Spend Valentine's Day with some Sci-Fi Fiction Heroes & Giveaway!

Happy Valentine's Day! I've brought some of the heroes from my stories with me to help celebrate the day. There here to tell you how they'd spend Valentine's Day. At the end, you tell me which hero you'd prefer to spend the evening with.

Prince Aris from An Unexpected Return:

Valentine's Day is foreign to me, since I'm not from Earth. But I'd fly you through space to the planet of Elatia, where sensuality is celebrated. We'd take in some local cuisine, experience an erotic couples massage from the well-trained Adomos, and then spend the rest of the night enjoying each other. Exploring every single inch of each other.

Erik from Never Gonna Let You Go:

First of all, I'd have to make sure you weren't loyal to Planet Core. If you were, I'd have to say goodbye to you before we even started. If not, I'd take you underground. We'd join the rest of the rebels for dinner. Then we'd go off on our own to the underground spring-fed pool. What happened after would be up to you.

Dare from Made For Her:

I've never been able to celebrate Valentine's before. Clones aren't allowed to date. Given the opportunity, I'd take you out on the town, maybe go to one of the local military hangouts for dinner. You do like military guys, right? Then we'd go dancing and back to your place, because the barracks don't offer any privacy.



So, tell me which hero you'd like to spend Valentine's Day with, for your chance to WIN an ebook copy of one of my backlist titles. Winner will be drawn February 17, 2013. Contest is international. Good luck!

Bio:

Jessica Subject is the author of contemporary and science fiction romance, ranging from sweet to erotica. In her stories, you could meet clones, or a sexy alien or two. You may even be transported to another planet for a romantic rendezvous. 

When Jessica isn't reading, writing, or doing dreaded housework, she likes to get out and walk. Fast. But she just may slow down if there is a waterfall nearby.

Jessica lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two energetic children. And she loves to hear from her readers. You can find her at jessicasubject.com and on twitter @jsubject.

Website/Blog | Newsletter | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Authorgraph

My name is Misa and I’m a speculative romance author.

I blame my sister for the latter. She used to read Harlequin books and I used to borrow them, coming into contact with heaving breasts and milky thighs at a very tender age. I read Judy Bloom’s Forever. I watched Dirty Dancing and Romancing the Stone and learned to love being in love. Love is such a universal emotion, and I think that’s why I chose to combine it with my other passion – science fiction.

When I started writing, it was science fiction that I wrote. However, other other worlds fascinated me just as much; worlds closer to home and the possibilities of the supernatural. I discovered a love for the altered past in Steampunk, and alternative versions of Earth in urban fantasy. And I began to write speculative fiction, but always with a touch of romance. Okay, maybe more than a touch. Shut up.This love is down to watching Star Trek and Doctor Who as a child. I had a fascination with the stars that only science fiction could satisfy, though I watched every shuttle launch until the BBC stopped broadcasting them after the Challenger disaster. I wanted to boldly go and explore this last frontier. In lieu of that, I watched the Enterprise and the TARDIS, read about The Day of the Triffids and The War of the Worlds and journeyed with Arthur Dent.

So speculative fiction + romance = speculative romance. To date I have written a love story set at the end of time, a woman finding a second chance at life after becoming a vampire, and a disabled woman who finds love in a man from two hundred years in the future. In the WIP folder is a zombie-hunting cowboy, an angel with an attitude, and cynical Mafiosa tending a bar at the butt-end of the galaxy. And I’m having THE best time ever.

My name is Misa and I’m a speculative romance author.

Bio: Misa grew up fascinated by space and its possibilities. She wrote her first novel in 2007 for NaNoWriMo, and while she didn't finish it she was bitten by the writing bug. Her first published story, IRONHAVEN, was published in 2011 by Decadent Publishing. Her second is out July 2012 through Champagne Books.

When she's not writing (which is rarely), she can be found herding her children, chasing after her husband, or fiddling with her 1972 VW Beetle. She can be found on Twitter as MisaBuckey and the quickest way of getting her attention is to mention Cliff Simon.

Giveaway!

Leave a comment for your chance to WIN an ePUB copy of Ironhaven.



Be sure to check out previous posts from the Valentine's Day Bash for more chances to WIN!
Arlene Webb
Graylin Fox
Barbara Elsborg
Laurie A. Green
Jessica E. Subject
Jaleta Clegg
Heather Massey
Rebecca Royce
Pippa Jay
Heidi Ruby Miller
J.C. Cassels
Sara Brookes

A Chemical Romance by Pippa Jay

Love is one of the most common themes in creative arts. It’s considered part of the survival instinct, a drive that helps keep human beings together to ensure the continuation of the species. Perhaps that’s why it’s such a common theme, particularly in science fiction, where threats to the species can be so much bigger and catastrophic on a galactic, or even universal scale.

But how would that work for a relationship between two different species, as can happen in a science fiction romance? Would a species that might be physically compatible respond in the same way to the pheromones released by a human? What if they had the opposite effect? And if love in a human is the drive to mate and perpetuate the species, how does that work with a biologically incompatible partner? Will we ever find out for real!?Most of us are aware that love is supposedly the result of a cocktail of different chemicals surging round our bodies. That initial dizziness we feel, the racing heart, the sweaty palms and hot flushes are all down to the release of dopamine, norepinephrine and phenylethylamine. The feeling of bliss comes from the “pleasure drug” dopamine. The racing heart and excitement are due to the adrenaline-like norepinephrine. Together they produce elation, intense energy, sleeplessness, loss of appetite: all the classic symptoms of being in love. When a couple has sex, oxytocin is released during orgasm and creates an emotional bond. The more sex, the greater the bond.

So far most of my involved couples have been human (or relatively so!). But romance in science fiction where one or both of the characters isn’t human is part of what gives sfr a greater scope to explore. To pursue a whole range of ‘what ifs’ beyond the simple ‘will they/won’t they?’ get together. That’s what I love about science fiction romance, where a happily ever after may not just depend on that first kiss.

To celebrate I’m offering a random commentator (please leave an e-mail address!) the choice of either a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $15 Gift Certificate from my publisher Lyrical Press Inc. Enjoy! J

Find me at: Pippa Jay - Adventures in Sci-fi

Follow me on Twitter as - @pippajaygreen

Keir - a science-fiction romance available 7th May 2012 from Lyrical Press Inc:

http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=81&products_id=513

Blurb:

Outcast. Cursed. Dying. Is Keir beyond redemption?

For Keirlan de Corizi--the legendary 'Blue Demon' of Adalucien--death seems the only escape from a world where his discolored skin marks him as an oddity and condemns him to life as a pariah. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise: Tarquin Secker, a young woman who can travel the stars with a wave of her hand.

But Quin has secrets of her own. She's spent eternity searching through space and time with a strange band of companions at her back. Defying her friends' counsel, Quin risks her apparent immortality to save Keir. She offers him sanctuary and a new life on her home world, Lyagnius.

When Keir mistakenly unleashes his dormant alien powers and earns instant exile from Quin's home world, will she risk everything to stand by him again?



Be sure to check out previous posts from the Valentine's Day Bash for more chances to WIN!
Arlene Webb
Graylin Fox
Barbara Elsborg
Laurie A. Green
Jessica E. Subject
Jaleta Clegg
Heather Massey
Rebecca Royce

Valentine's Day with Acton and Lizbeth by Rebecca Royce

Lizbeth fiddled with the control panel in the Maintenance Room. It never seemed to work right and after their last encounter with the Lizard People, she wasn’t exactly certain that it ever would again. How many times could one section of the ship get blown up and rebuilt before it went permanently haywire?

“Should you be doing that?”

Lizbeth jumped, bumping her head against the panel and cursing. Damn, Acton. He always snuck up on her.

He shook his head, making a tut-tut sound before pulling her into his embrace. “This is why I asked if you should be doing that?”

She shoved at his chest. “Captain, I was doing just fine until you startled me, which I think you did on purpose.”

Acton raised an eyebrow. “It’s Captain, now?”

Lizbeth flipped him her middle finger, something she knew he understood since he’d taught it to her. It might be an earth specific gesture but the meaning seemed clear in any language.

“Now, don’t be like that.” He took her hand, kissing her knuckles gently. “I’m just worrying about you and the little one.” He rubbed her belly to stress what he made.

She bit down on her lip. She couldn’t be angry with him when he acted like that. Her current pregnant state had come about thanks to his teaching her about mistletoe around the human Christmas holiday.

“I made you something?”

He pulled a cut out red piece of paper shaped like a heart and handed it to her. She stared at the paper blankly. “You had the computer cut out a heart out of a piece of red paper for me?”

Acton rolled his eyes. “I didn’t use the computer. I did it myself and it’s for you because it’s Valentine’s Day.”

“I don’t know what that is. Is it another human thing?”

“It's the day that humans stop and take time to tell each other how much they love each other.”

Lizbeth scratched her head. Human traditions confused her. “Why do they only do that once a year?”

“They do it all the time but Valentine’s Day they remember to take the time.”

She held out the card. “By cutting out pieces of paper?”

“And giving each other flowers and chocolate.”

Now that was an idea she could get behind “Chocolate?”

His grin lit up the room as he passed her a box filled with her most favorite thing in the universe—chocolate. She grabbed the present greedily and held it to her chest. “I think you’re right. I absolutely should not be fixing the maintenance unit. I absolutely should be eating these instead.”

Do you want to see more of Acton and Lizbeth and how they ended up together gallivanting through space? Check out Yes, Captain.

And Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you! Enter to win a $10 Amazon Gift to one lucky commentator.

RR

http://rebeccaroyce.blogspot.com/

http://rebeccaroyce.com/


Be sure to check out previous posts from the Valentine's Day Bash for more chances to WIN!
Arlene Webb
Graylin Fox
Barbara Elsborg
Laurie A. Green
Jessica E. Subject
Jaleta Clegg
Heather Massey

Be My Valentine by Jaleta Clegg

Valentine's Day is a special one for me - it's my wedding anniversary. We rarely celebrate on that day, though, because we're mostly cheapskates and hate crowds. Our latest romantic date involved taking the dog to obedience class without our kids. Not what most people would consider romantic, not in the least. And yet, it was.

Romance really bothers me because I can't quantify it or measure it. I'm a science nerd, I want to take things apart and figure out the nuts and bolts. Romance in life and writing doesn't lend itself to logic or scientific inquiry.

What makes something romantic? Is it flowers and music and chocolate and sexy waiters with bedroom eyes serving bubbly drinks with umbrellas? Or does it have more to do with the relationship between the two lovers?

I don't write Romance, I write science fiction adventure with romantic subplots. For me, the romance is not the physical relationship between the characters, but the emotional. Nexus Point contains exactly one very short, chaste kiss. The sequel (which is in negotiation with a publisher, long story) contains a lot more kissing but less romance. The main character, Dace, has no idea what relationships are all about. She's been abused and neglected most of her life. When Tayvis, the hunky lead man in Nexus Point, takes an interest in her, she has no clue how to handle it or even what it means. A major theme of the books is the question, what is love and what does it really mean? For someone who's never experienced it, the question is a tough one to tackle.

Most romance stories deal with the initial falling-in-love stage of a relationship. It's exciting, it's sexy, it doesn't involve the day-to-day drudgery of life together. How sexy is a ratty flannel nightgown when you're seven months pregnant and feeling like something the cat chewed up, barfed out, and left on the front porch for a week? According to my husband, very sexy. That moment is real, and it's one of my precious memories. I was brushing my teeth in my decrepit flannel nightgown, feeling like a beached whale with my pregnant belly (number six, if you want to know), my hair a mess, and feeling like the cat toy, when my husband looked at me with that light in his eyes and said, "Do you know how beautiful you are?"

That, my friends, is real romance.

Giveaway!

Want to experience my kind of romance? I'm giving away one ebook copy of Nexus Point. And since life isn't romantic without chocolate somewhere, I'm giving away a bag of Dove chocolates (US only, please). Email me at jaletaclegg@gmail.com with your idea of a romantic moment and you could win! I'll pick winners randomly on Feb 21.

~Jaleta Clegg writes science fiction adventure with plenty of romance and silly horror stories without romance, although it leaks out sometimes when she's not looking. You can find links to her books and stories at www.jaletac.com


Be sure to check out previous posts from the Valentine's Day Bash for more chances to WIN!
Arlene Webb
Graylin Fox
Barbara Elsborg
Laurie A. Green
Jessica E. Subject

Don't Break My Heart by Barbara Elsborg

How many times have you read – her heart was breaking? Or—He broke her heart. Or she broke his heart. Don’t want to be sexist here. Doctors have identified a condition that mimics a heart attack, most often suffered by post-menopausal women who’ve lost a loved one. But any emotional trauma – grief, anger, anxiety—can trigger a massive surge of adrenaline that overwhelms the heart. It freezes the left ventricle, reducing its ability to contract and pump blood, and causes symptoms similar to an actual heart attack. It’s been called a concussion of the heart and it’s rare. Only 1-2% of people diagnosed with a heart problem have this, but it accounts for 6% of women’s heart attacks. The good news is lasting damage is rare and the heart recovers.

Bit of a morbid topic for Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to write about what a fantastic organ the heart is. It pumps (if you’re lucky) without problem for your entire life. Day after day, week after week, year after year. If only we could invent motors that worked for so long! So far 620 days is the longest anyone has survived with an artificial heart. While I can’t imagine an artificial brain being produced in my lifetime, I do believe that scientists will manage to build a long-lasting heart. Technology advances in leaps and bounds and is catching up with science fiction. Humans will have bodies that are built to last, skin that doesn’t age, muscles that never tire, and a heart that never wears out. When they fathom out a way to control adrenaline surges, then we won’t even have a concussion of the heart, but I suspect writers will still be using the expressions – he broke her heart. She broke his heart.

Don’t do that today. Today make someone’s heart sing by telling them you love them. Then remember to do that the day after and the day after that for as long as your heart keeps beating.

My heroine Lucy – in Lucy in the Sky thinks her heart’s about to stop when she’s whisked into space, but it turns out to be a journey to love. For one randomly picked commentator – I offer an ebook copy of Lucy in the Sky.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

www.barbaraelsborg.blogspot.com

www.barbaraelsborg.com


Be sure to check out previous posts from the Valentine's Day Bash for more chances to WIN!
Arlene Webb
Graylin Fox

Where are their sex parts again? by Graylin Fox

Welcome to my little post on this Valentine's Day.

My question going into any science fiction romance where alien species are involved is simple. Are they *ahem* built like us? I mean does tab P still go into slot V?

I'm currently writing a Science Fiction story called Deadly Beauty and my aliens, the Asrians, are plants that evolved through engineering. I've yet to describe their lovemaking process but it's plant based. So I'm headed back to my old science books on pollen and stuff to see how I can make that sexy. Then again, it's him, her, and the alien equivalent of a bumblebee. Does that count as a threesome? Well, I don't know either.. yet!

But I'm taking suggestions in the comments section. How would lab-created plant-based life forms make love and procreate... go! 

I'm very happy to have joined this little blog here with Jessica and Dawn. It's wonderful to shoot emails back and forth with strange ideas and have them "ooooed" over.. and we do. :)

Remember to read and comment and every post today so you can qualify for the most goodies!!


Graylin

Be sure to check out previous posts from the Valentine's Day Bash for more chances to WIN!
Arlene Webb

Flowers for Valentine's Day by Arlene Webb

“Hi. My name is Flowers Suck (FS). I’m an overworked florist who teleported from the year 2222 to witness the launch of the revamped Backward Momentum blog into a haven for lovers of Science Fiction Romance. I come bearing gifts (a lame basket of flowers) and hoping to crash this party.”

FS drew in a deep breath of dead flower scent. “Red roses, a traditional (boring), and established symbol (archaic) of love (no imagination) has a tried and true pattern of boy/girl meets girl/boy, screws up, re-finds their love and rides either on horseback, driving Volkswagen bug, skipping hand in hand (all too lame to have a spaceship) off into the sunset (clichéd).

“Young Adult by itself is pure and innocent (yep, boring). But add in determined lovers filled with angst, the bittersweet becomes emotional and page turning fun. Paranormal without romance means the green Trix flower (dianthus or carnation family, relatively new to the flower scene and very cool) is just another Dr. Seuss type script of weirdness, but throw in lust and love, the vamp, were, shape shifter is someone who the reader can fall in love with.”

“As to Horror, trust me! clowns are about as frightening as Casper the ghost, while (shudder) Teddy bears can be downright evil. They’ll chop of the head of a hero in a blink of its beady black eye.”

I really hate VD day. FS scowls at the humongous pile of thorns and foliage leaves at her feet. The last thing she wanted to do was blither on about romance when she had eight billion lovely (barf) roses to process, but she’d made a commitment to say something, no matter how trite, in honor of this really (I’m serious) awesome event.

“In conclusion, I know for fact (from the future, remember?) the three SFR writers who’ll run this blog will not only repeatedly make the bestseller list, they’ll also elevate the standards of the romance genre to make science fiction rule !! (throws confetti and bonbons everywhere) over any other.

“Kay, enough blither. Where the hell is the tequila? I’d rather drink the sunrise than shuttle into it. BTW, check it out. Arlene’s gifting a print or e copy of a paranormal romance novel called Ashes, and an e-copy of Splintered Energy, book one in a series of four. Splintered Energy is sci-fi romance. The lucky (ha ha) winner could decide for themselves if science rules over paranormal. Thank you, so much, Dawn, Jessica, and Graylin for hosting me! Bye.” FS races off in search of alcohol.