SFR Brigade

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  The Great 2012 SFR Pitch Tournament now has two pages of pitches entered.  Be sure to click "NEXT" at the top or bottom of the forum thread to read them all!

UPDATE: THE TOURNAMENT IS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 7TH.  ENTRIES ARE STILL BEING ACCEPTED AT THIS TIME, BUT THE TOURNAMENT WILL CLOSE TO ENTRIES APPROXIMATELY 48 HOURS BEFORE THE START OF THE EVENT. SEE DETAILS BELOW.

Announcing the Great 2012 SFR Pitch Tournament

What is it?

A fun competition for writers of SFR.

What's the purpose?

To help SFR Brigade writers judge what pitches work best to hook readers. As a bonus, readers will discover some great SFR titles.

How does it work?

Up to 50 pitches will be accepted and entered in random order into tournament heats. Winners of each heat will be chosen by poll and then entered in a heat/heats against other winners. Heats will continue until the top three are chosen. The number of heats and duration of the contest will be determined by the number of entries received.

Who can vote?

Anyone can vote by poll. Voters are encouraged to make comments on the Pitch Tournament posts.

When will the contest start?

We're shooting for January 7th-15th, 2012, depending on the number of entries posted prior to that time. Meanwhile, pitches can be submitted here (in comments below) and available to read with sales links, if provided.

Who can enter?

Members of the SFR Brigade. Not a member? Join us. There are no dues or obligations to join our alliance.

Does my work have to be published?

No. It can be published, e-published, self-published, pre-published or a work in progress of any length as long as it falls under the SFR Brigade definition of SFR. (See FAQ section in our Welcome Message.)

How do I enter?

Post your entry as a comment on the SFR Brigade web site forum under the THE GREAT 2012 SFR PITCH TOURNAMENT ENTRIES thread (below) and it will be transferred to a blog post when the Tournament begins.

You may enter multiple times, but each entry must be submitted as a separate comment on the thread.

Submit your information in this order:

1. Title

2. Author/Pen Name

3. SFR subcategory description (optional) i.e. Steampunk, YA Apocalyptic, Near Future

4. Your SFR Pitch: Can be a blurb, query, back cover copy, etc. up to 500 words.

5. Include sales link, release date, or pre-published (optional)

(Please note that any non-Science Fiction Romance pitches entered will be disqualified.)

What do the winners get? For that matter, what do the non-winners get?

Winners get a virtual ribbon, but all entrants get a chance to pitch your SFR (or future SFR title) to readers and visitors.

What can I do to help make this a success?

1. Enter.

2. Spread the word through FB, Twitter, email, Goodreads, Shelfari and other forums.Include a link to the Pitch Tournament information.

3. Invite everyone you know to vote.

Ready to enter?

Great! Submit your Pitch Tournament entry in the comments below. (Remember we're limiting the contest to the first 50 entries.)

If you have questions, you can also enter them below.

To answer a couple of questions:

The maximum is 500 words but you don't need to shoot for this much word count.  Less than 200 words, 100 words, or even 50 is fine if that's enough to hook the reader.  Usually, an existing blurb, pitch, back cover copy or query will work fine! 

(Remember, a pitch is not a synopsis. You don't necessarily need to spell out the complete story, just give enough to make the reader say, "Oh, I have to read this!")

And yes, the tournament is OPEN FOR ENTRIES now! (Post in comments below.)

B Cubed Book One: Born

By Jenna McCormick

Post-Apocalyptic erotic romance

Born: Natural born humans are precious few and dwell in darkness.

Bred: Genetically engineered slaves who are the protectors of the Born.

Borg: The cybernetically enhanced enclave that split from the Born humans.

B Cubed

These three factions are all that remains of the human race after the world stopped turning. Scavenging in the darkness for what little is left, the war between them rages on though few know why. It begins with a child’s prophesy and can only end when they unite.

Or die.

From the moment he spies her silhouette cast by the bonfire, Cormack understands what it is to yearn for something he will never possess. Breds are made to provide for the natural born humans, dig their homes deep beneath the surface of the earth and to protect them from the ever-present cyborg threat. A Bred who reaches beyond his station will be recycled immediately, yet Cormack cannot get her visage out of his mind. Until he unearths a box, buried long before the earth stopped spinning.

Task Mistress Allora has no wish to brutalize the Bred worker she finds hoarding treasure, but as a servant of the colony that raised her from infancy, she is duty bound to report anything unusual to the Overlord, even if it costs the blue-eyed man his life. Yet something about the way Cormack watches her forces Allora to reevaluate her understanding of right and wrong. For this genetically engineered soldier is her only protection against the cyborgs who seek what they have discovered, a journal written by the prophetess Cassandra and a way to end the warring between the factions forever.

B Cubed Book One: Born By Jenna McCormick Now Available for Kindle, Nook and PDF dowload at ARe

Shrouded

Frances Pauli

Science Fiction Romance

Being the daughter of a planetary governor doesn’t count for much when that planet is Eclipsis. The day Vashia’s father promises her to his lackey, Jarn, she bolts. Unaware that she’s being manipulated, she signs away her freedom and boards the first ship headed for Shroud, a closed world with more secrets and more riches than a scheming governor can possibly resist.

Of the seven Shrouded princes, Dolfan may be the only one that doesn’t covet the throne. He does want the Heart, however, and when he meets Vashia, he’s pretty sure he’s found it. So when the ceremony pairs her with another, the system fails them both.

Now Vashia is queen of a planet she doesn’t understand, married to a complete stranger and in love with a man who can’t challenge his faith enough to see the truth. In case she manages to sort that out, she’s about to be blamed for a full scale invasion, a friend’s murder, and the fall of the richest planet in history.

pre-published http://francespauli.com

1. Title: PANDORA'S HOPE

2. Author/Pen Name: Lisa Lane

3. SFR subcategory description: Space Opera

4. Your SFR Pitch:

Captain Nora Bradley, her fiancé and First Officer Robert Smith, and crew have developed quite the reputation: their current tactical officer is an astral clone of the one they started with; a race of shape-shifting aliens currently travels the stars as an impostor of "Pandora's Hope"; and everyone is still recovering from the embarrassing and life-changing ship-wide orgy caused by their bout with the "space flu." Worst of all, though, is that the more Nora tries to plan their wedding, the more Robert gets cold feet....

Now that the ship is back on mission, with a glorified babysitter from Space-Corp on its way, it seems that the ship-wide fun might be forced to an end - but first impressions always prove wrong on Pandora's Hope, and the new addition to their crew, "Quality Control Officer" Patrice Jocar, might have more in common with her new peers than they think. In this second installment of the Lust in Space series, the crew of Pandora's Hope explores more exotic intergalactic regions, picking up the most unlikely of refugees and encountering new alien species - while their wild and sexy antics continue.

Will Nora and Robert's relationship survive another excursion into deep space, or will the experience tear them apart for good?

5. Include sales link: http://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Hope-Lisa-Lane/dp/1607778890/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_2

Steamrolled

Pauline Baird Jones

Science fiction romance/steampunk

With all of time at risk, it’s a bad time to fall in love…unless it’s the only time…

Robert Clementyne is going on a transmogrification machine hunt. He fears finding the machine will be as difficult as pronouncing the name. How can the steam-powered device perform as advertised, and how useful can any information be, coming from a steampunk themed bowling alley/museum?

It’s pretty crazy, but he’s been there, done that, and thinks he can handle it.

And then he meets the proprietor/curator…Emily Babcock.

Emily grew up in crazy, still lives in it—hey, it’s her freaking zip code. So no worries when Robert and his team walk into her bowling alley. The first visitors ever to her museum.

But neither of them is prepared for what happens when they open the door to the past…and the future. With a side trip through Roswell…and a face-to-face meeting with an evil genius/wannabe—who is on his way to becoming evil overlord-of-everything…

Amazon   Barnes and Noble    All Romance eBooks   Fictionwise

Pub date: April 11, 2011

Stellar Timing

Jennifer L. Hart

Futuristic Romance

In the year 2059, the best part of Ellie MacIntyre's day is her morning coffee and it's all downhill from there. When a talking dog and cat enlist her aid in finding their missing brother, everything she ever knew about the universe is knocked on its keister by a six foot warrior with smoldering dark eyes.

Betrayed by those closest to him, Prince Brennigan was banished to the universal Hotel California, the penal colony called Earth. The only way to escape this fate worse than death is to befriend a portal-maker, a sorci who can open a gateway through time and space and return him to his home planet. Getting along with the magically inclined is not his forte—magic is the prevalent fungus at the root of his problems.

Now the hope for his people, and his heart, lies with Ellie. Can Ellie best an evil sorceress and win the heart of her space prince before this medieval times space opera's final curtain?

Available for purchase or free lending with Amazon Prime membership Kindle

1. Keir

2. Pippa Jay

3. Science fiction romance/time-travel

4.

Cursed. Outcast. Dying. Is Keir beyond redemption?

For Keirlan de Corizi—the legendary 'Blue Demon' of Adalucien—born to a world where his discolored skin marked him as an oddity and condemned him to life asa pariah, death seems the only escape. But salvation comes to him in an unexpected guise: Tarquin Secker, a young woman who can travel the stars with a wave of her hand, though she hides secrets of her own.

Quin has spent an eternity searching through space and time, with a strange band of companions at her back: Surei, the irascible avian medic; haemovore siblings Taler and Sky; and Mercury, the unfathomable synthetic humanoid without a voice. Defying Surei’s counsel, Quin risks her apparent immortality to save Keir and offers him sanctuary and a new life on her home world, Lyagnius. When tragedy unleashes Keir’s dormant alien powers, will she risk it all again to stand by him?

5. Releases from Lyrical Press Inc 7th May 2012

FORBIDDEN DESTINY (Book Two of the Forbidden Series)

Kaye Manro

Science Fiction Romance/Space Opera

Can their love survive light years across the stars and centuries old archaic law? For Forbidden Lovers, T’Kon and Maya the adventure continues…

 It should not have happened.

Something so inconceivable it sends his inherent perceptions spiraling. To make matters worse T’Kon now faces the Asconage Council of Elders, including G’Nore his father. They strip him of his flight privileges. After all, he broke the Realm of Planets formidable rule of no interspecies mating. How could he not? Maya enamors him with a passion so deep it mislays his sense of reasoning. T’Kon contemplates a perilous time travel journey into the past. The problem is a temporal leap will cause him to lose Maya forever…

What the hell can Maya do now? T’Kon warned that hitching a ride on his hyper-space jumping ship would send ripples throughout his Galaxy. His people, the Asconageans disapprove of their relationship and now hold her in confinement away from her alien lover. The thing is T’Kon stirs unimaginable sensual heat inside her, constantly. How could she have stayed behind? Yet Maya must find a way to escape this scorching unbearable planet. What will they do when they discover the secret she harbors?

Maybe none of this should ever have happened…

Forbiden Destiny/Red Rose Publishing

Release date: May 2012

Kaye's Blog

Even Villains Fall in Love

by Liana Brooks

Superhero/Biopunk Romance

If you believe the rumors you know that Doctor Charm, the wickedly sexy supervillain, retired in shame seven years ago after his last fight with the superheroZephyr Girl. The fact that the charming Evan Smith - father of four and husband of the too-beautiful-to-be-real Tabitha - bears a resemblance to the defeated Doctor is pure coincidence. And, please, ignore the minions.

Everything is perfect in the Smith household until Tabitha announces her returnto work as a superhero. Evan was hoping to keep her distracted until after herigged the 2012 presidential election, but – genius that he is – Evan has a backup plan. In his basement lab Evan has a machine whose sole purpose iskeeping Tabitha hungry for him.

But children and labs don’t mix. The machine is broken, and Tabitha storms out, claiming she no longer knows him. World domination takes a back seat to meeting his daughters’ demands to get Mommy back right now. This time his genius isn’t going to be enough – he’s going to need both his evil alter-ego and the blooming super abilities of his children to save his wife. But even his most charming self might not be enough to save their marriage.

Coming in April 2012 from Breathless Press

1. Lucy in the Sky

2. Barbara Elsborg

3. Erotic romance MF with a a bit of MM

When you wake up to find a spaceship in your backyard, what do you do? Choose from three:

Phone the police.

Scream.

Go yell at the alien for wrecking your garden.

Lucy storms out of her house to confront the inept pilot and the last option turns out to be both the right and wrong choice when she finds the gorgeous hunk’s name is Three. She’s torn between fury that he’s crushed her roses and decapitated her statue of Eros, and a longing that he enliven her boring life and whisk her to the stars. Three doesn’t give her a choice when he throws her over his broad shoulders and takes her into space. Lucy soon finds herself exploring alien territory in ways she never imagined.

Three’s efforts to hide and protect her on the mother ship are stymied by his inability to keep his hands—and other body parts—off the luscious Lucy, and it looks as if her immediate fate might be a solo trip into space without a spacesuit.

http://www.jasminejade.com/p-7530-lucy-in-the-sky.aspx

Splintered Energy

Arlene Webb

#

Waves of pure energy are quite happy hanging in the cosmos, traveling at the speed of light to brighten up the sky--until dawn breaks. Literally.

When sentient light fractures, it zaps into human bodies and becomes trapped. Without any memories to guide them, a handful of confused beings whose skin tones are now specific colors, struggle to understand humanity while it's quite clear they shouldn't be in this world. The few humans clued in to Earth's invasion don't flutter, but are drawn to their fiery fate with hearts wide open as they fight to survive.

California. A widower's twelve-year-old son is rather young to bring home a woman, especially a collapsed green beauty too frightened to open her eyes.

Arizona. A divorcee blinks hard, but the gorgeous red guy stepping in front of her car is still red. She serves to avoid hitting him and ends up in the ditch. When she comes around, she wonders which layer of hell she's fallen into.

Ohio. A teen also fears he's dealing with the demonic, but no matter how dangerous things become, he's determined to stand by a man with inhumanly blue eyes.

#

Splintered Energy is an Earth based sci-fi/suspense/romance novel and the first in a four book series. Book 2, The R Word, and book 3, House of Seven, are available. The final is scheduled for February-March, 2012.

http://www.amazon.com/Splintered-Energy-The-Colors-ebook/dp/B0055L2FHU/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2

Refugees On Urloon

Melisse Aires

SFR

Under normal circumstances, Svana, non-military maintenance crew, and Captain Liam Ringel, a highly respected military instructor, would never have crossed paths. A sudden anomaly, however, thrusts them into deep space where they are rescued by the inhabitants of an exotic and isolated waterworld, Urloon. 

With no rescue forthcoming, the refugees can choose between adapting to the sea or farming the land. Svana is saddened when her budding friendship with Liam changes due to their different choices. However, when they are invited to an alien fertility festival, the Moonfest, they are given the opportunity to create a memory that will impact and intertwine both their futures. 

WARNING: Alien fertility festival, aurora lights, dancing alien beasts, body paints and hot pheromones. M/F Sensual

Release date; April 9, 2012

Coming Soon Page

The Telomere Trilogy Book 1: Revelations of Tomorrow

A. R. Norris

The crew of Daring Star salvages a load capsule and finds the beaten body of Jetta McCree. The young woman has discovered her employer developed a biochemical droplet and is contracted with terrorists to manufacture it on a large scale. Captain Noah Bonney fights off corporate security forces, her ex-husband's pirate fleets, and carnivorous beasts to keep the young woman safe and transport her to the safety of the Imperial Home Port.

But the adventure brings to surface demons Noah's been suppressing and secrets from her people's history she's tried to forget. Now, she must face them if she's to reconcile with her daughter and keep the love of her life from leaving. With 450 years under her belt and nothing but eternity ahead of her, she's built a thick shell… one she's not sure she can break.

Available now from Amazon, B&N, or All Romance Books

More about me at my Blog

Unacceptable Risk

Jeanette Grey

Cyberpunk

...

She may learn to live for love…if vengeance doesn’t kill her first.

Plix spends her lonely, gritty life trying to solve the mysteries her father left behind. Armed with a variety of cybernetic enhancements and a talent for getting into places she shouldn’t be, she searches for clues to his murder—and who’s responsible for poisoning her city.

Waking up on a street corner with her brain wiring fried to a crisp, she figures she must have gotten close this time. There’s only one man she trusts to pull her back from the brink: a tuner who can retrieve the evidence hidden deep in the recesses of her mind. A man she dares not let too close to her heart.

When Edison downloads a secret SynDate schematic from Plix’s burnt-out circuitry, he knows with dreadful finality that nothing—not even the fiery kiss he’s been holding back for years—will stop her from pursuing her quest past the point of insanity.

All he can do, as he helps her plan her final mission, is ease her pain, watch her back…and hope one of them doesn’t pay with their lives.

Available Now from Amazon, B&N, All Romance or Samhain Press.

Publication Date: December 13, 2011

Nexus Point

Jaleta Clegg

Space Opera

Dace's wants are simple - a trading ship and the freedom to fly where she chooses. But on her first trip, her crew betrays her, her ship explodes, and she finds herself stranded on a planet locked in a feudal age. With no technology, no resources, natives trying to burn her at the stake for being a demon, drug smugglers attacking her as a rival, and the Patrol trying to kill her, Dace has one hope of rescue—convince Tayvis, the sexy undercover Patrol agent, that she's trapped on the planet by mistake.

Her ignorance may cost her life. His help may cost her heart.

GHOST PLANET
By Sharon Lynn Fisher

Psychologist Elizabeth Cole is about to discover three facts that will change her forever: She died en route to her new job. She’s been reincarnated as an alien. She’s bound to a man who believes she’s his enemy.

Working to unlock the secrets of her existence, she inadvertently seduces the man -- and becomes a pawn in the struggle for control of the planet.

Release Date: December 2012, TOR

Title: The Warlord's Comeuppance

Author: Gail Koger

Pitch:

Stealing from a warlord and giving him the one finger salute as I made my getaway was not the brightest thing I’d ever done. Okay, it was an incredibly stupid stunt.

Did I mention that this particular Coletti warlord is the most feared in the entire galaxy? That Zarek’s the ultimate predator and even the other warlords are scared spitless of him? That he never ever stops until he either captures or kills his prey?

Yeah, I have the big, bad after me and all because of one little finger. Okay and a Ditrim crystal the size of my fist. Am I worried? Of course, only an idiot doesn’t fear a very angry Coletti warlord. But, I am very good at what I do. Bad news is, so is Zarek.

www.gailkoger.com

available at www.whispershome.com

The Dimensional Shift

by Frances Pauli

subcategory: Science Fiction with Romantic Elements

Pitch:

Chloe came to the Three Lakes area for the peace and quiet. She happily abandoned the world of retail management, suits and promotions to work as a hotel maid catering to the local tourists. Until Andrew Paige showed up--a suit of the worst kind, the kind that makes her knees weak.

When Andrew offers her a job at his hotel, Chloe is hell bent on resisting, but the Dimensional Shift is no ordinary hotel, and Chloe is immediately tossed into the world of inter-dimensional tourists, their odd accommodations, and a string of thefts that threaten to ruin her chances at romance.

While learning the ropes, dealing with the Shift's unusual guests, and trying to determine if the boss' interest in her is strictly professional, Chloe uncovers a plot to steal the hotel's dimensional keys. With the help of the town gossip, her alien abductee neighbor, and her new invisible best friend, Chloe confronts an inter-dimensional crime ring and a host of complications that make romancing the boss look like the least of her troubles.

Book 1 of the Shift Happens series

published: http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=The+Dimensional+Shift

Barron’s Last Stand -

JC Cassels

Space Opera, Sci-fi Romance

Somebody is out to get Bo Barron.

Commanding General of the Black Wing and Chief of Barron Clan, Bo was convicted of a terrorist attack years ago that sent her into exile. Bo will do anything to clear her name so she can return home and take her rightful place as the Chief of Barron Clan.

When an assassination attempt leaves the First Sector Overlord badly injured and comatose, all the evidence points to Bo. Just one problem. She was busy engineering a prison break three sectors away at the time, just ask her estranged husband. He stowed away aboard her ship.

Blade Devon’s clearance as an Inner Circle Agent goes all the way to the Overlord himself. The only blot on his record is the fact that he secretly married Bo, a convicted traitor. With every bounty hunter and law enforcement agency in the Commonwealth hunting for Bo, the only way he can protect her is to keep her close. That means convincing her to work with him to find whoever is responsible for the attack. That won’t be easy. She hates him.

The deeper they dig, the more dangerous it gets – for both of them. As they uncover a plot that stretches back decades and reaches into the highest levels of the Sovran Council the best they can hope for is to stay alive and out of prison.

One way or another, Bo is going home, if for no other reason than to make BARRON’S LAST STAND.