In Part I, we discussed contenders for the most effective label for blends of science fiction and romance (excluding romantic SF, which technically falls under the SF umbrella) and the consensus was that we forge ahead using “science fiction romance” or some variation thereof.
Works for me.
The label, of course, only goes skin deep. In order for blends of SF and romance to qualify as SFR and appeal more widely to romance readers, it’s important that the external plot/science fictional elements don’t overshadow the romance (as BevBB noted).
But how can that be accomplished while also delivering quality speculative elements?
What factors will provide SFR with wider appeal?
I agree very much with Rowena Cherry’s idea—as noted in the comments for Does Science Fiction Romance Need a Gene Roddenberry?—that future SFR stories should be fashioned after Star Wars rather than Star Trek, especially if the target audience is romance readers.
Case in point: “The Force” is vague; the Millennium Falcon just blasts off—no technical explanations are provided as would be the case on Trek. The recent Trek movie took this path too, and outgrossed every other Trek film to date. Much as the achievements of Star Trek’s empire are laudable, two main drawbacks for science fiction romance are its technobabble and muted conflict (not across the board but a significant issue given Roddenberry’s vision of the future).
And like Linnea Sinclair noted, we had Gene Roddenberry—so what is the need for duplication?
Elise Logan stated in the comments that “Christine Feehan, Gene Roddenberry, Laurell K. Hamilton all have something in common. They built a world and populated it with their stories. They created a mythology and an entire universe that is a whole and complete creation.”
Based on all the comments provided by my esteemed passengers and my own reflection, I culled together a few possibilities:
* More "Star Wars" type stories are needed, but also near-future/Mundane/steampunk to draw contemporary and historical romance readers
* Include accessible speculative elements more often than not
* Emphasize the world (big-picture) vs. worldbuilding (details)
* Make the exotic more familiar
* Make character-driven stories a cornerstone of the sub-genre
* Include more Alpha heroes, at least in the beginning, to help readers transition from paranormal romances (or at least heroes that convey lots of power and danger).
* Create heroes/heroines who embody the speculative element in some way (e.g., cyborgs, beings from other worlds).
* High concept stories/characters that emulate Christine Feehan’s Dark series–a la Linnea Sinclair’s Dock Five series. In other words, stories set in a similar universe with some kind of brotherhood (sisterhood?) from which the author can spin countless stories.
You may know of others, and I’d love to hear about them. I would think one of the greatest challenges lies in deciding on the scope of a story. Buddha knows I love a grand, sprawling, epic space opera, but they don’t really lend themselves to a hybrid tale of romance and science fiction. The scope would dictate which details to keep and which to ignore. The tighter the focus, the more we can be assured our expectations will be met.
Joyfully yours,
Heather
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Branding Science Fiction Romance, Part II
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51 comments:
* Include more Alpha heroes, at least in the beginning, to help readers transition from paranormal romances (or at least heroes that convey lots of power and danger).
Is it a good thing or a bad thing that my reaction upon reading this line was "Oh, god, no."
It was so strong and immediate that it brought me up short and I had to stop and figure out why. I'm not sure but I think it's that the not-quite-alpha heroes in the few science fiction romances that have truly worked for me are possibly what made them work for me?
That and the truly strong heroines?
Oh, and I just remembered one of my favorite SFR themes that makes use of several of your points, Heather - lost colonies. I love Jayne Castle's and Robin Owen's books. I could do with more of those type stories.
I'm with you about the Alpha heroes. I'll certainly make them masculine and dark, but I don't think I could ever really love one of my heroes if he was a bulldozing jerky.
I'm with BevBB an Alpha heros. No more please!!!!
Can't we just grow up and leave them in the trash-pit of history where they belong. Give me a Brainy Beta hero who saves the day by being smart over a Dark mysterious Muscle-bound basket-case Alpha any day of the week. How can women expect to be seriously be treated as rational adults who are anyone's equal in the real world if they let themselves be brainwashed by the whole "maybe if you're really luck one day Mr. Alpha Male will swoop in and make everything right" thing? I mean really, don't we need to grow up and stand on our own two feet? Alpha males are dysfunctional and dangerous in the real world it does no one a service to keep deifying them in Romance.
Also just an aside but the Architectural SF hero is always the Beta who shows the Alpha for the incomplete thing he really is.
Just my 2cents, sorry for the rant but this is one of my big fiction hot buttons.
In the whole 'Alpha' Vs. 'Beta' debate, I always come down on the side of character, not formula.
Something I think is missing from your otherwise excellent list is humor. 'Star Wars' was a lot funnier than 'Star Trek'
*Waves a white flag* Sure, sure, let's nix the Alpha hero! Although I did mean the non-jerky kind.
@Agent Z Definitely! Especially funny dialogue.
"Dumping the Alpha in his own back yard and nailing the Beta's butt to the grass. You got serious thrill issues, Sister." To further my writerly rebellion, all the male characters in my current story are *BLOND.*
On a related note, I just got my copy of STAR PRINCESS by Susan Grant, the only one of hers I hadn't read, and in the picture on the back the hero is blond. Huge points scored there!
Seriously though, I'm with you on the other points.
Another vote for keeping the uber alpha jerk hero in stasis : ) Sorry, Heather, I was writing this as you were responding.
I agree with Agent Z--character wins over formula hands down.
Dose the world and worldbuilding out rather than spewed so it's easier to digest. Your "make the exotic familiar" hits it on the head for me too.
Scope is a toughie. As a romance, you want to focus on the MCs, but at the same time you might have a helluva world orbiting in your brain that you HAVE to get out :)
Humor is a must in all good Romance.
It does not have to be laugh-out-loud funny, but clever dialogue is a plus and so is characters not talking themselves too seriously.
Another Votes for Blonds. The hero in my WIP is a blond too.
@Kimber An, Mfitz Now you've made me go there: When the time's right, I'm doing a post on blond heroes in SFR :P
Yum!
What about redheads? Ever notice how all those Scottish studmuffins on the Romance novels never have red hair? Isn't that bizarre? I mean, think about it, genetics and Scotland. If these dudes really were studmuffins, there'd be redheads all over the Romance aisle!
Oh, wait, they're are, but they're all girls. I suspect some sort of gender selection you have to go through if you want to mate with a Scotsman. It's kinda like how male pilots father almost all girls, but you only find baby boy outfits with airplanes in them. Weird.
Blond poster boys... Fabio or Julian Sands? Or Billy Idol? Or Lucius Malfoy!
I notice we don't have any requests yet for bald heroes. (This is a non-sequitur, not sarcasm.) I had a temporary baldie in Insufficient Mating Material.
My young Thor-quentin is definitely a Billy Idol type, but right now, my identical twin heroes of the wip in NaNoWriMo are white Djinn.
Craig doesn't count. He's a dirty blond.
I've had a couple of baldies in my stories, but they're not published. No redheads yet. They'll be my next act of writerly rebellion.
Dirty blonds do so count!
I can go for a bald hero, especially if he's Riddick. Um... ok, so that's not Romances. Still. If the character works, almost any physical trait is hot.
Going out on a limb, here. I have nothing against alpha heroes if they aren't jerks. I think that's the problem. Too many times I've had to put a book aside because the heroine was a doormat. No thank you.
But an alpha who is the strong, supportive, leader type is a wonderful character.
Well, part of what has to make a subgenre stand on its own two feet are things that make it unique. Perhaps non-jerky yet still very powerful male characters will become a hallmark of SFR.
Mmmmmm Riddick.
Okay, so the stuff I've written in sci fi has been erotic science fiction romance. Mostly, I like to write BDSM elements. I love the idea of a culture based on the power structure in the D/s play, so I created a world where that was the political structure. My release based on this idea comes out November 3rd.
Every genre has to start somewhere. Science Fiction Romance (and its erotic spin off) are relatively new. But I write what I love to read.
Question here. I keep hearing talk Susan Grant as a SFR author, but when I look her up her books seem more urban fantasy or paranormal to me. *Has* she written SFR, and if so, what's the title/s? I'm running out of books to read.
As for Alphas, I think some authors have the wrong idea about what they should be. An Alpha should = strong, protective, loving, able and willing to take charge, but not threatened by his woman doing the same. He's willing to die for her. An Alpha should NOT = jealous, arrogant, overbearing, asswipe who always knows best.
On what to call our genre: As long as people buy my books, I don't care what they call them. I just wish we could come up with one and stick to it.
I'm not sure I buy the idea that women want less technical/scientific jargon in our books anymore. I wrote Close Encounters thinking just that, and I have to tell you, women have been more critical than men. I've received tons of fan mail from men who loved the book. They even liked the romance, which really shocked me. Women, not so much. Of course, the book is shelved in the scifi section of bookstores, so maybe it's just that more men are picking it up.
Addendum: Never mind about the Susan Grant question. I just found her Borderland series. Looks good.
::Linnea's beer pauses halfway to her mouth as she stares at Katherine:: You mean you write futuristics/SFR and you've never read Susan Grant? RITA award winner? Prism award winner? One of the forerunners--if not one of the founders--of the SFR genre as it is today?
That's kinda of like saying, oh, I'm going to write vampire romance but who are Christine Feehan and Sherrilyn Kenyon? Or I'm going to write British police procedurals but who's PD James?
Oy.
Well, you're in for a treat. Yes, read Susan Grant. CONTACT. MOONSTRUCK. HOW TO LOSE AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL IN 10 DAYS. Three of my faves. Also her 2176 series (shared world). Her Star series (Star Prince, Star King, etc.)
Grant took the older (bodice ripper-style, virginal heroine princess, and the alpha hero who flies his rocketship whilst clad in a loincloth) futuristics and made them into SFR with kick-butt competent heroines who flew military jets and 747s (which Grant does in real life), and who yes, save the day. The galaxy. She also writes SFR humor with ordinary housewives who end up saving the galaxy. Her male protagonists are good alphas and betas and great mixes. Kind of like Suzanne Brockmann in space... (have you read Brockmann?). She has hot romance. She has kick-butt action. She has plausible and workable and logical science/tech.
Her website is www.susangrant.com . All you need to know is there. Enjoy! ~Linnea
Very much enjoying Jennifer Leeland's concept of a political structure based on D/S.
That's presumbably what you'd get if the President, the Press, the Senate, and the House of Representatives were all in agreement that the submissives need to be beaten, humiliated, and screwed for the common good.
Love Susan Grant. Love her to death. She's a huge inspiration.
Every book she's written has been what I would call SFR except Once a Pirate, which was a time travel.
(And the heroine was still kick butt.)
Linnea: Yep. Never read her. Yet. Honestly, I came from a background of pure, hardcore scifi novels. Didn't get into the romance aspect of reading (in any genre) until about ten years ago, give or take. When I started writing SFR I thought the only other authors out there combining the two were you and JAK. I'm still playing catsup with the rest while trying to find time to write.
Linnea, still cleaning coffee spit off my keyboard. Beer this early in the morning? Deadline Hell, I presume?
To be fair to the confused, HQN has tried to window-dress Susan's books as Paranormals to bring in more readers. Unfortunately, it's confused her established readers and kept would-be readers from trying. (((sighing))) I just hope she scores good cover art for SUREBLOOD. It's high time.
Hey, in my own defense, I will say that I'm having exactly the problem Heather is trying to address. I dare you, walk into a bookstore and ask them where the SFR is. I dare you. They'll either point you toward the straight scifi or the straight romance section, not a section with books that combine both. You pretty much have to know which author you're looking for or the only way to find them is through word of mouth or blogs like Heather's. And as Kimber An pointed out, even publisher labels don't work because the genre's on the covers lie. JAK and Robin Owen's Heart books are labeled "paranormal" when they obviously are SFR. And Linnea, I think I've seen you comment that your books were originally shelved in the straight scifi.
So like I said, I don't care WHAT label they give us, I'd just like them to stick to one so readers know what to look for.
Hey, in my own defense, I will say that I'm having exactly the problem Heather is trying to address. I dare you, walk into a bookstore and ask them where the SFR is. I dare you. They'll either point you toward the straight scifi or the straight romance section, not a section with books that combine both. You pretty much have to know which author you're looking for or the only way to find them is through word of mouth or blogs like Heather's. And as Kimber An pointed out, even publisher labels don't work because the genre's on the covers lie. JAK and Robin Owen's Heart books are labeled "paranormal" when they obviously are SFR. And Linnea, I think I've seen you comment that your books were originally shelved in the straight scifi.
So like I said, I don't care WHAT label they give us, I'd just like them to stick to one so readers know what to look for.
EXACTLY!!!
I discovered Linnea Sinclair because Romance Divas did a world building workshop. I found Patti O'Shea's "Eternal Nights" completely by accident in a tiny little store in the boonies.
That's why I love blogs like this one.
And Susan Grant's Warlord series is awesome!
As for Alphas, I think some authors have the wrong idea about what they should be. An Alpha should = strong, protective, loving, able and willing to take charge, but not threatened by his woman doing the same. He's willing to die for her. An Alpha should NOT = jealous, arrogant, overbearing, asswipe who always knows best.
This discussion and everyone's reaction but this comment in particular reminded me that a long time ago in a galaxy far away, well, okay, several years ago I wrote an article in response to one by Laurie Gold on the AAR site related to the romance genre's obsession with alpha heroes & character stereotypes. Like I said, these discussions never quite go away, do they? ;)
Here are the links to both articles:
All About Heroes by Laurie Gold http://www.likesbooks.com/63.html
Archetypes. . . or Sexual Stereotypes? by Beverly Medos http://www.likesbooks.com/78a.html
Oh, and, yes, the Beverly Medos is me although I generally use B.B. Medos. Never could quite get that through Laurie's head. (rolling eyes) Also ignore the reference to Beverly's Book Sanctuary. That was my old site. I'm pretty sure I have that other article mentioned, "The Four", which expands on the snippet in Laurie's article and offers both hero and heroine examples, is stashed around here somewhere, too, and I'm going to try to dig it up and repost in on my blog in the next day or so. I'd been thinking of doing it anyway. ;)
When I will the lottery and become filthy stinking rich I'm going to open a SFR book store. Heck, if I'm filthy stinking rich enough I may start my own SFR publishing house.
If you like SFR you really should read Contact. It's just about the perfect SF/Romance blend in my opinion.
I Also like her book were the heroine in a pudgy middle-aged mom. That might be "How to lose and Extraterrestrial...."
Plus she used to have a nice blog, but I don't know if she does anymore. Working outside at a park all summer has played havoc on my keeping up with the blog-o-sphere.
Why have I not read Contact?
Hmmm. It's probably a plot thing. I'm a "by the plot" reader/book picker. Not by sub-genre, I mean. Or even themes, necessarily.
Which is why I end up skipping all over the daggone place in romances. ;)
So, anyway, what's the plot of Contact? Not ringing any bells here.
I'm plumping for more cyborgs as an Alpha Male concept that may capture non scifi romance readers to the market.
Their characters are already popular in movies. They may start out as the villain. Think Terminator. But even then, they became the good guy. Bladerunner also had broad appeal.
To me, they're the equivalent of the vampire and werewolf. The male that has qualities humans don't have.
There's lots of room for angst. One of my all time favourites is Linnea's Kel Patten. It showed the elements that need to be included. Not just a character who can do everything, but the one who regrets he isn't human and will never be loved because of his unnatural abilities.
Medically enhanced or bio-engineered Superhuman qualities in both males and females already resonate in many scifi novels.
Maybe a few cyborg/super human anthologies might attract across a few readers.
What factors will provide SFR with wider appeal?
I can understand why many current scifi readers would not like to see a sudden influx of alpha male heroes (or heroines), but they would give the genre wider appeal.
There'll always be the great stories of the nerdy sidekick winning the day, but you won't attract readers who love regency rakes, vampires and werewolfs across that way.
Isn't that what we're trying to do?
Personally, I think the Omega hero works very well for sci-fi (the last of his kind, a little belligerent, a little sarcastic, with no reason to need to save the world/heroine except to shut her up - until he realises he's fallen for her).
Alphas do bring with them more readers, but perhaps the sci-fi Alpha hero needs to be a different species in itself, his Alpha-ness dictated by the world/tech he so arrogantly resides in? (of course, I have no idea what that Alpha-ness would be *grin* At least, not yet...)
Contact is a neat twist on an Alien Abduction story. I think it was also in a way a response to the events of 9/11. It deals with the passangers and crew of a 747 jet who are Hi-jacked? Kidnapped? Rescued? by aliens. The Heroine is the jet's pilot, the hero is one of the aliens. There is intrigue, romance and some nicely done supporting characters.
The thing I like about it is that the SF part of the story, the "Why did the aliens really grab this jet?" plot keeps you turning pages just as much as the Romance does.
One interesting thing about Contact, especially given the recent discussion of Alpha Heros is that the Hero in the book is sort of a supressed Alpha character. He is someone who has the potential to be a not pain-in-the bazootie style Alpha, but is becasuse of culture and fate an underling taking orders from less capable people. Part of the plot resolution is him realizing this and taking personal control of his future.
I loved Contact. That book made me cry so darn hard. It came out right after 9/11, but was written before, which was unfortunate timing, because on the back of the book it played up that the airplane was "hijacked." Which isn't exactly what is going on, abducted is a little closer to the picture.
But I think a lot of people shied away from it because the hijacked plane thing was too close at the time. It was a very dark book, but brilliant. It won the Rita that year.
I second, third, fourth(?) the recommendations for CONTACT. The realism of the setting lends it a lot of tension, and I thought the romance was very sweet (without being saccharine).
@BevBB Thanks for the links. I'll check 'em out.
When I will the lottery and become filthy stinking rich I'm going to open a SFR book store.
Some years back I had a fantasy about opening a bookstore like that and calling it...The Galaxy Express. Then I found out blogs are much more affordable!
I'm plumping for more cyborgs as an Alpha Male concept that may capture non scifi romance readers to the market.
My thoughts as well, which I should have articulated more clearly in the post. Maybe cyborg Alpha's with a rip-roaring sense of humor...?
perhaps the sci-fi Alpha hero needs to be a different species in itself
Lexxie, exactly. Makes me think of heroes like Flash Gordon, only with an update in terms of the science fictional and characterization elements. Oh, and Mike Donovan from V--say, he's kind of blond, right?!!
@Mfitz Well said regarding CONTACT's hero.
C.J. Cherryh has a bunch of blond heroes. She's not really doing SFR although sometimes there is romance in her plots and of the characters, like Bren Cameron have romantic stories in the old-fashion bigger-than-real-life meaning of the word.
I think Joanna Lindsey had some blond heroes, too. And I'm off to see if I can get Contact for the Kindle. I'm assuming it's not the one the movie with Jodie Foster was made from.
P.S. I've been seriously trying to decide what/who my hero is going to be in my next book and I think you guys gave me some great ideas. Especially since I need someone darker for this particular book.
BTW, you do amazing things with this blog, Heather.
Oh, and what the heck is up with Luke's expression in that poster?
Ditto what Jess said, you do an amazing job, Heather.
And all heroes should be Han. :)
"And all heroes should be Han. :)"
Except blond, right?
Just wanted to say that, as a woman, I love the science and the worldbuilding in stories. The lack of details in some books are what makes me stop reading them. To me the In Death series, and Jayne Castle's series had the same feel--more like paranormals than science fiction to me. I tried to read them but couldn't stay interested.
But I, too, came from the hard sf side and so find it difficult to find sfrs that are "hard" enough for me, no pun intended. LOL.
After reading this and other blogs, plus countless posts about futuristics/sfrs/speculative stories I'm starting to think I'm in the minority. That in order to write something that sells to more than my family I'll have to lighten up what I want to write quite a bit and that what I truly want to read isn't out there because not enough other people want to read it.
Maybe, I'll just have to adjust my thinking and accept that what I like is two separate beasts--SFR for the heavy relationship stories, and straight sf for my worldbuilding/science fixes. Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire series is wonderful to me, and would be the perfect SFR blend for me if the Romances were expanded by a hundred pages a book. Don't make the book shorter or take anything out, mind you, just ADD more detail of the relationship to the existing stories.
I also have the impression, incorrect or not, from these discussions that most of the desired "expansion" in SFR is to appeal to the Romance readership and that it's almost assumed the SF readers can't be attracted. I fully understand that the reason for this is probably because Romance readers buy more books, but for some reason this makes me a bit sad. Maybe it's because that emphasizes how what I truly crave to read is so unpopular it isn't meant to be. (Really long novels that blend hard sf and Romance replete with all the wonderful worldbuilding nitty gritty and technobabble.)
So far, Linnea's books and Catherine Asaro's books come closest to what I'm looking for. I may not always understand Catherine's physics but I love trying to figure it out by context.
I have to admit,I love Star Wars too and I think I could enjoy writing stories like that. I just don't see how one could write a story like it without including all the alien things or tech in the background. It's one thing to have a movie and *see* it all without needing explanations, but to read it you'd either have to mention the worldbuilding details or the reader would assume there's nothing there.
Susan's Contact did a terrific job of sneaking in some worldbuilding details.
Sorry to be longwinded. I'm on cold meds. LOL.
"After reading this and other blogs, plus countless posts about futuristics/sfrs/speculative stories I'm starting to think I'm in the minority. That in order to write something that sells to more than my family I'll have to lighten up what I want to write quite a bit and that what I truly want to read isn't out there because not enough other people want to read it."
There are books for you and a market for what you like. Linnea Sinclair can be found in the Romance aisles now. There is what we call 'Romantic Science Fiction,' which is what you're describing, I think. Have you read OUTBACK STARS? I did, but I heard the sequel was more romantic and haven't read that. It's shelved in regular Science Fiction.
Hi, Kimber. Thanks! I do have all of Linnea's books. I'm reading Downhome Zombie Blues now. And I have Outback Stars but haven't read it yet. I'll move it to the top of my pile.
Thanks again!
@Jess Thanks for your kind words. As for Luke, he looks rather constipated to me.
Thanks, Ella!
AnnaM, check out this article/rant (and the comments) on the topic of SF and the issues you observed (hard/literary SF with limited(?) audience vs. pop SF with wide appeal. Not sure I agree with everything but it brings up some valid & interesting points. I may blog about some of them.
just ADD more detail of the relationship to the existing stories.
That's what I'd like to see, too. See, if there were just more books published, we'd get this kind of variety! I second Kimber An's Outback Stars recommendation, and you might also enjoy Kristin Landon's trilogy that starts with THE HIDDEN WORLDS. Also, ENDLESS BLUE by Wen Spencer although I'll bet you've already read it.
Thanks, Heather. I'll read the article. I love Wen Spencer! Her Ukiah Oregon series was really good. I loved the blood mice.
I'll check out Kristin Landon's stories too.
In my post I didn't necessarily mean literary SF versus pop SF but rather that it seems the discussions seem to always have the undertone of toning down the sf to attract Romance readers, rather than leaving in the harder elements of sf AND blending in the Romance too--trying not to lighten either one. But leaving in the harder elements to attract the SF crowd as well.
I can't be the only one who wants all the details of both genres even if it means the novel is twice as long. Yes, I know this pipe-dream is unreasonable in that publishers don't want to print many 600 page books. I happen to like 600+ page books. LOL.
Interesting article you linked to above, Heather.
The comment by Paul Nicholas Boylan worried me: "... what you call science fiction was a product of a unique, limited period in western cultural history. That time has come and gone and science fiction is going with it. What you see as artistic degradation is nothing more than the genre dying."
If, as I see it, science fiction is the great "what if", this statement would only be true if people's imagination is dying or being constricted by reality. (Is it?)
And as for Lexie's comment: Alphas do bring with them more readers, but perhaps the sci-fi Alpha hero needs to be a different species in itself, his Alpha-ness dictated by the world/tech he so arrogantly resides in."
Bring on the cyborgs.
this statement would only be true if people's imagination is dying or being constricted by reality. (Is it?)
I think reports of SF's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
I can't be the only one who wants all the details of both genres even if it means the novel is twice as long
Well, count me in, so that makes two of us! Mainly, though, if enough publishers were releasing SFR, my hope is that we'd have both types of stories geared toward both types of readers. Digital mediums could conceivably fill some of the need for readers who want longer stories, although with erotica dominating that market I'm not sure they're willing to explore that just yet.
@Heather Another fabulous discussion for the Skiffy Rommer set. I must admit, like Katherine Allred I learned about many SFR books {like CLOSE ENCOUNTERS), authors and icons through this blog, even though I'm an avid SFR fan and writer. It's very difficult to find SFR books without having a site like The Galaxy Express dedicated to promoting and educating readers about our favorite subgenre. So kudos once again for all your efforts, Heather.
Quoted by ozambersand:
The comment by Paul Nicholas Boylan worried me: "... what you call science fiction was a product of a unique, limited period in western cultural history. That time has come and gone and science fiction is going with it. What you see as artistic degradation is nothing more than the genre dying."
I think it's quite the opposite. I think SF is a genre evolving, not dying, with the increasing popularity of SFR.
Quoted by ozombersand:
And as for Lexie's comment: Alphas do bring with them more readers, but perhaps the sci-fi Alpha hero needs to be a different species in itself, his Alpha-ness dictated by the world/tech he so arrogantly resides in."
Bring on the cyborgs.
The Vampire/Cyborg comparisons above really got me thinking. There is a definite correlation. Both contain superhuman traits but for very different reasons. But I'd hate to see a rash of cyborg stories in SFR the way the market has been flooded with so many *yawn* vampire stories. (Enough already, it's been done..and done..and DONE to death!) SFR gives so many options in terms of how technology can enhance human ability that it doesn't always have to be because the character is or becomes a cyborg. The possiblilities are endless. The element that (IMHO) differentiates SFR from other genres is the ability to break away from stereotypes and take the reader somewhere they haven't been before--emotionally or mentally or otherwise. Somewhere fresh and imaginative. In SFR the rules are that there are no rules. The sky is not the limit. :)
Thanks, Laurie! Good point about the possibilities being more than just cyborgs. There's supehero type characters (I believe A.J. Menden has a story along those lines), and genetically enhanced humans/humanoids, both of which alone offer myriad choices.
See how far behind I am? I've been reading my CP's latest, so I'm behind on blogs. Bad writer. No cookie.
I agree that the omega hero can work extremely well or SFR, where tech intersects so strongly with survival. The appeal of the Alpha, I think, is rooted strongly in the Darwinian appeal of a man that can take care of his partner. In that sense, the Omega hero can function just as effectively in an SFR as an Alpha because of the reliance on things other than muscle. Brains, experience, and sheer willingness to stick are worth a lot more in a SF world.
I agree that character has to be the cornerstone, but that is true of all romance - it is, IMHO, a requirement of romance. If I am not invested in the characters, I don't care about their relationship and the romance falls flat.
Well said, Elise--thanks for commenting!
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