text: THE GALAXY EXPRESS: SFR News & Links For December 2011
  LESSERBLOOD LIES (refreshed version of A GREATER ART) - Ainsley Davidson
  UNACCEPTABLE RISK (cyberpunk) - Jeanette Grey
  All he can do, as he helps her plan her final mission, is ease her pain, watch her back and hope one of them doesn't pay with their lives.
  In the comment thread of my Sci-Fi Romances With People Of Color? post, visitor Michelle noted that Clare Dargin's COLD WARRIORS included a heroine of color. After contacting the author, I learned that her book will be re-released by Decadent Publishing (date TBA). Very cool!
  She also provided me with the blurb so I could share it with you:
  You can also read a six-sentence excerpt of COLD WARRIORS by clicking here. I'm on the list for an eARC so this book will be in my 2012 TBR pile.
  Sci-fi romance version of Meg Cabot's THE PRINCESS DIARIES?
  Via Pauline B. Jones (STEAMROLLED), I learned about CENTAURI DAWN, an ebook described as a science fiction romance and listed for .99 cents at Amazon. The premise struck me as a futuristic version of THE PRINCESS DIARIES:
  I had to chuckle a bit. Anyway, thought you might like to know about it.
  SFR Holiday Events
  Jessica E. Subject's "Light Up The Holidays With Sci-Fi Romance" starts today! Visit her site for a month-long celebration of sci-fi romance festivities. Click here for the complete schedule.
  It's also time to crack open your e-readers for The Galaxy Express's 3rd annual SFR Holiday Blitz! A number of bloggers and authors have teamed up this holiday season so you can enter for a chance to win a variety of science fiction romance ebooks.
  The SFR Holiday Blitz will launch at 3 pm on Sunday, December 11, 2011.
  RT Reviewer's Choice Awards
  Here are the Futuristic Romance nominees from the RT Reviewer's Choice Awards:
  Gini Koch, DAW, (April 2011)
  Jacquelyn Frank, BALLANTINE, (April 2011)
  Marcella Burnard, BERKLEY SENSATION, (May 2011)
  Sherrilyn Kenyon, GRAND CENTRAL, (May 2011)
  Ellen Connor, BERKLEY SENSATION, (June 2011)
  Gena Showalter, POCKET STAR, (September 2011)
  C.J. Barry, BERKLEY SENSATION, (November 2011)
  And in the Indie Press/Paranormal/Fantasy/Futuristic category:
  Ilona Andrews, SELF-PUBLISH, (September 2011)
  I'm a bit late reporting on this, but here's round two of better late than never: in October, Carina Press put out a Science Fiction Holiday Submissions Call:
  The submission deadline is March 15, 2012. See the Carina blog post for full details.
  I found a recent interview with Samhain Publishing at the blog of Ciara Knight. This covers everything about them in a nutshell.
  I read and enjoyed this book! Alien artifact fun.
  In The Business Rusch: Free, Kristine Katherine Rusch offers great advice for authors (and publishers) about running a free ebook campaign:
  Back to the whole concept of free, however. Let me share what I've learned over the past few weeks.
  Use it as your guide if you want to offer a free e-book some time in the future.
  Personally, I think a free SFR ebook campaign is a great idea because it would help raise the visibility of not only the author, but the subgenre as well. Authors, if you ever do a free SFR ebook promotion in conjunction with your publisher, please let me know so I can help spread the word.
  Here's the latest news in the Amazing Stories re-launch:
  Don't forget to mark your calendars for Jeanette Grey's Uncacceptable Risk Blog Tour, which will run December 9-13. This includes a stop right here at The Galaxy Express on the 15th.
  Diane Dooley (BLUE GALAXY) speculates about the popularity of novellas in A Novella Renaissance?.
  Kate Elliott (JARAN) imagines a new frontier in If I rebooted Star Trek. Heck, I'd watch it!
  On December 10, Gini Koch will be juggling seven alligators dressed in tweed suits signing copies of ALIEN PROLIFERATION at San Diego's Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore from 3-5pm.
  PHOENIX RISING author Corrina Lawson was recently interviewed at Write angles Conference 2011.
  SF Signal interviews author, scientist, and scholar Athena Andreadis.
  Promotion opportunity for authors of SFR
  From Maria Zannini's (TRUE BELIEVERS) Newsy Links comes the, er, news of Cate Master's forthcoming TBR blog, which will launch in 2012. The tagline is "Meet the authors who'll make your list grow" and will be "Highlighting books you haven't yet read but would love to…"
  Authors interested in having their work featured can contact Ms. Masters about scheduling a spot. Details are here. Paid advertising services are also available.
  Evolution of the romance heroine
  In And This Heroine Is Just Right, Dear Author's Jane featured an interesting post about the nature of heroines in romance:
  The truth is that the female role in romance is not so easily categorized as the male role. That allows for quite a bit of freedom but I wonder if we aren't limiting ourselves as readers, requiring the females to fit into certain categories and within certain boundaries.
  She also speculated about the success of heroine-centric stories:
  My belief is that readers have embraced cross over fiction because those stories are generally more female centric and contains stories about women who have more agency. It is expected in urban fantasy, particularly first person urban fantasy, that the female protagonist be proactive, have power in her own right, and has the ability to exercise choice and influence her own outcomes.
  Hmm, what if we substituted "science fiction romance" for "urban fantasy"? Is it just me, or are there some interesting similarities?
  Heroines have been on my mind a lot lately, so I added my two cents. Let me just say that I applaud authors who have taken risks with their SFR heroines.