New Cover!

Hooray! I just got the new cover for my SF romance, The Antaren Affair. Although I know that more explicit covers sell books, I'm pleased that mine isn't. At least by the standards of erotic romance. Tasteful covers (well, okay, "tasteful" is a relative term) will keep family relations civil. And not give my sister any more reason than she already has to give me a hard time.

I'm already taking more than enough grief from my family for what I do. Everyone thinks that "the smut queen of Southeast" as a nickname is just funny as all get-out. I can't make a long-distance phone call without someone in another room asking "Who's on the phone?" Then I hear a snort of laughter before someone else yells "it's the smut queen." I suppose I should be grateful, as it's actually an improvement over my childhood nickname, which involved a reference to barnyard animals.

And don't even get me started about calling what I write "porn." My sister takes every opportunity to use this word in sentences, as in "So, when is writing porn going to start paying for the cat food?"

It's not porn!

Porn has no romance. Porn has no characterization or plot. Porn doesn't attempt to create sympathetic characters that you care about.

It's not porn. Got it?

And I'm happy to think that my book covers don't suggest otherwise.