Houston, We Have a Problem

I generally avoid political subjects like the plague (excuse the cliche'--maybe I should have said Romulan flu?), unless they hit very close to home.  The recent announcement of proposed cuts to our space program have left me wondering if the only way we humans will ever reach the stars is through our imaginations. This sinking feeling I have of an era lost and all our advances forgotten was summed up quite well here.

And here.

Where is our space program headed?  Did my current work in progress, Outer Planets, just move from the category of Near Future Romance to Science Fantasy? Can we even hope for manned exploration of our own solar neighborhood in the next century?

The decisions happening today regarding space exploration (and the funding cuts that are impacting it) do--or should--matter to us as writers. We view the 2001 and 2010 movies now with a wistful smirk. We are nowhere near as advanced as we thought we'd be when these forward-thinking motion pictures were first released.  A low budget little TV show called Star Trek inspired an entire generation to pursue careers in science and astrophysicists in the 60's so they could reach for the stars and make that fictional futuristic dream more of a reality.  Now, funding obstacles have pushed our goals back further and further, until we've reached the point those goals now seem beyond any possible reality we might actually achieve in the foreseeable future.

Can private industry pick up the gauntlet and take us forward, as has been suggested as the "solution?" It's a huge gamble, when projects such as Spaceport America are threatened by funding crises in the states where they are being developed. Although private industry may be able to afford to build the crafts, can they also afford to construct and maintain the actual spaceports themselves? Will major corporations--those with the massive funding necessary--see this as a solid investment or quick enough return on their capital outlay?  And will their focus not be on advancing our exploration of space and scientific discovery to improve health, medicine, food production (to name only a few benefits that have arisen from our space program), or will it be on commercial gain via high tech, high ticket amusement rides of near Earth orbit or the space station?

Comments by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt on Friday in a speech in Ocala, Florida:
“If it is a commercial effort only to visit the space station, then it is the beginning of the end of human space exploration,” he said. “Ultimately, you abandon the moon to China, you abandon the space station to Russia, and you abandon liberty to the ages."

It seems the "fiction" in science fiction romance is becoming the key operative word, as we face a very uncertain future for space exploration...or perhaps, for our future, period.   

Spaceport America's Foundation Banner

Ann Aguirre's KILLBOX Cover

The new cover art for book four in Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series was recently posted on Ann Aguirre's website.  It's my favorite of the four covers, although I'm a bit partial to Grimspace (book #1) too.  What do you think?

KILLBOX has an October 2010 release date, and follows novels GRIMSPACE, WANDERLUST and DOUBLEBLIND in the series.

IN SEARCH OF NEW READS, PART II

All right, now, confess. You love science fiction. You love romance. You’ve got some pretty kinky fantasies going on in your head, don’t you? Yeah, that’s right. Don’t try to deny it.

Some of us dream of being the captains of our own starships. Whatever happens on the bridge of that ship—or in the cabin or on the zero-G deck—is nobody’s business but our own. Some of us wield lightswords in the armies of the galactic rebellion or seduce pirate leaders to protect our home planets (or, hell, just for the fun of it!). Some of us just like to hang out at places like Spacefreighters Lounge or TenForward and see who, or what, turns up.

And some of us wait here on Earth for that special one to come and find us and recognize that we, above all others in the galaxy, are unique, the key to the survival of his planet. Well, gals, be careful what you wish for. Because, according to the premise of Deidre Knight’s PARALLEL ATTRACTION, you could end up either 1) the beloved queen of an entire people, 2) dead, or 3) both, depending on the timeline.

Deidre Knight is, of course, well known as a literary agent (The Knight Agency) and paranormal writer. PARALLEL ATTRACTION is the first book in her first series (MIDNIGHT WARRIORS), and it’s pure SFR—an intergalactic war between alien worlds is being fought covertly here on Earth. Kelsey Wells is the unwitting keeper of a secret to the mystery of time travel that could mean either an end to the war or destruction on an unimaginable scale. Kelsey not only holds the key to victory for the good guys in the fight, she holds the key to their leader’s heart. For years exiled king Jareshk has held on to the barest scrap of a memory of her from a stolen moment they had together as teenagers. When he sees her again . . . well, you know how it goes.

The series weaves a number of subplots around the main SF theme, while it introduces and follows new couples through their own romantic journeys. Deidre does a convincing job of worldbuilding, though the universe she creates is right under our noses. The element of time travel ramps up the suspense, with characters appearing with warnings from the future or the past, sometimes about themselves! In lesser hands all this would be enough to give us a headache, but Deidre manages things deftly enough to keep us coming back for more of her brand of hot SFR.

Fantasies are one thing. Nightmares are completely another. It’s not bad enough we have aliens fighting over our little ball of dirt. Author Alexis Morgan has them pouring through a rift in the natural barrier between universes. Yeah, you heard me. In Alexis’ PALADINS series, the aliens are from an alternate universe—a very dark place, since they’re running out of light.

The state of affairs in the alien universe seems to be causing a kind of madness in some of the Others, who leap through the Barrier ready to slaughter anyone in their path. So the places where the Barrier runs thin and prone to collapse are patrolled by the Paladins, an elite army of genetically unique men with kickass fighting skills and the usual tortured alpha personalities (and need for love) to match.

You can’t blame them really. Alexis lays it out for us in the blurb for the first book in the series, DARK PROTECTOR: Devlin Bane: Born a Paladin, his is a member of an ancient band of warriors locked in a centuries-old war against evil. His destiny: To die over and over again to protect mankind from the Others, only to be revived each time by his mortal Handler.

Did we mention there’s a limit on the number of times you can do the whole Lazarus thing before you start to go a little nuts? Yeah, I’d say the boy could use some lovin’. He finds it with his Handler, of course, Doctor Laurel Young.

In the rest of the series, Alexis explores love on both sides of the Barrier (the Others come over here, we go over there, we all get to know each other in all kinds of ways) with a great mix of both science fiction and hot romance. My personal favorites in the series are those that delve deepest into the clash of cultures. IN DARKNESS REBORN and REDEEMED IN DARKNESS offer adventures on opposites sides of the Barrier in which the Other brother and sister pair Barak and Lusahn each find their own human lovers.

Alexis' latest series is skewed more toward the paranormal with the TALIONS. She even has a popular Western series out there (PAT PRITCHARD). But if you haven’t checked out her SFR PALADINS, you’re missing out on some good (ahem) fantasy material.

Cheers, Donna

IN SEARCH OF NEW READS, PART I

Quick! Name some SFR writers!

Ha! you say, and easily rattle off half a dozen well-known authors. Your list probably includes those who are at the top of their game right now—Linnea Sinclair, Susan Grant, Ann Aguirre, Nalini Singh, even Sherrilyn Kenyon, if we go by the numbers. It may include old favorites like Lois McMaster Bujold or Anne McCaffery. If you’re savvy and with-it, your list is growing to include up-and-comers like D.L. Jackson and Barbara Elsborg (and one day soon, the hosts of this blog!).

But, of course, it’s our job here at Spacefreighters Lounge to scout out the far, dusty corners of the SFR galaxy (and your local Borders, Barnes and Noble or Joe’s Bookshop) to dig up lesser known authors. Birders have a Life List of feathered creatures they’ve spotted. Readers of genre fiction have the same kind of weird fascination with sharing the more obscure authors on their Lifetime Reading Lists.
Now, truly, most of the authors on my Life List are hardly unknowns. Linda Howard and Nalini Singh, for example, are personal favorites of mine and millions of other readers, too. It’s just that they hadn’t been generally recognized as science fiction romance authors. They needed a “tag alert” so you could find them, in Linda’s case for her excellent time travel/suspense romance KILLING TIME, and in Nalini’s case for her entire Psy/Changling series.

The same could be said for award-winning paranormal writers Angela Knight and Gena Showalter. Angela is perhaps best known for her MAGEVERSE series of paranormals, the latest of which is MASTER OF FIRE. But she began her career with futuristic short fiction for Ellora’s Cave and Red Sage. Of those, MERCENARIES (Ellora’s Cave) has been expanded and republished by Berkley. “Roarke’s Prisoner” is still available as part of the SECRETS, Vol. 2 anthology from Red Sage.

Angela has also had recent success with her futuristic TIME HUNTERS series, WARRIOR and GUARDIAN. This series follows a team of “genetically engineered cyborgs dedicated to protecting time travelers from each other.” Need I say these cyborgs are sexy alpha male types? And in need of someone to help them get in touch with their feelings? Well worth checking out, particularly if you like your SFR hot and action-oriented.

The amazing Gena Showalter has hit gold with two paranormal series, LORDS OF THE UNDERWORLD and ATLANTIS, and often introduces new series titles or related titles as e-books or YA spin-offs. She’s just a busy gal! But you may not be aware of her excellent near-future SFR series of ALIEN HUNTRESS novels, beginning with AWAKEN ME DARKLY and including most recently SEDUCE THE DARKNESS.

How about this for backcover copy (from Gena’s website, for AMD): In a time and place not too far away, Mia Snow is an alien huntress for the New Chicago Police Department, and she’s the perfect girl for the job. Tough and sexy, she’s earned each of her scars battling the elusive enemy among us. Now, investigating a series of killings, she is shaken to the core when a burst of violence leaves her partner Dallas fighting for his life. A tall, erotic stranger holds the power to heal the injured agent — and to bind Mia in an electrifying and dangerous seduction. He is Kyrin en Arr, of the deadly Arcadian species — an alien, a murder suspect — who has Mia walking a knife’s edge, risking her badge and even her life . . . and edging closer to a shocking revelation that will shatter everything she’s ever believed.

Sounds good, huh? I’ve read two titles in the series and found them to be tight, edgy and evocative of a dark vision of the future that’s Gena’s own. Oh, and hot, too. Just what I’m looking for in SFR. The next title in the series is not due until November of this year. That should give us all enough time to catch up with the ones we’ve missed.

All right, maybe you all had Angela Knight and Gena Showalter on your Skiffy Rommer lists, too. Shoot me a line and let me know how much you enjoyed their lesser-known SFR stuff. And be sure to add their names to the ongoing tag party Heather Massey, our own Laurie Green and others have working to spread the news about SFR.

Meanwhile, I’ll try harder to find someone you don’t know next time with IN SEARCH OF NEW READS, PART TWO!

Cheers, Donna