Sunday, September 13, 2009

Science Fiction Romance


If you're like me, you'd never heard of science fiction romance. I came across the category when I read the submission guidelines for the 2010 Eppie as preparation for submitting Lady of the Stars, my Regency time travel.

The Eppie guidelines don't have a specific time travel category. So, I sent an email to the Eppie coordinators, and they very promptly replied.

I thought time travels were paranormals. According to the Eppie, the time travel mechanism determines the genre. A SF has a mechanical mode, while a fantasy or paranormal uses magical means.

As a further wrinkle, for a magical mode, the setting of the book determines whether its category is paranormal or fantasy. A paranormal exists in the real world, while a fantasy exists in an imaginary world.

Lady of the Stars uses a wormhole as the transport mode, and a wormhole has some basis in modern physics. My story is also set in the real world, so Lady of the Stars is science fiction romance. I never would have known.

Now let's see how I do.

Thank you all,
Linda

2 comments:

Dawn Wilson said...

It's so interesting how we set out writing a story thinking it is one genre, then The Powers That Be decide it is another.

Good luck to you. :)

Linda Banche said...

Hi Dawn, thanks.

I took the story the way it wanted to go, and a wormhole fits.