Two Special Golden Heart and RITA Nominees

Congratulations once again to the following authors for being finalists in the romance industry’s most prestigious awards:

Susan Grant for MOONSTRUCK (RITA)

Sharon Lynn Fisher for GHOST PLANET (Golden Heart)

Both works are listed in the science fiction romance *ahem* paranormal category.

The winners will be announced at the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony on July 18, 2009, during RWA’s 29th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

Fingers crossed for you both!

And...please join us tomorrow for the first author posts from Katherine Allred and Jess Granger, as part of TGE's Parallel Universe.

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Parallel Universe Continues...

Thanks to all of our Skiffy Rommers for their fab posts last week. It was great to have you aboard.

Now, the RWA 29th Annual National Conference in Washington D.C. is just days away—only two, in fact! While we hope that the attendees have wonderful and informative experiences, we’re not about to miss out on all the fun. Parallel Universe will cover RWA from a uniquely SFR perspective, comfortably ensconced on this luxury locomotive as it journeys forward.

Will some lucky aspiring writer gain a coveted manuscript request? Will editors express interest in acquiring more SFR novels? Will President Obama make an appearance to declare science fiction romance the Queen Of All Genres? One never knows!

While we await news and other tidbits from the conference, The Galaxy Express is proud to host a second series of guest posts by science fiction romance authors.

In order of appearance, they are:

July 15:

Katherine Allred
Jess Granger

July 16:

Nathalie Gray
Karin Shah

July 17:

Claire Delacroix

July 18:

Gayle Ann Williams

Remember, to follow tweets on SFR news from the conference, search using the #rwasfr hashtag.

For those of you attending the conference, the Rogue Digital Workshop official details including time & location can be found here. For updates on the workshop, visit Smart Bitches, Dear Author, and Nice Mommy/Evil Editor

(On a side note, check out this recent comment by author Sherry Thomas at the Dear Author Rogue Digital Workshop announcement:

I will be there.

Janine, Bettie Sharpe, and I (and maybe Meredith Duran, if she ever gets free time again) have a crazy anthology that I don’t know which trad publisher will touch.

Bettie’s is alternate-universe steampunk, Janine’s is a story-within-a-story fantasy/contemporary erotic romance, Meredith’s, if I remember correctly, might turn out to be a very unusual paranormal, and mine is straight science fiction romance. [all emphasis mine])


‘Nuff said.

Meanwhile, Laurie Green of Spacefreighters’ Lounge (who is attending the conference so please give her a bear hug from me introduce yourself and say hello) poses the question Has SF Missed the Starship with SFR? Let’s head on over and chat!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

“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

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?

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.