Marie E. Blossom: Science fiction is sexy

I've said it before here, and I'll say it again: Sci-fi has some of the hottest and epic romances on the planet (and off). The Syfy show Farscape, starring Ben Browder (unbelievably hot in leather) and Claudia Black (also hot in leather), is one of my all-time favorite TV shows, even now, 10 years after its abrupt cancellation. And that appeal was all about the romance … and sexual tension … and happy-ever-after quest. Marie E. Blossom, whose new release is the sci-fi romance Devotion, is on the same page. She makes her case (and mine) …

Marie: Science fiction is sexy. I know, I know, I can see you scratching your head and wondering if I had a little bit too much turkey this past Thanksgiving, but I'm secure in my nerd-dom. Give me phasers and wormholes and the elegant spin of a ship in the outer reaches of a solar system, add a dashing hero, and I'll give you a heroine with stars in her eyes. Crazy and awesome things happen in hyper-space (poker marathons, power conduit hijinks, kissing). Trust me, sci-fi can be both romantic and steamy while deeds of derring-do are done. It's enough to seduce a reader from curiosity right into obsession.

I say this with a straight face and much sincerity as I slide season four of Star Trek Enterprise off my shelf once again. I've got a hankering for some Trip (Charles Tucker the third) heroics. Trip is the chief engineer of the very first Starship Enterprise, and if you think he's nothing but a geek with a wrench, I must beg to differ. One of the most exciting episodes in this show is Bound, when Orion slave girls take over the ship, seducing every male on board with their evil pheromones. Every male, that is, except for Trip, who saves the day with a combination of exasperation and snarky humor that has me laughing once again, even though I've watched this episode at least four times (OK, maybe eight … or possibly 10).

I spent last night rereading Emma Holly's Prince of Ice, because I wanted to dream about a steampunk world populated with genetically enhanced men desperate for their destined mate. That's the book that launched my love affair with sci-fi romance: Now I regularly dream of energy weapons and dilithium crystals. I have ridiculous crushes on the heroes of sci-fi stories: the geeky astrophysicist in Stargate Atlantis (how many times did he save the galaxy?), the tortured Havyrl Lionstar from Catherine Asaro's novel The Quantum Rose, sexy Rand T'Ash from Robin D. Owens' Heart Mate. And who can resist the swashbuckling Captain Mal from Firefly? He might just be the epitome of the perfect sci-fi hero: careless and strong on the outside, loyal and vulnerable on the inside. He loves his ship, Serenity, but he loves his crew even more. He would die for them.

There's just something amazingly appealing about these men: What could be more exciting than saving the crew, the planet, or the ship from certain destruction? The heroes not only save the girl, they manage to save everyone else just in the nick of time, and they do it again and again. When they fall in love, they fall hard, usually while wearing some combination of leather boots with hidden knives, or a sleek uniform decorated with a shiny pulser weapon. They often lose their shirt on missions to other planets. Sci-fi heroes have the perfect combination of brains and brawn, enough to make a girl swoon (which also happens in these stories, quite often, in fact).

Science fiction plus romance equals my favorite daydream material. It's no surprise that my latest novel, Devotion, is about a bodyguard desperate to keep his queen safe. He's the very definition of my favorite kind of hero: He has strength, loyalty and brains. He's devoted to his queen and their planet and he can fly a thousand-year-old spaceship found on the side of a mountain without hesitation. He saves the woman he loves again and again. That's the kind of hero I adore most, and they only exist in science fiction, where the horizon to happily-ever-after is on the other side of the universe. Time to catch a ride on the next ship out!

To find out more about Marie and her books, you can visit her website, MarieEBlossom.com. You can also connect with her and her alter ego, Erin Leaf, on Facebook and Twitter (@erinmleaf).