“Listen, there is a hell of a good Universe, next door. Let’s go.”

Frances Drake is an aspiring SFR author who helms the spitfire blog, Frances Writes.

The title quote by E.E. Cummings (1894-1962), has long been an inspiration to writers of Speculative Fiction. It embodies all of the wonder and enthusiasm that we would hope to engender with our writings. When Heather contacted me to write an article about Parallel Universe, I jumped for joy, even over CRS and a disintegrating hard-drive. Nothing was going to stop me. This has been one of my favorite subjects, in like...forever!

It’s my belief that awareness of parallel/alternative universes/dimensions/realities is deeply ingrained into the human psyche. Any time you have contrasts, you have alternate realities. Purely on a psychological level, you have the way we see ourselves, versus the way others see us. Each of us sees through our own eyes. We can’t help it. I still see myself as the nineteen year old that I once knew, not that stranger looking back at me from the mirror. The male universe is entirely unlike the female universe (Vive la difference!). The people of one country see themselves and their culture distinctly from any other. Think about the first time that you spoke with a citizen of a foreign country who was a guest in your country, and they criticized your country in an unfavorable manner. What was your reaction? Oops! Better not go there.

But, we don’t live in a Universe solely inhabited by human beings. We, of this planet, have been blessed with multiple, thinking species with whom we may interact if, and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough, ONLY IF we put our effort into it. It isn’t necessary to travel to the stars to contact aliens unless we chose to do so in our imagination. In my lifetime, I have had the privilege of communicating meaningfully with brothers, cats, dogs, horses, ostriches, and even African lions. Not only do we have species which bear some similarity to us, in that they walk on land and breathe air, but we also have marine species which live in an environment as alien as any ever created by a science fiction writer... yet, we can still communicate with many of these species, and they with us and each other.

Now, let’s look at parallel universes from a scientific POV. Well, a sort of scientific POV. After all, I write fiction. Do you remember the first time that you played the great “What If” game? I do. I was twelve and on my first “date” (in my parent’s living room) with a boy that I had known for years. Way back when, my aunt had dated his father, but I digress. He was two years older than I, and an “experienced, man of the world”. He was also a Sci-fi freak, and quickly corrupted me, a tradition which I later proudly carried forward as a teacher (Parents be careful, very careful!).

Our conversation proceeded from of a comparison of galaxies, to star systems, to atomic structure, and finally to what the people who live on electrons thought about us...And how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? At the time, we considered it all wonderfully grown up and bizarre... but is it? In String theory, anything can happen. String theorists postulate multiple dimensions at the sub-atomic level all vibrating to different frequencies. Maybe that’s why I like Douglas Adams so much. “42!”

I am fascinated by the intersection of parallel universes in religion, philosophy and physics. All of these disciplines are searching for understanding of “Life, the Universe, and Everything”. Each has tried to communicate its insight in a form that people can comprehend. My favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy writers have utilized this. C.S. Lewis, employed parallel universes in his Chronicles of Narnia. In the second book of his Science Fiction Space Trilogy, PERELANDRA (1943), he talked about the Oyéresu not being of this Universe, but resonating to a different frequency. Since string theory first started being developed as early as 1919, it most probably was a hot topic of conversation among the Inklings as they met (1930s and 40s) over a few pints at various local pubs in Oxford England. What I would have given to be a fly on one wall during one of those gatherings!

Our own Catherine Asaro incorporates known principles of physics into her Skolian Saga of Science Fiction Romances. She uses real principles of physics to plausibly justify FTL (faster than light) travel and communications to the reader. The lay reader may not understand her explanation, but it sounds good. Just think... manipulating FTL travel and communications by psychic links through different dimensions. Way, cool!

Finally, let us turn to religion. All religions have tried to address life, death, why am I here, and what’s next? This gets into the Time/Space continuum, and people have been thinking about it for... oh, at a minimum, fifty thousand years. Technology changes, people don’t. They don’t want the here and now to be all that there is. They want more.

In regards to writing Science Fiction Romance, I particularly like the Judeo-Christian tradition. According to this tradition, approximately 3,500 years ago, the Maker of the Universe revealed His Name to Moses on a mountaintop in the Sinai Peninsula. This Maker of the Universe said that His Name is “I AM”. This is an awesome philosophical concept. It is the Eternal Present. It indicates Someone outside of the Time/Space continuum. This Being lives simultaneously in the past, the present, and the future... and He says that we can too. This idea is nirvana for a writer of Science Fiction Romance. Parallel Universes exist. Time travel is possible. FTL travel and communications are possible. There may very well be others out there. Our only limitation is our imagination. It’s up to us.

Heather, thanks for inviting me, and thanks to all of you readers for bearing with my meandering mind.

Frances Drake

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future
Frances Writes
My Facebook Page




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Post-Apocalyptic SF Romance

Our next installment in the Parallel Universe series of guest bloggers is by Ella Drake, a debut author who writes dark paranormal and science fiction romance. She recently sold an erotic SFR novella to Liquid Silver Publishing for its Hearts Afire Series. Additionally, her SFR manuscript, Caught in Silver, placed first in the Dixie First Chapter Contest in the Super-Sexy category.

What happens to a world when its keepers fail to safeguard it? Post-Apocalyptic SF Romance! SFR is a subgenre itself, but within that, there’s the post-apocalyptic and environmental romance.

Several from my keeper shelf fall into this category.

DRIVEN and HIDDEN by Eve Kenin puts the reader right into the action with arctic temperatures, truckers, ice pirates, plague, all the action-filled dilemmas a hero and heroine can handle in a world recovering from a devastating war.



CLOSE ENCOUNTERS by Katherine Allred addresses the concepts of new world environments, native populations, and stewardship.



COUNTDOWN by Michelle Maddox is set in the aftermath of a plague that wiped out most of Earth's population.

A setting that questions mankind's choices in its environment pulls me right in, even if it’s more backdrop than a driving force in the plot. Perhaps it's the hint of danger of these environments, the inevitable that puts the main characters into a larger than life setting. Or maybe it's the hint of that bleak future when a government or that ever-present “corporation” leads humanity to near destruction. This idea of an endangered civilization led me to write “Firestorm on E’Terra”, a novella that recently sold to Liquid Silver Books. The plot involves a planet terra-forming gone wrong.

The roots of Science Fiction started with stories that questioned the consequences of choices. Readers were to consider possibilities and question ideals. Perhaps for me, the type of story that leads me to think “what if” the most are those that lead humanity to the brink, in a decimated Earth; or a pristine New World faced with its political and environmental future. Or, maybe it’s the Mad Max factor, the wilderness/decimated-land unleashed, large and dangerous, an element so strong in the story that it takes on a character itself. That character that stands in the way of our heroes/heroines fighting for their own futures. And against those odds, in the larger-than life setting, the main characters find each other. Romance prevails.

What resonates with you? Read any good post-apocalyptic or New World stories lately? Cause if you have, I definitely want to hear about them! What SFR niche draws you in?



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It’s My World, Welcome to It

Cathy Pegau, a.k.a. Queen of the Frozen North, is a blogger seeking a home for her romantic SF BAD GIRL.

One of the best things about SF and SFR novels is the variety. Just look at the list of dozens of authors on the left of this blog. Each has created at least one world in which to set their unique stories and many have developed more than one. As a reader, this means I can find a book to fit whatever my mood and satisfy just about any SF itch. Ahhhh….so nice.

But as a writer? Oy. Creating enough of a fresh take on the genre to make agents or editors say “Ahhh….” is a challenge. Not an “I think I’ll take the stairs instead of the elevator” type of challenge, but an “I have a paper clip, chewing gum and a shoelace and I need to MacGyver my way out of a locked room before it implodes” type of challenge.

You’d think making up your own world would be easy. A writer is, after all, the mistress of her domain. Uh, no. Not completely. You can imagine all kinds of scenarios featuring alien life, distant planets, and technological advances, but you have to make it plausible. SF/SFR readers are a savvy bunch and will call you on content. Break one or two laws of physics without explanation and you will never hear the end of it. But if you adequately explain why it doesn’t work the same in your world? You are a genius! (For the record, I’m not. And I tend to like the laws of physics as they are. Very comforting, thank you.)

One of the things I had to consider when writing my SFR (aside from who would be involved in the R part, which is a whole ‘nother topic) was where on the technological scale I wanted my characters to live. There are hundreds and hundreds of books already on the shelves that take readers from the clockwork Victorian era of steampunk to the far-flung galaxies of space opera. Where did I want my story to land? How did I want my characters to be affected by whatever technology was available? What technology did I want to make available? Bigger question: How much technology did I feel comfortable explaining? Or not explaining?

The world I created, while 200+ years in the future on another planet, isn’t running amok with technology. There are devices that make information retrieval and transportation easier. Computer interfaces are everywhere but they don’t run every little thing. Vehicles are easier to control but, with the exception of public transport like subways, operated by humans. Folks still have face-to-face meetings as well as holo or virtual. There are no robots. Not everything is electronic. Credits are transferred as currency, but anonymous voucher-like chits are also popular, especially for the likes my main character, a thief who prefers to live below the radar.

Though a somewhat simple world, it still required a fair amount of research to bring it to life. The idea of the mining colony isn’t new, but I had to make it different. So I did some reading on mining and altered certain aspects to fit my world. And hardly scratched the surface of what I learned. I have notes on the subject I may never use, but I came up with an interjection-type phrase as well as a slur used by the characters based on mining terms. Research pops up in weird little ways sometimes.

I’ve heard authors discuss how they spent weeks or months pouring over websites and reading articles or books researching their novels. The best ones weave the information through to make those interesting bits part of the story and leave out the parts that make a reader’s eyes glaze. That’s the kind of SFR author I want to be.

With all the available information, with all the ideas of wonders-to-be, why did I opt for the FIREFLY-esque tech level I did rather than something more shiny and advanced? Partly due to plot, partly due to characterization, partly due to my take on human use of technology. In My World, folks aren’t nearly as enamored with humanoid robots and such as some believe we will be, so there aren’t any. Present-day cars that can parallel park for you or put on the brakes when you are about to rear-end a semi may be pre-cursors to truly automatic automobiles but I decided people in My World weren’t ready to give up the personal driving experience. But that’s just me.

And that’s the beauty of speculative fiction. No matter what we’re in the mood for as readers, it can probably be found. As writers, it can be created. If you have a paper clip and some gum : )

So what kinds of worlds do you prefer to read about? To write about? Gleaming utopias? Dark dystopias? Do you want androids and aliens? Or are humans the only sentient species out there? Does the world matter as much as the characters who live there or do you give one more weight than the other when considering a book?

Thanks, Heather! I’ve enjoyed my ride on the Galaxy Express.


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Future Trend: YA Science Fiction

I like to think of Natalie Hatch as “The Wonder From Down Under.” Mother of five and an aspiring author of YA SF&F, she’s the voice behind the blog What Time Is It Again? She’s also a contributor to the group blog, We Love YA along with several other Australian Young Adult authors.

Science Fiction has brought us through wormholes, evil Emperors intent on ruling the galaxy, face sucking alien spawn, and the like. It shows us a glimpse into the maybe future at the same time as getting us to think of the ethical dilemmas our society faces now.

For Young Adult readers the sky isn’t the limit, and though YA Science Fiction is still a rare beast, the good thing is we have very talented writers out there exposing future generations to the ‘thinking person’s’ story.


I’ve had the great joy of reading a few books recently like John Scalzi’s “Zoe’s Tale” and Scott Westerfield’s “Uglies” series, Mary E. Pearson’s “The Adoration of Jenna Fox,” and “The H Bomb Girl” by Stephen Baxter.

Though I have included a lot of male authors in my list above I must advise that there are some fantastic female SciFi writers out there, these are just a few of the latest books I’ve read.



Scott Westerfield’s Uglies series is set in the future, where people are ugly until their sixteenth birthday. They undergo a transformation brought about through surgical intervention to make them ‘beautiful’ so they can fit into society. It’s a case of “Logan’s Run” meets “Nip and Tuck” to start with. His main character just wants to ‘fit in’ with the rest, but when she meets another Ugly who doesn’t want to go through the surgery she starts doubting the process herself. Scott takes us on a journey to what our world might end up like if we keep deifying ‘beauty’ as we do. Highly recommend this series of books. There’s a touch of romance, a dash of mystery and a whole lot of action.



John Scalzi is a favourite of mine. His “Zoe’s Tale” tells the story of OLD MAN’S WAR from a teen perspective. Zoe has been adopted by two retired soldiers. Her biological father had given an entire race of beings called the Obin sentiency. They now worship her and fight to keep her safe. Zoe faces life as a demigod with typical teenage sarcasm. Scalzi is the heir apparent to the Heinlein way of writing and I for one enjoy reading his stories.



“The Adoration of Jenna Fox” by Mary Pearson was a bit strange at first. I started reading it thinking it would be one thing and then became pleasantly surprised when I found the scientific elements taking over. A teenager wakes up wondering what has happened to her and finds herself trying to dredge up memories of being in an accident. Her parents have kept her hidden from the world, but she wants to go back and be ‘normal’ again. Can’t say anything more without giving away great plot elements, but I did enjoy reading.



“The H Bomb Girl” by master science fiction writer Stephen Baxter is a time traveling story set during the Cuban Missile Crisis. What if future realities interfered in our past to try to bring about better outcomes for their own purposes? How could you defeat technology sixty years advanced when all you’ve got to work with are bobby pins, Beatles records and attitude? Baxter brings the story to life through a teenage girls’ eyes and he does a great job. It gives readers a look at the possibilities of alternate realities and ethical dilemmas. A little bit of romance thrown in clinched the deal for me. Loved this one.

Teens aren’t set in their ways and so you will get many more readers willing to give Science Fiction a go. They’re also great at sharing their love of a book—just look at the recent teen reading phenomenons that have swept the world. If they love a book you can bet all their friends know about it. There are so many other great SciFi novels out there in the Young Adult section of your bookstore. Why not pop in and have a read? You’ll be glad you did.


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Creating Well-Rounded SFR Characters

Susan Macatee is the author of several Civil War-era romances including the forthcoming time travel novel ERIN’S REBEL (Wild Rose Press, July 2009). For more about her stories of romance and adventure visit her Web site.

And for all you Steampunk fans who would like to learn more about the Victorian era, visit her group blog, Slip Into Something Victorian.

Heather’s invited me to guest blog here on The Galaxy Express and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Thanks, Heather!

The fact is, although I have a few upcoming releases in historical and historical/paranormal romance, I’m making my first foray into science fiction romance. I’ve finished the first draft and am now revising.

I’ve been reading science fiction since I was a teen and always thought my first novel would be in that genre. But life intervened. By the time I was ready to pen that first book, I’d immersed myself in the American Civil War and wrote a young adult Civil War novel that I did manage to get published, but it’s now out of print. Then I discovered the romance genre, so my first romance novel ended up as a Civil War time travel. But it is time travel—hmm—must be some of that science fiction influence in there somewhere.

I’m currently working on my first ever science fiction romance, that I’m calling MOONS OF CYNARA. What I’d like to share here is how I strove to develop intriguing, full blooded characters in the hopes that it will inspire your own SFR.

The novels and stories in the science fiction genre that were most memorable for me as a reader, whether they contained a romance or not, had characters I could get emotionally involved with. Even the shows I liked all had characters who intrigued me and whose backgrounds were explored. Those were the stories that made me want to write like those authors so my own characters would be loved and remembered by readers too.

Characters in any kind of novel need to be full-fleshed and have lives and backgrounds that are well developed and take place before your story starts. Even comic book characters have to have a life before the story begins, giving them a reason for their actions and beliefs. This is what makes a character real to the reader, no matter how far-flung the story’s setting.

In working through my time travel romance and subsequent stories, I took a number of workshops that stressed the psychological building of characters. I’d always loved my psych classes in college and found the workshops fascinating. By following the instructor’s suggestions, my characters became real with believable motivations.

When I came up with the first inkling of an idea for Moons, what I envisioned was a young woman, with long, dark braided hair in a spacers uniform, pacing the hall of a medieval looking structure on an alien planet. She was waiting for someone.

This woman became my heroine, Captain Kyra MacKenzie. I decided she was the captain of an exploratory Earth vessel and had been forced to deal with a diplomatic dilemma between Earth and a band of aliens set on enslaving human colonists on a far off planet.

And the next question was, who was Kyra waiting for. Well, she was awaiting an audience with a hostile alien general, but her biggest problem—and we need some big problems for our heroine at the start of the story to intrigue readers—was that she would be forced to work with a military linguist already on planet, sent from Earth to study and immerse himself in the aliens’ language, so negotiation would be possible. And this linguist was none other than Kyra’s former lover, who she’d had a brief relationship with back on Earth while both were at the Academy seven years before.

Of course, all of this back story won’t be in the book except for references made and in thoughts of the characters during the course of the story. But these characters needed a past. Something that shapes who they are and what they do as the story unfolds. And because this story is primarily a romance, despite the science fiction background, the love story takes precedence.

Will they work out their differences as they battle against a common enemy or will they end up killing each other? When things do start to jell again between them, will either or both survive to have a chance at the future they’d earlier denied themselves? And if so, will they be able to change this time, so they have that chance of a happily ever after?

Besides the hero/heroine, I also have secondary characters with the beginnings of their own romantic journey in this story. If I sell the first novel, they’ll likely end up in a sequel where their own love story will have time to develop. One of these characters is a descendant of Earth colonists. The Native American tribe settled the planet in the hope of living the life their ancestors did on the American plains. After arriving at their new home, they destroyed the technology that had brought them there, so they could live free from all encumbrances to the lives they left. But the character’s grandfather—one of the original colonists—keeps some of the technology hidden in case of an emergency. If found out, he would be severely punished, so no one can know about it.

Another secondary character is an alien, native to the planet. She’s a priestess to the Mother Goddess, who her people worship. She was chosen from birth for this purpose and had been taken from her parents at an early age and sequestered in a convent, awaiting her 21st year, when she will take a vow of celibacy.

Besides these characters, we also have to have a villain. In this story, that would be the invading alien general, who believes his race has the right to mine the planet’s resources for their own world and use natives and colonists alike, as slaves, to achieve their purposes.

And now the stage is set for a science fiction story filled with romance, adventure, and heroics, as well as a few questions about ethics, as the hero, heroine and other major characters weave their way through the story in the search for love, justice and honor in the face of interplanetary war.

For all of you SRF writers out there, does the germ of your story idea start with a character or the plot?

And for readers, is it the characters or plot that draws you into a SFR story? Or any story for that matter?



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How To Take A Negative Review With Grace

Dawn Jackson is the author of several erotic romance short stories including “Cloaks, Daggers and Diapers” from the HOT DADS anthology, available from Ravenous Romance. She’s currently serializing her novella “Clone,” a “futuristic fable of the evils of mankind and what happens when man plays God.” It’s available for free at the blog Take it to the Stars.

In my humblest opinion, science fiction romance is going to sweep through the publishing industry with the force of the vampire and werewolf paranormal romances. In fact, I believe it’s already started. More and more calls are out for stories of this genre and it’s quickly gaining popularity with readers. As it grows, we’re going to encounter those who don’t agree with its place in the science fiction genre and we may be called on to respond to the naysayers. We may receive negative reviews.

Regardless of our true feelings or the need to curse the children of the naysayer’s loins—stick pins in the voodoo dolls we’ve created in their likeness or mutter insanely that they don’t know what they’re talking about, there is only one way to handle it.

With grace.

Rule #1:

Put your pride to the side. It has nothing to do with how good your story is or isn’t. Folks, writers in general don’t like to hear negative criticism. Regardless of how hard we worked on a story, how many hours of our lives we traded to put it out there, somewhere, sometime, that story is going to get slammed. We are not perfect. No matter how good we think we are, we’re not perfect and we never will be. Rinse and repeat. You are not perfect and your story isn’t either. There is always something you could have done better.

Rule #2:

When it’s true, it hurts. Don’t ignore it because you don’t like what they said. My mother always told me, “The truth hurts.” It does. Sometimes reviews can be unwarranted attacks on a writer. (I’ll address these later.) But sometimes they’re not. This is when a writer needs to step back and look at what was said. Is it true? If the answer is yes, don’t retaliate, no matter how bad it made you feel. They have a point. Take a breath and think about what you can do to fix it. Arguing with a reviewer because you don’t like what they said, especially if it’s true, isn’t going to accomplish one thing. It will make you look foolish.

Rule #3:

Not everyone is going to love you or your stories. I learned this as a child. Everyone wants to be the “popular kid.” The thing is, what makes one person popular with one group will make you disliked with another. The world is full of variety. It’s what makes it interesting. Go out and be interesting and write for your audience, not for everyone.

Rule #4:

Keep a pint of Ben and Jerry’s handy. Any flavor will do. I recommend the direct spoon to carton approach. If this doesn’t work, call a friend to share your misery and ice cream. Through your conversation, you might be able to get out some of your frustrations.

Rule #5:

Go ahead, write a response. Vent. Put it to paper or on your hard drive, but before you hit send and make it public, give it a day or two. Sometimes what we’ve written in anger doesn’t look so good the next morning. If you still want to send it after stewing on it overnight, remember the publishing world is a small, small place. Everyone knows everyone and yes, they talk. Don’t do yourself a disservice and burn bridges when you have so many brilliant novels to sell. Remember the saying, “Don’t go off half-cocked.”

Rule #6:

You are not alone. We’ve all been there. Talk with other writers who have been through this. Ask them how they worked through it. You might make a few friends and it’s always nice to have a support group of people who understand. People who aren’t writers will never understand our relationships with our stories the way another writer will.

Rule #7:

Celebrate the positive. You’re published. Somebody thought your story sounded intriguing enough to purchase, read and review. You’re an author. You’ve done something a lot of people could only dream about. You’ve gotten in the door and your story out there. Reach around and give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it. In the same note, give other authors their due. They’ve been through the same to get it out there and they too, deserve their place in the spotlight.

Rule #8:

Ignore those who did the review out of spite or only for the joy of tearing the story apart. These reviews are obvious to all who read them, for what they are. Garbage. A wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf. Your readers are intelligent enough to see this. Trust them that they will, and do not respond to the attacker. (Note, I did not say reviewer.) Responding to the attacker will only give them more fuel and a deeper desire to hurt you. It’s hard to walk away, but when they don’t get a response and they’re called on it by others, they’ll move on to other sheep. They are predators. This is how they survive. Don’t respond.

Writing is a competitive market and it’s a challenge to get published. Breaking into the science fiction genre and crossing it with amore is a bigger challenge. In a niche market like science fiction romance, you have to have thick skin and a mountain of grace to handle the controversy you’re going to stir up amongst hard core science fiction fans.

So I leave you with this. When that bad review happens, and it will, smile, yank out that pint of Ben and Jerry’s and know that you’re not alone. And please toss that voodoo doll in the drawer and save it for when your mother-in-law comes to visit and criticizes your spaghetti. Let’s show them grace and build up this genre to where it belongs.

In the stars.


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Artemis Unbound

Aspiring author Lisa Paitz Spindler, a.k.a. Danger Gal, knows how to mix sci-fi with romance. You can read an excerpt of her science fiction romance THE KINSHIP at Authonomy. She’s a member of Writers At Play as well as a book reviewer for SF Signal. Is there anything this super sister can’t do?

When Heather asked me to contribute to her Parallel Universe coverage of the RWA Conference coming up in two weeks, I had to ask myself what exactly is the allure of Science Fiction Romance for me? What is it about SFR that initially drew me in and keeps me reading (and writing)? I have to admit it was Athena Andreadis' review of Star Wars over at Strange Horizons that helped me sync all the elements together, specifically this quote:

"In Mary Renault's The King Must Die, the Amazon Hippolyta agrees to a parley with Theseus, 'one king to another.' You are a queen, he corrects her. No, she replies, I'm a king like you . . . a woman king. Hippolyta becomes the irreplaceable center of Theseus' life because she is his equal. Would that Mr. Lucas had been 'radical' enough to make Padmé as powerful as Buffy, the slayer and lover of vampires. . ."

Anyone who reads my own blog probably will not be surprised that the ultimate answer to what draws me to SFR is a strong heroine on a particular kind of journey, one that includes the usual adventure plus some kind of love story. Here's why the mingling of Romance with other genres like Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror has created an atmosphere where the genre's already female-focused attitude enables heroines to take on new, even more imaginative, roles and to engage in a broader journey than many other heroines.

Nearly every Friday I profile such strong heroines, female characters in books and TV whose depiction subverts our common stereotypes of women. Many of these women come from Science Fiction Romances such as Soz Valdoria in Catherine Asaro's PRIMARY INVERSION, Cordelia Naismith from Lois McMaster Bujold's CORDELIA'S HONOR, Chaz Bergren in Linnea Sinclair's GABRIEL'S GHOST, and Banzai Maguire in Susan Grant's THE LEGEND OF BANZAI MAGUIRE. While it's tempting to label many of these kinds of characters just as "kick-ass chicks," because of this broader journey they are much more than that. They are a new archetype that I refer to as "Artemis Unbound."

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. In my modern interpretation, Artemis is therefore daughter of the ultimate king of the gods, and holds equal footing with her brother in the family birth order. The story of Artemis goes as so: At the age of three, Artemis asked her father, Zeus, for six wishes and he granted all of them: (1) that she remain chaste for eternity never to be confined by marriage, (2) that she have lop-eared hounds, (3) stags to lead her chariot, (4) nymphs to be her hunting companions, (5) those nymphs comprised of 60 from the river and 20 from the ocean, and (6) a silver bow and arrow like her brother's.

This paints a very interesting picture of Artemis: She wanted the freedom equal to that of her brother, as well as pretty puppies, a posse of BFFs, and cool-ass weapons to boot. This depiction of the archetypal Artemis shows up all over Science Fiction, Fantasy, and even Horror. We also recognize it as an Amazonian archetype. The merging of the treatment of this archetypal kick-ass female figure with Romance, though, liberates Artemis and her Amazonian counterparts from their chastity restrictions. Artemis chose chastity because it was the only avenue available for her to gain independence, and the Amazon legend bears some similarities to her story in that they lived apart from men, only mingling with them for childbearing purposes.

Artemis Unbound is free to engage in true intimacy, which often includes sex, in addition to all of her other freedoms. Romance, with its focus on ultimate personal actualization through emotional and physical intimacy, enables female characters to find a level of profound freedom not necessarily evident in other genres. Also, Artemis' and the Amazonian preference for the company of their girlfriends had much more to do with tickling the male fantasy of "girls gone wild" than anything else. Artemis eschewed males completely, thus taking herself out of the mating game, but Amazons oddly held up the status quo by maintaining their place as mothers. Both are defined by their relationships, or lack thereof, to men.

The new, unbound, heroines of Science Fiction Romance and Paranormal Romance get to have all the kicking-ass fun and they still get the guy or girl in the end. If it's the girl they want to partner with, it's not out of some male fantasy, but a real connection. Also, as Jennifer Crusie has pointed out about the genre in general, Romance heroines aren't made to wear giant letters on their chests, die under trains, or, in the case of Amazon Queen Penthesilea, aren't raped after death and dragged behind chariots. Historically and mythologically, the price for female empowerment has been a high one, but heroines in Romance aren't rendered that fine. Instead, they achieve a Happily Ever After.



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