2018 SFR Galaxy Awards Round 4 - Lee Koven

Most Intriguing Society

A Treason of Truths

by Ada Harper

Lyre is a child of the Cloud Vault: an isolated floating city-state made of scavenged ships that are transformed into biological constructs. Their government is composed of scientists. They’ve got more tech than any other known power, they tend not to share said tech and they have remained neutral in the war between the Syndicate and the Quillian Empire. They’re not uninterested in galaxy politics, though, and that makes them dangerous.

Sabine, the Quillian Empress, is invited to a Cloud Vault summit, and her spymaster Lyre knows they can’t be up to any good. She used to work for them, after all. As the two of them try to uncover the plot against Sabine, the reader can explore this complex and unique civilization.

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Most Unusual Heroine

Delta V

by Elsa Jade

Okay, I said to myself. This is a space cyborg cowboy romance. The premise seems a little ridiculous. There are tropes in here that I typically don’t enjoy reading. But Elsa Jade pulled it off.

Why? Because Lindy is not your typical romance novel heroine. She’s fifty years old. She’s dealt with a lot of pain in her life, and the way she experiences grief is relatable. She’s grown up enough to handle some bizarre situations with…if not aplomb, then perspective. She acts as a mentor to some of her ranch hands. She’s realistic and relatable.

Her life gets crazy fast. And Delta V is just funny and sweet enough that I think he’s good for her.

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Best Mobile Phone Replacement

Implanted
by Lauren C. Teffeau

If you have a smartphone, you probably unconsciously reach for it at times when you’re bored or need reassurance. It’s become a wonderful tether to loved ones that are far away.

But it hacks your behavior. You do dangerous things, like use it while driving or crossing an intersection. Push notifications make you react quickly. Social media alerts you to the latest outrage meme. Your cell phone has you trained to respond to it, to identify with it. Try not using any functionality except emergency voice calls on your phone for 48 hours. Who are you without your phone?
The implants from Implanted magnify the risks and rewards of this . Teffeau presents the possible consequences of the evolution of smartphones. She also shows how much maintenance time we have to put into our technology, a cost we rarely think about critically.

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Best Serial

Queen’s Gambit

by Jessie Mihalik

Samara Rani, Queen of the Rogue Coalition, tries to kidnap and ransom Emperor Valentin Kos. Her plan goes topsy-turvy early on, and the two are forced to work together and figure out what they want from each other.

Mihalik sets up a conflict wherein the ones who pay the price for war are often those who are least responsible for it. The first season has been collected into a novella. I look forward to further installments.

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Best Bodyguard’s Buddy

The Protector Series 
(Dangerous Promise, Wicked Attraction, Forbidden Stranger)
by Megan Hart

Nina, the cyborg protagonist of the series, is a compelling character. But Nina’s friend Al is perhaps more so. The two meet as military test subjects, and later become coworkers at the same bodyguard agency. They’re also hostage to degrading cybernetic implants that will kill them in a few years.

When Nina makes contact with Al because she needs her support in getting the upgrades for their cybernetics, Max becomes Nina’s truest ally - perhaps even more than Nina’s lover Ewan is. Both women give as good as they get and are never ashamed of themselves or their work.

Al always drives her own ship, tries to look out for those she cares for, and risks her life to fight for what she believes in. She’s a buddy all of us could use.

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Lee Koven is a computer programmer and server admin by trade who loves to read and discuss science fiction romance. Read more on the Judges page.

2017 SFR Galaxy Awards Round 6 - Lee Koven

Best Politician Protagonist

 

Perfect Gravity

by Vivien Jackson

 

Senator Angela Neko has ambitions. She's made big sacrifices for them. She's going to guide her country into the future. She makes plans and follows through with amazing self-control. When a rather large wrench is thrown into said plans, she seeks aid from a group that includes her old friend and lover, Kellen. Watching her try to reconcile their past with the different people they’ve become is compelling.

Angela has enough flaws to keep her interesting, and I loved watching her grapple with those. She's able to change her plans, adapt to new situations, and gets the better of her enemies without having to punch or shoot anybody.

Best Athlete Superstar

 

Race to Redemption

by Shari Elder

 

Elaina Carteret is a pro race pilot and on the corporate board at StormTech. She's an intergalactic hotshot with money, fame, and whoever she wants to bed. But how does she cope when she’s forced to give up that lifestyle?

Lainie develops a lot over the course of the book. She puts her skills to use by flying medical transports, saving some lives and finding purpose she didn't have before. She's forced outside her stardom and comfort zone, and learns to care for others and put them first when they're in need. By the end of the novel, she's proved she's worthy of Erik’s love and has the total support of the reader.

 

Best Hacker Heroine

 

 

South Seas Salvation

by JC Hay

Yashilla has ports in her head and interface keys in her skin. She’s cocky, but she has the skills to back up her pride. She prefers the abstract world of computers, connections, and data to the one where she has to interact with flesh, physical objects, and those messy things we call emotions. That doesn't stop her from getting involved with Zar, but it does make her relationships extra perilous.

It’s easier for her to escape into the virtual world than to deal with old pain. However, the mission she goes on to make the mother of all names for herself forces her to confront her weaknesses. Yashilla’s fears are believable, and I sympathized with her mistakes. They make her triumph all the more sweet.

 

 

Best Currency

 

Scions of the Star Empire - Scandal

by Athena Grayson

In today's world, I never hear the end of how we must market ourselves and be careful with our personal brands. Celebrities are measured with their clout in followers and friends. The more of a public figure someone is, the more they need to protect their image with appropriate behavior. That image is worth money, usually in endorsements.

Grayson takes this idea to one of its logical conclusions: celebrities as variable-value entities you can invest in. The characters in Scandal have to be very careful with how they present themselves so that their Social Capital scores don't plummet or get too volatile. Young nobles try to accumulate enough SoCap to get out of the game and achieve some measure of independence, but a high score will also bring them to the attention of the ruling Trust. The Trust have plans of their own, and are only too happy to use the protagonists to enact them. It's a fine line to walk, and the characters in Scandal have just hit the point where they can no longer thread that needle.

 

 

Most Interesting Aliens

 

Diffraction

by Jess Anastasi

The Reidar are hidden among humanity, able to assume people's identities (after killing them so there are fewer questions asked). Early in the Atrophy series I found them a nebulous antagonist, but as events have progressed, I've learned more about these decidedly unsexy aliens.

I don't know what they want from we humans, or why. Their actions so far have shown it can't be anything good. The Reidar see humans as we’d see ants, but we’re important to some plan of theirs. And that's what makes them terrifying—and interesting.

 

 

Best Romance Plot in a Science Fiction Video Game

 

Nier: Automata
(for PS4 and PC)

 

Emotions are forbidden to androids, but they pine for each other anyway. 2B has her reasons for not getting involved, despite returning 9S’s feelings. What does it mean for a person who can be restored from backup to love? How does it change the relationship if you are doomed to forget parts of it?

2B and 9S walk a long road in their constant battle against other machines. On the way, several tragedies punch them in the face. Helped along by their robot assistants and a prototype android, they endure through horrible ordeals before they can earn their happy ending. The moments between them are poignant, and the profound sense of relief I felt at the end of the game was something that I only experience every few years.

 

Update from Returning Judge Lee Koven

I'm delighted to be a judge for the SFR Galaxy Awards again. I've been reading romance novels since I was a teenager, and science fiction novels for as long as I can remember. Several years ago, I won a drawing for free SFR books. They opened my eyes to a genre I'd always wanted to read but had never known existed. For each year’s Awards, I always try to highlight authors I haven't previously honored, because so many books deserve recognition.

I'm fascinated by how science and technology change society. No matter how we live or what capabilities we have, we remain social animals who seek connection to others. We come up with ingenious tools to do so, with results ranging from tragic to hilarious. I love to read books that explore these possibilities.

I live in the Boston area, where my husband and I moved last year from Seattle. It was a homecoming of sorts for us: I'd left five years ago, he eighteen. We were both lucky enough to keep our jobs as software developers and work as remote employees. We're delighted to be back in more urban surroundings. I've hopped around the East and West Coasts of the United States, living in twelve different residences in the last fifteen years. I'm hoping to stay in Boston a good long while, though!

I look forward to sharing my awards with you and discovering more books through the other judges' picks.