Author name: Maria Korolov

MetaStellar editor and publisher Maria Korolov is a science fiction novelist, writing stories set in a future virtual world. And, during the day, she is an award-winning freelance technology journalist who covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise virtual reality. See her Amazon author page here and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel. Email her at maria@metastellar.com. She is also the editor and publisher of Hypergrid Business, one of the top global sites covering virtual reality.

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Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Apr. 16, 2021

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Reading Time: 11 minutesI’ve read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes FBI agents who can shape-shift into dragons, a battle to save Earth from an evil AI, vampires, witches, werewolves, wormholes, space pirates and a prison planet.

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What is Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited and how is it different from Prime Reading?

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Reading Time: 5 minutesThere are a lot of all-you-can-read and free e-book options out there. Learn all about Kindle Unlimited, Prime Reading, OverDrive and Libby, Project Gutenberg, Open Library, Scribd, 24Symbols, and Bookmate. There’s even a service that will send print books to you by mail, BookLender.

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Galactic Civilizations 3 is free from Epic this week

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Reading Time: < 1 minuteEvery 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 play the game in multi-player mode, battling your friends for control of the galaxy. That’s nice, considering that,

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Cli-fi short story contest offers $8,700 in prizes

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Reading Time: < 1 minuteGrist, 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 3,000 and 5,000 words in length. “We’re embracing the opportunity to look beyond the confines of the

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Excerpt: Krim Times

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Reading Time: 8 minutesOnce upon a time, there was a virtual world that was almost, but not quite, completely unlike 1500s England. The assassin peered out from the window overlooking Leadenhall Street. It was mid-day and there were plenty of targets. Local residents, mostly, but also a fair number of tourists and would-be adventurers looking for quests. The

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Pandemic Bingewatch: Away

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Reading Time: 2 minutesUpdate: Netflix is not picking up Away for a second season. 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-winning actress Hilary Swank. Both of those things are great. But it’s

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