Heather Massey is a lifelong fan of science fiction romance. She searches for sci-fi romance adventures aboard her blog, The Galaxy Express. She also writes a monthly steampunk romance column for Coffee Time Romance.

One day I asked myself, “What exactly would it take for a woman to direct a major motion science fiction romance film, one funded by a Hollywood studio?” (My mind works in fascinating ways!) The answer, of course, is an immensely complicated one. I can’t imagine how many stars would have to align for such an event to happen.

Let’s sample a few SF films with romantic elements/romantic SF from the past few decades. Who helmed them?
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New Author Spotlight is a series designed to introduce authors with up to 3 books in the different SF/F subgenres.

Today’s spotlight shines on Sharon Lynn Fisher!

Sharon’s debut novel is:

• Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher (Tor)

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• Interviews & Profiles
  • Two interviews with LeVar Buron:
    • @DVDs Worth Watching: Levar talks about being Black Lightning in the upcoming animated Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.
    • @NPR: on the end of Reading Rainbow.
  • SF Legend Frederik Pohl on L. Ron Hubbard (part 2). Sez Pohl: “He was a chick magnet.”
  • @Suite101.com: David Weber (Off Armageddon Reef).
  • @Off the Shelf: a podcast-interview with Tobias Buckell. [via Tobias Buckell]
  • @Writing Excuses: a podcast-interview with Mary Robinette Kowal.
  • @Stomping on Yeti: Paolo Bacigalupi. (The Windup Girl)
• @The Guardian, Tola Onanuga tells us Why District 9 isn’t racist against Nigerians: “If District 9 ‘hates Nigerians’, as a Facebook group would have it, then it hates its powerful, white characters even more.”
• Tor.com — not Tor the publisher — debuts its first title as a separate publishing entity: Year’s Best Fantasy 9 edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. (Table of Contents here.)
• “DC Comics is being renamed DC Entertainment, and will as such focus on all media, not just comics.” [via Topless Robot]
• Halo-8 Entertainment has slated Matt Pizzolo and Brian Giberson to create an “illustrated film” adaptation in early 2010 of Xombie; Reanimated, a horror/sci-fi adventure comic book created by James Farr, published by Devil’s Due Publishing.
• The latest issue of Concatenation is posted.
• Does anyone expect (or hope, or fear) Stallone will follow up his Cyborg Rambo with the just-green-lit Judge Dredd remake?
• Real (Cool) Science: NASA has released shiny new snapshots from the The Hubble Space Telescope. [via Neatorama]
• Real Cool in 4 words (one hyphenated): Animatronic Fire-Breathing Dragon Boat.
• Your geek-craft for the week: How to Make a Star Trek Phaser. Yawn. Call me when I can learn how to make a Yeoman Rand.
• Lists:
  • @SCI FI Wire: Your guide to 11 sci-fi punks. [via Alyx Dellamonica]
  • @Fandomania: Ultimate 20 Comic Book Film Adaptations.
  • @The Galaxy Express: 5 Ways Digital Publishers Could Increase Science Fiction Romance Sales.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to Malinda Lo, author of Ash.
  • Agony Column podcast-interviews Peter S. Beagle, Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Swanwick, and M. Rickert.
  • War Rocket Ajax podcast-interviews Jess Nevins.
  • The latest BookBanter podcast features Seanan McGuire (Rosemary and Rue).
• AWARDS NEWS: Pawel Dembowski writes in to tell us that the Polish Janusz A. Zajdel Award for 2008 was awarded on Saturday at Polcon in Lodz. The winners are: Kameleon (Chameleon) by Rafal Kosik (novel), and “Swiaty Dantego” (“Dante’s Worlds”) by Anna Kantoch (Short story).
• Over at Dear Author, Heather Massey makes the case for Steampunk Romance.
• Wired: Why E-Books Look So Ugly. [via MobileRead Forums]
• @Centauri Dreams: Science Fiction and Interstellar Thinking: “…science fiction’s clout doesn’t come so much from prediction as much as from the ability to try out new ideas by remodeling the world so as to accommodate them.”
• David Langford has posted Ansible 266 for September 2009.
• Lena Headey (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) lands the last major part in HBO’s Game of Thrones pilot.
• Nicole at Geekend is on a quest for the ultimate geek movie.
• Stan Lee (and … Jack Kirby?) on the Marvel/Disney deal.
• Real Science: Mike Brotherton is Rethinking Pluto.
• Not Real Science: New Species Of Lobster May Have Come From Outer Space.
• Look at This has a handy graphic on how to tell the difference between swine flu, bird flu…and zombie flu.
• A Venn Diagram of Mythical Creatures. [via MonkeyFilter and Cynical-C Blog]
• It’s back to school time. And what better way to celebrate your inner geekness than with these Star Wars Text Book Covers. Of course, doing so means it’s no longer “inner” but “outer” which may subject you to extended periods of time inside a locker. Cover you books at your own risk!
• Cyberpunk Review lists Cyberpunk Movies by Decade. (Old list but still useful.)
• @Magical Words, Misty Massey lists 5 Things You Ought To Know About Writers.
• @SciFi Scanner: The 10 Most Dastardly Supervillain Quotes.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • io9 talks with Hugo-Winner Ellen Datlow (editor of the upcoming Lovecraft Unbound) on the art of editing short fiction.
  • Omnivoracious talks with Hugo-Winner Ann VanderMeer, editor of Weird Tales.
  • The LA Times talks with Michael Moorcock.
• @CNet: Why does this e-book cost $14? “Dear e-book publishers: stop gouging us.”
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch continues her Freelancer’s Survival Guide series talking about time.
• Heather Massey’s been busy. First she Defines Science Fiction Romance, then she asks: Does Science Fiction Romance Need More Alpha Heroes?
• There are some nice, fantastical art pieces from Patri Balanovsky at Gorilla Artfare.
• Orbit Publisher Tim Holman offers up an illuminating Chart of Fantasy Art Cover Elements.
• Holy Copyright Caper, Batman! Warner Brothers and DC Lose Certain Superman Rights.
• Superhero Nation explains How to Avoid Info-Dumping.
• Here’s a Star Wars collectible that, at first glance, looks dirty, but really isn’t.
• These Star Wars Lightsaber Chopsticks work great with the General Grievous’ Chicken! http://bit.ly/15foNZ [via Derryl Murphy]
• Jen at Multi-Genre fan will not be watching Stargate Universe.
• Den of Geek looks at The Costumes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• Real Science: “Two recent scientific discoveries mark the latest steps toward the ultimate medical-diagnosis technology: the tricorder.” [via Duderina]
• Lists:
  • 100 Best Comic Book Covers
  • Geek Dad lists 10 Sci-Fi Movies We’d Like to Throw Into a Black Hole.
  • @VideoHound: The Ten All-Time Best Years for Sci-Fi Movies

• The British Fantasy Society announced a new original anthology series published exclusively for BFSA members. The first one is titled The British Fantasy Society Yearbook 2009. Contributors to the volume (which is prefaced with an introductory essay from Gail Z. Martin) include James Barclay, Allyson Bird, Andrew Cartmel, Mark Chadbourn, Christopher Fowler, Gary Fry, Garry Kilworth, Tim Lebbon, Steve Lockley, Juliet E. Mckenna, Gary Mcmahon, Mark Morris, Adam L. G. Nevill, Daniel O’Mahony, Sarah Pinborough, Nicholas Royle, Robert Shearman, Steve Volk, Kaaron Warren and Conrad Williams. [via Tim Lebbon]
• @SciFi Wire, Eoin Colfer talks about And Another Thing, the 6th book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.
• SF Site has posted an interview with John Berlyne, Tim Powers, Peter Crowther and Dirk Berger.
• Jonathan Maberry interviews Douglas Preston.
• Over at Futurismic, Brenda Cooper talks about The Big World of Nanotechnology.
• Larry Ketchersid continues his reviews of Doc Savage with this one for The Land of Terror (Doc Savage #8).
• Hagelrat asks: what’s the difference between fantasy and romance?
• Congratulations to Norilana Books on their third anniversary!
• Over at AMC, Alex Zalben lists The Master Directors of SciFi Comedy.