Spacefreighters Lounge Celebrates Milestone With Multi-Prize Giveaway

Spacefreighters Lounge--one of the core science fiction romance blogs with the staying power of Hercules--is celebrating its 25,000th hit with a Pick Your Prize giveaway to be chosen from the blog's followers.

Spacefreighters Lounge has been fighting the good fight for SFR for a long time and I'm so happy for their success!

There are lots of fun prizes being offered, ranging from books to DVDs to T-shirts. Head over soon, because the giveaway ends on Sunday, March 13 at midnight.

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Guest Blogging at The Biopunk Reader

Is biopunk one of the new contenders in science fiction romance? I do believe the answer to that question is a resounding "Yes!"

The Biopunk Reader is a new blog devoted exclusively to this amazingly versatile subgenre. Here's a little background about the endeavor:

The Biopunk Reader is dedicated to exploring the often-overlooked science fiction subgenre of biopunk. What would our future (or past) look like seen through orange cat eyes? How differently would it run on bacterial computers? Where could we travel on buses that walk?

For more information, read the blog's Statement of Intent, or check out Wikipedia's short (but sweet) section on the biopunk subgenre.

The Biopunk Reader is the brainchild of author Christine Danse (ISLAND OF ICARUS) and Leah Dearborn, "...a Boston-based journalism student and occasional contributor to Steampunk Magazine."

When Ms. Danse invited me to contribute a post, I jumped at the chance to share my own Encounters of the Biopunk Kind. I made some interesting discoveries along the way, and I'd love to hear your thoughts about biopunk, beanstalks, and magnetron wave satellites.

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Breaking News: Sharon Lynn Fisher Sells GHOST PLANET To Tor

I'm very excited to share the news that Sharon Lynn Fisher sold her science fiction romance, GHOST PLANET!

Sharon has been in the aspiring author trenches for a long time, and her success is well-deserved. Buzz about her book had been building long before the sale, and I'm looking forward very much to reading it.

Here's the official announcement, courtesy of the author and her agent, Robin Rue of Writers House:

Ghost Planet (2009, 2010 Golden Heart finalist manuscript) by Sharon Lynn Fisher to Macmillan/Tor in a 2-book deal.

Please join me in wishing Sharon a hearty congratulation!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

SFR News & Links: METALLIC ATTRACTION Is in the House!

All Romance Ebooks has launched ARe Café, a new forum and interactive community for book lovers. The site is chock full of features and other goodies such as eBook Tips, book Videos, and Featured Authors. If you click on “Blog Bytes” you’ll have access to a wide variety of posts from various book blogs (including this one!). I’ve added ARe Café to my blog roll under Romance Reviews, News, etc. for easy access.

Behold this squee-worthy news: More science fiction romance is in the pipeline. Robert Appleton (THE MYSTERIOUS LADY LAW) alerted me that he has three more books coming out from Carina Press. Here’s the scoop:

SPARKS IN COSMIC DUST (novel, 87,000 words) - a SF adventure with strong romantic elements. (September 2011)

ALIEN VELOCITY (novella reprint, 36,000 words, EPIC Award nominee) - SF action/adventure (2012).

PREHISTORIC CLOCK (short novel, 47,000 words) - Steampunk adventure with romantic elements...and dinosaurs. (Release date TBA)

Go, Robert!

Catch a wave to another dimension: Lisa Paitz Spindler revealed her shiny new book trailer for THE SPIRAL PATH. The music alone will give you some seriously good goosebumps.

Mistletoe, sleigh rides, and...brass goggles? Carina Press recently posted a Steampunk Holiday Submissions Call:

Carina is looking for steampunk novellas with a winter or winter holiday theme, to be published digitally both individually and as a collection in December 2011. The novellas should be from 18,000 to 35,000 words and feature steampunk elements as integral to the novella. The stories do not need to be romance, or even have romance elements, but can be straight steampunk, or steampunk with romantic elements, and can also feature elements of mystery, thriller, horror or other sub-genres. Additionally, there is no set heat level for these stories, so they can have no sex, or be ultra-sexy, or anything in between.

Courtesy of Smart Bitches comes the news that Avon Launches Avon Impulse Digital-First Imprint:

Word allegedly leaked earlier today from agent Jenny Bent, who tweeted about it, but seems to have deleted the tweet itself. Those who copied and pasted with lightning-quick fingers report Bent as saying, “Avon launches Avon Impulse, original e-book publishing. Agented or unagented, Contemporary, Fantasy, Futuristic, Ghost, Gothic, Historical, Magical, Time Travel, Western, Shifter, Small Town, Steampunk, Suspense, Vampire (and others)”.

No word on whether the digital books produced by this new imprint will be available for more than 26 checkouts at your local public library, or whether they will have DRM (Aw, darn, they will), but it is telling that another major publisher has recognized the validity and possibility of the digital business model. I wish HarperCollins’ other digital policies were as forward thinking, but I also think that this is a step in a possibly positive direction for digital book readers.

Visit Avon Impulse for submission guidelines & FAQ.

And finally, if the following doesn’t get you excited about science fiction romance, I don’t know what will:

“From Jeffrey Lau, visionary director of Chinese Odyssey and the producer of Kung Fu Hustle comes an unexpected Sci-Fi love story.”

Witness the surreal glory of METALLIC ATTRACTION: KUNGFU CYBORG (2009):



Seriously, as soon as I can get my hands on this baby I’ll watch it and return with a full report. I love me some Korean science fiction romance!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Winners of ONCE UPON A TIME IN SPACE

El Randomizer has spoken: The winners of ONCE UPON A TIME IN SPACE are...

Ava

Misa

Congratulations! Winners, please contact me at sfrgalaxy "at" gmail.com to claim your prizes. Subject line: Space

Thanks very much to everyone who entered. I have more giveaways planned in the near future, so stay tuned.

Joyfully yours,

Heather