SFRB Recommends #84: Dustwalker by Tiffany Roberts #sfr

Cheyenne, Wyoming. At least a hundred years from now. The southwestern United States is dust. A giant desert, thanks to a probably nuclear war. Also, there are humanoid robots, called "synths," running around and having lives. Odd lives, in that they don't age or anything, but lives nonetheless.

Lara Brooks scavenges the desert for her living, bringing bits of scrap back to Cheyenne to trade for food. When her trade partners don't remain viable, she's set to starve. When she dances one night, a synth named Ronin is oddly moved by the sight. He proposes he protect and feed her in exchange for watching her dance. A romance develops between them, one forbidden by the human-hating ruler of the city, a synth called Warlord. How they can make a life together? And what would such a life mean?


Dustwalker asks questions about what we consider human and offers some potential answers. The plot points are neatly tied together: questions from the first half are resolved in thoughtful ways, including the villain's motivations. He's both abhorrent and sympathetic, and all of his actions make a twisted kind of sense. It's great when you can easily see yourself making the same choices the bad guys do.

The world of Dustwalker is captivating. The authors kept the scope small, so they could concentrate on the details. The reader gets a gritty picture of the desert that reminds them of Mad Max, but they won't miss anything if they're unfamiliar with that franchise. The world is a lot bigger than the action, and I'd love to know if there are other pockets of humanity or synths still alive, and what stories they would have to tell me.


Author/book site: Tiffany Roberts' books
This recommendation by Lee Koven.

#PetsInSpace 3 Preorder is Live!

Pets in Space™ is back! Join us as we unveil eleven original, never-before-published action-filled romances that will heat your blood and warm your heart! New York Times, USA Today and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, Anna Hackett, Ruby Lionsdrake, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Carol Van Natta, Tiffany Roberts, Alexis Glynn Latner, E D Walker, JC Hay, and Kyndra Hatch combine their love for Science Fiction Romance and pets to bring readers sexy, action-packed romances while helping our favorite charity. Proud supporters of Hero-Dogs.org, Pets in Space™ authors have donated over $4,400 in the past two years to help place specially trained dogs with veterans. Open your hearts and grab your limited release copy of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space™ 3 today!

I do believe all of these authors are members of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade! The SFRB is awesome and we thank you readers for following our blog through the years. :)

Preorder is live and 10% of all pre-orders (plus the first month's profits) go to Hero-Dogs.org! Buy links below.

 

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STORY OVERVIEWS:

HEART OF THE CAT: Sarafin Warriors Series
By S.E. Smith
Can love bridge the gap between a wounded alien warrior and the reclusive human woman who holds the future of his species inside her?
  
DESERT HUNTER: Galactic Gladiators Series
By Anna Hackett
Among the desert sands of an alien world, a man with secrets to hide finds himself face to face with the one woman who can bring him to his knees.

QUASHI: Mandrake Company Series
By Ruby Lionsdrake
Alien fur balls, a handsome doctor, and a little white lie create havoc for a young woman who only wanted a job.

STAR CRUISE: MYSTERY DANCER: The Sectors SF Romance Series
By Veronica Scott
A long-lost princess and her three-eyed cat seek refuge on the Nebula Zephyr only to catch the attention of an inquisitive Security Officer.

OPERATION ARK: Project Enterprise Series
By Pauline Baird Jones
A not quite routine mission to return rescued prisoners to their home worlds turns deadly for unlikely allies, a USMC Sergeant and a raised-by-robots pirate. Is the Sergeant’s unusual pet the wild card that will save or doom them?

CATS OF WAR: A Central Galactic Concordance Novella
by Carol Van Natta
A disgraced military Sub-Captain, a repair technician with secrets, and two special cats must save the day when trouble erupts at an important factory.

HUNTER OF THE TIDE: The Kraken #3
By Tiffany Roberts
Nearly broke by betrayal, a human discovers solace—and a chance for love—among the creatures he once hunted, but he must overcome prejudice and inhibition to claim the female he desires.

STARWAY
By Alexis Glynn Latner
A lonely interstellar pilot and a passenger’s mistreated consort find each other in an interstellar hotel that offers everything to satisfy its guests’ desires—even desires they didn’t know they had.

THE BAJO CATS OF ANTEROS XII
By E D Walker
Two ex-lovers, stranded in space, have to save a pair of kittens with hazardous powers before the local drug cartel catches up to them.

SHADOW OF THE PAST
By JC Hay
On a world of perpetual night, an aging ranger and a widowed veterinarian need to put aside their past to protect a pack of wolves... and their future.

AFTER THE FALL
By Kyndra Hatch
The Invaders took everything worth living for. Could an Invader show him how to live again?

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BUY LINKS:

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Google Play


Happy Reading!
Kyndra Hatch

SFRB Recommends 83: The Lamplighter's Love by Delphine Dryden

Mary has trained for years to become the next Lamplighter of London. When her chance comes, however, she realizes the massive difference engines of the Lampworkers' guild would be a cold substitute indeed for the passion she's begun to explore with the current Lamplighter, Nicholas.

But Fate, it seems, is determined to separate them. A rival threatens to upset all Mary's hopes and dreams within the guild, and with her newfound love. Even as snow blankets London in readiness for Christmas, intrigue blazes in the secret labyrinths of the Lampworkers’ guild below.

Through bitter deception and scorching erotic discovery, Mary and Nicholas must find a way to shine a light on a new future—one they can spend together.


Nicholas and Mary are both unusual heroes: their skill is that they are excellent at abstraction, logistics, and running systems. Today's they'd probably be math professors or highly paid software engineers. The system they use is an imaginative take on a steampunk computer. They are well-matched and their romance tender.

This story has so many original world ideas. I'd love to spend more time in said world. Nicholas, starved for human companionship and the outside world, delights in the bits he does experience, and his joy and wonder are infectious.

And yes, it's a Christmas story that I'm recommending in July. Enjoy!


Book site: Delphine Dryden - The Lamplighter's Love
This recommendation by Lee Koven.

What Makes Me Write a Series Instead of a Standalone Book? by @CarmenWBuxton

by Carmen Webster Buxton

Many readers love books that occur in a series. For some genres, it’s almost required. For mystery writers, it makes a lot of sense to create a detective—either a pro or an amateur—and then write each book about a different crime, but with the same protagonist. The detective can travel, so setting can vary, and other characters can be added as needed. With other genres, it’s not nearly as common to have the same protagonist in every book. 

I created my own universe with my ThreeCon books, but those books are a series only in the sense that the rules of my made-up history of Earth and the galaxy apply to all the books. Specific galactic-level events are referenced in several books, but no character appears in more than one book. 

Previously, the only series I had published where the same characters appeared was the two Haven books, The Sixth Discipline and No Safe Haven. Both books are set on the planet Haven, with a nine-year gap between the end of Book 1 and the start of Book 2; both stories have many of the same characters in common. The reason there are two Haven books is because when Ran-Del’s story started in my head, it spread to encompass other story lines. When I was done writing the first draft, the page count was much too big for one book, so I split the story in two. I could do that because there was a logical breaking point, with enough resolution to end that book, but one big outstanding question remaining for Book 2.

But now I’m publishing Book 2 of what will be a 3-book science fiction romance series, all three books set (mostly) on the planet Wakanreo, and all three involving the same characters.  As with the Haven books, these books weren’t conceived as a series. It’s merely that once the characters existed in my head, they kept doing stuff, so I kept writing it all down.  I actually had a very rough draft of both Alien Vows (Book 2) and Alien Skies (Book 3) finished before I published Alien Bonds (Book 1). I had to do a substantial rewrite of Alien Vows because of the changes I had made when rewriting the first draft of Alien Bonds. Once Alien Vows is out, I’ll be doing the same kind of rewrite on Alien Skies.

Some romance writers create a series where the books share a theme, like a common setting, or all being tied to one occupation (such as Mindy Klasky’s baseball-themed Diamond Brides series). Others might be family-oriented, with brothers as the protagonists (brotherhood seems to be the most common family relationship on which to base a romance series; a search on Amazon for “romance series brothers” yields many surnames including: Hunter, Bradford, Beckett, McGavin, Cocker, Cynfell, Stone, and Darcy).

Romance is tricky to write with the same characters in a series, because the plot is focused so much on the development of the relationship between the two main characters. If the relationship already exists when the story starts, can you still call it a romance? I think so, but the relationship still needs to be each story’s focus, and it needs to develop or change in some way.  Certainly, Diana Gabaldon manages to keep the relationship front and center in her Outlander series, in spite of the ground (and time) her characters cover.

My readers sometimes express in reviews their hope that the book they are reviewing will be the first in a series, that those characters’ stories will continue. Usually, I have to tell them no, because if the story is over in my head, then it’s over. But with the Wakanreo books, I can finally say yes, the story will continue! 

Bio:  Carmen Webster Buxton spent her youth reading every book published by Ursula LeGuin, Robert Heinlein, and Georgette Heyer. This combination of far-future worlds, alien cultures, and old-fashioned courting customs influenced her writing and that shows in most of her books

Links:

Carmen's blog/website: http://carmenspage.blogspot.com/

Carmen's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Carmen-Webster-Buxton/e/B004V8MM8U/

Carmen on ​Twitter:​ ​ https://twitter.com/CarmenWBuxton ​

Carmen's ​Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/carmenwebster.buxton

Buy link for ALIEN BONDS, my latest release   ​: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07959BHM4