Interview With Michelle M. Pillow
I sat down (virtually) with Michelle M. Pillow for a short interview. Michelle M. Pillow’s most recent release is His Earth Maiden: A Qurilixen World Novel. The hero is a space pirate. Yum!
Cynthia Sax: I LOVE your sexy heroes. What makes them so freakin’ hot?
Michelle M. Pillow: Confidence and loyalty. My sci-fi heroes tend to have alpha male qualities, but also a kind of innocence when it comes to dealing emotionally with women. (The sexy part they have down.)
Cynthia Sax: They certainly do have the sexy part down! Where did you get the idea for your Space Lords series?
Michelle M. Pillow: The Space Lords series is a series installment in the sci-fi romance Qurilixen World collection. It came naturally as the characters from previous series began leaving their planet for the high skies.
The Qurilixen World is an extensive collection of science fiction and futuristic romance novels that started nearly 15 years ago with the original Dragon Lords series and has since grown into a massive collection with 34 books within 7 series installments and growing. Each book in each series is a standalone story. The Space Lords are interconnected with the other series, as well as set in the same universe.
The book titles (His Frost Maiden, His Fire Maiden, His Metal Maiden, His Earth Maiden – Woodland is next) refer to a curse the crew received when the pilot insulted an ancestral spirit on a planet they were visiting. Each book is an element of the curse.
Cynthia Sax: That’s super cool! What genres do you write in? Are there any that you’ve yet to try but want to?
Michelle M. Pillow: As an author, I love being able to move around to different genres and I’m so lucky to have awesome fans who happily hop around with me. So far I’ve done Science Fiction, Futuristic, Paranormal, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Contemporary, Historical, Chick Lit, and Cozy Mystery. I would love to do a thriller or horror novel someday. I also want to publish a photography book.
Cynthia Sax: Wow. You do it all! That’s awesome. Do you have any advice for new writers?
Michelle M. Pillow: The best advice I have that is worth anything, is to do your research. Research everything—your book, marketing, promo, your genre—and think about the long-term goals, not just instant career gratification. That’s what separates career authors from hobbyists. Writing as a hobby is fine, if that’s what you want to do. If you want to be a professional, you just have to spend the time and study up. There is no magic formula or secret handshake. I so wish there was. (Well, there is coffee. That’s kind of magical.) You just have to put in the hours and do the work. Knowledge really is power.
Cynthia Sax: That is so true! Thank you for joining us today, Michelle M. Pillow!
Michelle M. Pillow’s Website: https://michellepillow.com/
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Former elite Federation soldier, now turned space pirate, Jackson Burke has done his best to turn his life around—for the better. He isn’t prepared when fate leaves a woman’s safety totally in his hands. Since heroes don’t leave a damsel in distress—and despite being outlaw pirates, the crew considers themselves the good guys—Jackson assumes responsibility for the beauty. It’s enough that his ship is held together by rust and sheer will, now he’s got to keep this good guy thing straight and not give into the urges the sassy female brings out in him. Raisa is everything a man could want and for some reason she seems to like him, rough edges and all, but he’s on the Federation’s wanted list and they aren’t known to back down.
Buy Now:
On Author’s Website: https://michellepillow.com/book/his-earth-maiden/
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BRC1CTX/
On Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/his-earth-maiden-michelle-m-pillow/1128306556
On iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/his-earth-maiden/id1364701541?mt=11%3Fmt%3D11
On Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/his-earth-maiden
Topics: Author Interviews | 1 Comment »
Interview With Jenn Nixon
I sat down (virtually) with Jenn Nixon for a short interview. Her latest release is MIND: The Reckoning, a SciFi Romance!
Cynthia Sax: Where did you get the idea for MIND: The Reckoning?
Jenn Nixon: My brother and I were born three years and three weeks apart. We have a very strange, but close relationship. Sometimes, we actually think of the same ideas at the same time, even when we’re not together. We’ve called each other at the same time to talk about the SAME THING! We often finish each other’s thoughts too. So, I always wondered what it would be like if we were twins or psychic. Then, I wondered what we’d be like if we were half alien twins and the MIND series was born.
Cynthia Sax: What a cool bond to have with your brother! Where is MIND: The Reckoning set ?
Jenn Nixon: The MIND Series starts off in 2034, near future. This gave me the ability to add in some technology and world building, but still include many places around the country and world that people are familiar with already. I also tend to use pop culture references when my characters talk and I didn’t want someone mentioning a comic book or movie hero when they are living in 3025 or some far off time where that reference wouldn’t make sense.
Cynthia Sax: Is MIND: The Reckoning part of a series and will you be writing more stories in this series?
Jenn Nixon: Yes, Book 3 MIND: The Reckoning release this October and I’ve already finished #4 for a March 2017 release date. I’ve been brainstorming #5 and it’s already too big for just one book so some of the plot will spill over into #6!
Cynthia Sax: (grins) That sounds like my cyborg series. I think of more and more stories to tell. What advice would you give new writers?
Jenn Nixon: Read, read, read, and write, write, write. Join writer’s groups online and/or in person. Learn the rules of the craft, Showing Vs Telling, POV, Plotting, Crutch Words, etc. Pay attention to what editors and agents say to you if you get rejected. Is your plot lacking? Do you head hop? Is the pacing too slow? Are you telling us more than showing us?
Take honest, critical feed back to heart. Unless it’s a trolling reader who always leaves bad reviews, listen to what the readers say to you. For example, in my Tiva Boon books, a few readers said my plot was lacking and for the most part, they were right. Tiva is a character driven book and looking back on it now, there are many places I can go back and tighten the narrative to make the plotting better. 🙂
Cynthia Sax: What do you love about writing in SciFi Romance?
Jenn Nixon: Science Fiction has been the biggest love of my live (other than my dog). It started early with reruns of 60s shows like Batman and Star Trek TOS. I didn’t read much SciFi as a teen, I loved Mystery and Suspense books like Nancy Drew and Mary Higgins Clark, but I still watched SciFi Movies and TV shows all the time.
My first few books were Romantic Suspense. I felt I had read enough, learned enough, and loved Mystery Suspense so much, that it was the genre I should write in. While I do love my Romantic Suspense books, I think adding SciFi into the mix elevated my writing to a whole new level. I’m able to take all the cool things I love about the future and SciFi and add it into a Mystery or Suspense story for a new take on the genre.
Thank you so much for having me!
Jenn
Cynthia Sax: Thank you, Jenn Nixon, for joining us today!
Visit Jenn Nixon’s Website: https://www.jennnixon.com
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Baldwin Bates has only wanted one thing since joining MIND, to take care of his friends and keep them all safe. While the Meta-Alien Investigation and Neutralization Department is busy monitoring an emergence of human psychic and alien activity, Bates takes his first solo assignment searching for a woman who claims to see the future, only to botch it up and let her get away.
After helping to destroy an alien device called the Transcender, Lexa Quinn wakes from a two-week coma a very different person than she was before. While her abilities grow stronger, her feelings for Bates begin to interfere with the MIND team’s mission, putting everyone at risk. Secrets from her past threaten the present and future, forcing Lexa to decide who she is and where she belongs.
When a powerful, ancient enemy lays claim to the Earth and brings his judgment upon the population, Bates, Lexa, and the entire MIND team must do whatever it takes to save the human race before the reckoning is complete.
Buy Now:
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jenn-Nixon/e/B002BLNBBQ
Topics: Author Interviews | 1 Comment »
Interview With Alison Aimes
I sat down (virtually) with Alison Aimes for a short interview. Her latest release is Trapped: A SciFi Convict Romance (Book One in the Condemned Series)!
Cynthia Sax: What is one thing that excites you, as the writer, about Trapped?
Alison Aimes: I love the raw passion of the story, the heroine’s strength and determination and the hero’s courage and willingness to do whatever it takes to keep the heroine alive. I had so much fun, too, wondering ‘what if?’ with this particular scenario…. What if a woman crashed on a hostile planet? What if that planet was filled with ruthless criminals? What if her only hope for survival was one of the convicts, a hardened man with a questionable past? What would she be willing to do to save herself? What would he be prepared to take? The answers ended up being action-packed and scorching hot. Especially as all those ‘what ifs’ led to a story that begins with a transactional deal for sex in return for protection and a scenario where the hero holds more of the power and control. But exploring how that changes—how a prisoner who’s become more animalistic than man rediscovers his humanity and a woman finds her soul mate on the unlikeliest of places—was pure joy to write.
Cynthia Sax: How does Trapped start?
Alison Aimes: TRAPPED starts on the spacecraft carrying Cadet Bella West and her colleagues to Dragath25. Tensions are running high. The team of scientists and soldiers are nervous and excited about the assignment, a quick search and acquire mission on a part of the planet far from the criminal barracks. Hopes are running high that theirs will finally be the mission to discover the kind of plants that can survive on an Earth that has already lost billions to blight and famine. Until something goes wrong. And the shuttle drops. Leaving Bella and a few injured survivors stranded on a dangerous planet with no food or water, no knowledge of the terrain, and no way to defend themselves against the vicious gangs of roving convicts who control the planet.
The scene provides a sense of Bella’s strength and determination, the stakes for her in joining the mission, and the sheer impossibility of keeping her team alive without some kind of help. Help she finds in an unlikely source: one of Dragath’s own.
Cynthia Sax: Where is Trapped set?
Alison Aimes: Well, as I’ve mentioned above, my story is set on Dragath25, a harsh environment filled with violent criminals, hungry predators and endless rust-colored rock. Yeah, I know. That doesn’t sound too sexy, but it’s that ruthless environment that brings the hero and heroine together. And what’s more? There are secret caves on Dragath25, tiny oases drenched in lush, colorful plants and warm turquoise springs. Fragile places made all the more romantic in contrast to the harshness elsewhere. Want a peek inside one of those caves? Here’s what’s happening in one of those secret caves the first time the hero and heroine are together after they make their deal….
A splash sounded. Powerful ripples washed against her back like a surging tide. He was coming for her.
She whirled and discovered small bubbles on the surface of the water. An inky cloud of red and brown streamed in all directions followed by foamy white. Then a dark head broke the surface and he was standing before her, waist high in the water, a mud man no more.
Her mouth opened on a tiny o.
Without the dirt, dark, thick hair, shorn close to his scalp, was now visible. Along with olive skin, a wide forehead, low brows, firm lips, and a square jaw. Tiny droplets left his long lashes spikey while rivulets of water tracked over chiseled cheekbones down his sculpted chest and abdomen to a small trail of dark hair that snaked from his belly button to disappear into the water. Scars of various length and width tracked across miles of pure, hard muscle.
My God, mud man was a flesh and blood man—an incredibly masculine one. If she’d met him at the Academy or the barracks on Earth, she would have been unable to stop staring. He was that beautiful.
Then his hand shot out and her daze shattered.
With a hiss, she stumbled back.
One dark eyebrow rose. “Here.”
She looked down to see a small white bar in his hand.
“It’s soap.” His tone was brusque. “The drones dump trash from Earth. Use it.”
“Thank you.” It took all her courage to reach out and take the bar from his hand. “I—I’ve never used it before. The Academy only allows lasers for cleaning. The use of water was banned a long time ago.” She stopped short.
Of course, he knew that. He wasn’t from some distant galaxy. He was from Earth. He just wasn’t welcome there anymore.
His lips flat lined. “I’ve been here a while, but not as long as that.”
Was that a joke? His expression offered no clue.
“Of course.” Hands shaking, she took the soap and rubbed it against her arm. The blood stayed put. She rubbed harder.
She hadn’t expected this…this talking. Or the kindness of a bath—with soap. It was confusing.
“You need the water to make it work.” Rough hands reached out and took the soap, dunking it under the water, making that same foamy circle she’d seen before.
“Turn around.” His voice had gone husky again.
That overworked heart of hers started up double time once again. Her feet remained planted where they were.
He waited for longer than she would have expected before he spoke again, his jaw locked tight. “Anything?” It was a reminder. A reproach. A challenge.
And her last chance to change her mind.
Her eyes sunk shut. I can do this. I need to do this.
She whirled around, bracing for a grab. A strike. But the deliberate slow glide of a calloused fingertip down the bumps of her spine slammed through her with more force than any blow.
Cynthia Sax: Is Trapped part of a series and will you be writing more stories in this series?
Alison Aimes: Yes! It’s a series and I’m super excited about book two, TAKEN. I’m writing it now. It takes place in the depths of Dragath25 where it’s hot, hot, hot! The story reveals what happens to Cadet Ava Davies who vanishes without a trace in TRAPPED.
Here’s the current blurb…. All Cadet Ana Davies wanted after escaping Earth was to discover what happened to her sister and atone for the sins of her past. Now she’s captive within a labor camp deep within Dragath25’s core, a sweltering maze of caves overrun by brutal prisoners-turned-slaves. Her only hope for survival? A man from her past with his own reasons for wanting her dead.
Two years ago, ex-soldier Hunter Valdus lusted after a woman who betrayed him, landing him in a hell he and his men have been struggling to survive ever since. Now she’s landed back in his clutches. Better still, she just might be the key to his crew’s escape and his redemption. And all he has to do is keep her alive and at a distance until he can use her for his own dark purposes.
But raw, blood-pounding need is a potent force. Forgiveness and love even stronger. And even the best-laid plans can be laid to waste, especially on Dragath25.
After that, I’ve got plans—big plans—for Book 3 and 4. I can’t wait!!!
Cynthia Sax: Thank you, Alison Aimes, for joining us today!
Alison Aimes’s Website: http://www.alisonaimes.com
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Recently Awarded Top Reader Pick by Night Owl Review….
A tale of unbridled desire, stunning sacrifice, and unwavering love, Trapped is an action-packed, sexy sci-fi romance that takes you to the brink of oblivion on a prison planet where only the strong survive….
Cadet Bella West has one simple objective when she joins the scientific mission to Dragath25, the notorious penal planet housing Earth’s condemned. Earn the credits necessary to save her family from starvation. But when her shuttle crashes and the majority of her crew perish, her simple mission becomes complicated fast. Now, to stay alive she’ll have to depend on one of Dragath’s own. But such protection doesn’t come free.
Convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, 673 has become more beast than man after eight grueling years on an unforgiving, hazardous planet of dirt and rock—and even more treacherous inhabitants. He doesn’t look out for anyone but himself and he certainly never grows attached. So when the bold female offers him pleasure in return for protection, he takes the deal without hesitation. He never expects how her touch will alter him. Or the growing realization that saving her may be the key to his own salvation.
But as dangers mount and their ‘simple’ deal unravels will he prove to be her surprise savior or her ultimate downfall? Because caring for someone on Dragath25 may prove the greatest hazard of all.
The first book in the Condemned Series, Trapped has a HEA and can be read as a stand-alone.
Buy Now:
On Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Qex8hU
Topics: Author Interviews | 3 Comments »
Interview With Anne Kane
I sat down (virtually) with Anne Kane for a short interview. Anne Kane writes hot erotic romances (I LOVE her Imperial Were-panthers) and her latest release is Mercenaries 2: Running Scared, a sexy Futuristic Romance.
Cynthia Sax: What makes Jackson, the hero in Running Scared, sexy?
Anne Kane: Jackson may be a mercenary, but he has a heart of gold. He’s the only survivor of a government raid that wiped out his entire family, and he swore he’d never be that defenceless again. He’s spent the last few years of his life learning every weapon and hand-to –hand technique he can find. He joined the Kaeden’s mercenaries because he believes in what they stand for. The group had its own agenda and only take on contracts that they feel are worth fighting for. They make enough to survive on, and not much else. Not the most lucrative way to run a company, but then, money doesn’t mean a lot to people who’ve seen everything they love blown to bits. One of the things that attracted him to Saralyn is her dedication to finding her brother – he wishes he had someone left to find.
Cynthia Sax: Does a character in Running Scared have a secret?
Anne Kane: Well of course they do, but if I told you then it wouldn’t be a secret, now would it! I’ll tell you this much – it’s Saralyn’s secret and Jackson guesses it almost right from the beginning. He just can’t get her to admit that he’s right. Women can be so stubborn at times!
Cynthia Sax: Is Running Scared a series and will you be writing more stories in this series?
Anne Kane: This is book two of my Mercenaries series, and yes I will definitely be writing more in it. I love a man in uniform, I love guys who are loyal to each other and to their own code of honor, and I love it when I can give them the love that they deserve.
Cynthia Sax: What one piece of advice would you give new writers?
Anne Kane: Don’t give up! Believe in yourself! (That’s two pieces of advice, isn’t it) Everyone will give you advice, and often it is conflicting but just take what you like and leave the rest. I had my first story entered into two contests at the same time. It was ripped to shreds by a contest judge who had absolutely nothing good to say about it or my writing abilities, but then it won the other contest – first place with a publishing contest and a hefty advance. Remember that writing is an art and appreciation of art is subjective. What one person likes, another may hate. You certainly can’t please everyone. So long as you believe in yourself, and don’t give up you will eventually get to see your name on a published manuscript.
Thank you, Anne Kane, for joining us today!
Anne Kane’s Website: http://www.annekane.com/
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She was a genetic experiment that was never supposed to get out of the lab. If the government finds her they will kill her without hesitation. Her memories of her early life are sketchy but the one clear image she has is of a brother who saved her life, and then disappeared.
Jackson knows what it’s like to lose your entire family in one bloody instant, and he vows to help Saralyn find hers. It doesn’t hurt that he finds her irresistibly sexy or that the attraction is mutual. They enlist the rest of the mercenary team in a search operation that takes them into the heart of the corrupt government.
Buy From Changeling Press: http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=2097
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Wayback Wednesday: Badge Bunny
I had such doubts about my ability to write humor that two days after I submitted Badge Bunny, I emailed my fabulous editor Maryam, asking her to withdraw it from submission. Thankfully, she had already read Badge Bunny and talked me out of withdrawing the story.
My name is Officer Drake. I’m genetically enhanced to be the best damn policeman there is. I can snap a werewolf in two. I can outrun a car. That’s not boasting. Those are the facts.
I’m designed to protect and serve, and when I spot a plush little bunny shifter by the name of Hunny Lapin, that is exactly what I do. I protect her from a strip club owning vampire and serve up her every desire in bed. ‘Course, that lands me in a whole heap of trouble, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m a supercop, remember?
Buy Now: http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1452
Buy On ARe: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-badgebunny-484418-140.html
Topics: Wayback Wednesday | Comments Off on Wayback Wednesday: Badge Bunny
