Ruby Dixon is best known for her highly addictive and fun Ice Planet Barbarians series, dazzling scifi romance readers with a very different type of romance. A very Alien romance.
It doesn’t surprise me that some of her favorite books are science fiction romance books that break molds because for me, that’s exactly what Ice Planet Barbarians did and continues to do with as the series grows. And while her new fantasy book, Bull Moon Rising is a completely different beast (no pun intended,) it showcases her ability to take take a wild concept and make readers fall deeply for the characters and world.
So, what are Ruby Dixon’s three favorite sci-fi romance books that break the molds?
I’m a huge fan of scifi romance, and more than that, just books that embrace their weird. I love a book that genuinely surprises me, one that veers off in a different direction than expected, and one that isn’t afraid to cross boundaries. Scifi romance can range from the fluffy to the utterly esoteric and complicated. Some of the ones I think about the most are the ones where the authors aren’t afraid to get a little strange.
The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith
I feel as if I’m always recommending this book, but seriously…if you haven’t read it and you aren’t afraid to have your romance-loving world torn down only to be built back up again, then you need to read this one. It’s a story that’s epic in scale (no pun intended) about an unlikeable human woman who crash-lands on an alien planet and falls in love with a lizardman.
Smith masterfully plays between the clash of cultures of the spoiled, self-indulgent humans and the too-unyielding native lizard-people culture. The entire story is of epic proportions and tackles everything from what it means to be ‘attractive’ right down to religion and the afterlife. Big fat warning, however – this one pulls no punches when it comes to violence and death, so check Goodreads for triggers first.
Ensnared by Tiffany Roberts
The writing team of Tiffany Roberts gets huge kudos from me for writing their own particular epic, this time with a spider-man hero. Not that kind. A real spider-man. Like one with eight legs and webs and stuff. I saw the cover, read the blurb, and thought that there was no way that this could possibly be sexy…and I was proven wrong. Ketahn the hero is fully-fleshed out, fascinating, and the culture of his spider-like people is complex. There’s also some shibari-play for romantic fun, but with a spider hero? You kinda expect that.
I especially loved that nothing comes easy to Ketahn and his mate Ivy, and it takes Roberts three books to tell the entire span of their epic journey. I also liked that this particular series dealt with sexual harassment, but from the hero’s perspective. It’s a refreshing change of pace and a daring one.
Homebound by Lydia Hope
I saw this book talked about in writing circles and decided to pick it up, and I’m so glad I did. It’s obvious that at some point Hope has dealt with poverty — even in this futuristic world, the heroine Gemma deals so poignantly with her bleak lifestyle that you feel every bit of despair that she does. Gemma works at a prison, making a pitiful wage, and you can feel just how hopeless (darn it, puns) she is. The author’s descriptions are masterfully done and are fantastic at fooling the romance reader who expects the hero to swagger onto the page, oozing virility. When Gemma meets the (alien) man that’s to be her hero, I said aloud, “Surely not.” His appearance and demeanor and situation were so beyond what I expected that I kept reading, wondering how she’d turn him into the classic romance hero.
I won’t spoil for you the hero’s entrance, because for me, it truly was memorable. Their story is wonderfully sweet despite the desolate surroundings and I highly recommend this one.
I hope that if you’re in the mood for a little something out of the box, you’ll pick up one of these. All three authors are fantastic and will suck you in immediately.
Barbarian’s Taming by Ruby Dixon is available now in hardcover and e-book.
Featured image designed by Jon Negroni. Read more articles by Brianna Robinson here.
Brianna Robinson is a book publicist and Sarah Lawrence College alum. She lives in New York with too many books and two enthusiastic dachshunds. You can find her on twitter @blrobins2.
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