Saturday, August 1, 2015

SFR News & Links For August 2015


Make your August extra fun with these new sci-fi romances!

New Releases

LUMINOUS - A.E. Ash

Entry number 3333. Vanguard Station Reckoning. All systems stable. Nothing new to report.

It’s been nine years since the war started; nine years since she has received acknowledgement or contact from anyone. Marooned alone on proto-colony planet Hestia, aging xeno-geologist Jyothi Agarwal still continues her routine transmissions in the hopes that someone, somewhere, is listening.

Then one day, out of nowhere, a brilliant light illuminates Hestia and something falls from the sky.

In the west, he wakes up in pain and alone. There is light everywhere. A new sense of weight. A broken body. Words. Knowing. And he realizes that against all odds, he is inexplicably alive.
On a planet far removed from everything, the last human and a fallen star find companionship in each other–and perhaps something more. Something beautiful, shining, lasting. Something luminous.

THE ENVOY - Ros Baxter

New in the fresh, sexy world of The Seek: he can’t trust anyone, so why should he trust his heart?

The universe is a very dangerous place when there’s a price on your head.

The year is 2098, and a quiet revolution has begun in the space stations of New Earth. The ruling Council has dug in to fight for a new home on Eden 13, but a group of rebels is working from the inside to support the embattled Haitites.

Reetor is twenty years old and a deserter from the elite Avengers. He has joined The Backlash, and become an outcast, hunted by the Enforcers. On the outside, he has learned that his fears about New Earth are well founded.  He has finally found a mission that matters, but he’s living on borrowed time. The Backlash desperately needs friends on the inside and Reetor’s role is to connect with the rebels and get them the help they need.

But something deadly and surprising threatens to disrupt his mission – a lethal bounty hunter with a body made for sin and a heart of pure ice. 

LOVE ME, BITE ME - S.B.K. Burns

[Heather's note: this story features an 18-year old heroine]

High school senior, Chastity, is left in a human foster family with no memory of her past and never told about her roots in the psychically powerful Golden Clan, good-guy cousins to the vampires.

Sensitive about her looks and part of the out crowd, she’s compelled to find out who she really is. She starts by psychically traveling into the past to ask her human father about her roots, rescuing him from the brutal Tanzanian gangs.

Having learned to use her powers to reach her aunt, an elder in an alternate arctic universe, she discovers the Goldens want her to join them in meditation, a ritual that replenishes their psychic powers.

Chastity has other ideas. She’s got a crush on Zander the quarterback of her high school football team who, once he graduates, has his heart set on joining the Dacon Clan of real vampires. She wants to bond with him in the ancient Golden ways, but these uncivilized habits have become taboo. She has to practice the jump and bite, never having learned, first, how to kiss.

Comic-Con is fast approaching. The Dacon Clan’s Vampire Comic Booth is where Zander will be changed. If Chastity can get to him fast enough and learn how to use her small fangs to bond with him, she might be able to prevent him from losing his soul. But she needs lots of practice and who better to practice with than a Zander from a parallel universe of the future.

LIBERATION'S KISS – Wendy Lynn Clark

The Old Empire has crumbled. Strong factions prey on the weak, and strongest of all are those who ally themselves with the mysterious Robotics Faction…

Cressida Sarit Antiata is twelve years old when her diplomat parents learn that her name has appeared on the Robotics Faction Kill List, a classified document of dangerous individuals marked for execution. Calling in all of their connections, her parents smuggle her to a small but wealthy ore-producing moon where she grows up in anonymous luxury, secure that her data is safe.

Until now.

Xan | Arch is an x-class android with one mission: execute the target n81, also known as Cressida Sarit Antiata. Although he possesses biological skin, hair, fingernails, and eyes – and extensive conditioning to pass as a sweating, swearing, rough-and-tumble everyman - beneath the surface, he is all machine.

When he arrives at the moon, something unexpected is waiting for him. Something that circumvents his execution order and forces him to protect Cressida instead. Something that gives him the free will to question his makers, control his destiny, and awaken his heart.

Together, they might escape their destinies and forge an entirely new future.
If they can survive...

FINAL PROTOCOL - J.C. Daniels

Tip #1: Don’t get on her bad side. Tip #2: There’s no good side.

Her name is Silence.  If she was ever known by any other name, she doesn’t remember.
She is a killer.  If she was ever anything else, she doesn’t remember.

She has an owner. If she was ever free…well, that she does remember. She was free and then somebody gave her to a madman to pay a debt that wasn’t hers. She’s his toy, his pet…and his trained killer. She kills at his whim or she dies.

She has a target. Her so-called owner…the man who makes her life a living hell.  If she could kill anybody in the universe, it would be him.  But he holds her life in his hands.

And she has a wish—to find a man she barely remembers. A man she knows she once loved.  The man who betrayed her and stole away her freedom.

With one final target between her and the tantalizing promise of freedom, she moves in for the kill. There’s one problem. There’s something strangely familiar about her mark. Something that echoes in the void where love used to live.

Warning: One woman with a mission, one evil bastard who lies as often as he breathes, and a man who’ll stop at nothing to find what he lost. Be warned…some questionable consent lies within.

MY ALIEN STEPBROTHER: Complete Series - Ella Drake

Darenda Belafonte wanted to ditch her mother’s wedding, but the painful night made an enticing turn when she ran into her ex at the hotel bar. An alien who’d left her to fulfill his arranged marriage contract, Luke Noon was a distraction she knew was bad for her but one she took anyway. After all, he hadn’t met his fiancé yet. One last time couldn’t hurt. Anything to not think about what her mother had done. After a night blistering the sheets, Darenda and Luke are shocked to find their parents had married in a diplomatic arrangement to join the two worlds.

She fully intended to send him packing. Soon as she figured out how to stop landing in bed with him.

STARLIGHT (Burn For Home #1) - Ash Elko

Theresa burns to be back in the arms of the man she loves.  But nothing is that simple when traveling across the stars…

Earth is a pale blue dot in the night sky for Theresa.  She yearns to return home and create a new life with her beloved.  But she has to get to him first.

Rocketing across the stars, Theresa grapples with the collision of past, present, and future.  Humans may have conquered outer space, but love truly conquers all.

Blending romance, science fiction, and erotica with a dash of adventure, Starlight is the first story in the Burn For Home novella series.  Burn for Home Part 2: Firelight and Part 3: Moonlight are both available online.  

OURS TO SAVE (ES Siren #9) – Shona Husk

Micah Stone sees Solitaire as a fresh start. With twenty years’ experience in the agriculture industry, he hopes the colony won’t make the same mistakes that were made on Earth.
To most people, Micah looks like a member of the well educated elite, but he’s really a Gaia activist. Not only did he lie about his daughter’s age to get her on board, but his partner is one of the most dangerous women on Siren.

Felicity Valez was once an Army explosives expert, and she was also a member of the radical Gaia Movement. After being sentenced to life for sedition, she wound up on Siren. To protect her partner and daughter while they’re on board, she needs to make sure that no one links the family together.

But her liaisons with Micah have been noted. And when her daughter’s life is threatened Felicity will do the one thing she promised Micah she’d never do again: rig an explosive that will kill.

No one on Siren is safe.

SUCKER PUNCH (An Uneasy Future #2) – Pauline Baird Jones

Vi never liked math and aftermath isn’t floating her boat either….

Hurricane Wu Tamika Felipe has moved north. Yeah, the storm almost killed Detective Violet Baker, but it also blew some romance her way. Her uptight partner, Dzholh “Joe” Ban!drn actually kissed her.

But there's no time for any follow-up kissing, much to Vi’s regret. They are hunting something very bad. Something that tried to kill them while they were dirt side during the storm.

And has now escaped up into New Orleans New.

It’s not business as usual, though there is some deja vu in there, when Vi and Joe get sent to a FEMA camp to check out a dead body.

Until that body turns into a trail that might lead to the evil it. Or to its next victim.

Just when Vi thinks things are crapeau enough, the MITSC (Men In Top Secret Color) show up and take over their case. Are they after Joe or the evil it?

Before they can find out, the evil it lures them into a trap.

It’s ‘it’ versus them and it hasn’t lost yet….

CITY OF SIMPLICITY - Rae Lori

Citizen 52701 once had a life that is now a distant memory in her dreams. All that remains is the name she carried over from the time before the change: Lyn. As a by-the-book law enforcer of a newly controlled futuristic society, everything is available at one’s fingertips. Except the one thing that matters most of all.

A renegade is on the loose, moving amidst the shadows to stay alive. His one goal is to find the wife he lost when the change took over the city. The problem? She is one of the enforcers eliminating renegades trying to escape the system’s control. He’ll risk everything to try and bring her back to him. No matter who or what he has to take down to do the job.

City of Simplicity is an 11k bite-sized romantic sci-fi novelette. Short enough to consume on your coffee or lunch break!

SPACE COWBOYS & INDIANS (Cosmic Cowboys Series #1) – Lisa Medley

How can the chance of a lifetime go so horribly wrong?

Mining Engineer Cole Hudson signed up for NASA astronaut training, but after washing out short of getting his gold wings, he retreats to Alaska where he stakes out a gold claim. When billionaire entrepreneur Duncan Janson offers him an opportunity to join a mining team on an asteroid, Cole jumps at the chance.

But nothing is as it seems. Former NASA reject and rival classmate, Tessa Hernandez, is also a member of the team, and from the beginning of the mission test flight, things go wrong. They soon discover they’re not the only ones on the asteroid. As they try to escape, they are pulled through a wormhole and back to the early 1800s New Mexico desert where aliens and Apaches may be the least of their problems.

GRAND MASTER'S GAME (Grand Master's Trilogy #2) – Aurora Springer

Spin across the galaxy as Violet and her Grand Master hunt their enemies. Cracks in the portal web threaten galactic civilization, and suspicions fall on the mysterious Grand Masters with their immense psychic powers. Once, there were twelve Grand Masters, humans and aliens, on the Council. Now there are eleven. One was killed when the young pawn, Violet, rescued her Grand Master, Athanor, from the Red Queen’s dungeon. The Red Queen fled the fight and now she lurks out of sight, regenerating her energies.

Athanor devises a risky plan to expose his enemies on the Council and force the Red Queen into the open. His strategy will employ Violet’s empathic skills as his secret weapon. Meanwhile, she wrestles with her erratic talents and doubts about their unequal partnership. In their search for revenge, they contend with the portal crisis, psychic traps and hostile aliens. In the inevitable battle of Grand Masters, Violet and Athanor will face their worst nightmares. What is the sacrifice for victory?

THE ADVENTURES OF CASSIUS FLYNN AND MOLLY MCGUIRE (Reapers #3) – Eleri Stone

A Reapers novella

Cassius Flynn is a smuggler. An outlaw. A scoundrel. Charming, devilishly handsome in a maverick sort of way and fiendishly clever to boot. He's also the only man Molly McGuire has ever loved.

Molly'd left him a year ago. Stolen his airship, broken his heart and made him look like a damn fool. Still, he's rushed to her rescue, storming into Reaper territory to snatch her out from under the repulsive bounty hunter who brought her in.

High above the plains, up among the clouds in the most rarefied Scraper city of them all, a ruthless statesman has stolen everything Cassius considers important. And without Molly, without her quick hands, sharp mind and pretty face, he doesn't stand a chance of getting it back...

AN ALIEN TO LOVE (boxed set of 1Night Stand stories) - Jessica E. Subject

Five HOT 1Night Stand stories about sexy heroes from other planets.

What do a librarian, a nurse, a director’s assistant, a housekeeper, and an orphan have in common? They all end up spending an evening with a gorgeous stranger. But, will one night lead to more, or will the women end up running away when they learn their sexy suitor comes from another planet? Find out in these five sensual 1Night Stand stories by sci-fi romance author, Jessica E. Subject.

MATRIARCH: ELIZA’S REVENGE - Susan McDonough-Wachtman

Winga married Jakor to escape her restrictive home planet, Gaia, which was settled by Earthwomen.

Winga wants to experience other ways of life, so she defies her culture and her mother, to marry an offworld man and leave Gaia. Unfortunately, Jakor dies on their honeymoon in what she is told is an accident.

Captain Rifkin Lile is told by his superior officer to marry Winga in order to gain entry to the planet and continue Jakor’s investigation.

Rif and Winga have to work out their relationship, pick their way through enormous cultural differences, figure out exactly what is going on and why, and determine what to do. If their relationship can withstand the strain, they will make revolutionary changes to society on Gaia.

TRAITOR (Maelstrom Chronicles #2) - Jody Wallace

Captain Nikolas EstherVorn is a traitor. Or so it was decreed after Niko disobeyed protocol while trying to save Earth from other-dimensional creatures. Stuck in a prison cell, the last thing he needs is to be in close proximity to sexy-as-sin Dr. Sarah CallenJoseph. Not with him damn near ready to break out just to get to her.

Niko's desire isn't quite his own…and Sarah can prove it. He—along with the other soldiers on the disastrous mission—were drugged with some kind of toxin. Niko has no clue how the drug got into his body or why, but Sarah suspects there’s a link between the toxin and the fertility crisis of Shipborn humans.

To investigate is forbidden. But as lust becomes something deeper, binding them together in a way neither expected, Niko and Sarah must battle time—and their superiors—to uncover the secret that could save humanity...or destroy it.

SHADES OF TREASON (An Anomaly Novel #1) - Sandy Williams

Ash would have given her life to save her teammates. Instead, they gave their lives to save hers.

Lieutenant Ramie Ashdyn is an anomaly, a person whose genetics makes her stronger and smarter than the average human. She’s pledged her life to protect the Coalition, an alliance of thirteen planetary systems, but when a top secret operation turns deadly, she’s charged with treason and the brutal executions of her teammates.

The Coalition needs the information Ash’s team stole on their last mission, so they send in Commander Rhys “Rest in Peace” Rykus to get it. He’s the man who’s responsible for turning Ash into an elite soldier... and he’s a man who isn’t, never was, and never will be in love with the woman he trained. Or so he tells himself.

Ash wants nothing more than to clear her name and be the woman her former instructor wants her to be, but the enemy who killed her teammates did more than frame her for treason and murder: they telepathically silenced her mind, preventing her from saying anything that might point to the truth about what happened.

Now Ash is trapped and set to be executed, the truth dying with her. Unless she can prove her innocence. But taking that path could destroy the Coalition she’s sworn to preserve and protect...

GAME OF THE RED KING (Once Upon a Red World #3) - Jael Wye

On a ship sailing to undreamed shores...

Martian doctor Sita Chandra left her rich and powerful lover Max Ross years ago to protect their child from his enemies, never thinking she'd see him again. But now she and Max are stuck together on a space ship traveling from Earth back home to Mars, and the passion between them is as hot as ever before--and just as dangerous.

Max has never forgotten Sita, or forgiven her for breaking his heart. Now that the beautiful, infuriating woman is back in his life, he can't lose her and his family again. But the shadows that darkened their past together may yet destroy their future.

When a madman targets Max for a diabolical experiment, threatening the lives of everyone on the ship, it will take all the skill and all the heart Sita and Max possess to survive his deadly game.

Forthcoming

ATROPHY – Jess Anastasi (release date TBA)

The author shared the blurb to her forthcoming sci-fi romance, so I thought I'd give it a signal boost:

Tannin Everette has spent twelve years living on the prison planet of Erebus, framed as a teenager for a murder he didn’t commit. When a non-government sanctioned ship, the Imojenna, captained by ex-war hero Rian Sherron, lands for emergency repairs, Tannin takes his chance to escape. But after Tannin bumps into Zahli, sister of the Imojenna’s captain, right and wrong are no longer so clear. Zahli is warm, caring and affectionate. And above all, she believes his story and agrees to help him.

Zahli has never met anyone like Tannin. She cannot believe the intelligent, expressive man could be capable of committing any crime that deserved the punishment of life in a literal hell. Nonetheless, agreeing to help him and keeping him on board creates complication after complication. The government will pursue him to the far reaches of the universe because no one has ever escaped from Erebus and lived to talk about it. Besides that, her growing feelings for him cloud her every judgment and put her in a precarious position with her brother. When Tannin discovers the truth of what’s really going on in the dark corners of the universe--shape-shifting aliens infiltrating the government and military--he can't discount the truth he's seen with his own eyes. More shocking, Rian declares they need his help and leaves him with an impossible choice; if Tannin agrees to stay on as a crew member, he can never be with Zahli.

All Tannin wanted was to escape the fate of wasting away on a prison world, now, he has no choice but to take a stand against a unknown enemy in a shadow war the universe can't even see. One that could destroy freedom as man has always known it.

SFR in Audio

Deborah A. Bailey's sci-fi romance novel HATHOR LEGACY: OUTCAST is now available as an audio book. Voice artist Kristin James performed the narration and she did a lovely job. You can check it out on Audible and it's also available on Amazon and iTunes.
On the planet Hathor, a powerful group called the Guardians serves as the security force for Novacorp, the corporation that runs Hathor with its ruthless monopoly. Nadira, as one of the most powerful Guardians, is expected to use her intuition and telekinetic powers to keep the capital city safe from thieves and intruders. 

Jonathan Keel, son of a mine CEO on the nearby planet, Astarte, is wealthy, privileged and used to getting what he wants. When his father goes missing after a robbery and explosion at the mine, he defies the authorities and heads to Hathor to search for him and for the robbers. 

Security is on high alert, and Nadira is charged with protecting Jon. She rescues him from a vicious attack and discovers that the Guardians have another agenda that has nothing to do with solving the crime. 

Jonathan finds evidence of his father's possible involvement while his attraction to Nadira forces her to confront all she has known about being a Guardian, especially the rule to put duty before her personal feelings. 

Struggling with their growing desires, and chased by company security, Jon and Nadira flee the city. But solving the crime leads them to endure betrayals from the people closest to them, as secrets are revealed that not only link their pasts but also threaten to destroy Jon's family and separate him from Nadira forever. 

Swirl Awards finalists

The Swirl Awards 2015 finalists have been announced and I'd like to congratulate author P.J. Dean for landing on not one, but two lists: 1) for her historical romance KINDRED, AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY and 2) for her sci-fi romance PARADOX (The Felig Chronicles #4) under the Sci-fi/Fantasy category. Woo-hoo!

If you'll recall, PARADOX also landed an SFR Galaxy Award earlier this year. Must be a sign! Say, let's revisit the cover and blurb for PARADOX. :D

Taken! Tina has been taken by Felig from the home she and Nate shared and had believed Felig-proof. Just when the couple had smoothed out and polished the jagged edges of their relationship. Just when everything had fit together so perfectly. Nate is on a mission now and is learning nowhere is safe and no one untouchable. And most importantly, that allies can be found in the most unexpected of places.

Possible SFR film?

CRUMBS looks like an intriguing film, although its surrealist nature makes it difficult to determine if descriptions of it as a "science fiction romance" film with a "love story" is the same as or similar to genre romance SFR. Either way, it looks really interesting.

I rounded up the trailer (which I watched) and a few reviews (which I didn't read to avoid possible spoilers) about CRUMBS so you can investigate it as well.



CRUMBS (2015 - Amharic) (Via Culture Crypt)

Author interview 

Veronica Scott of USA Today's Sci-Fi Encounters interviewed CHAOS STATION authors Kelly Jensen and Jenn Burke. 

Authors blogging 

Lisa Medley guest blogged at Pauline Baird Jones' joint with Why Lisa Medley Wrote Space Cowboys & Aliens. 

Author Aliette de Bodard wrote a brilliant article about Chosen Ones, Specialness and the Narrative of the One. It examines the exclusionary nature of "chosen one" narratives in fiction as well as its corollary in real life, namely,
It’s the one woman being quoted whenever people are making list of women in Science Fiction and Fantasy, which almost always include Ursula Le Guin and no one else (see the male respondents in Clarkesworld’s survey of writerly influences). It’s the one POC/the one queer/the one marginalised person whom everyone thinks of when asked to think of POCs/queer/marginalised–and it’s great that people are thinking of them! However, there are many many more marginalised people working in genre, and all the rest tend to get forgotten while people feel quite happy about their reading or recommending habits because they included a marginalised person.
Her article resonated with me because of my belief in the literary value of sci-fi romance couples joining forces as a heroic unit, a concept I've blogged about periodically (for example, here, here, and here). SFR is one of many ways speculative and fantasy stories can present a much-needed alternative to the lone hero narrative. 

Authors signing

Attention Florida residents! Author Charlee Allden (STEALING MERCURY) has an upcoming book signing. Per her newsletter:
In person: I've been invited to attend the 2nd Annual Romance Expo in Mount Dora, FL on August 15, 2015. This is a free library event from 10 am to 1 pm with twenty authors signing books and I'm told it is a fun time for all. If you are in the area I would love to meet you! 
RWA and diversity 

Two must-reads came on the heels of RWA's 2015 National Conference:

1) Author Suleikha Snyder wrote RWA15 in NYC: A Tale of Two Conferences, an account of her experience attending the 2015 RWA National Conference. She touched upon the outsider/insider experience as well as some of the issues facing authors of color in the romance genre. I was appalled to hear she'd been "side-eyed" in an elevator as well as other microaggressions:
And then there was the other RWA I'd found myself in...
The one where publishers still don't quite know what to do with multicultural and queer romance.

The one where self-publishing is something you do because the Big Five haven't yet shined their light upon you.

The one where you feel as though your presence is just barely being tolerated, and these other women are indulging you as long as you stay quiet and don't draw too much attention.

This other conference was a convergence of microaggressions. From being side-eyed in elevators to having us confused for each other — Falguni Kothari and Alisha Rai are not the same person, FYI — to being told that diverse books were not a priority for Pocket/Gallery...there was a thread of something that was almost like resentment. “Why do we have to talk about diversity?” “Why are there so many of you here?” “My God, can't you all be quiet and go away, so we can go back to the way it was before?”

I'm sorry our brownness and our queerness and our hair and our loudness have sullied the decorum and dignity of RWA. Except, wait, I'm really not.
2) Author Rebekah Weatherspoon Storified the tweets she wrote about her experience at RWA. She reported having positive interactions and conversations about the need to diversify romance, but also a number of "dirty looks". Per her reports and others, panel attendees were leaving diversity panels and demonstrating other kinds of resistance to the concept of diversity. That kind of behavior is unfortunate, and it's also an indication that the conversation needs to keep going.

The experience of the above authors others is a huge reason sci-fi romance needs to be more responsible about having and welcoming diverse authors and characters. Romance as well as RWA has a long way to go in terms of inclusiveness, and it will take a big wave of activism to make that happen. But we'll make progress, in time.

Promotion opportunity for WoC romance authors

Rebekah Weatherspoon's #WoCinRomance kindly shared the news about Rae Lori's new release, CITY OF SIMPLICITY. So if you're a WoC of SFR with a new release, let Ms. Weatherspoon know!

Educational article about disability in the Victorian era

Via Natalie Luhrs' site, I learned about a heartbreaking and eye-opening article called Healing Spas and Ugly Clubs: How Victorians Taught Us to Treat People With Disabilities. This is a crucial article for authors to read because it delves into how the Victorian era prejudicial mindset toward disabilities haunts us today:
“We still have the overcoming and compensation narratives today, and they aren’t very helpful,” Bourrier says. “The more you look at the Victorian era in the present day, the more you see the way we regard people with disabilities today is not that different. What’s so interesting about the Americans with Disabilities Act is that it gives disability rights to people who have all sorts of conditions—like morbid obesity, clinical depression, ulcerative colitis, work injuries, or heart disease—that we wouldn’t necessarily traditionally see as a disability. It’s anything that impairs your day-to-day life. Most people eventually have a condition like that.”
Alexander Graham Bell's stance on sign language is particularly enraging.
Articles like this one point to why it's so important to portray disability with compassion and normalize it in a futuristic setting. SFR may be a niche genre, but it still represents an opportunity to help reshape a harmful cultural narrative. 

ICYMI


At Strange Flesh Press, I tagged Lise MacTague's DEPTHS OF BLUE (On Deception's Edge #1).
 
I blogged about the glories of lesbian sci-fi romance at Heroes and Heartbreakers and crammed in as many titles as I could! In case you missed it, here's the link: Ladies Night: Adventures in Lesbian Sci-Fi Romance.

Also at Heroes and Heartbreakers, I presented Ten Things You Should Know About Eve Langlais, author of the Cyborgs: More Than Machines erotic sci-fi romance series.

Possible steampunk romance opportunity 

Editor Sarah Hans put out a call for steampunk short story submissions and it seems this could be an opportunity to submit a steampunk romance/romantic steampunk short. Ms. Hans is specifically seeking diverse stories:
What I’m looking for:
Your story should take place in a non-Western culture. I’d love to have a variety of stories that take place in the diverse cultures of Central/South America, Asia, and Africa.
Your story should contain a character with at least one exceptionality. It should be a major element of the story, providing the character with extra challenges but maybe also special insight or abilities. I want to explore how steampunk technology changes the lives of people with exceptionalities, for better or for worse.  I’d love to see characters who are also members of other marginalized groups (such as LGBTQ characters).
Your story should contain steampunk elements. I get a lot of submissions with steampunk exoskeletons and dirigibles, but not many with spaceships or submarines. I’d really like authors to stretch themselves and instead of just writing alternate history, set the story in a parallel universe or on another planet. Read Tobias Buckell’s excellent story “Love Comes to Abyssal City” for an example.
If your story lacks one of these three elements, it will very likely be rejected, even if it’s an excellent story.
There are other important instructions, so read the full submission guidelines. 

For even more SFR news and releases info, download your free copy of Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly #7!

Now I turn the mike over to you. Got any SFR news/links to share?

Joyfully yours,
Heather