Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

By Shana Galen I’ll be the first to admit I loved the Star Wars films. I wrote a whole book as Shane Bolks with a Star Wars premise. It’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Men I’veDated — check it out. I also like Star Trek and read a half dozen or so Robert Jordan books, but that’s about as far as my love of all things sci-fi and fantasy go. If this is heresy to you, feel free to skip to the comments now and tell me so. My friend Any had no compunctions about telling me how undeserving I was when I told her I was on three panels at Comicpalooza in Houston and got a 3-day pass as a result. She immediately asked me to take pictures of anyone I saw from Firefly . I told her this would be difficult as I’d never seen it. She later texted that I should take photos of actors from BG. I texted back, What’s BG? Her response: Sigh. Battlestar Galactica. So unworthy! Yes, I was unworthy. I know something about writing, which made me useful to the participants interested in t...

by Tamara Hogan “Before you say something is out of this world, first make sure it is not in this world.” — Michael Shermer I’ve always been fascinated by science fiction and alternate history stories: Frank Herbert’s “Dune” series. The classic Star Trek TV series and its many TV and movie spin-offs. The Star Wars franchise. And, of course, “The X-Files.” While the first three works operate from a baseline assumption that humanity is not alone in the universe, "The X-Files" did not.   As someone who works in technology, I naturally relate to Dana Scully, the rational, skeptical scientist who needs to see hard data before she believes anything - but Fox Mulder’s pain, dreams and yearnings definitely strike a chord. What if? Given this fascination, is it any surprise that when I (finally) wrote a novel, the majority of the characters would be… of extra-planetary origin? Aliens, if you really want to get technical about ...

It took a moment for my brain to catch up. He had to be kidding! Calvin, nerdy little Calvin, a millionaire? Was this part of the auction or was it real? The mayor was still staring open-mouthed at him, just like everyone else when Lauri Gruber piped up from the audience: “He’s making that up!” But I didn’t think so. Anyone who could cough up four thousand dollars for charity had to have plenty of dough stashed away somewhere.... To recap the action, David Delaney was out, the Highlander was an IRS agent—no way was I touching him! Rick was missing a front tooth and would soon be on the run from the Highlander, and Calvin was missing an ear. Regency David was still in—though charmingly disheveled, like Darcy after his dip in the lake—but the knight still couldn’t keep his nose guard up, so it was impossible to tell what he looked like. Speedy was out—no great loss—and the quarterback looked like the loser after a very rough game. The fireman and policeman were the real thing—or were the...

Oh my God, I did not just say that…I did not just THINK that… Calvin, not seeming to notice my inner turmoil, just frowned down at me, obviously intrigued. “Really? What’s wrong with the eyebrows?” “They look like caterpillars about to mate,” I sighed, and when he looked more affronted than receptive, I took matters into my own hands. “Here,” I said. “If you just did this…” I reached up and pulled off the offending brows as easily as I might have ripped off a couple of band-aids. Fortunately, most of his actual eyebrow hair stayed in place, a miracle with the amount of glue he’d used. I stepped back and surveyed my handiwork. And despite the bleeding, which really wasn’t very bad, I was even more pleasantly surprised at what I saw. Calvin Seersucker, beneath the layers of costumed geekiness, was definitely not an ugly duckling anymore. “Now for the ears and cape,” I said, ignoring the mulish expression he gave me in return. “Come on. Hand them over. You can’t be a Vulcan Zorro starship...

Except that he wasn’t the Calvin I remembered. This Calvin had morphed into some sort of exotic alien being—half Vulcan, and half . . . something. As his expression of surprise turned to one of naked lust, I nearly choked on my own spit. “C-Calvin?” I stammered. “I didn’t—” “Recognize me?” he said. “I thought not. After all, you’ve never given me the time of day.” His deep blue eyes were as hot as molten steel as they swept my body up and down. Funny how I’d never noticed them before. Must have been the tantalizing Vulcan eyebrows. Yeah, that was it. It was the eyebrows . . . and the ears—or maybe the cape. Calvin had certainly never affected me this way! I felt the searing heat from his eyes burn me down to ash. “Don’t be silly!” I said, my voice suddenly high-pitched and girlish. “We’ve always been . . . friends.” I felt like an absolute idiot. This was Calvin Seersucker , for heaven’s sake! Nerdy little Calvin, who would have been much more at home at a Star Trek convention th...