20 thoughts on “Featured Author: Heather Massey”

1. I don’ have any special characters just the more diverse the better as long as there is a good story to go with the characters and the romance.

   • Cool beans!

2. I guess that would depend on the type of SFR. For instance, in a comedic SFR I would like to see more children and old ones as characters. They add such a special flavor to the mix. Kids do say the darndest things after all and older adults tend to have no filter. Hilarious! In others SFR I would like to see more characters with disabilities. Not physical or emotional problems that ‘miraculously’ are cured but ones that the character lives with (and quite successfully) on a daily basis. These characters can be so inspiring.

   • >more children and old ones as characters
     Good one! I’ve read two stories with older characters recently–KS Augustin’s RESTORATION and A.E. Ash’s LUMINOUS–but those aren’t comedic. I’ll keep an eye out!

     >Not physical or emotional problems that ‘miraculously’ are cured

     This. So important that the disabilities are normalized. I’ll even take it one step further and add that I’d like to see disabled characters normalized to the point that we first notice other things about them that are inspiring, such as any talents or, for example, the ability to defuse a diplomatically tense situation between two groups of alien species. In other words, more characters who do inspiring things, but just happen to have a disability.

     Misa Buckley’s TIN CAT is on my TBR list and I believe her approach is how you described, in that the heroine’s use of her wheelchair is simply part of her daily life.

3. In SF, I really like seeing how the environment (cramped space station, harsh planet or moon) affects human relationships. So I would like to see more non-traditional relationships, and hence the characters that have them, be focal points of plots.

   • Thanks for your input! Here are three titles that might have the elements you seek:

     DEPTHS OF BLUE by Lise MacTague and LUMINOUS by A.E. Ash feature harsh/dangerous environments. IN DISCRETION by Reesa Herberth takes place on a space station under siege by mysterious forces.

     I agree, more with non-traditional relationships et. al. would be great!

     • Thanks for the recommendations. I will be checking to see if they are on audio!

4. Oh, yes. Long live the female gaze! Thanks for not forgetting that the ladies like something to ponder when reading SFR.

   • >the ladies like something to ponder when reading SFR

     Right!

5. “What kind of diverse characters would you like to see more of in sci-fi romance?” I don’t think I can answer that question. I, personally, just like a well written story with well rounded characters that I can love/hate. I like to know backstories when appropriate. I want to know what makes them tick. I want to be their best friend or murder them. Sometimes that can be the same character, but so is life. Well written characters draw me into the story and make me feel a part of the story. That is what I look for.

   • Thanks for your feedback!

6. I would like to see a few more alien heroines with a non-humanoid feature or two.

   • I’m going to second this!

   • I couldn’t agree more! They’re more rare than I’d like. Three that stood out for me are KS Augustin’s EUROPA EUROPA, Melisse Aires’ REFUGEES ON URLOON, and Eva LeFoy’s THE TROUBLE WITH MEMORIES (the heroine develops non-humanoid features toward the end). I think there are more, but I’ll have to dig around a bit. Thanks for your input–I might do a blog post about this topic.

7. So far I’ve mostly read heterosexual SFR in which the male character is the ‘other.’ I’d like to read about more women who are at least part machine, or alien, so I can get into those minds and worldviews of women whose experience is so different from mine.
   Also, I agree with MSDBMS. Disability is a complicated concept in SF and I would like to explore it.

   • I’m a fan of extraordinary heroines as well. SFR has its share, but yeah, the “other” male character still seems to outnumber them overall, at least in my reading experience.

     >women who are at least part machine

     Fwiw, I really enjoyed Catherine Asaro’s ALPHA, wherein the heroine is an android. Maeve Alpin’s A WOMAN OF INTELLECTUAL MEANS features a heroine who’s an “artificial intelligence system”–needless to say that one’s on my TBR list.

8. Diversity in fiction seems to be hot topic these days. I think it is even more of a challenge in Sci Fi if you are writing about a world with a sociological character that is different from Earth 2015. Or may it is actually easier. You can make up your own diverseness.

   • >You can make up your own diverseness.

     As long as that diverseness includes various people of color, I’m in!

9. You don’t see much about children. How about 2 alien kids who meet in childhood and rediscover each other as adults? Lots of room to play in that set up. Loved Iron Guns, Blazing Hearts!

10. That idea sounds intriguing and I don’t think I’ve encountered it yet. Maybe someone will go for it!

    Thanks for your interest in IGBH!

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