Starbound Lovers

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I took an art history. One of the things that stuck with me was the impact technology had on art. Before photography, artists tried to meticulously recreate the world the saw. Afterwards, artists created the impression of what they saw.

It was a subtle shift, yet it gave birth to the many incarnations of modern art.

Now computers are changing the photography.

What will happen to art when we have interactive holograms and virtual reality?

What form will future art take?  Will retro art have supporters or will everything be electronic and subject to anniliation by a stray solar flare? Would museums still exist? Would artists?

It's a silly question really. Humans will always interpret the world around them. And I strongly believe art is encoded in our DNA. I just hope I live long enough to visit a virtual Louvre or Tate.

There was a Firefly marathon on the SyFy channel this past weekend and it amazed me. It seemed like it had just been a couple of years since the show was on. It’s been twelve. Twelve years! How could anything so fun and so forward thinking, have been so far in the past?

BOREALIS IX: 
AKIRA'S CHOICE
Novella
by Vijaya Schartz
Part of the Borealis Space Station Universe Series
$1.99 everywhere
In kindle:
http://amzn.com/B00EWTQHAW
in Nook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/vijaya-schartz
at ARe:
http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Vijaya+Schartz

IND'tale Magazine just revealed their nominees for the RONE Award and Akira's Choice is one of their favorite stories of 2013.

5 stars - exceptional - recommended read - Ind'tale Magazine
"Wow! If readers want to see and feel and believe they are in deep space, then "Borealis IX: Akira's Choice" is the perfect choice! With a touch of romance, the vivid descriptions and beautifully developed characters masterfully presented by Schartz create a virtual world that invite the reader not merely to observe, but to walk amongst them and participate... This is a delicate art, and Schartz wields her weapons with precision and skill. Banzai!"

BLURB:
When bounty hunter Akira Karyudo accepted her assignment, something didn't add up. Why would the Trans Planetary Protectorate want a kidnapped orphan dead or alive?

She will get to the truth once she finds the boy, and the no good SOB who snatched him from a psychiatric hospital. With her cheetah, Freckles, a genetically enhanced feline retriever, Akira sets out to flush them out of the bowels of the BOREALIS space station. But when she finds her fugitives, the kidnapper is not what she expects.

Markku, a decorated rebel soldier, stole his nephew from the authorities, who performed painful experiments on the boy. Stuck on Borealis, he protects the child, but how can he shield him from the horribly dangerous conditions in the lawless sublevels of the decrepit space station?

Akira faces the worst moral dilemma of her career. Law or justice, duty or love. She can't have it both ways.

HAPPY READING:

Vijaya Schartz
Blasters, Swords, Romance with a Kick
http://www.vijayaschartz.com

According to Wikipedia, time travel is an off-shoot of science-fiction. My book series, Tennessee Waltz, is time-travel plus sparkles--fairy sparkles that is.

And the final book in the series is almost here!
What started back in 2011 with Kiss Me, I'm Irish,


has finally come to fruition with Kiss Me, I'm Home.


Well, almost. It's currently in the editing process, but I wanted to give you a peek of the cover!
Here's the teaser:

Sorry I'm off topic today. If it's any consolation, my upcoming release is in my Shooting Stars series. Unfortunately for anyone who's reading this looking for a sci-fi-related topic, the stars in question are of the rock and roll variety.

But I can't not share my lovely new cover created by the fabulous Valerie Tibbs!

 Boosh!  I love it so! Double Takes is slotted for an April 28th release from Liquid Silver. :-)

Here's the blurb:

Just a couple more weeks and it'll be St Patrick's Day when everyone is Irish and wears green. To celebrate the day, I'm offering my short contemporary fantasy romance LUCKY'S LEPRECHAUN for FREE from Amazon Monday, March 3rd through Friday, March 7th. Be sure to grab yourself a copy!

http://is.gd/luckysleprechaun

 A Holiday in Council Falls Short Story
7,000 Words

Lucky no longer believes in wishes, hope or dreams. Cheated by his bookkeeper and his ex-girlfriend, he's resigned himself to losing everything.

Twenty-five years ago curiosity about a small human trapped Diamond, a leprechaun, inside a crystal paperweight. Now she has one day left to grant Lucky his final wish or perish.

Can a chance meeting between a little boy and a leprechaun result in love?

Have a Happy St Patrick's Day!

So, I love series. And I think most readers when they find characters they love, don't want to let them go so easily. One day I sat down in my thoughtful spot and tried to figure out how I could do both, but not write your typical series per se.

You see I wanted to use a group of rotating characters set in a parallel universe with varying apocalyptic scenarios but I ran into two problems.

The evil Spock conundrum. How would fans react if they're favorite character suddenly turned into the bad guy.

And the worse of the two, the predictability of the characters' actions.  I don't want to limit the demented twists I can come up with.

Both these items seemed destined to kill the idea, but it's still there squirming around in the old brain box. And I think I have it almost solved but it will violate the Evil Spock rule and might involve aliens.

But shhh, don't tell anyone.

Have you ever noticed that western romance novels and science fiction romance novels have a lot in common? What you say? The old west and space? What could they have in common?

A new 5-star review on Amazon for ALIEN LOCKDOWN still fuels the controversy. Is it Romance? Is it Sci-fi? Is it Romantic Suspense? Is it a thriller?

Most readers love it, and a few hated it. The writing is not in question here, the controversy is about the lines defining the genres.

With a kick-butt heroine to boot, how could it not be action-packed. So, please do not fight over this. ALIEN LOCKDOW is all of the above. It's romance, with heart-pounding action, adventure, in a futuristic prison, on an alien planet. There are love scenes and action scenes.

As an author, I like to mix it up, and I do not apologize. I write what I like to read, and just a romance is not enough for me, like just a science fiction story, no matter how interesting, is not enough for me either. I want both in my novels. A good story and the emotional element of falling in love despite all odds.

ALIEN LOCKDOWN
by Vijaya Schartz
in kindle: http://amzn.com/B00495XUT0 

the year is 3033, in the Andromeda Galaxy, and deep in the bowels of the underground prison, something has gone terribly wrong. Rhonda Alendresis never wanted this prison job. When the civilians vanish and an earthquake damages the nuclear reactor, she must go down to repair it with Captain Perfect himself, Cole Riggeur, who always plays by the rules and never trusted a woman in his life. But deep in the underground penitentiary, the most wicked convicts in the Galaxy are loose, and a treacherous shape-shifter plans his revenge. Disconnected from the Garrison, against impossible odds, Cole and Rhonda now face their greatest challenge... trusting each other in order to survive.

 "The action reminded me of an INDIANA JONES movie and the romance was equally intense." Paranormal Romance Reviews

HAPPY READING

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/vijayaschartz 

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/vijaya-schartz
FB: https://www.facebook.com/vijaya.schartz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vijayaschartz

From Amazon:

Love is made of more than mere flesh and blood....

Tanith Lee is one of the most thought-provoking and imaginative authors of our time. In this unforgettably poignant novel, Lee has created a classic tale--a beautiful, tragic, erotic, and ultimately triumphant love story of the future.

For sixteen-year-old Jane, life is a mystery she despairs of ever mastering. She and her friends are the idle, pampered children of the privileged class, living in luxury on an Earth remade by natural disaster. Until Jane's life is changed forever by a chance encounter with a robot minstrel with auburn hair and silver skin, whose songs ignite in her a desperate and inexplicable passion.

Jane is certain that Silver is more than just a machine built to please. And she will give up everything to prove it. So she escapes into the city's violent, decaying slums to embrace a love bordering on madness. Or is it something more? Has Jane glimpsed in Silver something no one else has dared to see--not even the robot or his creators? A love so perfect it must be destroyed, for no human could ever compete?

Treat yourself this Valentine's Day and check out this SFR classic!

It is very hard to find an author that writes books that I literally can't wait to sink my teeth into.  The list of these authors, for me, if fairly short.  That's why I'm SO very excited when I find a new one.  And I did.  Yesterday.  (Yes, 24 hours ago...and I've already devoured two of her books!)

Call me ecstatic when I discoverd that she has MULTIPLE hot sci-fi series.  That means LOTs of reading time.  Welcome to my favorites list, S. E. Smith! 

    

I'm reading River's Run right now.  It's like Laurann Dohner's New Species series meets Lara Croft, tomb raider.  The heroine is amazing (she trained in the circus with a knife throwing act and these alien alpha males do NOT know what to do with her or her two best friends.)  I laughed.  I rubbed my hands in glee.  I wanted to kiss the smoking hot hero.






Hunter's Claim just came out this month, and I read it yesterday.  In one sitting.  Up until 1:00 AM.  In this book, Hunter's people have invaded Earth and things got a bit messy.  The only way he could protect the human female he discovered was to claim she was his Amate (that's "mate" in alien speak.)  All kinds of fun and chaos ensues with this woman and her two sisters on board the alien ship.http://sesmithfl.com/The_Alliance.htmlhttp://sesmithfl.com/Lords_of_Kassis.html

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so I decided to offer my short contemporary romance CUPID'S APPRENTICE to my readers for FREE on Amazon from February 2nd through February 6th. Please grab yourself a copy and tell all your friends.

In the meantime if you can't wait to read one of my stories check out BRIDE FOR SALE my short, short, sweet, contemporary romance. It's FREE on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes and Kobo.



Hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day with the special someone in your life and don't forget the chocolate.


Elysa Hendricks
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elysa-Hendricks-Author/137316289643103

Judging writing unpublished and published novel contests, I see a lot of mistakes. Some of them truly unique, but most of them are quite common. Take for example that staple of the SciFi/Fantasy genre—world-building.

As readers we want and need to fall into the world the characters in a book exist in. As writers it is our obligation to create that world. You know the one, where dragons fly, magic exists and science can do what is now seemingly impossible.

But how much is too much?

Truthfully, the line is in the sand and it moves depending on the tide. When we're writing a series, we scooch the line closer to the water, knowing the tide is low. But when we're starting a new series, we might be inclined to move the line so far inland, it's located two blocks from the shore.

Neither works well.

And that's why many authors are advised to trash the first 2 or 3 chapters because that information dump is interfering with the story telling.  I don't care who she is, authors hate to part with the words they've poured into pixels.

But sometimes it is necessary.

No matter how much it hurts.

This point was recently driven home to me by one of my critique partners. I was so obsessed with building the world/time period that I forgot that the, um, story. Of course, I didn't give up all those words. I copied and pasted a few of the better description into the parts that I was keeping.

And the story is the better for it.

Even if I lost 22 pages of text. And I cried. Because I forgot the cardinal rule of world-building, less is sometimes more and more only counts if the story is moving along. Have any of you had to trash chapters scenes or wish the author had done so in a book you've read?