At First Contact

Three Stories of Nontraditional Love

by Janice L. Newman

Publisher Amazon Amazon Kindle Apple Books Barnes and Noble Bookshop.org

Editions:Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-951320-17-1

ePub

ISBN: 978-1-951320-16-4

The Fantastical Romances You’ve Been Craving

Hugo Finalist Janice L. Newman presents a touching trio of romances in a speculative vein. From the edge of space, to the shadows of the paranormal, to the marvels of the mystic:

At First Contact: A germaphobe and an android are assigned a mission to survey a planet together. Will they discover new life or a new love?

Ghosted: Leo is searching for the soul that used to haunt his grandmother’s house. Did Will ghost him?

A Touch of Magic: What if love could alter the fabric of existence? A fraught romance between two teachers just might be helped along by a touch of magic.

Published: November 1, 2021
Publisher: Journey Press
Genres:

Fantasy, Fantasy - LGBTQ+, Fantasy - Paranormal, Fantasy - People of Color, Fantasy - Romance, Fantasy - Urban & Magical Beings, Sci Fi, Sci Fi - Aliens, Sci Fi - Artificial Intelligence, Sci Fi - First Contact, Sci Fi - LGBTQ+, Sci Fi - Robots/Androids, Sci Fi - Space Exploration

Tags:

author - american, format - novel <100K, format - novel 40-100K, format - short stories, identity - gay, identity - non-binary

Languages Available: English
Languages Available: English

Excerpt:

Reviews:Robin Rose Graves on The Book Wormhole wrote:

“A refreshing take on romance…surprising characters bring a human quality to alien settings.”

About the Author

Five-time Hugo Finalist Janice L. Newman is the author of the acclaimed speculative romance collection "At First Contact". A longlister for the Astounding (Best new SF Author) in 2022, she has also edited and contributed to both volumes of Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women and is currently working on more queer SFF romances.

She first achieved prominence in 2011 as "The Batgirl of San Diego", spurring a dramatic rise in female representation at DC comics, both creators and characters.

A BNF in the fanfiction community, her passions include (queer) C-Drama, anime, and the DC universe.

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Summary: Carmen is eleven years old and wants to get her dragon. Since she was seven years old, she understood two things. One, she was going to be the strongest Dragon Keeper there ever was. The second was that she was going to marry her best friend, Mattie. As Christmas approaches the magical charms Carmen has to use to fight off her curse are taking a toll on her health. But that can’t stop her from taking her final test to become a Dragon Keeper. If she passes her test she gets her dragon, if not, she has to start all over, relying on different magical charms to fight the curse for her. That is something Carmen doesn’t want to have to go through. The testing is difficult and charms make her sick. Carmen has decided that if she doesn’t get her dragon this Christmas she’s not going to go for a third attempt, even if that means she can’t marry Mattie when she grows up.