Out of this World... but still Romance

The very first science fiction that I remember reading was Jules Verne's THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. I know, it isn't science fiction, strictly speaking, but it does have Captain Nemo and the Nautilus. So I went back and read TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. I was thirteen and in love with Captain Nemo. I didn't know that Nemo was the nearly perfect embodiment of the ultimate Romantic Hero. I discovered that many years later as I studied for my college comprehensive exams. Verne knew exactly what he was doing with the tortured hero who had dark secrets. See, I did learn something!

In college, during the 1960's, I was introduced to the Space Trilogy of C.S. Lewis. I fell in love all over again. I was enthralled with Lewis's ability to combine science fiction, pagan myth, and Christian thought. It worked! In OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET, I loved the hero's consternation upon discovering that Earth was quarantined from the rest of the Universe. Moral turpitude, I suppose. I can remember the exquisite imagery of PERELANDRA, and the sheer terror of recognizing my modern world in THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH.

Along the way, I discovered Tolkien, Burroughs, Heinlein, Herbert, Clarke, Asimov, Le Guin, McCaffrey, and many others. I liked their stories, but I wanted something more. I just didn't know what it was.

Then I found a book by Jayne Ann Krentz, SWEET STARFIRE. This was it! It's a great blend of science fiction and romance. The science is simply an accepted part of their world; the characters are sensible; they get their HEA; and the bad guy gets his...whatever - in spades. Regrettably I have a viscous streak. I like the bad guy to get his.

I also found a book by Ann Maxwell, aka Elizabeth Lowell, TIMESHADOW RIDER. This, unfortunately little known book, is utterly lyrical. The yearning of the hero and heroine for one another is palpable. The book's one drawback is that it takes several pages to catch on to what is happening, but I highly recommend it for the reader who enjoys beautiful writing.

Next, I found some of the newer Sci-Fi Romance authors. Robin D. Owens, C.J. Barry, Linnea Sinclair, Susan Grant, and Lois McMaster Bujold. They are all loads of fun and write with imagination, incorporating nonstop adventure with true love, and often a kitty or two. Visit their websites. Their links are at the side of the page.

With all of this fun and inspiration, I resolved to write a book.

Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

When Galaxies Collide

This past week, the Hubble Telescope people released a series of absolutely amazing photographs of galaxies colliding. This was the first of the pictures that I saw, and being the whimsical person that I am, the first image that popped into my mind was that of a large dragon dodging a flaming spear. Now, take a moment and look at the picture. See! Dragons are real. Don't let anyone deceive you. You now have indisputable proof.

Ok, ok. Here's the real deal. I stole this info from the Hubble page, so if you want to check out their gallery, here is the URL:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/16/image/a/

I was going to post their info on Galaxy Arp 148, but I thought that your eyes might glaze over. The important thing is that what we see in that picture happened 500 million years ago. Who says that there is no time travel?

Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

Welcome to My Grand Opening

Welcome to my Blog. I've been posting for the last week as I built this site; but, I wanted to have it as nearly perfect as I could before I invited company. I'm glad you’ve come. If you wish to read the older posts, you can chuckle... or commiserate with me, as the mood strikes, about my trials and tribulations. I hope that you enjoy. I'm still working on inserting images into a post. There's always more than one way to deal with error messages.

Since I'm writing Science Fiction Romance, for my first official, grand opening picture, I thought that William Anders’ December 24, 1968 photograph, Earthrise, taken on the Apollo 8 Moon Mission, was particularly appropriate. I was in college at the time, and this image stunned me. I am an amateur astronomer and shall never cease to marvel at the astounding pictures of space taken by the world’s great observatories and by the Hubble Telescope. But, Earthrise was the photograph in which I, and billions of others, first saw our precious planet floating alone in space.

Seeing our fragile home rising more than 238,900 miles (or 384,400 kilometers for you Earthlings outside of the USA) beyond the surface of the Moon, turned my generation’s, and all subsequent generation’s view of their place in the Universe on end. Prior to this photograph, travel to another world had been Science Fiction. After this photograph, it was Science Fact. That’s where we live! Suddenly our world didn’t look very big in the grand cosmic scheme. What if something happened to it? Perhaps we should take better care of it? After all, it’s the only home we have.

But the world has turned and new generations have arisen. The excitement that my Father’s generation felt at the Wright brothers rising thirty feet into the air has been forgotten. The wonder that my generation felt at man rising above our atmosphere, of looking back at our world from another world, seems to have become commonplace to most of the population. “Oh, the International Space Station is changing crews? Isn’t that nice, but I really have to: get the kids to school; get to work; etc.; etc.”

May we never lose our sense of wonder at the Creation that we are a part of.

Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

Blame It On My Brother...

That's right. He's always telling me that he has big shoulders... he can take it. So I can blame it all on him. I love Romance.

This morning I got to thinking about when I read my first romance novel. Just when did my addiction begin? The first instance that I recalled was an acquaintance in college loaning me a copy of Georgette Heyer's "The Devil's Cub." I loved it! Where had these stories been all my life?

But, no. That was not the first instance. As I thought back even further... there was another instance. The seeds of my addiction were sown long before my college years. I had to go back even further. I thought back to the dim, innocence of a bored twelve year old who would do anything to annoy her older brother. To his credit, instead of killing me, he tossed me a book, saying, "Here, I think that you'll have fun with this." It was a copy of Baroness Orczy's "The Scarlet Pimpernel." As, in my mind's eye, I watched Sir Percy and Marguerite fall desperately in love, I was lost. Fifty years later, my heart still goes pitter pat at the thought of a man loving a woman enough to kiss the stones that she has walked upon. Sigh!

So, you see, it really is all his fault. Now, I simply want to write stories that others will sigh over.

Thank you, Brother.
Frances

BTW, I still have that original poor, tattered paperback of "The Scarlet Pimpernel."

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

Blog Challenged: Part IV

And the Power Company said, "Let there be light." And late last night, we got light. Hurrah! The power lines are still down; but now, they are lying on top of the downed trees instead of underneath them. When the poles are straightened, everything should be normal, uh, sorta normal. One never knows, and there are no certainties in life. As for me and my house, today we shall do laundry. And the whole town cries together, "Hurrah!" When the linemen left last night, I heard one of them say as he drove out of sight, "Well, 84,000 down, 16,000 to go." Thank you, Linemen. One part of the yard cleaned up, five more to go.

Enough of this storm business. I am building a blog. Yesterday (before they cut off the power to work on the line), I was inspecting the blog work of the last few days. Then, I began to hear voices in my head. The art teacher was saying, "That composition is all wrong." So I changed Lucius Malfoy's supercilious mug from below Writers Write to a place above my supercilious mug. Looks better! I know he thinks so.

The second voice that I heard was that of the efficiency expert. "What are you doing with that Author List? You want LINKS dummy!" So, I threw away the list, and went back in and added "Author Links." While I was so carried away by efficiency, I also added "Very Useful; Very Important" links and "Very Fun" links. I am sure that more will be added in the future. At that point, what little power I had suddenly went out. I knew that Santa Claus in the form of power co. linemen had arrived. I was about to get full power. By the time power was restored, all I wanted to do was sleep.

Contemplating further changes before my Grand Opening,
Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

Blog Challenged: Part III

To start off, it is a stunningly beautiful day, as so often happens behind storms. Friends told me that they saw the funnel of the tornado that took out my two old trees. It just missed the house. I am so lucky. We're still on partial power; but there are many that don't have any. Clean up starts tomorrow. But enough of that.

Well, I've done it! I added a list of some of my favorite authors and changed the template. Links are next. I first had a parchment background for the template. Now I have changed over to this pale blue. For the time being, I like it. However, it, like everything else in life, is subject to change. I also conquered the dreaded picture behind the title. I am so proud! Don't you think that the nebula is singularly appropriate for a writer of Science Fiction Romance. I must thank NASA and the Hubble people for the use of their picture. I think that I'll change the picture every so often, and with it change the page colors. Gee, it is great to be able to change one's mind. I wouldn't want to bore anyone.

Changing one's mind is like changing clothes, and a great luxury at that.
Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

Stormaphobia

Sheesh, yesterday was something. The storm that came through blew the power to he!! and gone. We only got partial power back late last night. I still only have just enough juice to power this dinosaur computer. The rest of the house, including the fridge is O-U-T. Luckily, there is some oatmeal in the kitchen cabinet and the stove is gas. Wow! I can eat this morning. "In all things give thanks." At least I won't be getting any fatter today. Gee, I hope they get the rest of the power fixed today. The last I heard, there were at least 100,000 people in the area without. Our whole town was, so there is a whole choir of us belly aching.

I had been writing on my manuscript early yesterday, and had not been paying attention to anything except my character's trials and tribulations in the distant future, when, I thought, "Gee, ya know, it's getting a little dark out there." Duh! So I hauled my butt out of the bed (my office) and ran around closing windows; but, before I finished, the rain and wind hit. I had not gotten to the bathroom window, and before I could run there, the room was soaked (pull out that old handy dandy mop), and if the wind had not blown the door closed, so would have been the hallway with its oak floors.

I found out later that the winds were over 100 mph. It was raining so hard that I could not see the fifty feet across my driveway. Total white out. It only lasted about twenty minutes, but it was worse than anything that Katrina threw at us. When you live in the middle of a wood full of very tall trees, the worst thing that you can hear is the groaning screams of trees being killed. I lost two of my old giants. Thank God that their tops missed the house when they came down. Several years ago, one tried to eat the house. I am still making repairs from that. I guess that I don't have to tell you that I am Stormaphobic.

Looking on the brightside, the two trees that came down were old and damaged from prior tornadoes and ice storms. They needed to go. With them down, the magnolias that I had planted near them now have more sunlight and should grow great guns. As Linnea Sinclair says, "When life hands you lemons, find the person who got the vodka."

It looks like Monday is going to be a busy clean-up day, and the day after, and the day after...

Who's got the Vodka?
Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

BLOG Challenged - Part II

OK, I feel like I am beginning to get a handle on this thing. I've been taking this thing one little bite at a time. When I first started, I thought that I was going to choke on it. I now think that eventually I'll be able to swallow it. A few days ago, I managed to figure out the Profile. Great! The next day, I started working on formatting the page. Major screw up! Couldn't make the pictures behave themselves. Had to wipe it all out and start over again. Yesterday, I got the picture of me where I wanted it, and managed a Post. I'm a genius! I still want a picture behind the Title. But, I will chew on that some another day. Wouldn't want to spoil my record of success today. I have a delicate ego.

You too can succeed, if I can.
Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

I Am So BLOG Challenged!

I have been working on this Blog for days now. Bah! Humbug! It seems that when I master one thing that three new things pop up that throw me for a loop. However, I will persevere. I will overcome. I will not let this !#&*%$^* beat me up. All you people out there who are trying to learn how to blog, Courage! If a dyslexic can master this, so can you. I exist to give others superiority complexes. Now, that's a noble purpose in life. Shoot, after only three hours sleep last night, I think that I am doing brilliantly.

Take care, and TTYL,
Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance

Real Love in a Real Future