SFR Galaxy Awards, Medical Care in Space Opera, and a Dinosaur (Podcast)
SFR Galaxy Awards, Medical Care in Space Opera, and a Dinosaur
Carol Van Natta's Video Podcast #2
This is podcast number 2 in my quest to share more silliness with the world, this time, about the SFR Galaxy Awards, space opera, and more. If you missed the first one, watch it here.
Because I once again figured you'd prefer actual content to stream-of-consciousness mumbling that's about as exciting as watching paint dry, I answered a fairly common reader question about my space opera series universe, specifically, what part the big pharma companies play in the Big Damn Story Arc.
This podcast is a recorded Facebook Live session from Friday, 9 February 2018.
For those who won't watch a 10-minute of video of anyone who isn't Idris Elba or Cate Blanchett (not that I blame you), here's the TL;DW (that's “too long; didn't watch“) synopsis.
SFR Galaxy Awards
If you're looking for good science fiction romance to stock up on your ereader, look no further than the annual SFR Galaxy Awards. Well-known bloggers and reviewers pick their favorite SFR books for the previous year for the awards. I've won these awards in past years for solo books (Overload Flux, Minder Rising, and Jumper's Hope) , so I consider it quite an honor.
By the way, the Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 anthology (which includes my story, Pet Trade) in won a 2018 SFR Galaxy Award. The anthology was a limited edition, and is no more, but you can check out the PetsInSpaceAntho.com website to find links to the individual stories as the authors publish them. I'll be publishing Pet Trade toward the end of March. It's a standalone story in my Central Galactic Concordance universe, so you won't have to have read the rest of my series to enjoy it.
Medical Care in My Space Opera Future
A question I get comparatively frequently from readers is about the powerful pharma industry in my future civilization. It's most prominent in Overload Flux, book 1 of my series, but it's an important part of civilization's ecosystem. I have a bit of a medical background, so I'm fascinated with the advances that 1,500 years might bring.
In my series, health care is a “foundation right” for all citizens. Because of good medicine, people live to 160-180 years with regular health maintenance. One of the outgrowths of this foundation right for health care is the rise of the pharma industry, from medical equipment, to treatment protocols, to drugs. It's a guaranteed profitable industry, unless the company is especially short-sighted or greedy, like the one in Overload Flux, and it's a protected line of business, thanks to the government's promise to its citizens. The medical sector has a strong incentive to keep the status quo, because that's their livelihood.
The pharma industry is in bed with a powerful government agency, the Citizen Protection Service. One of the CPS's divisions is the Minder Corps, where people with mental talents—telepathy, telekinesis, healing, and more—use their skills to help keep the galactic peace. The CPS buys enhancement drugs from the pharmas for the minders it employs. As it turns out, that's a lot of people. So, as a hypothetical situation, if the CPS were to stop buying all those drugs, the pharma companies might have a rough few years ahead.
And therein lies one of the threads of the big damn story arc I mentioned earlier. Very interesting times are coming for the Central Galactic Concordance.
And Now, A Word from Our Sponsor (Yeah, That's Me)
The limited edition Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 anthology has left the galaxy and is no longer for sale. At the time I made this podcast, I was running a reader survey, with a giveaway to entice people into completing it. I showed off a copy of the {really big!} paperback, a Pets in Space coloring book, and a dinosaur named Ankle Biter, which were the prizes for the prize drawing.
Sorry you missed it, but if it's any consolation, I'm planning another of these giveaways to celebrate the release of Pet Trade in March.
Moar Podcasts
My plan is to do more of these podcasts, because they're fun, and as you've probably figured out by now, I Haz Opinionz. Look for me on Facebook on an upcoming Friday afternoon (or evening, or next day, depending on your time zone).
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P.S. My YouTube channel also has this video, if that's easier for you to watch: https://www.youtube.com/c/CarolVanNatta.
