Around
this time of year it’s usual to see romance holiday anthologies. You know the
ones, with a smiling, snowbound couple under the mistletoe. How about we add
some spaceships and laser guns to that!
Science
fiction and the holidays—not two things you see together very often. How did 3
romance authors come to mix science fiction and the holidays? It all started
when Carina Press Executive Editor, Angela James, put out a call for sci-fi
holiday novellas. It was a challenge too good to resist for myself, Sasha Summers
and Stacy Gail.
A
GALACTIC HOLIDAY is full of romance and holiday cheer, but there is also
action, adventure, unique world-building and some pretty cool gadgets.
Anna: I was fascinated with the thought of
how future generations spread across the galaxy would celebrate the holidays. In
WINTER FUSION, I knew I wanted to explore a different
version of the holidays and when I read about Scandinavian Yule, I instantly
envisioned an ice world. Harsh, beautiful, with rich geothermal energy. I
imagined the people tough enough to settle an ice world would be strong with an
exceptional sense of community.
Of
course my hero, Savan comes from a world the complete opposite of Perma. A
high-tech, energy-dependent world covered by a megacity. On Rendar, families
and holidays no longer exist and the pinnacle of Rendarian life is personal
success. It was fun throwing Perman Brinn and Rendarian Savan together—then I
snowed them in and set an assassin on their trail. Let’s just say, these two
generate a lot of heat…in more ways than one.
Sasha: I was completely intrigued by the
call for a SciFi Holiday novella. I started mulling over the concept and Riley
just sort of popped up. It was the first scene, her hanging upside down working
on her ship and arguing into her earpiece. She was a very different heroine for
me, I don’t normally write overtly strong, self-reliant heroines. But Riley has
to be all of those things. She was born in the black, lives on her ship – alone
– and likes it that way. Or rather, that’s what she thinks she likes. She
doesn’t ‘know’ any other life. So I stranded her to see what would happen.
And
the world I envisioned her being stranded on? Well, it was brutal – similar to
Hoth – almost uninhabitable. Ice, snow, and man-eating monsters/aliens. At this
point the odds were stacked against Riley…
Enter
Leo, our mysterious hero. He scoops her – rather – drags her to the safety of
Galileo’s Station. A seriously
dreamy space cowboy (Han Solo meets Malcolm Reynolds), Leo takes his work very
seriously, keeping his mission priority one. But finding Riley on the ice
muddies things up a little and warms things up a bit. Okay, a lot.
Something
about these two independent and stubborn characters coming together drove me to
write their story.
Stacy: Reina Vedette and Edison Wicke have
been bugging me to tell their story for a couple years now. Their basic
background and a general plot involving androids have been in my brain just
looking for the right time to get launched. Then, when Carina Press’s call for
submissions went out, Reina and Edison INSISTED their launch time was now
(they’re so pushy).
This
novella flowed out of me in a mere eighteen days—not that surprising, considering
it’s been written and expanded upon in my head for so long. The technology-dependent society in HOW
THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS has lost touch with the simpler, more meaningful
things in life, and it was a blast to reintroduce the timeless theme of home,
family and love in such a setting.
Not to mention it was nice to shut Reina and Edison up, if only for a
little while.
See
spaceships and mistletoe do go
together. So if you’re looking for something a little different to read these
holidays, then A GALACTIC HOLIDAY might be for you!
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