Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Big Ka-Pow



By Azura Ice

Attention K Mart shoppers, we have a sale on—whoops!

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump! Slam!

Sorry. I walked into the wrong building. Although those sparkly, Halloween thongs on that display were really cute. Anyway, my pumpkins are a little bigger than those were.
So, how is everyone today? Been reading and fueling your mind, and of course, your libido? Purchased any futuristic or sci-fi romances? 

Well, word on the cyber block is that futuristic and sci-fi romances are gaining popularity. What the big publishers don’t realize, however, is that readers have been searching for these categories of romance and can’t find many of them unless they turn to e-books. Seems like only e-publishers know what a cash cow these categories are becoming. And another word is that the big publishers insist mixing futuristic and sci-fi with romance doesn’t sell. Hmm. Really? Maybe they should talk to readers and get the dirt straight from them instead of the bean counters.

These two categories open a Pandora’s Box of ideas, settings, characters, gadgets, worlds... Then add romance to it and ka-pow! Hold it. Not *that* ka-pow, the *other* ka-pow. You, over there by the coffee maker! Ka-pow as in a big bang. The kind where...aw, forget it. I swear. Get a bunch of women together talking romance and hunky guys and it’s a sex and chocolate free-for-all.


Anyway...what was I talking about? Oh, yeah. Futuristic and sci-fi books.

When you mix these two categories with romance and create the big ka-pow—stares hard at the chick giggling over at the coffeemaker—you have a book that often hits the Top Ten e-Book charts. Readers enjoy unique material as long as it’s written in a way they can suspend their beliefs. However, I think fewer writers tackle sci-fi because of the amount of world building and research that goes into writing the genre. Futuristic is easier since it typically involves a much shorter time leap into the future. Often futuristic involves changes in society and government; whereas, science fiction can leap into soft sci-fi, moderate, militaristic, or hard sci-fi that’s very techie.

I prefer writing soft sci-fi to moderate where I spend a lot of time creating the world and making sure that it’s believable and will support what the plot is about.

Lace, Lightning, and Multiple Orgasms, one of the 1 Night Stand books, is soft sci-fi with a dash of cyberpunk. Book one of The Sky Streamer Series, Conquering Venus (not the planet, a woman, lol), is a little more intense and deals with a post-apocalyptic Earth. And my Crimson Bane Battles, book 1 and book 2, center on futuristic post-apocalyptic for all you m/m fiction readers out there.
Decadent Publishing is one publisher willing to publish wonderful sci-fi and futuristic books, so if you’re looking for these categories, always check Decadent’s cyber shelves. And if you’re not a reader of these categories, and you’re looking for unique fiction to try, why not grab a few of these books and open your mind to the wonders of not only the universe, but other dimensions...and some hot loving with a lot of ka-pow.
All right, that tears it. Hey! You over by the coffee maker, I want to have a word with you...!

12 comments:

Hales said...

Great post! My next world build will be scifi but that won't begin til I'm done with my realm build. I'm not a techy person but I like to create.

Anonymous said...

Good morning Ms. Hales! I'm the same. The creation is so much fun. Sci-fi/futuristic allows the writer to utilize his imagination to its fullest.

Thanks for commenting!

Tony-Paul said...

I agree that big time publishers aren't always in the "know" about what's up and coming, but they can manage what that new something is by not letting them get into print. They're so often saying they want something outside the box but when it comes along, they reject it in favor of the tried and true and if the readers can't get it, they have to take what they can and that, of course, makes them "think" they're getting all that's out there.

Fortunately, the smaller presses and epublishers are there to take that chance.

Anonymous said...

You are so right, Tony-Paul. Indies are a blessing for many talented authors.

Anonymous said...

Azura Ice, you are a wild card! I love it! I do love fantasy and world building. It's a great concept and fills a need.

COngrats on your release.

JoAnne Kenrick said...

Love it!! And yeay for digital first publishers....not only does it mean we get to devour books from a multitude of genres and sub-genres that were hard to find before the big ebook explosion, but also because we means we get to write what we want to ;) WOOT

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Caseamajor on the wildcard and the book, lol.

Nothing like writing what we want to, JoAnne. I'll "woot" too! LOL!

Jessica E. Subject said...

I love scifi and futuristic romance, too, as you know. LOL I'm excited for the future of this genre with the increasing popularity of ebooks.

And amazing world building in LLaMO! Amazing!

Ann Mayburn said...

I totally dig sci-fi romance and I loved 'Lace, Lighting, and Multiple Orgasms'. I've found that people that like paranormal romance often LOVE sci-fi romance because the world build is so similar between the two, the big difference being that one has science and one has magic. For all of our para romance fans, give sci-fi a chance. I think you'll be very surprised, and happy, as to how good it can be. ;)

Anonymous said...

What nice comments to find! Thank you Jessica and Ann! LLaMO was a truly fun book to write. :-D

Also, Ann, you certainly hit the nail on the head ab out sci-fi and paranormal being similar. Excellent point!

Janice Seagraves said...

I loved your post and it got me giggling. And if also fills me with hope.

I'm working on some SF Roms myself and look for a place to send it once I have them polished.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your manuscript!