Greetings! For those of you visiting for the first time, I’m Heather Massey, a longtime fan of science fiction romance. I love the genre so much I ran an SFR blog called The Galaxy Express from 2008-2016 to cover the genre in books, shows, and films. Currently, I focus on writing sci-fi romance, but I still love reading the genre and sharing my thoughts about it whenever I can.

My taste varies widely, so I’m motivated to search high and low for titles. I especially love discovering new-to-me authors. What’s most important to me is finding fun SFRs to read.

In fact, I don’t care if an author of sci-fi romance is relatively unknown; if they wrote an SFR up my alley, I want to try it. It’s the author’s art that matters, not how much power or status they have in the publishing industry. (That said, marginalized authors deserve far more success than they currently have). I’m game to take a chance on SFRs that interest me even if they have no reviews, buzz, or visibility.

Sometimes the unknown aspect of an obscure SFR book or movie increases the appeal because it represents an all-new fictional adventure. The unpredictability is a feature, not a bug. I suppose you could say I’m a niche SFR aficionado!

Also, I’ve been burned by the homogeneity of many mainstream stories, so when it comes to finding intriguing books, I’ve had the best success rate with small-press and self-published sci-fi romances. Those tend to offer more diverse characters, which is another plus.

Now that the stage has been set, allow me to tell you the tale of my most recent adventure in science fiction romance…

An unexpected sci-fi romance discovery

The most serendipitous sci-fi romance book discovery of my life is the story of how I learned about Molly J. Bragg’s f/f superhero romance, Scatter (Hearts of Heroes #1; Desert Palm Press). By sheer coincidence, I had commissioned a book cover from Jeanette Eileen Widjaja, the artist who did the cover for Scatter.

One day, I was visiting Widjaja’s Twitter to see if I could boost any of her work with a retweet (at this point, my forthcoming f/f time travel romance Julie & Winifred’s  Most Excellent Adventure was still in development, so I was staying mum about having commissioned the cover). I noticed she had shared the completed Scatter cover on her timeline. The awesome art and kissing superheroes piqued my interest. Being the sci-fi romance bloodhound that I am, I leaped over to Molly J. Bragg’s Twitter to see if the book might be up my alley.

And gosh, was it ever! After reading the description and opening pages of her debut novel, I decided yup, I will buy this book as soon as it releases. Fast-forward to release day—I bought Scatter.

Here’s the story description:

When Deputy US Marshal Danielle ‘Danny’ Martin was told she’d gotten a promotion, she expected to be leading her own fugitive retrieval team. Instead, she got transferred to Pontian Florida of all places, and assigned to a Superhero support detail for Focus, a seemingly immortal superhero who is also one of the most famous lesbian icons on the planet.

Bad enough she’s got to spend every day working with a woman she’s had a crush on since she was five years old, but when she arrives at her new post, things start getting weird. It turns out that Focus asked for her by name, and it quickly becomes apparent that Focus wants to be more than just coworkers, or even friends.

After Focus has a violent reaction to Danny getting hurt in the line of duty, she starts looking into why the Superhero might be so fixated on her. She begins to suspect that seeing the future might be one of Focus’ powers, but when a mission leaves her stranded thirty years in the past, right at the start of Focus’s superhero career, everything becomes clear, except why the Focus in the past can barely seem to tolerate her presence.

I’m lucky to have discovered this book mere weeks before its release date. Learning about a book like Scatter is exactly the type of SFR discovery experience I crave. It’s like, the thrill of discovery—literally.

Quick aside: I’m categorizing Scatter as a superhero sci-fi romance based on my reading of it and general knowledge of the genre. I don’t know if the author has described it as such or prefers another category.

Molly J. Bragg’s Scatter: an f/f superhero romance with Big Gay Energy

I had a blast reading Scatter. As a longtime geek, the story hit many of my sweet spots. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I liked being surprised.

The narrative style has a lot of energy—gay and otherwise. It crackles with the earnestness of what it wants to accomplish. The comic book influences on the story are clear. Over the top and pulpy are two narrative descriptors that come to mind. For me, that’s a plus because I like those styles. I enjoyed the author’s authorial voice.

Scatter has a lot of heart. And Danny’s character arc is at the heart of it. Scatter is told entirely from her point of view. The romance is about her finding the woman of her dreams and providing her partner with an emotional rescue of sorts. It also loudly and proudly broadcasts the message that queer people are entitled to have a romance with a happily ever after, which, yay!

Danny is a character hungry for the love and acceptance of a large, gay, and joyful circle of family and friends. Danny is also a queer character who gets to become a key player in a superhero adventure.

Scatter comes in hot with these kinds of wish-fulfillments and no wonder considering how often mainstream entertainment shuts out queer folks. If Marvel or some other studio made a queer superhero movie like Scatter and treated it seriously, I’d be shocked.

Other fun highlights from Scatter

• Scatter is a celebration of queer people, queer superheroes, and queer love

• every lady Danny sees is “gorgeous” (I mean, why not?!)

• the main couple exchanges numerous forehead kisses. They do this so many times I worried they’d fuse together, but if forehead kisses are your thing, Scatter delivers the jackpot.

• the story focuses significantly on the romance, complete with many domestic scenes of cooking and comfort

• Scatter has plenty of superhero action scenes and rescues

• the angst is dialed up to eleven during the couple’s dark moment

• secondary characters of various ethnicities and cultures populate the story

Tropes and character types in Scatter

• time travel (Scatter truly doesn’t hold back—practically anything goes in this story!)

• unrequited love

• shapeshifting dragons (including one who takes the human form of a Victorian-esque gentleman and reminded me of The Shade from DC’s Stargirl)

• magic (no real explanation given that I saw; it just exists in this world!)

• a secondary romance

• supervillains

• found family

• aliens

• Godzilla-like monsters

• early 90s computer tech (the description of it was one of my favorite scenes, go figure)

But wait—there’s more!

There are many references to firearms in the first half of the book. The firearms (some of them futuristic in nature) are part of Danny’s job, but I’m not sure if there’s also a symbolic reason for the frequent mention and detailed description of guns.

One possible interpretation: in the story, the queer characters need guns to protect themselves from villains and monsters who in turn might symbolize bigots who target queer people in real life. Either that or the author just likes the aesthetic. *cue Bobby Brady shrug**

As far as the story structure, readers of traditional sci-fi romances will want to open their minds to something a little different, but if you’re also a fanfic reader, Scatter will fit you like a glove.

In terms of tone and sensibility, Scatter reminds me of some of my favorite offbeat movies: Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, Mystery Men (oh, to have a diverse, gay version of that film!), Strange Frame, Bit, Safety Not Guaranteed, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Lure, Save Yourselves!, Space Sweepers, The Apple, and Love Story 2050.

An overarching theme in Scatter is the importance of accepting people for who they are, especially physically. And physically often means far more to some queer groups than others.

One aspect of the story, which I won’t spoil, could, on the surface, be read as kink. And maybe it is, but I sensed that it has another meaning, namely, the idea that when you find your people, and your true love/best friend, they will love and accept not only who you are, but also your true appearance. You won’t have to hide behind a mask anymore. If that’s the case, then this aspect of Scatter sends a powerful and heartwarming message.

Many thanks to the author for her art, and to Desert Palm Press for helping to bring the story to readers like me.

About the author

Molly J. Bragg is a 45-year-old autistic trans woman with a degree in Astro-physics and a love of storytelling. She loves science fiction, superheroes, and giant robots. Her hobbies include collecting transformers, watching way too many crafting videos on YouTube, and complaining bitterly about the way a certain comic book company treats her favorite superhero. (source: Desert Palm Press)

*it’s old, obscure, and trashy pop culture references like this that should make it clear why Scatter resonated with me, a big ol’ dork.