Note: Portions of this post previously appeared on my author blog. While we strive to present new content here on the AMAZING STORIES MAGAZINE blog, occasionally we do highlight items of interest first published elsewhere.
This week I’m going to change focus a bit from new releases in SFR but promise to still provide you a plethora of recommendations for good reading in the genre.
The Ripped Bodice Bookstore in SoCal is conducting their third annual Summer Romance Bingo. It’s an amusing exercise to take their bingo card of categories (tropes) and identify science fiction romance titles that satisfy the requirements for readers. I recently asked the members of The Science Fiction Romance Brigade on Facebook, who are authors and avid readers, to recommend books for this purpose. (Authors were allowed to recommend their own titles and I included some of mine where applicable.). Some categories were hard to fulfill and others were wayyy popular!
As the Ripped Bodice notes on their rules page, “You can interpret the categories however you want” so we took a bit of license on a few to make SFR fit a general romance trope.
To be clear, we’re NOT playing bingo here, merely providing a list of suggestions! Hop over to the Ripped Bodice site if you want to enter their reading contest, which runs through August 31, 2019.
Many of the books were suggested for more than one category; however I only listed each title in one category to keep the list as unique as possible.
It makes for a fun reading list and a different lens with which to view SFR.
I’ve included all the categories below and two to three suggestions in each. (The suggestions were listed in the post in no certain order.) To see all the books the SFR Brigade placed in each category, which were too many to include here, you can visit the original post on my blog.
Beach on the cover:
DEVI’S DISTRACTION (ICEHOME BOOK 7) by Ruby Dixon
STAR CRUISE: MAROONED by Veronica Scott
TREASURE OF THE ABYSS (THE KRAKEN BOOK 1) by Tiffany Roberts
Next door neighbor:
THE CYBORG NEXT DOOR: IN THE STARS by Bianca D’Arc
ALIEN ADORATION (ALIEN NEXT DOOR BOOK 1) by Jessica E Subject
VS: Note: This is a 3 book series so she has two more next door neighbor titles plus this one:
DRAGO: STARGAZER ALIEN MAIL ORDER BRIDES #13 (INTERGALACTIC DATING AGENCY) by Tasha Black.
On the page atheist (I totally left this category up to authors to interpret):
STRANDED WITH THE CYBORG by Cara Bristol
Cara states “…the entire Psy-Ops series is an atheist one.”
OVEROAD FLUX: GALACTIC CONCORDANCE BOOK 1 by Carol Van Natta, who states “…all the major characters in my space opera series are atheists.”
Show Business (There were so many fun ones proposed for this category!):
STAR CRUISE MYSTERY DANCER by Veronica Scott
EVEN VILLAINS GO TO THE MOVIES: HEROES AND VILLAINS by Liana Brooks
ALIEN ATTRACTION (ALIEN Mate 2) by Cara Bristol
LGBTQ Paranormal (or SFR) – Another category with many excellent recommendations:
THE STARK DIVIDE (LIMINAL SKY BOOK 1) and THE RISING TIDE (LIMINAL SKY BOOK 2) by J Scott Coatsworth
THE 5TH GENDER by Gail Carriger
THE EMPRESS AND THE AMBASSADOR (AEON 14: THE EMPIRE BOOK 1) by M D Cooper
Assassins (lots of assassins in SFR!):
SILENT LUCIDITY (THE INFINITE CITY BOOK 1) by Tiffany Roberts
OVERLOAD FLUX: CENTRAL GALACTIC CONCORDANCE BOOK 1 by Carol Van Natta
ASSASSIN’S HUNGER: SHEERSPACE BOOK 3 by Jessa Slade
Eloping (This one was hard to fill):
MISSION TO MAHJUNDAR by Veronica Scott
The hero is escorting her to her arranged marriage but when they arrive, things are not as they were supposed to be, the two of them are in love and they flee…so, kind of elopement! This category was hard for SFR!
Takes Place in Multiple Countries (or on multiple planets for SFR) Another category with plentiful suggestions:
EDGE OF NOWHERE by Felicia Davin
THE DARKNESS WITHIN US (THE DARK DIMENSION SERIES BOOK 1) by Brooke Hodge
THE WARRIOR’S MATE (IRIDUAN TEST SUBJECTS BOOK 4) by Susan Trombley
Sassy Grandparent (or as close as we could come):
PEARL’S DRAGON (DRAGON LORDS OF VALDIER BOOK 10) by S E Smith
BODIES IN MOTION (NEWTON’S LAWS BOOK 1) by Liana Brooks
A sassy Aunt!
MINDER RISING: CENTRAL GALACTIC CONCORDANCE BOOK 2) by Carol Van Natta
Heroine Smells Like a Flower:
CHOOSING CHUCKLES (CYBORG SPACE EXPLORATION BOOK 1) by Cynthia Sax
VIOLET SOULS: THE EVOXIAN LEGACIES BOOK 1 by Abbey McMunn
MATEER: A BADARI WARRIORS SCIFI ROMANCE NOVEL (SECTORS NEW ALLIES SERIES BOOK 2) by Veronica Scott
Both leads over 50:
GAIL’S FAMILY (ICEHOME BOOK 4) by Ruby Dixon
DELTA-V intergalactic dating agency (cyborg cowboys of carbon county book 2) by Elsa Jade
LAST SHIP OFF POLARIS-G: A CENTRAL GALACTIC CONCORDANCE NOVELLA by Carol Van Natta
Title includes character’s name:
VREHX (CONQUERED WORLD BOOK 1) by Elin Wynn
RAVEN (XIAN WARRIORS BOOK 2) by Regine Abel
TOREL: STAR CROSSED ALIEN MAIL ORDER BRIDES (INTERGALACTIC DATING AGENCY) by Susan Hayes
Happily Ever After (Note: To be considered a romance there must be an HEA or a Happy For Now ending so as you can guess, we had a ton of books for this):
UNDYING (VALOS OF SONHADRA BOOK 7) by Tiffany Roberts
MAMA AND THE ALIEN WARRIOR: TREASURED BY THE ALIEN by Honey Phillips and Bex McLynn
CYBORG (GALACTIC GLADIATORS BOOK 10) by Anna Hackett
Dragons (A very popular trope in SFR right now, so there was no lack of suggestions to read):
UNDER FYRE (ALIEN DRAGON SHIFTERS BOOK 1) by Cara Bristol
THE DRAGON’S QUEEN (SHIFTERS OF KLADUU BOOK 4) by Pearl Foxx
DRAGON’S BABY (RED PLANET DRAGONS OF TAJSS BOOK 1) by Miranda Martin
Kilts:
GLADIATOR (GALACTIC GLADIATORS BOOK 1) by Anna Hackett
WARLORD SKY (CHAMELE BARBARIAN WARLORDS BOOK 1) by Cynthia Sax
YA Historical (We adapted this to a call for steampunk, YA or NA if possible):
HEART OF IRON (LONDON STEAMPUNK BOOK 2) by Bec McMaster
FLY LIKE AN EAGLE (AGES OF INVENTION BOOK 2) by S B K Burns
SPECTERS IN THE STORM by Pauline Baird Jones
Wine & Spirits (We settled on books where drinking of substances took place…):
SALVATION (BOOK 2 OF THE PROPHECY SERIES) by Lea Kirk
BRIGHT STAR, THE APPRENTICE, VOLUME 2 (THE TWELVE SYSTEMS CHRONICLES) by E G Manetti
BLOOD KING: REVAMPING THE MONARCHY (THE HEART NEBULA BOOK 3) by Ava Cuvay
Cowboys:
MACH ONE: INTERGALACTIC DATING AGENCY (CYBORG COWBOYS OF CARBON COUNTY BOOK 1) by Elsa Jade
MINE UNTIL MIDNIGHT by Linda Mooney
SPACE COWBOYS AND INDIANS (COSMIC COWBOYS BOOK 1) by Lisa Medley
Roadtrip (We tried to go for a roadtrip across a planet…):
CLAIMED BY AN ALIEN WARRIOR by Tiffany Roberts
NOBODY’S HERO (THE BURNED LANDS BOOK 1) by Bec McMaster
DARK PLANET WARRIORS by Anna Carven
Epistolary (We decided to do our best to find a book or two where chunks of the plot were told through e mails, texts, letters, etc.):
ILLUMINAE (THE ILLUMINAE FILES BOOK 1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
JUMPER’S HOPE: CENTRAL GALACTIC CONCORDANCE BOOK 4 by Carol Van Natta
CLARA, DREAMING: A SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE SANDMAN RETELLING: FOXWEPT ARRAY BOOK 2 by A W Cross
Royalty:
DIGNITY (TO BE SINCLAIR BOOK 1) by Eva Caye
COLLISION (BOOK 3 OF THE PROPHECY SERIES by Lea Kirk
STAR PRINCE (STAR SERIES BOOK 2) by Susan Grant
Tarot (or other fortune telling):
THE STAR KING by Susan Grant
THE RULE OF LUCK (A FELICIA SEVIGNY NOVEL BOOK 1) by Catherine Cerveny
Someone wears a costume:
PICO’S CRUSH: CENTRAL GALACTIC CONCORDANCE BOOK 3 by Carol Van Natta
POLAR TERROR: A HEROES AND VILLAINS STORY by Liana Brooks
CYBORG POOL BOY by Naomi Lucas
Prom (or other big elaborate dance/event):
NIGHTINGALE: THE APPRENTICE VOLUME 6 (THE TWELVE SYSTEMS CHRONICLES) by E G Manetti
THE INTERGALACTIC DUKE’S INCONVENIENT ENGAGEMENT: BLACK HOLE BRIDES #1 (INTERGALACTIC DATING AGENCY) (BIG SKY ALIEN MAIL ORDER BRIDES BOOK 5) by Elsa Jade
GIRL GONE NOVA: PROJECT ENTERPRISE BOOK 2 by Pauline Baird Jones
F/F Contemporary (we decided to try for near future SFR if possible or PNR):
MUSES (PARANORMAL GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE CHRONICLES BOOK 2) by Elizabeth Andre
RULEBREAKER by Cathy Pegau
THE LILY AND THE CROWN by Roslyn Sinclair
For the entire expanded list of recommendations made by the SFRB members, visit the original blog post.
Happy reading and I’ll be back with the new releases report in two weeks!
