Romantic first contact stories?
March 30, 2017 3:32 PM Subscribe
Hi All,
I'm in the mood for some escapism, and have been trying to find stories with a "romantic first contact," theme. NOvels or short stories please, I can't read comics unless they have a good transcript.
I've recently read Lois McMaster Bujold's excellent Sharing Knife series, which is all about a couple who get together and basically find a way to bridge their two cultures. I'm also familiar with her Vorkosigan books, though they don't quite have the theme I'm talking about. A couple of Catherine Asaro's Skolian Saga books hit the idea well, too.
I'd prefer reasonably happy endings, if possible. A mix of plot and smut is acceptable, though perhaps erring more towards the plot.
Thanks for any thoughts :)
I've recently read Lois McMaster Bujold's excellent Sharing Knife series, which is all about a couple who get together and basically find a way to bridge their two cultures. I'm also familiar with her Vorkosigan books, though they don't quite have the theme I'm talking about. A couple of Catherine Asaro's Skolian Saga books hit the idea well, too.
I'd prefer reasonably happy endings, if possible. A mix of plot and smut is acceptable, though perhaps erring more towards the plot.
Thanks for any thoughts :)
Seconding Grace Draven's Wraith Kings, especially that first book. So good! And a little sexy!
You might also like Sonali Dev's A Bollywood Affair, though I'm not sure if it will scratch your specific itch (or you might not think it will but I think it might). And I haven't read it yet, but Dev's Change of Heart sounds pretty spectacular.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:22 PM on March 30, 2017
You might also like Sonali Dev's A Bollywood Affair, though I'm not sure if it will scratch your specific itch (or you might not think it will but I think it might). And I haven't read it yet, but Dev's Change of Heart sounds pretty spectacular.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:22 PM on March 30, 2017
Best answer: I love LMB and Sharing Knife!!
The first writer I thought of when I saw your question title is Connie Willis. She has a different twist on it - two people from vaguely the same culture working together/romancing it up as they work to bridge their culture with an alien culture - but I think you might still find them awesome. I'm thinking All Seated on the Ground (aliens invade peacefully but mysteriously around Christmas), Uncharted Territory (space explorers and the aliens they're studying), and To Say Nothing of the Dog (time-traveling historians and the Victorians they're studying).
I also think the Vorkosigan Saga is worth exploring if you haven't tried them yet, especially Falling Free (far-past prequel to Shards of Honor, bridging the gap between humans and quaddies), Shards of Honor (cultural differences between Barrayar and Beta Colony), Ethan of Athos (BIG cultural differences, though no real romance - more friendship-building), and the novella Labyrinth (Miles meets someone he's not expecting on a raid of a Jackson's Whole facility). These can all be read as standalones/out of order.
I also completely love The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and its sequel A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. Easily some of my favorite recent reads, and all about bridging cultures/species/differences. Not really one-couple romance in the sense of Sharing Knife, but lots of relationships of different types, including romantic ones, being built between lots of different characters. Highly recommended.
I'll be back if I think of more - thanks for the awesome question!
posted by bananacabana at 5:24 PM on March 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
The first writer I thought of when I saw your question title is Connie Willis. She has a different twist on it - two people from vaguely the same culture working together/romancing it up as they work to bridge their culture with an alien culture - but I think you might still find them awesome. I'm thinking All Seated on the Ground (aliens invade peacefully but mysteriously around Christmas), Uncharted Territory (space explorers and the aliens they're studying), and To Say Nothing of the Dog (time-traveling historians and the Victorians they're studying).
I also think the Vorkosigan Saga is worth exploring if you haven't tried them yet, especially Falling Free (far-past prequel to Shards of Honor, bridging the gap between humans and quaddies), Shards of Honor (cultural differences between Barrayar and Beta Colony), Ethan of Athos (BIG cultural differences, though no real romance - more friendship-building), and the novella Labyrinth (Miles meets someone he's not expecting on a raid of a Jackson's Whole facility). These can all be read as standalones/out of order.
I also completely love The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and its sequel A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. Easily some of my favorite recent reads, and all about bridging cultures/species/differences. Not really one-couple romance in the sense of Sharing Knife, but lots of relationships of different types, including romantic ones, being built between lots of different characters. Highly recommended.
I'll be back if I think of more - thanks for the awesome question!
posted by bananacabana at 5:24 PM on March 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks for the recs so far. :) Perhaps unfortunately, I went on a Bujold binge a year or so back, and all the Vorkosigan stories are now personal favorites.
I DID read all of Connie Willis's time travel stories, but haven't looked into her other work. THanks for mentioning it :)
posted by Alensin at 5:35 PM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I DID read all of Connie Willis's time travel stories, but haven't looked into her other work. THanks for mentioning it :)
posted by Alensin at 5:35 PM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm going to thumbs down Radiance, the first Wraith Kings book, which I just read because I wanted what you're wanting. I found it was too easy, too trite, too paint by numbers for me, and the writing felt artificial. Resorted to a lot of telling over showing. There was no immersive escapism for me during it, because I was too busy going "ah yes, here we insert slot A into tab B and the feelings happen as we have orchestrated them to do, now let's do the sexes", and the plot felt pretty thin. It wasn't so bad that I didn't finish it, and I could maintain a mild interest and did find a few things to like, but overall I was disappointed and haven't followed up with sequels.
Cold Magic & sequels by Kate Elliott -- I adore this trilogy. It's a very muscular romance, things are not easy, real conflict takes place. Much plot than romance, which really helps the romance be satisfying when it does happen, and the entire arc of the romance takes place over the entire trilogy. This same author also wrote Jaran, which is not as dear to my heart and I've only read the first, but definitely fits your criteria (space lady with nomadic planetbound leader). The author seems to have a thing about !!!WHOOPS now you're in a magically bound marriage SURPRISE!!!, which happen in both series, but she doesn't make them coercive, so it's all good, we all have our kinks.
Sevenwaters series -- There isn't a book in this series that isn't a romance, though not all of them follow your desired template. Book 1 is a retelling of "The Six Swans", where the protagonist must sew six shirts from the nettle plant to save her brothers from a witch's enchantment. Books #1 and #2 both fit your criteria. #3 is my favorite because sometimes goody goody pure and noble female romance leads can get really tiresome but I don't think it technically qualifies even though they are from different cultures, and anyway you'd probably read if it you liked 1 or 2 whether it fit your template or not. Warning: sexual assault in the first book does occur, but it's not a theme of the series, and it's not sexualized assault.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms -- romance between a mortal and an enslaved god. Can be vicious, though, might not be your wheelhouse.
Uprooted, Naomi Novik -- Beauty and the Beast, but better.
Fingersmith -- Victorian Britain urchin miscreant and highborn daughter, F/F, twists abound
The wee side romance in Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is adorable, A++ would dork about it again, liked that book so much I read it twice.
posted by foxfirefey at 6:20 PM on March 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Cold Magic & sequels by Kate Elliott -- I adore this trilogy. It's a very muscular romance, things are not easy, real conflict takes place. Much plot than romance, which really helps the romance be satisfying when it does happen, and the entire arc of the romance takes place over the entire trilogy. This same author also wrote Jaran, which is not as dear to my heart and I've only read the first, but definitely fits your criteria (space lady with nomadic planetbound leader). The author seems to have a thing about !!!WHOOPS now you're in a magically bound marriage SURPRISE!!!, which happen in both series, but she doesn't make them coercive, so it's all good, we all have our kinks.
Sevenwaters series -- There isn't a book in this series that isn't a romance, though not all of them follow your desired template. Book 1 is a retelling of "The Six Swans", where the protagonist must sew six shirts from the nettle plant to save her brothers from a witch's enchantment. Books #1 and #2 both fit your criteria. #3 is my favorite because sometimes goody goody pure and noble female romance leads can get really tiresome but I don't think it technically qualifies even though they are from different cultures, and anyway you'd probably read if it you liked 1 or 2 whether it fit your template or not. Warning: sexual assault in the first book does occur, but it's not a theme of the series, and it's not sexualized assault.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms -- romance between a mortal and an enslaved god. Can be vicious, though, might not be your wheelhouse.
Uprooted, Naomi Novik -- Beauty and the Beast, but better.
Fingersmith -- Victorian Britain urchin miscreant and highborn daughter, F/F, twists abound
The wee side romance in Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is adorable, A++ would dork about it again, liked that book so much I read it twice.
posted by foxfirefey at 6:20 PM on March 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I found The Best of All Possible Worlds, by Karen Lord, satisfying both as a cross-cultures romance and as some SFF cultural/societal bridging & exploration. It's kind of a mosaical/episodic book, so it's not very plot-y, but if you can tolerate chatty first-person narration, you might like it.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 6:29 PM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by mixedmetaphors at 6:29 PM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I loved Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. Great, and complicated, romance.
posted by ferret branca at 8:09 PM on March 30, 2017
posted by ferret branca at 8:09 PM on March 30, 2017
You should try Linnea Sinclair, specifically maybe Games of Command, Finders Keepers, or The Down Home Zombie Blues. Also, On the Edge by Ilona Andrews.
posted by gudrun at 8:45 PM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by gudrun at 8:45 PM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Linnea Sinclair is definitely a pleasure. Zombie Blues was great fun, and I periodically check just in case she publishes anything new.
I've grabbed Best of All Possible Worlds, and The Way to a Small Angry Planet. Both seem as though they'll be warm-hearted fun :)
posted by Alensin at 9:03 PM on March 30, 2017
I've grabbed Best of All Possible Worlds, and The Way to a Small Angry Planet. Both seem as though they'll be warm-hearted fun :)
posted by Alensin at 9:03 PM on March 30, 2017
The "Clan Korval" / "Agent of Change" sub-series in the Liaden Universe is amazing. Much like the Skolian books (which I liked but didn't enjoy quite as much as the Liaden books), romances between people from different, uh, space cultures are pretty much the main focus of the series. I like them in publication order, though the first book stops mid-stream, the second book introduces a different romance that more or less stands alone, and the third book merges the two storylines, so the second book is sometimes offered as a starting point.
posted by Wobbuffet at 12:23 AM on March 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Wobbuffet at 12:23 AM on March 31, 2017 [3 favorites]
Coming back to add that you might seek out an older out of print book, The Divided by Katie Waitman.
posted by gudrun at 8:21 PM on March 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by gudrun at 8:21 PM on March 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks all for the recommendations. :) I've been reading a lot over the past few days, and think I'm definitely going to like the Liaden books, and I kind of want to just visit the crew of the Wayfarer and hang out with them. THis has definitely helped in the escapism department.
posted by Alensin at 9:41 PM on April 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Alensin at 9:41 PM on April 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by purenitrous at 4:13 PM on March 30, 2017 [2 favorites]