Announcing The SFR Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop

Come one, come all to the SFR Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop!

Today, June 22, a whopping 35 authors of science fiction romance have joined forces to entertain you with blog posts galore and super sweet prizes! Check ‘em out:

First prize: Winner’s choice of a Kindle or Nook!

Second prize: A supernova collection of science fiction romance titles (some restrictions may apply), plus a goodie basket!

(Special thanks to Janet Miller and Laurie A. Green who contributed to the prize fund.)

Listed below are the stops on this cosmic hop:

RT Book Reviews Blog Spotlights Spicy Futuristic Romances!

Hiatus or not, I just had to rev up the engines to report that the RT Book Reviews blog is spotlighting a number of spicy futuristic romances in Spruce Up Your TBR Pile: Futuristic Eroticas!

I had an opportunity to contribute my thoughts about why these hot cosmic tales appeal to readers, so I invite you to check out the article and expose yourself (heh!) to a few new reads in the process. Happy reading!

Joyfully yours,

Heather

Going Blue: An Interview With Author Diane Dooley

Author Diane Dooley is here to dish about how she’s expanding her debut science fiction romance BLUE GALAXY into all sorts of fun installments. She has the creative freedom to approach sci-fi romance from a new angle and it sounds like the journey will be a real treat for readers whose motto is “expect the unexpected.”

Let’s dive in!

The Galaxy Express: Please describe the world of your Blue trilogy in the form of a travel brochure.

Diane Dooley: Enter the Blue Universe at your own peril. This is an experience for only the most foolhardy of travelers.

Leave the starving and environmentally-degraded Planet Earth behind aboard a charming rustbucket of a space freighter. Be sure the captain isn’t drunk when he enters the jump coordinates. Share nutripacks with the captain’s delightful companion, but DO NOT piss her off.

Enjoy the brothels and drug dens of the space station, Artemis, the fabled ‘last port before the dark,’ being careful not to encounter the station’s owner, the man they say is guilty of crimes against humanity. Go jump around the universe, being careful to avoid the space pirates, warlords, murderers and lunatics.

Do not go to Valhalla Station! If it’s all too much for you, ask to be dumped on the dull-as-ditchwater planet, Pastorale. Wait there in utter boredom until you are rescued and returned to Earth to die a slow death of starvation. Bon voyage!

TGE: What is the title of the second installment? Can you give us a hint about the premise?

On Hiatus

To all my passengers: Because of unforeseen circumstances, The Galaxy Express will be going on hiatus for a short period as of today.

I have an upcoming interview planned for early next week, however, so I invite you to check back then. In the meantime, visit the SFR Brigade for the latest science fiction romance news.

Joyfully yours,

Heather

When Mind-Blowing Sex Isn't Enough

At Spacefreighters Lounge, Donna S. Frelick recently speculated that one factor underlying the success of E.L. James’ 50 SHADES OF GREY had to do with the target audience:

What E.L. James and her handlers managed to do was find a new audience for something that has been around for quite some time. For the crowd that is swooning over 50 Shades of Grey, erotica truly is a new thing. These are grown women who love Twilight, even though it is aimed at a much younger audience. Twilight deliberately avoids sex, for appropriate reasons. Twelve-year-olds shouldn’t be having any.

Romance novels aimed at adult audiences, especially paranormals featuring vampires, do anything BUT avoid sex. Christine Feehan, who along with Sherrilyn Kenyon started the whole paranormal phenomenon, writes some of the hottest vampire novels around in her Carpathian series. For readers of her books, well-written erotica is hardly shocking. It’s expected.

But for the mommies who were reading their daughters’ Twilight books, not so. When they got wind of this new thing, they suddenly discovered they were adults. Now they can’t seem to get enough.

To echo Donna’s speculation, 50 SHADES OF GREY addressed an unmet need. There was an audience of adult women who liked TWILIGHT or stories like it but the books didn’t meet their need for adult erotic fare (or maybe they just didn't care for vampires). Until James was ready with the right product (TWILIGHT fan fiction) at the right time (cue ease of digital publishing) for them to consume, they didn’t realize they even had that need.

Call For Submissions: Etopia Press Seeks Sci-Fi Romance

Narelle Bailey is an editor with Etopia Press and get this--she's specifically seeking science fiction romance/erotica authors for her roster! Here's the 411:

Narelle is looking for intense love stories at the higher end of the heat scale. She has a particular interest in paranormal, science fiction, and horror subgenres and is very keen to see stories about M/M, M/F, or F/F romances that contain creative world building and engaging characters.

At the moment she’s specifically looking for great stories about complicated romances between humans and non-humans of any kind: aliens, cyborgs or sentient spaceships, monsters, magical and mythical creatures of all kinds. Stories that push the envelope of weird, different, and sexy are definitely something Narelle wants to see, so if you have something a bit out there that you’re not sure about, check the submission guidelines for formatting information and forward submissions directly to narellebailey @ gmail.com [remove the spaces]. Preference will be given to manuscripts over 40,000 words that are part of a planned series, and to authors who have subsequent works already drafted or planned.

Etopia Press is a royalty paying epublisher offering an advance of $100 – $500 for erotic romance and romance over 40,000 words.

M/M Sci-Fi Romance & Me

If someone were to tell me, “I wish you’d feature more m/m science fiction romance on The Galaxy Express,” I’d understand that. There’s a good amount of stories in that vein and they’re clearly worthy of attention. In fact, SFR stories featuring gay heroes are probably under-served across the board.

I wish I had more disposable income to spend on sci-fi romances of all kinds, not to mention more time to read. That said, plenty of m/m titles are on my TBR list. In fact, Kim Knox’s BITTER HARVEST is queued up on my Kindle as I type this.

Therefore it was both puzzling and disheartening for someone to recently make the assumption to me that I’ve “never” mentioned m/m sci-fi romance on this blog and to question why I “avoid” m/m SFR books. I’m not going to divulge details, but in light of the occurrence I decided to clarify the issue.

Personal budget/time limitations have never stopped me from highlighting m/m SFR on this blog. If I recall correctly, my first post on m/m SFR appeared in 2009. I wanted to learn more about what was available and expand my horizons, so I researched various topics and consulted extensively with an expert. From that research and collaboration came In The Beginning, There Was Kirk/Spock.

Still, The Galaxy Express has now been around since 2008. For new passengers, I would like to clarify my relationship as a reader with m/m sci-fi romance: I enjoy m/m SFR greatly and plan to keep exploring it.

Additionally, here’s a number of posts I’ve done that either focus on m/m SFR or reference it in some fashion (in no particular order):