Holiday Treat Giveaway

Tags

Amanda Quick, Bec McMaster, giveaway, Lee Koven, SFR Galaxy Awards, Tiffany Roberts

Continuing a series of giveaways, the timing for this go round results in a special treat between two holidays for a couple of lucky winners.

Lee Koven is offering like-new copies of Tiffany Roberts’ Dustwalker and Bec McMaster’s Nobody’s Hero (Burned Lands, #1).  I loved both of these books. Both books are SFR Galaxy Award winners.  As a matter of fact, Nobody’s Hero won two awards (selected by both Lee and myself).  Lee has such good taste in books. 🙂  I think you will agree!

Both of these books have had cover changes since their award.  Not that they needed it.  New covers are presented here for your perusal.

For those that are interested, here are the original covers.  Personally, I like them  better.  I think it is because I read them under these older covers, so I have an emotional tie to them.  Which cover(s) do you like?

The second prize in the giveaway will be an MP3 audiobook of Amanda Quick’s The Mystery Woman (The Lades of Lantern Street, #2).  Historical mystery and romance from Ms. Quick is always a winner!

************************

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click on the link to enter the giveaway.  There are three options that say ‘Invent your own option.”, but I’ve already done the inventing.  Just select them and respond.  In addition to the Rafflecopter entries, comments on blog posts between now and December 3 will also count as an entry.

Good luck to everyone!

 

Terms and Conditions

Not much risk to enter. These prizes are gently used goods, so there is no guarantee of condition.

If you win, you will be contacted and asked to provide a mailing address. It must be a US or Canada address. Sorry about that, but the costs of mailing elsewhere are pretty prohibitive.

Speaking of mailing, we are at the mercy of the post office. Delivery is as expected for anything you yourself would mail. So, pretty good, natural disasters not withstanding. I trust the US post office.

Winners will be announced on the original contest blog post. So, if you win, expect to see your name in print.

You are responsible for any tax implications your prize may incur. I am going to say none, but I won’t guarantee it. You are on your own.

6th Annual SFR Galaxy Awards

Tags

Christina Westcott, Pauline Baird Jones, SFR Galaxy Awards, Shari Elder, Tiffany Roberts, Vivien Jackson

Yesterday, the 6th Annual SFR Galaxy Awards were announced.  What a great day!  Not just for the winners, but for any fan of the SciFi Romance genre.  So many great books, not nearly enough time!

I am a judge for these awards, so today’s post will be my winners.  Click on the book cover if you want to purchase at Amazon.  Click on ‘My Review’ to get more details on what I thought about the book.

At the end of this post, I will include links to all the winners and I hope you will check everyone of them out!

Best Original Story
Dustwalker by Tiffany Roberts

When I was half way through Dustwalker, I knew it was going to be one of my 2017 favorites. This post-apocalyptic epic scores big with me in all my scoring categories: Complex characters, intricate plot, intense emotional situations, humanity being tested, slow-burning romance, interesting secondary characters and a really good villain. The story of human Lara and synth Ronin has all of this and more, including an epilogue that will make you cry.  My Review

Best High-Tech Love Making
Wanted and Wired by Viven Jackson

Technology, whether it is computers or programming or hackers or robots, is hard to make interesting to this reader. Vivien Jackson makes tech fascinating. She has a knack for stringing a bunch of words together to form a very readable sentence. Any subject is new and exciting in her hands. Even sex. I admit, I am the reader that just scans the sex passages in order to get to the good stuff. But Heron Farad, high-tech genius, puts a whole new spin on making love and I read every word when he and Mari got together. Mix the sizzling sex with a high voltage plot and you have one of my favorites of the year. Wanted and Wired was quickly followed by book 2 in the series, Perfect Gravity, which is also a feast of words!  My Review

Beyond Book 3 Award
Found Girl (Project Enterprise, #6) by Pauling Baird Jones

There are many series that I stop reading after 2 or 3 books because the plot becomes predicable or the book is formulaic. Not so with the Project Enterprise series. Each book in this series has been so very unique. Connecting characters and technology are what hold the series together, but each book stands on it’s own. Found Girl introduces some new aliens that are so not humanoid. Not even close. There is also a heroine, Arian, that gets more mysterious with each new thing you learn about her. Jones’ creativity astounds me and never ceases to entertain!  My Review

Favorite Cat Hero
Cypher (The Dragon’s Bidding, #2) by Christina Westcott

Cypher was actually published in 2016, but I did not get around to reading it until 2017. I love The Dragon’s Bidding series, and Jumper is the main reason why. Don’t get me wrong, Cypher has galactic politics, an evil villain, a kick-ass heroine, a split-personality hero that really mixes things up, and heart-breaking emotions. All great things in a novel. But Jumper, the talking cat, is one of my favorite cats of all time. With his spot-on ability to state the obvious, a line like “Oh shit, we are so screwed.” lets you know that things are not going as well as they could.  My Review

Don’t Judge a Book By It’s Cover Award
Race to Redemption (Green Rising, #1) by Shari Elder

We all do it. Get sucked in by a pretty book cover. Or put off by a cover because of preconceptions. Based on the cover of Race to Redemption (a lingerie-clad woman and a shirtless man), I would never have guessed the depth of the story that would be found within the pages. In addition to a slow-burning romance, you will find class conflict, a desert planet, flawed characters, sick kids and lots of high-flying action in this book. Shari Elder is a skilled, imaginative writer who wrote a thrilling book with a lot of twists and much less lingerie than you would think.  My Review

Links to the 6th Annual SFR Galaxy Awards

Intro and Tribute

Round 1 – Chris Stock

Round 2 – Heather Massey

Round 3 – Marlene Harris

Round 4 – Riley Moreland

Round 5 – Jo Jones

Round 6 – Eileen Koven

Round 7 – Anna McLain

 

Laurie A. Green, Host of 2017 SFR Galaxy Awards – Interview

Tags

interview, Laurie A. Green, SFR Galaxy Awards

Riley: Hi Laurie! I am really happy to have you here at Whiskey With My Book to talk about the SFR Galaxy Awards.

Laurie: I’m so happy to be your guest today. Thanks for inviting me.

Riley: First, please tell us a little about yourself.

Laurie: I’m a science fiction romance author who’s best known as the founder of the SFR Brigade community of science fiction romance writers and authors.

Riley: What is your involvement with the SFR Galaxy Awards?

Laurie: The SFR Galaxy Awards were the brainstorm of peer and fellow author Heather Massey, who has always been a terrific supporter of science fiction romance.

Early on, I assisted Heather in getting the awards rolling by creating the awards site, and also served for the first few years as a judge. After I published my first SFR books in 2015, I felt it was time to step down and let another reviewer or book blogger fill the niche.

For the upcoming award cycle, Heather anticipated a possible scheduling conflict with some real-life priorities, so asked if I would be willing to step in to host the 2017 awards. I was more than happy to help.

Riley: Why should people be interested in the SFR Galaxy Awards as opposed to any of the many other ‘Best Of’ opinions out there?

Laurie: The SFR Galaxy Awards are unique in that they strive not only to recognize standout books in the genre, but also to help readers find books that they might enjoy reading. That was the original premise for the awards, because SFR is a hard to find but diverse genre that often presents a challenge for readers in locating books that intrigue them. Our panel of judges are all prolific readers and several have review sites of their own, like Whiskey With My Book. 

The 2017 judges are (alphabetically):

Marlene Harris of Reading Reality review site
Jo Jones of Mixed Book Bag Blog
Lee Koven, who coordinates the SFR Recommends blogs
Heather Massey, blogger/founder
Anna McLain, reviewer and superfan
Riley Moreland — that would be you! 

And our new judge for the 2017 awards:
Chris Stock, an editor at the Roswell Daily Record, in charge of “Vision” magazine

Readers can learn more about the judges and see their site links or other contact information on the SFR Galaxy Awards Judges Page.

Riley: How did the awards get started?

Laurie: Heather Massey came up with the idea after reading something that legendary science fiction and fantasy novelist Ursula K. Le Guin said about wishing there could be multiple awards for multiple books, each highlighting a standout element of the story. In a 2011 blog for Book View Café titled Literary Bests, Ms. Le Guin wrote:

I wish that, instead of picking one and dumping all the rest, we celebrated our writers continually and in droves.

I wish we gave literary prizes freely, the way they used to give prizes at the Pet Show at Codornices Park in Berkeley when I was a kid. Every kid in the neighborhood brought their pet, and every pet got a prize, an ad hoc, unique prize: for Soulfulness — for Loud Meowing — for Unusual Spot Placement — for Being the Only Skink…. There was no Best of Breed …and certainly no Best of Show.

That gave Heather the spark that ignited the flame for the SFR Galaxy Awards. She ran the idea by me and I loved it. We collaborated to get the awards rolling, and cover artist Kanaxa was kind enough to create the SFR Galaxy Award icon for us, gratis. Danielle Fine, another cover artist and book editor, also designed several banners for the awards site, free of charge.

Riley: Not counting any that you have personally won, do you have a favorite award or two that you can mention?

Laurie: Books that I’ve personally written weren’t eligible for the awards in the years they were published because I was a judge. But there have been some fun and fabulous SFR Galaxy Awards presented over the years. Here are just three examples of imaginative award categories:

Best “Post-Apocalypse for Readers who don’t even like Post-Apocalypse”

The Backdraft Award
(A door can feel cool, but when you open it the heat explodes.)

Still Standing Award (Best Long Running Series)

Riley: Do you have a list of books in your head – books you would be giving awards to if you were a judge this year? (You don’t have to tell me what they are. I wouldn’t want me or any other judges to be unduly influenced!)

Laurie: I definitely have one SFR book in mind that I’d love to give an award but I’m not sure what I’d name the category. Maybe “Most Exciting New SFR Author” or “Most Imaginative Post-Apocalyptic Characters” or possibly even “Most Fabulously Original Voice.”

I get pretty excited when I find a book that checks all my boxes and this particular story was all that.

Riley: When will the 2018 SFR Galaxy Awards be handed out?

Laurie: The awards will be announced on January 31st on the site (link posted below). They will be presented in the traditional way, with one round being posted per hour beginning at 9AM (blog time). A “round” is comprised of at least one award–but usually multiple–presented by an individual judge, and in total there could be around thirty-five awards presented. It varies from year to year.

Riley: What is the best way for someone to make sure they don’t miss these fabulous awards?

Laurie: They can visit the awards site here: SFR Galaxy Awards

Links to the awards rounds will also be posted on the SFR Brigade FanPage on Facebook and tweeted with the hashtag #SFRGalaxyAwards.

Thanks so much for hosting me today to talk a little about the SFR Galaxy Awards. It’s always an exciting day for SFR authors, readers and fans.

***********************

About the Author

Laurie A. Green is an award-winning, USA TODAY bestselling author, and a science fiction romance enthusiast who founded the SFR Brigade community of writers.

You can learn more about her books and sign up for her newsletter on her website:
Laurie A. Green