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topic of the week, I thought of a See’s Candy Shop, with all the flavors and varieties. (Alas for the good old pre-pandemic days when their stores were open.) I know which ones I like, I usually order the same ones (dark chocolate vanilla buttercream is my favorite, followed closely by dark chocolate butters and many more…) but occasionally I’ll try a new one, which is how I discovered my love for raspberry truffles. I don’t even glance at the flavors I don’t like and I politely refuse a free sample if those are the ones on offer. I’m perfectly happy for the other flavors to exist, for whoever enjoys them, but they’re not on my list.
greeted me enthusiastically and put my usual order into a bag without my ever opening my mouth! Busted! My spouse was concerned for my health more than anything else and we laughed about it later but I guess I might have overdone my “dinner at See’s” routine a bit.
Time travellers go back in time to prevent some Bad Thing from happening; they succeed, but cause something worse to happen.
When a player gets “killed” in a virtual reality simulation, they also die in real life.
Humans have a special quality that makes us unique, so that even superbeings can learn something from us.
of the Nebula Dream, my first published science fiction romance contains a number of these tropes of mine), a dream space or alternate form of reality where the characters can connect, maybe a pet, sometimes a child, an interstellar crime syndicate, the evil
implacable alien forces, a benevolent galactic civilization with bureaucracy, Artificial Intelligences, true love, a Happy ending (whether For Now or Ever After)…
genetically engineered soldiers of the far future, fighting alien scientists for the right to live and to love. They each find their fated mate in the course of the book’s events and together the couple battles the enemy. The key, however, is that each time I consciously challenge myself to find new elements and new ideas to differentiate the plots, and of course the characters in each book are different people, each with their own characteristics, background and likes/dislikes. So far the readers seem to find the books satisfactory.
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This article was originally posted on SFF Seven

USA Today Best Selling Author
Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.
Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances!
She read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the official audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”