New Releases
LAST FLIGHT OF THE ARK – D.L. Jackson
Evolution never happened so fast.
Twelve hours outside of Terra II, Colonel Kaleb Titan, a molecular geneticist and commander of the Ark, faces a life or death choice that could change the fate of mankind.
The Genesis I, aka the Ark, travels with a hold full of wildlife and three crew members. When a wolf bite and genetically-altering gamma radiation transform Kaleb, he notices his senses have been heightened, his libido has gone haywire and he can’t keep his hands off his crew. Worse yet, they don't seem inclined to stop him.
When their sister ship, the Genesis II arrives early, Kaleb’s problems compound. As soon as the command crew of the Genesis II boards, one whiff tells Kaleb they’re not from Earth or who they appear to be.
When he discovers that they’ve kept the Genesis II’s crew of over two thousand alive, he begins to believe their reasons may be far more ominous than anyone could have imagined. However, he also discovers what’s holding them back. The hijackers seem to be allergic to canines.
Now they're forced to employ biological warfare against their own, but will it be enough to save humanity? 
History is about to repeat and only one species will survive.
GIRL GONE NOVA – Pauline B. Jones
Doc—Delilah Oliver Clementyne’s—orders are simple: do the impossible and do it yesterday. A genius/bad ass, she does the impossible on a regular basis. But this time the impossible is complicated by an imminent war between the Earth expedition to the Garradian Galaxy and the Gadi, an encounter with some wife-hunting aliens, and not one but two bands of time travelers.
The only way it could get worse? If the heart she didn’t know she had starts beating for the wrong guy…
TOUCHED BY AN ALIEN – Gini Koch
How can a sexy marketing manager join forces with an Alpha Centauri male in Armani to save the planet--using hairspray, a Mont Blanc pen, and rock n’ roll?
Easy…
She’s Touched by an Alien
Marketing manager Katherine “Kitty” Katt steps into the middle of what appears to be a domestic dispute turned ugly. And it only gets uglier when the man turns into a winged monster, straight out of a grade-Z horror movie, and goes on a killing spree. Though Kitty should probably run away, she springs into action to take the monster down.
In the middle of the chaos a handsome hunk named Jeff Martini appears, sent by the “agency” to perform crowd control. He’s Kitty’s kind of guy, no matter what planet he’s from. And from now on, for Kitty, things are going to be sexy, dangerous, wild, and out of this world.
BLAZE OF GLORY – Sheryl Nantus
Saving the world is easy for a superhero—unless you’re a fraud.
Jo Tanis is a superhero, fighting evil on the city streets, using her ability to feed off electromagnetic energy and fire off charges—and it’s all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her when their powers begin to manifest, pitting them against each other in staged, gladiatorial fights. An explosive implant on the back of her neck assures she’ll keep right on smiling for the camera and beating up the bad guys.
When Earth comes under attack, suddenly the show becomes deadly real. Unable to deal with a real alien, the “supers” are falling in droves. Millions of innocent civilians are going to die…unless Jo can cobble together a team from among the fake heroes and villains the Agency enslaved. Including Hunter, who not only promises to show her how to deactivate the implants, but seems to know more than he should about how the mysterious Agency operates.
Forcing a rag-tag bunch of former enemies to work together is the least of Jo’s problems. The trick is determining if Hunter is friend or foe—and becoming the hero everyone thought she was before the world is destroyed for real.
SOMATESTHESIA – Ann Somerville
Sensual overload can be a tactical disadvantage.
Devlin Grace’s experience with child exploitation cases lands him a new assignment with the Special Crimes Investigators unit of the Federal Justice Agency, plus a new partner who could make the job tougher than expected. Connor Hutchens possesses incredible, scientifically enhanced senses…and zero social skills. Word on the street is that his last partner left under a cloud—and it was Connor’s fault.
Connor blames himself for losing his previous partner, and wants to do right by his new one. But Devlin confuses and frustrates him, and he struggles to cope with Devlin’s swift intelligence, quirky humor and teasing sexuality.
With the dangerous, perplexing case facing them, there’s no one Devlin would rather have at his back than Connor. But the longer they work together, the higher the sexual tension rises—until attraction boils over and puts everything at risk. Their careers, the children they’re trying to save—and any chance of lasting love.
TSUNAMI BLUE – Gayle Ann Williams
No safe harbor
With her badass rain boots, her faithful dog, and the ability to predict the monster tsunamis that have reduced the US to a series of islands, Kathryn O’Malley isn’t afraid of much. Cut off from all society, she takes to the airwaves as Tsunami Blue, hoping to save something of humanity as the world around her crumbles. But Blue should be afraid—because her message reaches the wrong ears.
Now she’s the target of ruthless pirates known as Runners who want to use her special talents for their own profiteering—as soon as they can find her. Blue’s only shot at survival lies with the naked stranger who washes up on her rocky beach. A man who might just be working for Runners himself. Torn between suspicion and attraction, the two will have to navigate a surging tide of danger and deceit if they hope to stay alive.
Now for the rest:
Industry
Congratulations to Sharon Lynn Fisher (GHOST PLANET), who has signed with agent Robin Rue of Writers House. In this interview, she discusses the journey of becoming a Golden Heart finalist a second time.
Congratulations to J.L. Wilson who won an EPIC award for her time travel romance ENDURANCE (Cerridwen Press). The two other finalists were:
* IMMERSED by Liz Craven—Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
* LADY OF THE STARS by Linda Banche—The Wild Rose Press
And author Rowena Cherry (KNIGHT’S FORK) won the “Friend of E-Publishing Award”! Way to go, Ms. Cherry!
The full list of EPIC award finalists and winners is here.
The cover of the forthcoming SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH anthology has been announced. Linnea Sinclair blogs about it here.
At A Writer’s Dream, Rae Lori posts a roundup of articles about “the juicy Amazon/Apple/Publisher smackdown business” as well as those exploring “how digital is changing the face of the industry” in Linkety Split - The Publishing & SFR Edition
As of April 5, 2010, the SFR Brigade has hit the 50 member mark! If you’re an SFR writer, join now.
SFR Book Giveaways!
BLAZE OF GLORY by Sheryl Nantus: Click here for details (Hurry! Contest ends today).
TOUCHED BY AN ALIEN by Gini Koch. Click here for details.
Via SFSignal:
Gini Koch weighs in on The Best Aliens in Science Fiction in her first Mind Meld discussion.
Two esteemed SF authors who incorporated romance into their stories are featured in this “Classic Leigh Brackett & Edmond Hamilton Interview.” Even cooler is this audio interview with Leigh Brackett from 1975!
Sexual Politics, Farscape, and Stuff by Joel Shepherd has an SFR-relevant observation about sexuality, feminism, and SF/F female characters:I was thinking about this watching DVDs of Farscape, and reflecting that the character of Chiana (played by Gigi Edgley) was unlike almost anything you’ll see on TV — a ‘loose woman’ prone to seducing anything male just for fun, but who is also tough, smart, likable and is given some of the show’s best one liners. And the fact that it’s so rare that this type of character should be likable and even heroic is pretty sad, because it shows that popular culture still has a problem with female sexuality, with women who are overtly sexual in any way still insulted and disrespected, or otherwise treated as though they are no more than the sum of their sexual parts, while male characters are held to an entirely different standard.
The above reminded me of the previous discussions we’ve had here regarding extraordinary heroines. If they are so rare in SF/F, then all the more reason science fiction romance can carve out a niche for itself by making a home for such characters.
For Writers
There’s a Mundane SFR story here, I just know it! Via Kimber An (Enduring Romance) comes this link to an article about “China’s New Requirement for Women in Space: Married with Children.” Deep stuff.
Gini Koch discusses her writing process in How They Do It over at The Other Side of the Story.
Here’s an article with really cool specifics on How To Write Action SF.
Check out SCI-FI 101 for all of your research and worldbuilding needs, courtesy of Spacefreighters Lounge.
Clare Dargin invites you to join her Science Fiction and Fantasy Romance writers webring and Futuristic Romance Writers webring. According to Clare, “We are open to fans and writers alike! Come join us as we celebrate science fiction and fantasy! Books, short stories, published not published, hobbies within scifi and fantasy alike!
It's a big universe out there and it can awful lonely!”
Get your space pirate on
File this one under OMG I CAN HARDLY BREATHE! Check out this promo poster for the new Captain Harlock film. The article shares that “Japan’s Toei Animation plans to release the CG Captain Harlock movie in 2012.” That poster should give you a pretty clear idea about why I lurve the space pirate action so much!
Galaxy Express Shtuff
I’ve updated my 2010 Science Fiction Romance New Release Roundup with more titles, so check ‘em out!
Talk about a cool niche to exploit: The Kindle Blog Report reviews…blogs available on The Kindle! The blog recently featured a positive review of The Galaxy Express. Thank you, Ms. Cairo! (And do check out her blog Winged Victory: A Women in Aviation Webzine. Très cool.)
Now I turn the mike over to you, all-knowing passengers. Have any science fiction romance news of your own to share?
Joyfully yours,
Heather