Have fun opening this month's box of sci-fi romance flavored chocolates!
New
releases
HERO'S END (space opera) - JC Cassels
When a former lover with a score to settle nearly
brings Blade Devon’s charmed life to an end, he seeks refuge – and some time to
lick his wounds – with an old friend…leaving the woman he loves behind.
Bo Barron is no frail flower, despite her
masquerade as Blade’s Joy Babe Mistress. She straps on her sidearm and
goes off alone to track her missing father, kicking off a search that stretches
across the galaxy – from the lair of the gruesome Rex, a clone with a taste for
sentient biomatter, to Rogue’s Cross, the most dangerous space station in the
outer Commonwealth.
Someone close to her doesn’t want Bo’s father
found. To make matters worse, the First Sector Overlord orders Blade’s
holofeature career over and Bo out of his life for good.
Surrounded by betrayal, Bo and Blade turn to each
other…but the secrets he protects threaten to tear them apart.
One way or another, returning Bo’s father to his
rightful place and following their hearts will mean HERO’S END.
AGAMEMNON FROST AND THE HOLLOW SHIPS
(steampunk; m/m) – Kim Knox
Book two of Agamemnon Frost
Edgar Mason is ready to embark upon his new life at Agamemnon Frost's side. But all is not perfect. His Martian overlord, Pandarus, has implanted a dark voice in his mind, a voice that urges betrayal. And though Mason can keep close to Frost, there's little room for romance under the watchful gaze of the engineers from Station X.
That changes when Mason and Frost reopen their investigation into their old enemy's whereabouts. Posing as double agents and investigating cryptic rumors of "hollow ships," they find him impersonating a London banker and worm their way into his confidence.
But their success brings them trouble in spades. Pandarus takes them into the belly of his ships, where he plans to transfigure them into mindless automata. And with Earth on the brink of invasion, Frost's old flame Theodora reappearing and Pandarus's brainwashing growing more effective, Mason and Frost will find their bond tested as never before.
See how it all began in Agamemnon Frost and the House of Death.
FALSE SALVATION (Borealis #10, space
opera) - A.R. Norris
Nami Sato is a destined birth
breeder for a sleep vessel society, but she wants more. After a singularity
event, she chances an escape to the nearest station, Borealis, only to end up
in the prison medical ward. Before two unscrupulous guards can sell her into
the sex world infesting the station, Commander Raines talks one of his officers
into taking her in as a nanny.
Young Adrien Natal Ovidio, both
disgusted with the vision his father wants for his people and already half in
love with Nami through her video journals, escapes in Nami's footsteps. But the
new residents hold secrets that interest both TPP and the Rebellion. Now the
commander and lieutenant commander must get them to safety before TPP gets
their grubby hands on them.
ICE RED (futuristic Snow White) - Jael
Wye
Mirror,
mirror, full of stars,
Who will claim the throne of Mars?
Who will claim the throne of Mars?
The princess: Engineer Bianca Ross,
heir to a megacorporation and the Mars elevator, needs to acquire a mine on the
surface to secure her place in the company. All that stands in her way is the
mine's charming owner, Cesare Chan.
The evil stepmother: Victoria Ross
is plotting to gain control of Mars. She plans to assassinate Bianca and seduce
Cesare to further her goals, and Bianca's trip is the perfect opportunity.
The charming prince: Cesare
shouldn't get involved. Bianca's visit could reveal the escaped slaves he's
hiding at his mine, but he can't ignore a damsel in distress--especially one as
beautiful as Bianca.
Alone, neither would stand a chance
against Victoria. But together, they could rewrite a tale that's meant to end
with Bianca's blood.
An excerpt isn't available yet, but
you can learn more in an interview with the author at SFR Brigade.
Hand-to-hand combat wisdom
Donna
S. Frelick's Packing
a More Powerful Punch is a must-read post for authors who seek to include
plausible, realistic fight scenes in their science fiction romances. Here's a
snippet of her many fascinating insights, born of her experience as a trained
martial artist:
Most fights last only a few seconds, but few fighters can knock someone out with one punch. When adrenaline is high, even trained fighters miss their targets, get their techniques blocked or fail to use enough power. The best fighters—and the writers who choreograph their moves—are able to identify and exploit weaknesses in their opponents, to use the weapons at hand and to protect themselves.So, if all those things are true, you can’t expect your hero to fight for ten pages in an empty room, to get hit multiple times in the head with a baseball bat and keep on fighting, or to swing and miss over and over again. Yet you see these things happen in movies a lot and on the page even more. At least in some romance novels, the paranormal heroes have superpowers. But if you’re writing contemporary, romantic suspense, historical or SFR with a human at the helm, please consider reality.
I
know, right? Save the fantastical, drawn out fights for, say, professionals
like Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, and Biao Yuen in films like WHEELS ON MEALS. :P (The
looong castle battle in that film was pretty epic, though!)
The Mary Shelley effect
Via
SF
Signal I discovered a post at Policymic by Ghezal Hamidi called 200
Years After 'Frankenstein,' Science Fiction Is No Longer a Boys Club:
It’s true that women need more representation in science fiction, but it’s not quantity we’re after. What we all want, and should strive for, is better quality in the way women are included. Shelley’s contribution to the genre has been immense, but women are still, most certainly, changing things in sci-fi. As appreciators and consumers of science fiction, it’s up to us to affirm our need and desire for a less male-dominated pool of talent.
I love, love, love seeing articles
like this. And yet (nitpick alert)…it'd be nice, at least once in a while, if
authors of such posts would reference the significant group of women who write
science fiction romance. SFR focuses on the highly important and relevant intersection of romance and
technology. In fact, it even delivers stories about cyborgs--very Frankenstein-like
characters--falling in love. Mary Shelley would be proud, if you ask me.
SFR
action on Goodreads
Smart Girls Love SciFi & Paranormal Romance now
has a Goodreads
group! Check it out, yo.
Now I turn the mike over to you. Got any science
fiction romance news and/or links to share?
Joyfully yours,
Heather