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Another World

by M. L. Buchman

I've just returned from another world...and, to quote Monty Python, my brain HURTZ!

It was a strange return to my first love, science fiction (shh, don't tell). I didn't discover romance until I attended the 1996 RWA national conference, literally my first ever writing conference and where I read my first three romance novels ever. How a man who had never read a romance ended up there, well, that's just too weird. Like I fell through a space warp or something. (I fell in love with science fiction when I was ten, which was way before that. It's also why I've written and published a half dozen science fiction and fantasy novels along the way under Matthew Lieber Buchman.)

Anyway, my trip to another world included reading approximately 300 short stories (literally), writing four myself, and spending an entire week in class studying SF.

You'll never guess what happened to me... Guess yet? Thought not.

Two main things:
1) I remembered how much I love reading and writing SF.
2) Three of the four stories are also romances!

I mean, what's up with that? My pure, unsullied science fiction brain has been invaded and taken over by happy-ever-after love stories. Trudging across the moonscape of Io in orbit around Jupiter, and discovering true love despite the space suits that keep us apart...? Romance is in the air, even when they're on a moon that doesn't have any?! (Well, not much anyway, just a little sulfur dioxide, hardly worth mentioning.)

That's just not right! I've been taken over, infected by some strange mutant virus that makes me want to be happy at the end of my stories!

So... I figure what the hell, go with the flow. I've sent them off to SF magazines seeking homes (spreading the love...we need more short-fiction romance markets, don't we?). And, as my first (though gentle) voyage into paranormal romance, I do have a wonderful little Christmas romance story set in my Night Stalkers world in Fiction River's "Christmas Ghost" anthology about which Publisher's Weekly said "Among the standouts are M.L. Buchman’s The Ghost of Willow’s Past" (though there's some other writers in there too, like: Kristine Grayson, Mary Jo Putney, Anthea Lawson... well, just read the table of contents, it's great):



And, just to prove that I do still live on this planet, planet HEA romance, I do have a new contemporary foodie romance Christmas novel out as well.
Kindle, Print, Kobo, Nook, iBook

Wait, this is Halloween coming up. But I'm on Planet Christmas! GACK!
Okay. Deep breath. Okay.

So, I'll just, uh, wish you a very Happy Halloween and a Merry Thanksgiving while I try to figure out just which planet I am on.
Enjoy!
Matt

Comments

  1. LOL, my roommate has been playing Christmas music on his piano all month.

    Also, I had thought to write epic fantasy or horror but my character kept falling in love, so here I am!

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  2. Having *read* your science fiction, and even sending a fan letter begging for more, I applaud your return to SciFi. We need more SciFi Romance. Linnea Sinclair! Matthew Lieber Buchman! More! More! It's the hard science fiction in your and Linnea's books that excite me. The HEA enriches the characterization. Please! More! (Yeah, I know, ML Buchman's the boss of Matt Buchman). But I want more books from the Nara world.
    Blessings from your fellow chapter member,
    Terrel

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  3. Looks to me like you are on your way to a second career! It's fun to write in separate genres...kind of clears the brain, doesn't it?

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  4. The itch to mix sci fi and romance happened to me when Return of the Jedi came out. Never quite got over it. ;)

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  5. Brooklyn Ann, I never thought to associate my wife's year-round love of Christmas music with why I write romance :)

    Terrel, Thanks! Fear not, Nara, Monk's Maze, and my Deities Anonymous series all have a future. Hoping to get back to novel length SF early next year.

    Carolyn, Actually, SF is the first career, but it was the romance that SB purchased and has become so popular.

    Cheryl, I've always written strong romantic elements. Just took running a thriller with SRE by Deb for it all to be turned into romance (took 2, 40k word redrafts to do it, but it was fun and totally worth it)!

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  6. I look forward to seeing more of your works. Sadly, Netgalley and I do not usually get along so I have not been requesting the review copies from Casablanca but I will look forward to seeing your stories when I get my hands on a print copy!

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