read more

Starting a New Trilogy

I’ve decided to take the advice of my friend Jackson Cordd and let one of my short stories become a novel. Well, actually, three novels. It started out as a story fragment I’d written years ago, and picked up again last year to work on. It decided at first that it wanted to be a novel, and then finally that it wanted to be a trilogy – the first time I;ve sat down to plan out a three book arc. I’d written about 12,000 words when I stopped work a couple months ago on it to focus on some other … Read more

Turning Your Characters Gay

Have you ever had a story that you wrote, oh, I dunno, ages ago, with a straight protagonist, that you’ve decided to turn gay? You know, one of those in the back of your filing cabinet that you dusted off and decided to give a fresh new take? I’ve got a novel I wrote 15 years ago – that I’m considering overhauling – including making the primary relationship a gay romance instead of a man and a woman. I’m a bit conflicted about it for two reasons: 1) I like my characters. I tend to kinda fall in love with … Read more

Blending Sci Fi and Fantasy

Growing up, I read my first Fantasy books – the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, starting in second grade. Not long after, I read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. They were two very different experiences, and I loved them both. Ever since, I’ve found myself reading a little hard sci fi, and then bouncing over to the other pole and reading a great epic fantasy novel. It’s a little like eating a salty dinner and washing it down with wild cherry pepsi. But I’ve also learned to love that middle ground – the fusion of sci fi and fantasy. It’s fairly … Read more

Live Interviews on Facebook With Gay Sci Fi / Fantasy Authors

Our friend Ashlyn Forge, over at Gay Sci Fi (MM Romance) is hosting a series of author interviews: Angel Martinez Erotic Fiction for the Hungary Mind Friday, June 20th, 9 AM EDT https://www.facebook.com/events/284900568349307/ KC Burn Voodoo “n” Vice Frday, June 27th, 9 AM EDT https://www.facebook.com/events/1434106500191828/ Becky Black Patient Z Friday, July 4th, 9 AM EDT https://www.facebook.com/events/651921478227778/ Ashlyn Daube Ivory Prison Friday, July 11th 4 PM EDT https://www.facebook.com/events/1497054543861145/ Ashlyn Forge Erosions: The Careless I Friday, July 18th, 9 AM EDT https://www.facebook.com/events/599943996779607/ Ashlyn Forge Westbrooke Jameson Friday, July 25th, 5 PM EDT https://www.facebook.com/events/497895273644256/ If you have time, check them out!