My Heroes Aren't Always Human

Welcome to A Hero's Blog Hop, which will run from July 27-31.

Please note that this post will remain "floating" at the top of this blog during that time, but readers can find my latest/current posts below.

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A couple of weeks ago, I posted my presentation that I gave at Galaxy Fest, the International UFO Festival in Roswell, NM over the Fourth of July weekend (actually, the weekend before the fourth.) You can read those excerpts starting here.

In the presentation, I noted that, especially in sci-fi romances, one (or both) of the characters don't have to be human, human looking, or even humanoid. In the paranormal genres, you get mostly shapeshifters (wolves), vampires, ghosts, or witches. All of whom are human or human looking most of the time.

Ditto goes for the fantasy genre, which includes fairies, elves, and a whole realm of similar beings.

Yet, in sci-fi, there can anything from cyborgs, to superheroes from other worlds, to out-and-out aliens...and that's the species I like to explore.

If I give them super powers, my heroes also have to be flawed. They must be vulnerable both in body and in their hearts.

If I make them mechanical - either a cyborg or, in the case of Deep, the holographic image from a sentient spaceship - I want them capable of human emotion.

If they're from other worlds, I like them to have a different appearance. Let them have wings, or body armor, or horns!

Especially, give them a visage no ordinary woman would dare to look at, except for the heroine. Not only would she come to love him, but she would teach him how to love himself.

This is why I love writing in the sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal genres. Because my heroes can be unique, raw, and powerful in ways ordinary human males cannot.

Oh, yes, I do write about "regular men". But, of course, when I do, I put them in super-human situations that only a true hero can overcome.

If you would like to learn about these books, and others I have written, go to my link here and visit my website. You'll find excerpts and buy links, and lots more!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN ONE OF THESE GRAND PRIZES?
How about a Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet? A Barnes and Noble or Amazon gift card? Or lots of swag?

I'll also be giving away the following prizes EVERY DAY of the blog hop!
* a PDF of Any One of My Books, Winner's Choice
* a Starbucks Gift Card
* an Amazon Gift Card

Here's what you have to do.
1. Comment about this post, or anything about sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal romances in general.
2. BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WHEN YOU POST.

That's it! Check back every day, as my winners will be announced daily.
Grand Prize Winners will be announced Aug. 1st.
Good luck!

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After you comment, scroll to the list below and pick your next destination.

Thanks again for coming!

Congratulations to my Monday Winners!

Congratulations to my Monday winners! And thanks to all who commented on my blog post My Heroes Aren't Always Human for the Hero's Blog Hop.

The winners are:

A PDF of any one of my books: Susan W.

An Amazon gift card: JessieL62

A Starbucks gift card: JuneM

It's not too late to join in the blog hop! Just head over to this link and drop off a comment to be eligible for my Tuesday drawing AND to be in the running for Three Grand Prizes, to be announced on August 1st!

Congratulations to all my Sunday Winners!

Congratulations to my Sunday winners. And thanks to all who commented on my blog post My Heroes Aren't Always Human for the Hero's Blog Hop.

The winners are:

A PDF of any one of my books: mawmom

An Amazon gift card: The Brunette Librarian

A Starbucks gift card: Kaylyn D.

By the way, it's not too late to join in the blog hop! Just head over to this link and drop off a comment to be eligible for my Monday drawing AND to be in the running for Three Grand Prizes!

Dan Haight is my Guest Author Tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio

Join us tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio! Dan Haight will be my guest author, and he'll be reading an excerpt from his sci-fi, post-apocalyptic novel, Flotilla.
Show time is 11 pm est/ 10 pm ct/ 8 pm pt

Don't miss it!
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Flotilla is the gripping post-apocalyptic science fiction novel that has been described as "Mad Max meets White Squall." Jim Westlake is a teen in the near future just out of rehab raising fish with his father on an ocean colony off of the coast of Los Angeles. Jim wants to put his past behind him but the fact that they live with several thousand strange and dangerous people doesn’t help.

 All of this changes when disaster strikes.  Multiple terrorist attacks force Jim’s father to abandon him and head to the mainland.  Now Jim has to save his sister from angry drug dealers and pirates. How will Jim rise above his past to survive his future?  The answer will keep readers hooked until the very last page.

Congratulations to my Saturday Winners!

Congratulations to my Saturday winners. And thanks to all who commented on my blog post My Heroes Aren't Always Human for the Hero's Blog Hop.

The winners are:
A PDF of any one of my books: jennyrlowery
An Amazon gift card: iamindeed
A Starbucks gift card: BLHmistress

By the way, it's not too late to join in the blog hop! Just head over to this link and drop off a comment to be eligible for my Sunday drawing AND to be in the running for Three Grand Prizes!

Congratulations to My Friday Winners!

Congratulations to my Hero's Blog Hop winners from Friday!

A PDF of any one of my books goes to: Jlhmass

An Amazon gift card goes to: Leigh

A Starbuck's gift card goes to: beckyqward

I'll be sending out an email to all my winners. In the meantime, check out my Hero's Blog Hop post, My Heroes Aren't Always Human, and post a comment. Not only will you be in the hat for my Saturday drawing, but you'll also be eligible for one of the Three Grand Prizes!

I'm at The Romance Reviews Sizzling Summer Reads!

The Romance Reviews is having a fantastic Sizzling Summer Reads contest all this month. And TODAY my trivia question is featured at the party!

Hop over there and join in! You could win one of FOUR HUNDRED great prizes being awarded!

Don't Miss Red Rose Publishing's Birthday Celebration Starting Today!

Link here.

Please "Like" Me

Hey, all! My personal Facebook page has hit 5,000, which means I can't friend anyone else. :( So I've created an author page  https://www.facebook.com/OtherWorldsofRomance. If you wouldn't mind, please go LIKE it. It's also called Linda Mooney, Author if you'd rather do a search. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Food

Food this pretty should be artificial. I get hungry just looking at it.

Time for a Little Soap Boxing

/rant

A FAERIE'S TALE, Tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio!

It's a sneak peek and giveaway!

Tonight on "Other Worlds of Romance" on Blog Talk Radio, I'll be reading an excerpt from my new book, A Faerie's Tale, releasing on July 31st. And one lucky listener will win a copy!

Show time is 11 pm et/ 10 pm ct/ 8 pm pt
Don't miss it!

Flowers

Pretty, pretty!

How to (Make) Love (To) an Alien - My Galaxy Fest Presentation, Conclusion

Because of the content of Runner's Moon: Jebaral, my books were labeled "controversial". But once that hoo-hah died down, I decided to push the envelope again. I wrote Beauty's Alien Beast for Carina Press Harlequin. They retitled it to Captive Surrender. In the book, I have a human-looking female cop with psionic powers. She gets involved with another alien who looks like a minotaur of Greek legend.

This was my visual inspiration for the book. As you can see, he's complete with horns on his head, enormous clawed hands and feet, and other body parts that are... Well, let's just say they're equally "impressive". Carina Harlequin loved the premise that these two are kidnapped and held captive, and forced to do the sexy hokey pokey for select people who pay exorbitant sums of money/rupees/credits to watch them perform because inter-species fornication is a galactic offense. Yet, again, there were some problems with the "ick" factor. So on the cover I have a naked human female being hugged by human male.

I have no idea why there couldn't be alien arms and claws on the cover. I guess the "ick" factor remained.

The point I'm trying to make is this. For decades we've been stuck with human aliens. And everything they did simply echoed what we Earth people have been doing for millennia.

If we were confronted today with a creature that looks like Chewbacca, what do you think the chances would be that a romantic interlude could occur?

Although, I must confess, on a very cold winter night, snuggling up to the big guy might be a plus.

Oops! Sorry! Wrong slide.

Here we go.

Oh, and for those of you who are still waiting for the answer to "How to Make Love to an Alien", it's quite simple, and can be summed up in two words:

Very Carefully

That's my presentation. Thank you again for coming. I hope you enjoy the festival!

How to (Make) Love (To) an Alien - My Galaxy Fest Presentation, Part 4

However, there's still the "ick factor when it comes to aliens and humans having a romantic or sexual relationship if the alien isn't humanoid in appearance. As a romance write, I have to find ways around that problem...and I think I have.

My series Runner's Moon is about a small aliens whose entire species has almost been eliminated by a race of alien slave traders. The group, now dwindled down to less than thirty individuals, manage to escape the slave traders in a lifepod, which eventually lands on Earth. That race, the Ruinos, are tall, green, and very strong. They're not little green men. They're BIG green men.

The males also have bony plates down the back of their heads, across their shoulders, down their spines, and around their legs. They have huge talons on their hands and feet, and their faces only have some humanoid features.

But what makes them unique is that they can shapeshift into the local life form. Which means - Ta Da! - they can look just like us. They're not here to conquer the world or anything. They simply want to live out the rest of their lives in relative peace. You see, they have those big claws because, on their home world, they're an agricultural species. They farm with their talons.

As for the females, they don't have talons. They have five-inch, razor sharp blades for nails. And wings. That's because they fly to the tops of the plants and trees, and use those blades to harvest the food that grows there.

Now, stop and think about it. With that simple explanation, you've stopped viewing these creatures as dangerous and life-threatening because, now, you can relate to them.

In my series, of the survivors, four Ruinos have found a human mate to share their lives with. But at some point in each book, they must mate with their loved ones in their alien form, not just in their human skin. And for a while, my books were considered highly controversial. But once the readers came to identify with and love them in their human forms, having the aliens shift back to their original persona was no longer considered squeamish.

Case in point, I'm going to read you a climactic excerpt from RUNNER'S MOON: JEBARAL, the first book in the series. No, not that kind of climax. Sorry.

With a little judicious editing, of course, let me give you a bit of the background first to this particular story.

Jebaral is a Ruinos. He works odd jobs, usually in construction. Hannah is human, and a waitress at a small diner in the small town where Jeb is working.

Jeb has found himself developing feelings for Hannah, but she currently has a boyfriend. An abusive boyfriend.

One day, he finishes a job and is ready to move on.  He goes by the diner to say goodbye to Hannah, but she's not there. A friend of hers who works there confesses that she's afraid Hannah may have been the victim of her boyfriend's temper again, so Jeb goes to check on her. He finds her, severely beaten and bloody, and decides to take her with him.

They end up in a town called Tumbril Harbor, where Jeb has another job prospect. When they get there, they get a small cabin at a little local motel, where he helps her to recover. The excerpt begins there.

To be continued tomorrow...

How to (Make) Love (To) an Alien - My Galaxy Fest Presentation, Part 3

It wasn't until Star Wars that we got to see some terrific other species.

Okay. There are exceptions to every rule.

I also love what Rick Baker has done in the Men in Black franchise.

Some great stuff there.

But on the whole, alien races were what is termed "human anthropomorphic". That means we've humanized them. Made them appear to look more like us...

But with a few "cosmetic" differences.

So what does all of this have to do with making love with one? Well, plenty, actually. You see, if he looks like us, chances are he's built like us, reproduction-wise.

Same goes for the female. Which wouldn't make the thought of doing the horizontal tango too much of an "eww" factor. Or so you would think, right?

Back in late '89, early 90s, there was a television show called Beauty and the Beast. Remember it? The beast was huge and lion-like. Super strong. He could purr and quote Shakespeare simultaneously. Believe it or not, people objected to the idea that he and the heroine could mambo with the rest of us. But while we fans yelled back, "Hell, why not?", the censors remained worried and adamant.

It wasn't until Alien Nation that sex with an alien finally came out from under the blanket. Who remembers that show? Do you also remember the premise of the show takes place in 1997? Anyway, I remember one episode where Sam Francisco, the alien cop (center), sees his human partner Matt has a black eye and I think also a broken wrist and severe neck lash. Sam starts to ask Matt, "What happened to you?" when he remembers that Matt is dating Susan (in the red dress) who is an alien. "Did you try to have sex with Susan?" he asks, much to Matt's embarrassment because the answer is yes. If you've never seen the series, please check it out. It's funny, warm, exciting, and very thought provoking.

To be continued tomorrow...

How to (Make) Love (To) an Alien - My Galaxy Fest Presentation, Part 2

Until the past couple of decades, when it came to the romance genre, either in movies or television or books, the alien looked human. You had the choice between something like "I'm From the Planet Displaysia", or whatever, and Earth was about to be destroyed.

Or, if you were male, there were the AMAZON WOMEN OF MARS, (or in this case, "Space Thing"), who were here to mate with Earth men. And if you were one of the unfortunate to be captured, you were doomed to a life of absolute luxury and frequent sex. The horror!

When I was growing up, the comic books were full of aliens. All human. All extremely easy on the eyes, and with the additional perk of having super powers.

How neat would that be if you fell in love with one? You could have your own personal Super Hero! He'd be a great lover AND he can turn the car into a six-inch block of melted goo in six point four seconds!

But when it comes to human aliens, where better to start than with the original Star Trek? With exception of some body paint...

...a little extra hair here and there...

...and a few prosthetics, every plant's inhabitants were either human looking, or at least humanoid in appearance. Oh! But before you say, "What about the Horta?"

I gotta give 'em credit for that. It was a wonderful exception.

To be continued tomorrow.