SPACEFREIGHTERS AUTHORS SNAG AWARDS!

Last week was a big one for Spacefreighters Lounge authors Laurie A. Green, Pippa Jay and Donna S. Frelick as they swooped in and snapped up not just one or two, but FOUR SFR Galaxy Awards!

Laurie's multi-author Pets in Space anthology won recognition twice as two different judges awarded the book "Best Anthology" and "Best Interstellar Menagerie."

Pippa's short story "Quick Shot" won the award for "Grittiest Hot and Fast Story."

Donna's third novel in the Interstellar Rescue series, Fools Rush In, was  awarded the "Series That Just keeps Getting Better" title.

Wowzer!

The SFR Galaxy Awards were established five years ago by blogger, author and all-around SFR cheerleader Heather Massey as a means of advocating for our diverse, unique genre. They are meant to recognize excellence in the field of science fiction romance, without forcing judges (themselves authors, bloggers and reviewers) to stick to arbitrary, unwieldy categories. 

Abducted by tentacled aliens from Orion and somehow missed these great reads? Check out the buy links on the Novels Tab above!
 
WINNERS!--WINNERS!---WINNERS!

The winners of my Fools Rush In audiobook giveaway are: Ilona Fenton, Effie Kattalakis and Sarah Ulfers! Congrats, y'all! Contact me on my Facebook Author page with your email addresses so I can send you your prizes! 

Cheers, Donna

ROMANCE WRITERS CELEBRATE THEIR BIGGEST DAY WITH CONTEST FINALISTS

As Laurie mentioned on Wednesday, today is one of the biggest days in the romance world calendar: Romance Writers of America’s® RITA® and Golden Heart® contest finalist announcement day. It’s our equivalent of an Academy Award, the highest honor we can receive as romance writers, for one of our books to be named a finalist in either the RITA® contest (for published writers) or the Golden Heart® (for unpublished writers).

The competition is fierce for a spot on the final roster of no more than eight titles per category, from Paranormal (where SFR competes) to Inspirational, Romantic Suspense to Historical. (Entries are typically capped at 1200 for the Golden Heart®, for example, and up to 2000 novels are entered in the RITA®.)

On announcement day, those who have entered sit on tenterhooks, waiting for that all-important phone call or email to tell them their books have been anointed. Believe me, it’s a nerve-wracking process! By 2:00 p.m., Central Daylight Time, all the finalists will have been notified and the list is published on the RWA® website http://www.rwa.org. (If you want to follow the craziness live, as Laurie mentioned, the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood is hosting their party live here.

For the finalists, the flurry of excitement is just beginning of course. After all, in the end, there can be only one—winner per category, that is. Those winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony at the RWA® National Conference in San Diego on Saturday, July 16.

In the meantime, huge congratulations to all the finalists, for both Golden Heart® and RITA® from all of us here at Spacefreighters! Do your happy dance! Enjoy the joy and attention as you approach the National Conference in July. You deserve every minute of it!

Cheers,

Donna

The 2012 SFR Galaxy Awards

About the 2012 SFR Galaxy Awards

The SFR Galaxy Awards is an annual, multi-award event for science fiction romance launched in 2012 to honor a variety of standout stories.

The theme of the SFR Galaxy Awards is inclusiveness. Instead of giving an award to a single book, this event recognizes the worth of multiple books and/or the standout elements they contain. The basic philosophy behind this approach is to help connect readers with books.

Judges create award categories based on criteria of their own choosing. The goal is to deliver a group of awards that are fun, unique, meaningful, and informative for readers.

Below is a list of awards, books and authors (or producer, director, actors in the case of films). A "++" denotes books that are multiple category winners. An "aa" denotes authors with multiple category wins. Presenter names are linked to the announcements on the SFR Galaxy Awards web site with details on why the book was chosen for the award.

Announcing the 2012 SFR Galaxy Awards Winners


Best Alien Fertility Festival
Refugees on Urloon by Melisse Aires  aa
Presented by Anna McLain

Best Alien Hero
Alien ‘N’ Outlaw by KC Burn
Presented by Charlee Allden

Best BSG Inspired SFR
Cold Warriors by Clare Dargin
Presented by Rae Lori

Best Channeling of Django Unchained In A Steampunk Romance
Nights of Steel by Nico Rosso
Presented by Heather Massey

Best Depiction of Reality Entertainment in the Future
Alien Blood by Melisse Aires  aa
Presented by Charlee Allden

Best Disaster Re-Write
Wreck of the Nebula Dream by Veronica Scott
Presented by Marlene Harris

Best Enemies to Lovers Story
Fortune’s Hero by Jenna Bennett
Presented by Charlee Allden

Best Excuse for a Re-read
Break Out (revised and expanded edition) by Nina Croft
Presented by Marlene Harris

Best Heavyset Hero
A Gift For Boggle by PJ Schnyder
Presented by Heather Massey

Best How Was I To Know It Was an Alien Baby
Mothership by Martin Leicht
Presented by Jo Jones

Best I Will Remember You Even If I Forget You
Balance of Terror by K.S. Augustin ++
Presented by Jo Jones

Best I Wish I Had One of my Own
Stud by Cheryl Brooks
Presented by Jo Jones

Best May-December Romance
Keir by Pippa Jay
Presented by Anna McLain

Best Misdirection by a Shape Shifter
The Royal Scam - The Martian Alliance #1 by Gini Koch
Presented by Jo Jones

Best New Arrival From Another Genre Award
Dragonfly by Erica Hayes
Presented by Laurie A. Green

Best Non-Traditional Romance
Stellarnet Rebel by J.L. Hilton
Presented by Heather Massey

Best On-The-Edge-of-My-Seat Premise
Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher ++
Presented by Heather Massey

Best Recursion
Kicking Ashe by Pauline Baird Jones ++
Presented by Anna McLain

Best Repercussions of Living Off-Planet
Mako's Bounty by Diane Dooley +++
Presented by Anna McLain

Best Sci-Fi Romance Film Discovery of 2012
Happy Accidents 
Presented by Heather Massey

Best SFR Adaptation from An Unrelated Genre Classic
Romeo and Juliet: The War by Max Work, Skan Srisuwan, Stan Lee, Terry Douglas
Presented by Rae Lori

Best SFR Film of the Year
Looper
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blount
Presented by Donna S. Frelick

Best Subgenre Mash-Up
Kilts and Kraken (The Gaslight Chronicles) by Cindy Spencer Pape
Presented by Donna S. Frelick

Best Time-Travel Romance
The Mine by John A. Heldt
Presented by Marlene Harris

Best Use of a Historic Monument in A Future Setting
Bitter Harvest by Kim Knox
Presented by Charlee Allden

Best When a Space Pirate Is Not a Space Pirate
Mako’s Bounty by Diane Dooley +++
Presented by Jo Jones

Best Worldbuilding in a Novel or Series
The Psy-Changling series by Nalini Singh
Presented by Donna S. Frelick

Closest Experience to "Boldly Going"
Isolation by A. B. Gayle
Presented by Marlene Harris

Couple That Worked Hardest For Happily Ever After
Moon and Srin from Balance of Terror by KS Augustin ++
Presented by Heather Massey

Cutest Android (also Best Use of the Winter Solstice)
How the Glitch Saved Christmas by Stacy Gail
Presented by Marlene Harris

Dale Carnegie Prize for Novel or Series Most Likely to Win Friends and Influence People 
Born to Darkness (first in the Fighting Destiny SFR series) by Suzanne Brockmann
Presented by Donna S. Frelick

First Runner-Up/Most Ambitious SFR Film of the Year 
Cloud Atlas
Written by  David Mitchell, Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski; directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis; starring Tom Hanks, Halle Barry and others
Presented by Donna S. Frelick

Hottest Sizzle/Best Couple of the Year
Man O’ War Christopher Redmond and Naval Intelligence agent Louise Shaw
Skies of Fire: The Ether Chronicles by Zoe Archer
Presented by Donna S. Frelick

Most Eclectic Collection of Lesbian Speculative Stories
Adventuresses by Angelia Sparrow
Presented by Heather Massey

Most Entertaining Sidekick
Kicking Ashe by Pauline Baird Jones ++
Presented by Laurie A. Green

Most Fascinating Hero
Mako's Bounty by Diane Dooley +++
Presented by Laurie A. Green

Most Out of This World Couples Book Cover for 2012
Assassins in Love by Kris DeLake
Presented by Rae Lori

Most Romantic Moment
Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher ++
Presented by Charlee Allden

Runner-Up/Novel Most Likely to Appeal to Hard-Core SF Fans
Synthetic Dreams by Kim Knox
Presented by Donna S. Frelick

Yummiest Use of Nerd Reference Overload
Geek Love by Mechele Armstrong
Presented by Rae Lori