“The Forest Bride: A Fairy Tale with Benefits” by Jane Bueller is a cozy, sexy, fantasy romance that follows Princess Rose through a series of challenging, sometimes terrifying, events that ultimately lead her on a journey of love and self-discovery.Read More →
The spring flash fiction submission cycle opens today. Stories can be submitted anytime from now until April 1, 2021.Read More →
The best free* books to help you battle procrastination By Maria Korolov Last month, I posted an article about a bunch of ways writers can use to beat procrastination. But maybe you want to go deeper on the topic. Here are ten books on Amazon with over a 100 positiveRead More →
Hayley Arceneaux will become the first astronaut with a prosthetic limb when she goes into space later this year on a SpaceX Falcon 9 mission.Read More →
The British Fantasy Society announced the winners of the 2020 British Fantasy Awards yesterday, and RJ Barker’s The Bone Ships was selected as the best fantasy novel of the year.Read More →
On Feb. 11, 2021, the sixth International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the U.S. Postal Service issued a new Forever stamp to honor Chien-Shiung Wu, one of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century.Read More →
Looking at least one decade into the future, I believe we will see significant advancements in three areas by 2030 as a result of AI — personal assistance devices, genomics, and space exploration.Read More →
NASA has been releasing photos as they arrive from Mars and they are awesome.Read More →
On Feb. 18, NASA’s Mars 2020 mission will be arriving at the red planet, and hopefully will place the Perseverance Rover on the surface.Read More →
Lagoon, through its shapeshifting alien protagonist, challenges long-held ideas of how gender and sexual identities are considered in Africa.Read More →
Do you “grok” jargon? Does your “filk” contain references to “BEM”s or “BDO”s? And do the goings-on in Washington make you want to go into “cryostasis” in your “hobbit-hole”?Read More →
I learned by listening. Dad and his friends did not know it then, but they were describing their experiences with double-consciousness, living as a Black man in a white-dominated society.Read More →
The head of the US National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins had joined forces with Harvard University professor David Liu and others to tackle progeria, a genetic disorder that causes children to age rapidly.Read More →
Chris Miller, with The Damned Place, has written a novel that deserves to launch beyond the trappings of indie horror and into the stratosphere.Read More →
To understand ourselves and our place in the universe, “we should have humility but also self-respect,” the physicist writes in a new book.Read More →
While more progress is being made all the time in artificial intelligence, some scientists and philosophers warn of the dangers of an uncontrollable superintelligent AI.Read More →
The U. S. Postal Service announced its new lineup of stamps for 2021, and sci-fi legend Ursula K. Le Guin is the latest addition to the Literary Arts series.Read More →
Perhaps our contemporary crises brought it back into my mind, as the events of the book take place in the wake of a devastating pandemic that has swept across America, sparing only those under the age of twelve.Read More →
Nalo Hopkinson is the first black woman to win the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for her lifetime achievements in science fiction and fantasy writing.Read More →
Galactic Civilizations 3 is free from Epic this week By Maria Korolov Every Thursday, Epic offers a PC game for free. Yesterday that was Stardock Games’ Galactic Civilizations 3, a critically-acclaimed, popular game that’s like Sid Meier’s Civilization, but in space. Other differences include the fact that you can playRead More →
Reading science fiction and fantasy may help young people cope, especially with the stress and anxiety of living through the COVID-19 pandemic.Read More →
I just finished “Renna’s Crossing” by Geordie Morse and was surprised, and humbled, by the author’s approach to gender issues.Read More →
If you’re hoping or fearing that new technology can put you in a Matrix-style virtual environment — it’s not happening in 2021, judging by what we saw at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.Read More →
Climate-focused short story contest offers $8,700 in prizes By Maria Korolov Grist, a publication that focuses on climate, sustainability and social justice has announced a contest for short stories that focus on climate change. Entry is free, the deadline is April 12, and the short stories should be between 3,000Read More →
Matter might not be made of particles or waves, as was long thought, butm more fundamentally, of fragments of energy.Read More →
Have you ever stared at your screen or typewriter or notebook and couldn’t force yourself to write? I have, and here’s what I do to fix it.Read More →
Experts: Ethics a must in AI By Alex Korolov Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming a part of our daily lives, both in the workplace and at home. Some AI experts are stressing the need to focus on making AI ethical and keeping it human friendly. Bias in programming, security concerns,Read More →
Just because mermaids are not real does not mean they are not meaningful.Read More →
Best AI startups of 2020 By Jennifer Vickery The global artificial intelligence market is expected to grow by 46.2% from 2019 to 2025. That type of growth can’t be matched by almost any other industry in the world. Artificial intelligence solutions are particularly relevant for the IT, healthcare, automotive, andRead More →
Five speculative fiction authors killing it on Instagram By Alex Korolov Wondering what some of your favorite fantasy, horror, and sci-fi writers have been up to on Instagram? Here’s a short but sweet list of popular speculative fiction author’s Instagram accounts, with four of them having a huge following onRead More →
A quiet revolution is taking place in the global space industry and its full impact on global space industry should be measured over the next decade.Read More →
If you haven’t seen this excellent movie yet, go watch it on HBO Max, then come back. I’ll wait.Read More →
I came for Tony Shalhoub and I was not disappointed.Read More →
One thing we learned from 2020 is not to trust AI facial recognition –it’s biased against race and gender.Read More →
AI expert: Don’t fear the robot apocalypse By Alex Korolov With talks of large companies investing in AI weapons, brain-chips being developed to enhance soldiers, and the head of the British armed forces saying that robot soldiers could make up a quarter of the army by the 2030s, people mightRead More →
Companies to up use of AR, VR in 2021 By David Kariuki Around 35 percent of businesses plan on implementing virtual or augmented reality technology in 2021 according to a recently published research report by GetApp, involving 700 small and medium business leaders from around the world. According to theRead More →
Iceland will celebrate New Year’s Eve with a live and fully virtual concert with Northern Lights and fireworks guaranteed.Read More →
New app turns your room into a 3D workspace By Alex Korolov You can now join virtual meetings in any location and see avatars of coworkers or friends. The VR and AR collaboration platform Spatial released a free AR app for iOS and Android last week. Instead of using aRead More →
Sales of virtual reality hardware and software will grow at double-digits rates over the next four years, according to a report by ARtillery Intelligence.Read More →
In this brave new world, many of our choices aren’t choices at all.Read More →
I don’t consider myself a hard-core Trekkie by any means, but I sure have watched a lot of Star Trek. “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” or TNG, had its seven-season run when I was just a kid and I watched almost every episode as I was growing up, often with family.Read More →
Yesterday’s directive promoting the use of nuclear power in space, including in low Earth Orbit, presents lots of interesting plot possibilities for thrillers.Read More →
A very, very long list of ways to show emotion through body language or actions.Read More →
Pre-made book cover sites offer low-cost, professional-looking covers for independent authors.Read More →
Top 3 VR Headsets for Half Life: Alyx By Ryan Anderson Half Life: Alyx is the 2020\’s VR game of the year. If you want to play the game the best way, we’ve put together a guide to the best VR headset for Half Life: Alyx. What is Half Life:Read More →
2020 has been a challenging year and nobody could be blamed if they were looking for a little reprieve from reality. One outlet that’s gained in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic is virtual reality or VR.Read More →
Developers can now create apps controlled by a user’s thoughts. Yup, you can operate computers, lights, TVs, music, games with your mind — as long as you’ve got a little lighter-sized device strapped to your head.Read More →
Jenning’s debut novel stands out against her peers in a horrifying examination of family intersectionality, mental trauma, and compelling story-telling.Read More →
In William King’s tie-in novel, you can explore one of the World of Warcraft’s most cold-blooded villains, a night elf who goes by Illidan Stormrage.Read More →
Update: Netflix is not picking up Away for a second season. Pandemic Bingewatch: Away By Maria Korolov I have to be honest. I’m not really the target audience for Netflix’ new science fiction drama, Away. Yes, it’s about humanity’s first manned mission to Mars. And yes, it stars Academy Award-winningRead More →