Nina Munteanu

My SF sensual romantic thriller, “The Cypol” published by eXtasy Books in October 2006, was nominated for the 2006 Ecata Reviewer’s Choice Award. Here’s part of the review: “…The Cypol is a different type of romance…The ending is poignant yet appropriate. Ready for something different yet rewarding? The Cypol by Nina Munteanu is well worth your time.”

“Darwin’s Paradox” is my next SF book due out this November by Canadian publisher, Dragon Moon Press. Being a bit of a categorist (I’m a scientist, remember), I originally tried to describe it as a techno-eco-thriller. My son just about vomited when I told him. “That’ll just kill it!” he moaned. I guess he’s right. By the time you get to the word thriller you’ve yawned already at least once…not much of a thrill. This speaks to my earlier remark about how we’ve become category-mad, disdain it, and yet wholeheartedly prescribe to it. So what IS it, you may very well ask? Is it a thriller? Or an ecological tome? Or a techno-whatever? Or just science fiction (which, in the final analysis, is hard to define of itself). Good question. Maybe YOU can help me define it. Here goes:

A decade has passed since Julie Crane was accused of murder and causing the worst plague faced by mankind, Darwin’s Disease. When she’s captured by a ruthless Machiavelian visionary with designs for her—and her young daughter—Julie must rely on some unlikely helpers to escape and battle the sinister force intent on recasting humanity. She must race against the menace of those who fear and want to destroy her for what she is and those who wish to experiment on her and her daughter. Ultimately, Julie must face the shattering truth from which she has run for so long. She must confront the will of the ambitious virus lurking inside her to fulfill her final destiny as Darwin’s Paradox, the key to the evolution of an entire civilization.

A novel about a woman’s fierce love and her courageous journey toward forgiveness, trust, and letting go to the tide of her heart.

Okay, so is it an eco-romance-thriller SF with fantasy…Oh, there I go again…

OK…so I’m a science fiction writer. I’ve written a few novels (my newest is coming out this November from Dragon Moon Press, called “Darwin’s Paradox”…more on this later). I’ve published a few SF short stories here and there. I’ve even had some of them translated and reprinted in magazines abroad (e.g., into Polish [Nowa Fantastika], Hebrew [Bli Panika] and Greek [the Dramaturges of Yan]). I also review SF movies and books (check them out on Gotta Write Network or Strange Horizons). But here’s my question…What is SF? I’ve got a crazy discussion going on with fellow romance writers right now on one of my other listserves. We’re having a hard time defining it. Is it speculative fiction? Or is that a sub-genre? And who the @%*& cares, you might ask? Well, the bookshop owners care, that’s who. They’re the ones who stock the bookshelves so you, the book buyer, can find them better. AHH!! But that’s all going by the wayside now, you say, because we now have online bookstores like Amazon.com and Chapters.ca and Fictionwise, etc. who’ve dispensed with those mortar and brick bookshelves by using virtual bookshelves. Well, I don’t know about you, but I still like to browse in a real bookstore, flip and smell the pages, glance at all the glossy covers, lose myself in a maze of paper. And in a place like that, you need categorization. Categories. Genres. So, we’re back to SF and what is it? Or, more to the point, WHERE is it?