Wednesday, May 20, 2015
BORING IS GOOD - EXCITEMENT IS VASTLY OVERRATED
Lately my life has been hectic and stressful, so I've decided that in "real" life boring is good. Excitement is
vastly overrated.
In "real" life excitement usually means injured or
sick children, ailing senior parents, lost jobs, broken down cars, empty bank
accounts and household repairs.
I'm not an adventurous person. I'm not a coordinated person.
I can't dance. I can't sing. I can't ride a bike, forget a motorcycle. I tried
riding a motor scooter once. Ended up in a ditch. When my friends convinced me to try again I
managed to fall off the danged thing. So I don't like taking risks. They
usually result in bruises and blood, and the sight of blood makes me queasy. I
prefer my "real" life to be a lovely shade of boring beige with just
a few sprinkles of pastel excitement - visiting with friends and family, dinner
out, a movie, a vacation at a quiet beach.
That's why I adore books, both reading and writing them. In
a book I can dance, sing, or roar down the road on big old hog. I can risk my
life skiing, surfing, treasure hunting, mountain climbing or trekking through
the Amazon jungle. I can shoot guns (without blowing off fingers or toes.) I
can fight invading alien forces here on Earth or off in space. Zombies? Vampires?
Werewolves? No problem. Sitting safe in my easy chair I can handle them. And in
between the explosions and flying body parts, I can have sex with a leather-clad
bad boy - or two. There are no STDs to worry about when your partners exist
only between the pages of a book and your imagination.
In a book I can travel the Oregon Trail or the Trail of
Tears and still be home for dinner. The only danger I face is burning said
dinner while I'm engrossed in the story, but there's even an upside to that -
ordering in pizza. Or better yet dinner out somewhere, one of those pastel
sprinkles of excitement I prefer.
That's why people who tell me they don't have time to or
like to read confuse me. Are their lives so "exciting" that they
don't need or want to escape into another existence even for a short while?
So I'm happy to live my boring "real" life and get
all my excitement between the pages of a book.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Stretching the Boundaries
I love the escapism books provide. It's one of the reasons, I don't confine my reading to one particular genre but will pretty much read anything that piques my interest. I believe this also helps me as a writer to learn new techniques that may actually improve my own writing.
Last month, I was invited to participate in a book release party on Facebook for a new erotic SciFi romance series by Lexi Post. While there, I picked up a few books by some of the other authors. A friend of mine was a bit shocked. Since I don't write erotica, why would I pick it up?
True, I don't usually write many love scenes in my books and tend to use more romantic language than the raw kind used in erotica, but there's much to learn from any book that touches you and causes a reaction. Like:
What was done right?
How did the author touch you?
How did the author get you to fall in love with the characters?
How did they motivate the sex on page 3 or five of the book?
All of these things contribute to the fantasy of the book. All of these things indicate the skill of the writer. And while I don't think of these questions as I read, I do replay those memorable moments once I reach the end of the book.
So, I encourage all of you to stretch your reading muscles a bit. After all, SciFi erotica is a sister of SciFi Romance and who knows what's there waiting for you to discover?
Until next time.
Last month, I was invited to participate in a book release party on Facebook for a new erotic SciFi romance series by Lexi Post. While there, I picked up a few books by some of the other authors. A friend of mine was a bit shocked. Since I don't write erotica, why would I pick it up?
True, I don't usually write many love scenes in my books and tend to use more romantic language than the raw kind used in erotica, but there's much to learn from any book that touches you and causes a reaction. Like:
What was done right?
How did the author touch you?
How did the author get you to fall in love with the characters?
How did they motivate the sex on page 3 or five of the book?
All of these things contribute to the fantasy of the book. All of these things indicate the skill of the writer. And while I don't think of these questions as I read, I do replay those memorable moments once I reach the end of the book.
So, I encourage all of you to stretch your reading muscles a bit. After all, SciFi erotica is a sister of SciFi Romance and who knows what's there waiting for you to discover?
Until next time.
Monday, May 11, 2015
HAVE WE ALREADY CONQUERED SPACE? by Vijaya Schartz
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| Alien base on the moon. NASA image Google |
If you believe the conspiracy theorists, since our first steps in space, we have discovered alien bases on the moon and later on Mars. Using reverse-engineered spacecrafts, we are making contact with other species, collaborating with aliens on top secret projects in secret US bases, in the name of science... even experimenting on fellow humans.
This would explain a lot of UFO sightings, abductions, animal mutilations, the men in black, our giant steps in new technology, and the $12,000 hammers and ridiculously expensive supplies purchased by the government over the past decades, as they served as a cover for the enormous amount of government funds diverted toward this top secret research.
According to same conspiracy theorists, we may have already mastered antigravity, cloaking technology, warp drive... wouldn't that be great? Of course, the governments of Earth aware of this collaboration remain silent on the topic, denying and debunking every witness reports, and rejecting questions with benign answers.
A sci-fi writer can only dream and speculate. For me, I like to think we are already in space. After all, in Stargate, the entire project was top secret and unknown to the public. It makes sense that if such a project existed, the governments would deny its existence.
Can you imagine
the world becoming what all these science fiction authors are predicting? While some authors paint a dark picture of our fictitious
future, I choose to present humanity with challenges they can ultimately handle and overcome... that's because I want a happy outcome. After all, my heroes and heroines do deserve to be happy in the end.
So, I choose to believe, and maybe, who knows, this will be the brainstorm starting point of my future sci-fi romance series. A writer's mind never stops speculating. My Ancient Enemy series is not so farfetched after all. Find all my books at: AMAZON - B&N - ARe - SMASHWORDS etc.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MY BOOKS AT HTTP://WWW.VIJAYASCHARTZ.COM
Friday, May 8, 2015
Where To Find Even More Science Fiction Romance
It used to be that sci-fi romance--if you could find it at all--was tucked onto some lower shelf toward the back of the bookstore. Now with the explosion of ebooks and social media, finding your favorite niche is a breeze.
Some ab-fab SFR sites to check out are:
In addition to great sites, there are some fun Facebook pages as well:
To get science fiction ebook deals delivered right to your inbox, sign up for these sites:
And of course, keep stopping by Starbound Lovers for the latest sci-fi romance from some of your favorite authors!
Happy exploring!
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