Romance in Science Fiction is quite a polarising topic, much like marmite.
There is something about this particular genre that makes authors tend to shy away from overplaying the romantic angle. Although that’s not to say all SciFi avoids it, maybe it’s just the stuff that I’ve read (and please feel free to put me right on the subject in the comments below) and many, many TV and films that focus on more plot driven themes (like giant terraforming robots, alien invasions, or other technological/scientific threats).
As I consider what developed between two of my main characters, Josh and Caitlin (minor spoiler), in ANACHRONIST, it made me wonder what other SciFi novels involve a burgeoning relationship, and I don’t mean the kind of romantic pulp that just happens to be set on a space station (or in the past) that panders to the incredibly voracious appetite of the Kindle masses, but something that has a plot arc which incorporates the developing relationship between two people – time travellers wife springs to mind. There may be a ton more – I leave that to you, dear reader, to expand my limited knowledge.
Perhaps it’s because of the science. Our work has to meet the basic criteria of believable technology/physics/invention, and focusing on that alone can drive one into some very interesting places (especially in time travel which can be notorious for navel gazing). I have had comments that clearly question the logic of how the Order can travel through time (which my wife has forbidden me answering directly) and while I love people who take it this seriously (and worry that I’ve not explained it well enough) – I do have to remind myself (or rather she does) that this is Fiction after all.
I know that there will be many Hard SciFi fans who will always be more interested in the accuracy of the science than the relationships between the characters (if any) and I’ve enjoyed more than my fair share of those stories – I guess I wanted to find a balance between the two, and I hope I have in Anachronist and the books that will follow…
Andy