Juan Solanas' UPSIDE DOWN: A Flawed & Frustrating SFR Film

Back in March, I expressed my concerns about director Juan Solanas’ sci-fi romance film UPSIDE DOWN (2013). It didn’t help that reviews of it were less than positive. Therefore, I wasn’t in a rush to see it in the theater. When the film showed up on Netflix, however, I decided to give it a shot.

This post will include some spoilers so I can best explain why it didn’t work for me.

The upside is that UPSIDE DOWN is *definitely* a science fiction romance film. No doubt about it, when it comes to SFR content, the film’s heart is in the right place. It's even got a great tagline: "What if love was stronger than gravity?"

The downside—and it’s a big one—is that the film fails on multiple levels. I don’t even know where to start, quite frankly.

I’ll tackle the setting first. UPSIDE DOWN is certainly a pretty film to look at. Some might even describe it as gorgeous. It’s a high concept idea with an easy-to-grasp premise: two opposite worlds locked in an embrace by gravity. The “Up Above” world is prosperous, while the “Down Below” world is dystopian in nature.

One of the problems, however, is that in the beginning, the film sets a reader up to expect hard SF elements. There’s a lengthy info-dump at the beginning (not unlike some hard SF novels) and a clear attempt at presenting the science in a plausible way. Unfortunately, the film veers off into science fantasy and is inconsistent regarding the laws of physics. 

One user review at IMDB sums it up perfectly: “Mass has no effect in some shots, but is critical to others.” 

SFR Quickie: S.E. Gilchrist's STORM OF FIRE

If there's one thing that shouldn't be kept a secret, it's a science fiction romance. tee hee!

With that thought in mind, may I present the cover and blurb for S.E. Gilchrist's new erotic post-apocalyptic novella STORM OF FIRE:

Interview With ARAMUS Author Eve Langlais

Some readers report they’ve been experiencing paranormal romance fatigue for some time now. If that’s the case, author Eve Langlais has just the antidote—and its name is science fiction romance!

Eve Langlais has been consistently and prolifically penning sizzling SFR stories for the past several years. Her tales involve either seductive aliens or brooding, dangerous cyborgs. When I recently had reason to visit her site again, I marveled at how many more stories she had on tap since the last time I’d been there. I said to myself, this is an author who’s serious about sci-fi romance.

Read her bio because a) it’s charming and b) she provides us with many tags about the types of fantasies she offers. One of them is the dynamic of human heroines who harness the power of love to bond with an extraordinary hero. So if one enjoys paranormal romance, one can find similar elements in Eve Langlais’ SFR books.

The author pairs her heroes with a type of heroine one doesn’t encounter very often in mainstream print or even digital-first romances. It’s part of her brand and I’m thankful she consistently provides readers with such an alternative, especially in a science fictional setting. I won’t spoil it for you since I invited Eve Langlais aboard for a meet and greet! 

Read on to learn all about the woman behind the cyborg hotties:

Blogging at Heroes & Heartbreakers: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK and Prison Romances

At Heroes & Heartbreakers, I'm blogging about science fiction romances set in futuristic prisons. My jumping off point is the Netflix show ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. I really enjoyed it and would love to read SFR books that tackle similar content, but with a romance that falls within romance genre conventions.

In my post I discuss some of the challenges of creating prison romance settings and you'll also find tags for futuristic prison romances already available!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

SFR News & Links For December 2013

Three cheers for another great year of science fiction romance! Last but not least, here's a roundup of the December releases you can look forward to as well as some fun links. Enjoy!

 

New releases

WHITE CHRISTMAS - Ros Baxter

What if your only chance at survival was to seduce the man who broke your heart?

Seventeen years after the Apocalypse, Admiral-class Explorer Tabysha is caught up in a firefight and shot down over Tyver, where ice vampires hunt human warmth. Seeking shelter in an ice cave, she is instructed to stay put and await rescue. But after another ship crash-lands, and the Hunter Gatherers stalk its wounded pilot, Tabi breaks protocol.

When it turns out the survivor is the man who stole her heart then skipped out on her ten years before, it seems to Tabi that no good deed goes unpunished, and things can’t get any worse. But she’s so wrong.

As the Hunters pick up the escalating heat signature of the former lovers, Tabi has to tell Asha that there is only one way to repel the creatures stalking them.

And it involves picking up where they left off ten years before.