New releases
STARLANDER'S MYTH - Melisse Aires
A steampunk spacewestern romance in the Starlander Frontier series.
Asteroid miner Jack Starlander stumbles upon the illegal sale of a woman and child who are gryphon shifters, used by the miners to find valuable cryst. In the ensuing shoot out, two important men die and they are forced to flee aboard his space freighter. Their journey takes them into deadly danger. Sophie is a creature from myth and she recognizes the mythic thread in Starlander's family legend. Perhaps his family legend can save them.
Witness for yourself the most depraved exhibition of human sexuality ever permitted on tour.
The Cyberkink Sideshow has come to town, and not everyone is prepared to tolerate it on their home turf. After receiving reports of electronic contraband being smuggled in by the sideshow, Constable Sylvia Price goes undercover to investigate. Once part of the sideshow, she finds herself drawn in to a wild and kinky relationship with vivacious and voluptuous ringmaster, Victor Maynard.
But as events unfold, it's apparent that someone is trying to frame Victor and the sideshow. Will Sylvia be able to solve the mystery before the show is ruined?
WARNING: Contains BDSM, ménage, exhibitionism, anal, sounding, electrosex, and general kink.
Aylia is on a quest to get pregnant, and in the time-honored tradition of her people, she must kidnap a suitable male for the task. Seducing a reluctant warrior is harder than she expected, especially when her body turns traitor and melts at his touch. When he flips the situation around and takes her prisoner, he doesn’t just steal her body, he also takes her heart. And she might just have to kill him to get it back.
Being the scourge of the galaxy comes with consequences, like women wanting his body, but Jaro’s never had someone kidnap him for his seed. Fighting the female’s allure, the captive becomes the captor, and he learns that not all battles are fought using fists and knives. Although, the sword between his legs gives her its best shot.
Through the vastness of space, brothels and unmentionable places in between, can this stubborn pair overlook their pride and past to come together? Or will they forever abduct and pleasurably torture each other?
Being the scourge of the galaxy comes with consequences, like women wanting his body, but Jaro’s never had someone kidnap him for his seed. Fighting the female’s allure, the captive becomes the captor, and he learns that not all battles are fought using fists and knives. Although, the sword between his legs gives her its best shot.
Through the vastness of space, brothels and unmentionable places in between, can this stubborn pair overlook their pride and past to come together? Or will they forever abduct and pleasurably torture each other?
He was born to be a weapon. For her, he must learn to be a hero.
A Phoenix Institute story
Since birth, Alec Farley has been trained to be a living weapon. His firestarter and telekinetic abilities have been honed to deadly perfection by the Resource, a shadowy anti-terrorist organization—the only family he has ever known. What the Resource didn’t teach him, though, is how to play well with others.
When psychologist Beth Nakamora meets Alec to help him work on his people skills, she’s hit with a double-barreled first impression. He’s hot in more ways than one. And her first instinct is to rescue him from his insular existence.
Her plan to kidnap and deprogram him goes awry when her latent telepathic ability flares, turning Alec’s powers off. Hoping close proximity will reignite his flame, she leads him by the hand through a world he’s never known. And something else flares: Alec’s anger over everything he’s been denied. Especially the passion that melds his mind and body with hers.
The Resource, however, isn’t going to let anything—or anyone—steal its prime investment. Alec needs to be reminded where his loyalties lie…starting with breaking his trust in the woman he’s come to love.
A Phoenix Institute story
Since birth, Alec Farley has been trained to be a living weapon. His firestarter and telekinetic abilities have been honed to deadly perfection by the Resource, a shadowy anti-terrorist organization—the only family he has ever known. What the Resource didn’t teach him, though, is how to play well with others.
When psychologist Beth Nakamora meets Alec to help him work on his people skills, she’s hit with a double-barreled first impression. He’s hot in more ways than one. And her first instinct is to rescue him from his insular existence.
Her plan to kidnap and deprogram him goes awry when her latent telepathic ability flares, turning Alec’s powers off. Hoping close proximity will reignite his flame, she leads him by the hand through a world he’s never known. And something else flares: Alec’s anger over everything he’s been denied. Especially the passion that melds his mind and body with hers.
The Resource, however, isn’t going to let anything—or anyone—steal its prime investment. Alec needs to be reminded where his loyalties lie…starting with breaking his trust in the woman he’s come to love.
Product Warnings
Contains telekinetic sex, nuclear explosion sex hot enough to melt steel, and various and sundry swear words.
Ten years later, Shay is a pirate herself. She captains her own ship and has earned a reputation as one of the slipperiest pilots around. That's why she's recruited for a dangerous secret government mission. But the cargo she's assigned to smuggle turns out to be a woman with a government bodyguard—Jayce.
Jayce never thought he'd see Shay again, and when the mission forces them together on her ship, he isn't sure he can forgive her for deserting him; but their desire for each other is stronger than ever. Jayce knows he wants to be with Shay, but how can he trust a woman who's both a pirate and the girl who broke his heart?
Rhianni Day was born on the colony world, Mallachrom. When her father's Rover squadron was sent to the other side of the galaxy, she made a blood vow with Petroc Ash that she would return someday. Then Mallachrom was invaded by the Talroqi, hive creatures who used Humans as hosts and food. Rhianni stayed away, unwilling to face the devastation.
Years later, as a Rover captain and medic, she was sent back to investigate the survivors of the invasion. Were they damaged, dangerous, puppets of the Talroqi, or victims of vicious lies? Petroc led the survivors, and while he had dreamed of Rhianni's return, he knew that fulfilling their childhood vow would put her life in danger. Neither of them dreamed that they were mere tools in a war that had been brewing for decades, and was about to come to an explosive conclusion.
To learn more about the book, check out the Author Spotlight at Desert Breeze Publishing.
Industry
Author KT Grant (“Brass Balls and Hysteria”) attended the New Jersey Romance Writers Conference, and learned that
In 2013 HQN/LUNA will publisher more Sci-Fi, so if you have a Sci-Fi romance or fiction, send it to them.
New epublisher alert:
Riptide Publishing opened its doors on October 30, 2011. This brand-spanking new digital publisher focuses on “gay fiction, romance, and erotica.” According to their FAQ, they seem open to science fiction romance.
See also the “Love For Sale” call for submissions.
Authors blogging
Author Kaye Manro (FORBIDDEN LOVE) discusses the importance of an engaging setting in Love in the Afterglow of Hyperspace:
It is my belief the world building of an alien culture/character is the most important thing you can do. You really have to do your studying for this. For me it takes a tremendous amount of research.
Sure, it's still fiction, but if I can't lace my stories with plausible scientific theories it just won't work for me. Now that's not to say I drone on and on about quantum physics. No way, that would bore even me. But alien cultures can be very complex and difficult to execute. I do have to know what I'm trying to relate to a reader. Yet I also give myself lots of flexibility while creating imaginative possible worlds and realities.
Author Maria Zannini (TRUE BELIEVERS), who has experience as an art director, offers some tips about what to look for when hiring a cover designer:
But this is where a lot of people get into trouble. There is so much more to a good cover than just merging a couple of photos. There's typography, layout, and legibility. The cover has to look good at 6 x 9 as it does at postage stamp size.
In addition to the tips, there’s some helpful information in the discussion thread as well.
IMHO, taking an educated approach to cover design is useful even if you are going through a publisher, because a few lucky authors *do* have opportunities to provide input on their covers.
What’s in a name?
At Spacefreighters Lounge, Laurie A. Green revisits the issue of labels in Who Are We Really: The SF vs. Romance vs. SFR Debate:
With the new standing of SF and high tech in modern culture (Have you heard? Geek is the new black), maybe it's time to throw the splinter-group idea to the solar winds.
SFR is SF. The only distinction is the sector of the audience we're targeting.
A subspecies is still part of the collective gene pool, so a subgenre is still a part of the collective genre pool. Right?
I rest my case. :) Do we have any rebuttals?
I don’t know if I have a rebuttal so much as speculation about the future of genre marketing labels.
Once all publishers have effective, easy-to-use metadata systems in place, will we still be so reliant upon the current system of umbrella labels? In other words, metadata can serve readers by allowing them to search for books with elements they like. For example, I might type “mystery, romance, steampunk, horror” into a search engine and get book recommendations based on those tags. If I type in only “science fiction” or “romance,” the search may yield a return that is too vast to manage and not necessarily tailored to my specific taste.
A book that has multiple tags/labels stands a better chance of getting noticed by those who want to read it.
Once all publishers have effective, easy-to-use metadata systems in place, will we still be so reliant upon the current system of umbrella labels? In other words, metadata can serve readers by allowing them to search for books with elements they like. For example, I might type “mystery, romance, steampunk, horror” into a search engine and get book recommendations based on those tags. If I type in only “science fiction” or “romance,” the search may yield a return that is too vast to manage and not necessarily tailored to my specific taste.
A book that has multiple tags/labels stands a better chance of getting noticed by those who want to read it.
Sure, we still have marketing labels (as opposed to reader-generated tags) to contend with now, and even physical bookshelves, but even in just the next five to ten years, how we find and shop for books may undergo significant changes. Should any labels we apply to SFR now take future changes into consideration?
Now I turn the mike over to you: What science fiction romance news/links would you like to share today?
Joyfully yours,
Heather