Why I Love Science Fiction by Kerry Vail:
Romance: Add a great love story to great science fiction, and it just doesn’t get any better for me. We live on a perfect little planet with just the right combo of light, gravity, atmosphere, water, magnetic field, ozone layer… but what really makes our world go around (keeping in mind that we have the science in place *wink*)? Human relationships, of course – the nitty gritty of making friends and finding mates. Reading about the permutations of human relationships set against the backdrop of the universe = win.Boo-yah!
And also Donna's Journal in which Donna S. Frelick speculates about the ideal audience for SFR:
That said, I think there is an audience out there for character-driven stories—romances—that also have a science fiction element to them. I just think we have a better chance of opening minds among the romance readers—who have already embraced vampires, werewolves, demons, angels, cowboys, the entire male population of Regency England, the guys next door, cops, private eyes, doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs (well, maybe not lawyers)—as heroes. Why not aliens, starship captains, space pirates, alien hunters and so on? Fanfic readers have certainly embraced them for years and remain, I believe, an untapped resource for SFR writers.Happy reading!
Joyfully yours,
Heather