Thursday, December 29, 2011

Friends-To-Lovers/Reunited Lovers In Science Fiction Romance

So I read SLIP POINT by Karalynn Lee because it has, you know, a space pirate heroine! You would think that nothing would distract me from all of the space pirate derring-do in this sci-fi romance novella, but by golly, something did.

Even as the heroine, Shay, was pushing ahead on her mission, I started noticing how strong the friends-to-lovers/reunited lovers theme is in this story. It’s mentioned in the blurb, so I knew to expect it, but one can never tell how prominent an element will be until finishing a story. In SLIP POINT, that aspect turns out to play a significant role.

Shay and Jayce are friends and then lovers before the start of the story. In fact, they meet as kids. I thought the friends-to-lovers and reunited lovers aspects of the story were executed well. They had good chemistry and it made me think I wouldn’t mind reading more SFR stories with that kind of angle. It's an effective shortcut to developing the romance, particularly when a story has an external plot or detailed worldbuilding in the mix.

Then I began thinking it’d be nice to compile a list of science fiction romances that already feature friends-to-lovers or reunited lovers. There are also stories that involve heroes and heroines who knew each other previous to the story’s beginning, but weren’t a couple or friends. That's a slightly different category, but I included a few titles for the fun of it.

Here are the science fiction romance friends-to-lovers/reunited lovers stories that I know about, along with a few helpful tags so you can prioritize according to taste:

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The "SFR Pitch Tournament " at SFR Brigade

New science fiction romance event alert!


The SFR Brigade has launched "The Great 2012 SFR Pitch Tournament." This event is described as "A fun competition for writers of SFR" and the goal is to "To help SFR Brigade writers judge what pitches work best to hook readers. As a bonus, readers will discover some great SFR titles." Anyone can vote as well as provide feedback on the pitches.

You can read the complete details at SFR Brigade. The tournament is open for entries, and you can check out them out here.

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Thursday, December 22, 2011

"12 Days of Geek Girl Christmas" At Geek Girl Underground

Now this is what I call celebrating the holidays geek girl-style: the "12 Days of Geek Girl Christmas" feature at Heidi Ruby Miller's Geek Girl Underground. Heidi has crafted a righteous reinvention of a classic holiday song using pop culture ingredients that only geek girls can cook up.

She assembled a group of geek girls (including me) to supply verses and each unique contribution is presented in the post. But there's more, much much more!

Heidi Ruby Miller also sings a rendition of "12 Days of Geek Girl Christmas" and you can watch the video right now! (Scroll to bottom of post.)

Happy Holidays!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

The "2012 SFR Reading Challenge" Is A Go!


Science fiction romance blogger, fan, and author Rae Lori has announced a fantastic event: the 2012 SFR Reading Challenge:

We're doing it again!

2012 is already gearing up to be a crazy year and we're taking it to the romance of outer space, cyberspace, the alternate past and beyond with the 2012 SFR Reading Challenge.
The event will run from January 1, 2012 until December 31, 2012. Sign up now and pledge your mad SFR reading mojo!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

UNACCEPTABLE RISK Winner

The winner of Jeanette Grey's UNACCEPTABLE risk is Meagan!

Congratulations! Please email me at sfrgalaxy "at" gmail.com to claim your prize (subject line: Risk).

A hearty thanks to everyone who entered the contest.

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

TIME AFTER TIME: A Classic, Super Fun Romantic SF Film

Let me just say that I’m really enjoying Amazon Prime. All of those thousands of films and television shows included in the price? Wow. While watching video content online doesn’t compare to IMAX or Blu-ray, it’s perfect for those times when I’m winding down for the day and need a little random entertainment.

I’d already discovered the film OUTERWORLD and was hoping I might find something else along those lines. Luckily, it didn’t take me long to discover TIME AFTER TIME (1979). Directed by Nicholas Meyer and starring Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, and Mary Steenburgen, TIME AFTER TIME has a high concept premise:

H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.

Many of you have probably already seen this film. As an SF/F fan, I’m not sure why I was so late to the party. I’d encountered the film’s poster many times throughout the years, so it’s not as though I’d never heard of it. Maybe there were too many other films competing for my attention. Anyway, when I happened upon it while scrolling down the list of SF films offered through Amazon Prime, I decided to watch it.

The steampunkish poster design drew me in and I’m sure I was seeing it in a new light given that I’ve got a lot more steampunk under my belt than as a youth. Plus, I’ve always liked actor Mary Steenburgen’s work, so when I noticed her name in the description, I immediately wondered if the film had a romantic component.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Sci-Fi Romance Titles in RT Book Reviews' "Foreword: The Books Before The Buzz"

Color me "Whoa!" In the latest installment of "Forewords: The Books Before The Buzz" at the RT Book Reviews blog, is a mention of THE WATCHMAKER'S LADY, my forthcoming erotic steampunk romance from Red Sage (I announced the contract here).

There's also an interesting looking YA SF title mentioned, namely, WRECKED by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner. The description implies a romance, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is of the Happily Ever After Kind. You can read more about the book in their announcement post.

Thanks for your continued support of sci-fi romance, RT Book Reviews!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Call For 2012 Science Fiction Romance Releases

Hello again, dear passengers! I’m gearing up for my annual Science Fiction Romance New Release Roundup. This is a list of forthcoming science fiction romance releases that I will post on January 1, 2012. I’ll be updating the list throughout the year, so authors, no worries if you don’t have anything releasing soon or can’t yet announce your title.

Once posted, I’ll place a link to the list on my sidebar so you can check back for updates.

Below is a quick and dirty (and long!) list of the titles I already know about in no particular order:

Saturday, December 17, 2011

2011 SFR Holiday Blitz Winners

The 2011 SFR Holiday Blitz winners for The Galaxy Express are as follows:

Kaye Manro - Celestial Seduction

LMasset - Once Upon a Time in Space

Congratulations, winners! To claim your prize, please email me at sfrgalaxy "at" gmail.com. Subject line: Blitz 2011. Include your preferred format (PDF, ePub, or Mobi).

Thanks so much to everyone who entered, and for your enthusiasm!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Interview With UNACCEPTABLE RISK Author Jeanette Grey, Plus Giveaway

Lately I’ve been feeling as though I’m standing before one of those all-dessert buffets where I can gorge on delectable, sugar-spiked treats. That’s because I’ve had a lot of “punks” at my fingertips in the past few months: steampunk, biopunk, and, of course, cyberpunk.

The newest cyberpunk romance addition to the science fiction romance family is Jeanette Grey’s UNACCEPTABLE RISK, out now from Samhain Publishing. Congratulations on your release, Ms. Grey!

Here’s the story blurb:

She may learn to live for love…if vengeance doesn’t kill her first.

Plix spends her lonely, gritty life trying to solve the mysteries her father left behind. Armed with a variety of cybernetic enhancements and a talent for getting into places she shouldn’t be, she searches for clues to his murder—and who’s responsible for poisoning her city.

Waking up on a street corner with her brain wiring fried to a crisp, she figures she must have gotten close this time. There’s only one man she trusts to pull her back from the brink: a tuner who can retrieve the evidence hidden deep in the recesses of her mind. A man she dares not let too close to her heart.

When Edison downloads a secret SynDate schematic from Plix’s burnt-out circuitry, he knows with dreadful finality that nothing—not even the fiery kiss he’s been holding back for years—will stop her from pursuing her quest past the point of insanity.

All he can do, as he helps her plan her final mission, is ease her pain, watch her back…and hope one of them doesn’t pay with their lives.

***

Jeanette Grey recently launched a blog tour and her stop today is here at The Galaxy Express. In addition to participating in an interview, she has put aside a copy of UNACCEPTABLE RISK for one lucky Galaxy Express passenger! Details for the giveaway follow the interview.

Let’s jack in!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Jack & Sophie Meet…Sophie and Jack

As if science fiction romance weren’t a small enough niche to begin with, we already have some character name drama brewing.

Back in May of 2011, my steampunk romance short story, “Steambot Rampage,” was released in L&L Dreamspell’s DREAMSPELL STEAMPUNK Anthology, Volume 1 (along with stories by Pauline Baird Jones, Chris Samson, and Linda Houle). The hero is named Jack and the heroine’s name is Sophie. Then, in November, author Melisse Aires had a new steampunk romance release called STARLANDER’S MYTH (Whiskey Creek Press's Torrid). And what did she name her hero and heroine?

Jack and Sophie, respectively.

So I’m like, what is going on here?! ;) How could two stories released within months of each other feature main characters with the same names? Is this a statistical anomaly or something? Is it possible that Melisse Aires and I were separated at birth?

I’m a fan of steampunk romance so naturally, I knew I had to not only read STARLANDER’S MYTH for pleasure, but also investigate what else is going on in that story. Would I find any other unexpected surprises? ;)

Let’s investigate!

Monday, December 12, 2011

QUEENIE'S BRIGADE At Library Journal & SFR Events Roundup

I've got a few fun things to share. First, some exciting news:

In Librarian's Best Books of 2011: Ebook Romance at Library Journal, Marlene Harris (Reading Reality blogger and creator of Ebook Review Central) blogged about "the top five 2011 ebook romances that stuck with her in a year of memorable love stories..." One of the books is QUEENIE'S BRIGADE, my science fiction romance novella from Red Sage. Needless to say, I'm incredibly delighted and honored.


Ms. Harris has been an enthusiastic supporter of SFR, so please read her friendly and informative posts and reviews at Reading Reality!

Second, ongoing events and giveaways:

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Welcome to the 2011 SFR Holiday Blitz!

SFR Holiday Blitz icon by Kanaxa
It’s the most wonderful time of the year—the time that a group of authors and bloggers join forces so you can enter for a chance to win a variety of free science fiction romance ebooks!

This year, all the prizes are ebooks so you can load up your e-reader for the holidays!

Here’s how it works:

Saturday, December 10, 2011

AZ Central Profiles TOUCHED BY AN ALIEN Author Gini Koch

There's a fun and informative article about Gini Koch's (ALIEN PROLIFERATION) path to publication at AZ Central: "Alien" author offers tips to aspiring novelists (via SF Signal). In the article, Ms. Koch reveals "the secret to getting published."

Hmm, I wonder if that would have anything to do with writing science fiction romance stories...!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Steampunk Romance Watch: December 2011


It’s steampunk romance watch time! These are posts where I cover what’s happening in the steampunk romance genre. My last one was in November 2010, so this one is long overdue.

Quite a few releases came out recently and more are on the horizon. For this segment, I decided to focus on steampunk romance releases I haven’t already blogged about or covered, which means all except one of the titles below were released in the latter half of 2011 (for a complete list of steampunk romance titles from this year, see my 2011 Science Fiction Romance New Release Roundup). I also included commentary/tags with some of the titles.

Whether you’re traveling by airship, steam carriage, or clockwork horse, there’s sure to be a steampunk romance—or three—that you’ll enjoy in this batch.

Steampunk romance anthologies

Heidi Ruby Miller On Science Fiction Romance

I was scrolling through various Twitter feeds last night and discovered a post about science fiction romance called Heidi Ruby Miller's GEEK GIRL UNDERGROUND - Set Your Phasers to Love!.

It's a fun overview of the subgenre and so I wanted to pass it on!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

THE WATCHMAKER’S LADY: My Victorian Sex Doll Erotic Steampunk Romance

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve contracted a new sci-fi romance with Red Sage Publishing! Specifically, THE WATCHMAKER’S LADY, an erotic steampunk romance novella.

Here’s the basic premise:

A watchmaker in 1840 New England falls in love with a beautiful clockwork automaton, but how long before the townspeople discover his forbidden affair?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Two More Sci-Fi Romances To Add To Your TBR List

BRAIDED SILK by Ella Drake and FAR TOO HUMAN by Anitra Lynn McLeod came out recently and I wanted to let you know about them. I wished I had blogged about them in a more timely manner; however I will comfort myself with the rationalization that science fiction romance is growing so much that one person cannot possibly keep track of them all. :P

Entangled Publishing Call For Submissions: Geeks Unite!

How cool is this? Entangled Publishing put out a call on December 3, 2011, for geek-centric stories (including science fiction romance):

Blogging at Heroes and Heartbreakers

I'm excited to share that I have started blogging for Heroes and Heartbreakers! My debut post is The Courtship Dance in Science Fiction Romance.

I'm looking forward to meeting new readers and, of course, having another opportunity to share my love of all things science fiction romance. I have a number of fun posts in the works and will link to them as they appear.

Joyfully yours,

Heather

"Fortune Cat's Visit": My Free Sci-Fi Romance Short


For "Light up the holidays with Sci-Fi Romance" at Jessica E. Subject's blog, I contributed a free (very) short story. "Fortune Cat's Visit" is a near-future sci-fi romance with a San Francisco Chinatown setting (heat level: sweet).

Enjoy!

Heather

Monday, December 5, 2011

Sci-Fi Romance News: Rae Lori Re-releases CIMMERIAN CITY

I have another sci-fi romance re-release to share with you. And let me just say that I really admire the perseverance of authors who write in this subgenre. It's a challenge not only in terms of the writing, but also adapting to new markets and connecting with readers.

Author and blogger Rae Lori alerted me about the re-release of her sci-fi romance ebook CIMMERIAN CITY. If you're looking for SFR with people of color, then this book delivers. Below are the complete details about this release:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cimmerian City
Fiction Meets Reality in a Futuristic Tale of Corporate Corruption, Pharmaceuticals and Human Experimentation

In 2007, author Rae Lori made her novel writing debut with Cimmerian City, a science fiction thriller exploring the what-ifs in a future where corporations rule the world, science is big business and governments no longer exist. Everyday pharmaceuticals are used as experiments on the unsuspecting population, soon creating a vampire-like warrior race to dwell alongside humans.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Authors & Bloggers Speak: What It Means To Be A Geek Girl

Geek girls come from all walks of life and yeah, they’re like snowflakes—no two are exactly the same. They do, however, have in common a love of all things geek.

Geek girls are a force to be reckoned with, and they've been on my mind a lot lately. Therefore, I wanted to know what makes a geek girl’s brain tick. With that goal in mind, I posed the following question to a number of authors and bloggers in the science fiction romance community:

What does being a geek girl mean to you?

Here’s what these ladies had to say:

Melisse Aires (STARLANDER’S MYTH)

“My older brother's love of scifi turned me into a geek girl!  We had a nice county library, where Mom would take us once a week, religiously. The library and my mother did not censor reading, which is important. So many classic scifi books were in Adult Fiction.  My brother also had a nice little nitecrawler business in the summer, and he spent his earnings on scifi paperbacks--Andre Norton, Poul Anderson, Murray Leinster, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlien, Edgar Rice Burroughs and many more, which he shared. Those writers opened entire new worlds. My brothers and I devoured them.”

[For the extended version of the author's ascent into geek girl status, click here.]

Marcella Burnard (ENEMY GAMES)

Thursday, December 1, 2011

SFR News & Links For December 2011

It may be the end of the year, but based on what we've seen in 2011, science fiction romance is just getting started. I hope you all had as much fun reading this year as I did. 

Here is my last monthly roundup for 2011:

New releases

HEART OF STEEL (steampunk) - Meljean Brook
(This book actually released in November. I figured better late than never!)

As the mercenary captain of the Lady Corsair, Yasmeen has learned to keep her heart as cold as steel, her only loyalty bound to her ship and her crew. So when a man who once tried to seize her airship returns from the dead, Yasmeen will be damned if she gives him another opportunity to take control.

Treasure-hunter Archimedes Fox isn’t interested in the Lady Corsair — he wants her coldhearted captain and the valuable da Vinci sketch she stole from him. To reclaim it, Archimedes is determined to seduce the stubborn woman who once tossed him to a ravenous pack of zombies, but she’s no easy conquest.

When da Vinci’s sketch attracts a dangerous amount of attention, Yasmeen and Archimedes journey to Horde-occupied Morocco — and straight into their enemy’s hands. But as they fight to save themselves and a city on the brink of rebellion, the greatest peril Yasmeen faces is from the man who seeks to melt her icy heart…

Jessica E. Subject Presents: “Light up the holidays with Sci-Fi Romance”


Isn’t this fabulous? From December 1-30, 2011, Author Jessica E.Subject (CELESTIAL SEDUCTION) is hosting a holiday celebration with a sci-fi romance focus:

Learn what your favorite SFR characters do over the holidays, read some exclusive short stories, and catch excerpts from some awesome books! Oh, and there might be some yummy recipes and fabulous prizes as well.

All kinds of authors are involved including yours truly. On December 6, you can read a free short story I wrote for this event: "Fortune Cat's Visit" is a near-future sci-fi romance (heat level: sweet).

"Light up the holidays with Sci-Fi Romance" starts today! Click here for the complete schedule and featured authors.

See you there!

Joyfully yours,

Heather