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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Martha Gouws

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Martha Gouws

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Martha Gouws – “Where fantasy begins with a costume, a spell, and a drop of spit.” Since childhood, I’ve had one foot in the world of fantasy. I dressed in costumes no one could recognize me in, danced with scarves late into the night, and climbed hills in search of strange fruit that might just be magical. On quiet Sundays, while my parents napped, I sat beneath the mulberry tree and tried … Read more

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Cover Reveal: In Love and War – The First Lotus Knights, by Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus

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In Love and War - The First Lotus Knights, by Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus

Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus have a new queer sci-fantasy romance coming out (gay, bi, poly): In Love and War – The First Lotus Knights. And we have the cover reveal! It is the year 1985 ET. House Virasana has fallen, the Lotus Throne stands empty, and a bitter succession war has every noble House at arms. To make things worse, House Tô-Genji and House Medina are locked in a vicious feud over a flood of cheap illicit drugs tearing their worlds apart. Prince Li Lan Tô-Genji is as far from the fighting as one can be. Third son of the … Read more

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Point of View: Why Keep Writing When AI Can Do It Faster (If Not Better)?

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Writer's Block - Pixabay

I keep my finger on the pulse of Generative AI, that misdescribed beast that’s really not artificial intelligence at all. One of my favorite descriptions likens it to a really advanced version of the predictive text thing that many of us use when typing out text messages. These systems have been trained on massive amounts of our own data, mostly without our permission or compensation, and are simply huge predictive machines that come up with the most likely response to any question we pose to them (when they don’t just “hallucinate” a false answer to meet the query). None of … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Will Haddad

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Will Haddad

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Will Haddad writes about the moment love stops being safe. Set against deserts, mountains, fault lines, and other places where survival gets complicated, his novels follow queer characters forced to confront everything they thought they could outrun. He is the author of the Tectonic series. Website: https://willhaddad.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialwilllove/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Willloveauthor Thanks so much, Will, for joining me! J. Scott Coatsworth: When did you know you wanted to write, and when did you discover that you were … Read more

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Point of View: Search for the Lost Excerpt

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Search for the Lost

Hey all, Search for the Lost, the thrilling sequel to Office of the Lost, is finished! Kim and I will be doing a paperback release for WorldCon at the end of this month, and an eBook release on 10/7. I shared Chapter One here. Enjoy Chapter two below, and the cover tease above! Chapter Two Leo was really, really trying. The thing was, living with someone else wasn’t easy. He knew this from previous occasions in which strained finances had forced him to have roommates. One roomie had moved out after the fourth kitchen fire. One had packed up her belongings during … Read more

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Author Spotlight: J.S. Scheffel

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Author Spotlight: J.S. Scheffel

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: J.S. Scheffel – My love for Sci-fi/Fantasy stories began in the 3rd grade when our teacher read us A Wrinkle In Time. It was cemented with Heinlein’s Stranger In A Strange Land several years later. My love for writing blossomed around the same time. Most of my work was confined to poems and short stories, and I was lucky enough to encounter teachers who encouraged me. But life has a way of … Read more

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Point of View: The Pavement Protection Posse

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fresh pavement - deposit photos

Today I’m going to share something a little different, a heartwarming community tale. They are resealing our neighborhood asphalt this month, putting a new surface coat on it throughout this development. Last week, they did the other half of the development, and today they are starting on our side. Our community has an active Facebook group, and folks often share all kinds of happenings there, both good and bad. Last week the group was full of disbelieving posts. People who should’ve known better, including some of our neighbors, drove across the newly surfaced streets before they were fully dry, sometimes … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Drea Roman

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Drea Roman

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Drea Roman is an author of omegaverse and contemporary LGBTQ romance. She loves cats, as well as acting, dancing, and writing. Her life revolves around her cats, Benny and Kookaburra, which is right and proper. Without her friends, family, and cats, this journey would not be possible. Thank you so much for reading. Connect with me! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorDreaRoman/Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dreasdirtydivasInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/drearomanauthor/ Thanks so much, Drea, for joining me! J. Scott Coatsworth: When … Read more

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Review: Bermondsey Girl – BJ Sikes

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Bermondsey Girl - BJ Sikes

Genre: Sci-Fi, Cli-Fi, Dystopian LGBTQ+ Category: Non-Binary Reviewer: Scott Get It On Amazon | Publisher/Universal Buy Link About The Book “I remember how things used to be. I had a garden with flowers in it. I’ve seen the ocean, I’ve eaten real food. Now all we’ve got is this.” Bermondsey’s inhabitants are shut in, all their needs met in automated tower blocks. No one goes outside because the streets regularly flood. Just to keep rich people on the other side of the river safe. Idonny’s days are spent answering pointless online surveys for luxury goods she’ll never see, her nights in the … Read more

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Point of View: Politics and Being a Writer

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protest fists - deposit photos

Writers of fiction, especially often escapist fiction like romance, sci-fi, and fantasy, are usually told to steer clear of politics. You don’t want to alienate half of your potential audience, they say to us. In some ways, it’s sensible advice. Readers are looking for an escape from their daily lives, not another diatribe on the dire state of the world. If they wanted to be depressed about the events of the day, they would turn on one of the 24 hour news stations. There’s already plenty of commentary out there about politics and the savage world we are living through. … Read more