The "Other Woman" in Sci-Fi Romance

There's a (non-spoiler) scene in Anna Hackett's AT STAR'S END in which the hero, Dathan, speaks to a flirty, gypsy-type woman who tells fortunes at an interplanetary market. Naturally, the heroine, Eos, becomes jealous upon witnessing their interaction because she's beginning to fall in love with Dathan.

Usually these types of scenes are intended to induce sympathy for the heroine because, well, she's the heroine and the hero should be paying attention to her. It can also demonstrate the precarious nature of a burgeoning romance. Such scenes may also exist to demonstrate the hero's virility--"Look! Every woman in sight is attracted to him!"

Eos seethes with resentment toward the fortune teller and refers to her once as a "trollop." Yet for me, this scene created what I'm guessing is a completely unintentional effect.

Instead of feeling indignant on behalf of the heroine, I wanted to read a science fiction romance about this fortune teller! She came across as mysterious as well as confidant about her sexuality. She's described as "a voluptuous woman in a swirl of colored skirts" and "The beaten coins circling her bare waist tinkled." Sounds cool. And she's a businesswoman! The author had established the marketplace as one involving diverse people and alien species, so that prompted me to pay closer attention to the characters I'd meet there.

I was like, sold! So...when can I read about this gypsy's romantic space adventures, Ms. Hackett?! :D

Interview With Ann Raina, Author Of PROJECT: RECRUITMENT

Ann Raina is an author with eXstasy Books and I discovered she's been a busy bee writing sci-fi romance and erotic SFR! I love finding out about new-to-me authors as it always comes with the possibility of intriguing new stories. I invited Ms. Raina aboard so we could learn more about her books.

The Galaxy Express: You have your choice of any genre. Why write sci-fi romance?

Ann Raina: I’ve always loved to write romance and the versatile surroundings of a world I create give me the possibility to do everything I want. There are no boundaries, nothing I have to respect or take into consideration. I can go where I want as long as I stick to the rules I created beforehand.

TGE: Tell us about your path to publication.

AR: I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid. When the internet expanded, I found out that may more authors write fanfiction about the movies and series I loved, too. So I added my stories to the long list of Lord of the Rings fanfiction and more. But soon I found out that original characters (yes, those, too, who I created around Aragorn…) are more to my liking. I felt much better if the male and female characters acted the way I wanted. Aragorn and the other heroes were clearly defined in their roles and how they would react to certain challenges.

TGE: What kind of characters and elements do you like to include in your stories?

SFR News & Links For September 2014

Have you got a few hours? With all the new releases and sci-fi romance links in this month's roundup, you're going to need them!

New releases

PARADOX (alien invasion, IR; The Felig Chronicles #4) - P.J. Dean

Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your best friend. Especially when they are your last resort.

Taken! Tina has been taken by Felig from the home she and Nate shared and they 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 to get her back, and is learning nowhere is safe and no one, untouchable. And most importantly that allies can be found in the most unexpected of places.

Interview With Shona Husk, Mel Teshco, and Denise Rossetti, Authors Of The ES SIREN Series

Authors Shona Husk, Mel Teshco, and Denise Rossetti have collaborated on an interesting-looking project: a shared-world, sizzling sci-fi romance series of novellas called ES Siren (Momentum). The first three books are out now. The next three will come out in late November 2014.

Here are the covers and blurbs:

Can Sci-Fi Romance Imagine Its Way Out of the Patriarchy?

Lady Business featured a post by author Kameron Hurley (THE MIRROR EMPIRE) called Gender, Family, Nookie: The Speculative Frontier. The title hinted at possible relevancy for sci-fi romance, so I read it. The gist of her piece is below:

I write about consent cultures. Matriarchies. Third genders. I write about futures at war, and at peace. Futures powered by bugs, or star magic, or Thundercats. If I'm writing about the limits of things, then I must step out of the narrow narrative boxes of broader media and many of my colleagues and seek out stuff that pushes at that, poking at it with a stick until it all comes undone. I read widely, and build on the work from the fringes that came before me — Geoff Ryman, Candas Jane Dorsey, Samuel Delany, Joanna Russ, and new work by folks like Jacqueline Koyanagi and Benjanun Sriduangkaew that challenges what we consider "normal" human relationships and gendered ways of being.

[Related TGE post: Jacqueline Koyanagi's ASCENSION: Diversity For The Win]

I found much of the article to be insightful since it's relevant to the overall potential of SFR (certainly one of fiction's "fringe" territories). Goodness knows I and others have discussed similar issues time and again over the years. Have you read "Beyond the Patriarchy: Breaking Free of Entrenched Gender Constraints in the SFR Genre" by Jody Wallace (Sci-Fi Romance Quarterly #3, June 13, 2014)? It's one of the best non-fiction pieces on SFR I've read so far this year. Here's a snippet: