One of the blogs I follow is The Galaxy Express, managed by awesome SciFi Romance enthusiast and author Heather Massey. Yesterday, she posted a long screed against an unnamed publisher. The problem? The publisher asked one of its authors, a friend of Heather’s, to expunge thousands of words of “worldbuilding, science fictional concepts, essential details related to the story’s antagonist, and the like in favor of the romance.” Heather goes on to explain:

So what was the logic behind the additional revisions? Author X was asked to cut significant parts of the science fictional elements because the publisher essentially believes the story in its current form is too difficult for their readers to understand.

Well, ain’t that a slap in the face.

Let’s get real, here, folks. Most SFR readers started out in Science Fiction & Fantasy and drifted to SFR because they wanted stronger emotional elements (i.e. a Happy Ever After) in their reading material. SF&F fans are smart folks. Yes, they really are. They’re strongly creative, intelligent individuals and a lot of them are women. Yet those same people are too dumb to understand the SciFi in SFRs?

Hogwash. 

I grew up reading, among other things, hard SciFi, so when I pick up an SFR, I expect the SciFi elements to have a firm foundation. I don’t give SFRs a pass on the science simply because they’re primarily romances. If they don’t have “solid worldbuilding (and) science fictional concepts,” I stop reading.

So what’s the antidote to publishers censoring the SciFi in SFRs? Self-publishing is a big one. More and more authors are abandoning their publishers in order to directly connect fresh, soundly written content with their readers, and more and more authors are stepping into self-publishing without ever trying the “traditional” route. Hey, I’m one of them! 

The great thing about self-publishing is that it allows authors to pivot quickly in order to, for example, tap into a burgeoning market trend. SFRs represent one of those trends. I love SFRs, so the decision to write one was actually pretty easy, and I’m not the only one making that decision. Tasha Black recently pivoted away from serial shifter romances into serial SFRs. Eve Langlais is known (and loved) for her cyborg and alien abduction romances. 

And readers are clamoring for more SciFi in their SFRs. Lindsay Buroker made a sharp pivot out of Fantasy when she released her first SFR titles last year under the pen name Ruby Lionsdrake. (Yup, she’s still writing Fantasy, too.) The first RL novel is exactly the kind of rip-roaring adventure SFR fans have been dying to read, judging by the crap ton Buroker is selling. And guess what? It’s got a ton of SciFi (and real science) in it.

These authors are making scads of money satiating their readers’ thirst for more. Obviously the market for SFRs, including those containing harder SciFi, is there. Maybe it’s time for publishers to catch up and clue in.

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Speaking of…

The Choosing, my first stab at writing a Science Fiction Romance, is scheduled for release on or about 12 June, a little over a month from now. I planted the seeds for other stories set in this same world within TC, but haven’t decided if or when I’ll write them. I’ve already roughed out concepts for two to three additional stories. The problem is finding time to write them around my other writing commitments. So many story ideas, so little writing time!