Author of the Week - Nicola Cameron

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This week Nicola Cameron visits the blog. I met Nicola on Mid Week Tease when she seduced me with her sexy M/M romance snippets. She's an Evernight author as well and writes some fantastic science fiction and paranormal M/M romance. Today I asked her one question about what finally gave her the push to publish.

BBTF: You started publishing in 2012. How long have you been writing and what inspired you to get your work out there?

Nicola: I’ve been writing since I was a kid, and I’ve been a professional science fiction writer since 1995. I’ve always loved exploring sex and romance in my work, but there were limits to just how explicit I could get in regular SF which was something of a downer. When ebooks and paranormal erotic romance took off in such a big way I knew I had to get in on it, so in 2012 I sent in “Tied With a Bow” to Evernight Publishing for their Christmas anthology call (“Tied” was also the first non-speculative fiction story I’d written in about 30 years). Much to my delight they bought it for A Vanilla-Free Christmas: Manlove Edition, and that was the start of my erotic romance career. My experience as an SF writer is also why my first erotic romance novel Storm Season has nanotech, bioengineering, battle scenes, and Alan Turing in it as well as a sizzling MMM ménage romance. What can I say — I like to mix and match genres.

You can find out more about Nicola Cameron's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!  

Author of the Week - Kris Norris

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This week Kris Norris visits the blog. I met Kris at Authors After Dark in NOLA in 2012 and immediately fell for her charms. Not only was she funny and smart, but she'd flown helicopters as a Canadian military pilot. My hero! :D I'd actually read her books before I met her and already loved her voice, but she says I shouldn't listen to her sing. Kris writes some magnificent science fiction, fantasy, and shifter romance. All of it is suffused with Kris's attention to the humorous absurd and action/adventure. Today I asked her one question about how much of her own experience goes into her books.

BBTF: You write a lot of action adventure romance, both in the present and in the future. How much of your own personal experiences have you put into your writing?

Kris: Can I just say that I love this question? Mostly because it’s that moment when all that time I spend traipsing through the woods, up mountains and doing other, less typical sports, finally pays off. :)

So yes, there's a reason I love writing action-adventure books. And yes, it’s because I like to walk the walk, not just talk it. I suppose it started with the first book I wrote, which wasn’t the first one I published. Hard Target is actually the first book I ever wrote, though like many first books, it was also the one I revised the most. So it took a while before I actually put it out there.

But the heroine in that book, Taylor Austin, was based on a lot of things I was doing at the time. I was a commercial helicopter pilot, and I’d just climbed Mount Rainier with my brother and his partner, so I had a lot of ideas and energy just whirling around, wanting to escape. That’s when I realized I really wanted to try writing it all down and, well, Hard Target was the result.

I like to base my writing on experiences I’ve had because I feel it makes the writing more genuine and believable. Not that you get to try everything you every write down, but—I just think your scenes jump off the page more if you’ve actually had the opportunity to live what you’re relating. So, I try and experience a lot of the extreme sports if I can before I write about them. My second book published was Checkmate, and it’s about adventure racing. Well, seeing as I’d never done that before, I trained and entered a race once I’d decided it was going to be a central part of the story. And let’s just say I've run a dozen since then, including a seven-day mountain bike race through the Rocky Mountains a couple of years ago. I honestly never would have known about all the tiny ins and outs I got to put in the scenes if I hadn't actually done it. It's just the way I like to operate.

I also spent some time in the military, so yes, I've fired a gun and a rifle. I've been through basic training, done those stupid obstacle courses, had to survive maneuvers and being yelled at twenty-four seven. While it's not quite the same as being a federal agent or a marshal, per se, I do feel it at least gives me an insight to some of the inner workings of these careers—enough that I'm not completely pulling random stuff out of my…In addition, I ride horses and dirt bikes, have worked as a 911 operator and was even a boat captain once upon a time.

Okay, reading this it makes me sound very flighty. And while I do get easily distracted by shiny things—squirrel—I think it's just that before writing, I hadn't found that one career that satisfied me. I was always looking for the next, best thing. But being an author—it allows me to be a pilot and and cop. To climb mountains and kayak down rapids without having to change jobs. And I can go out and physically do these adventures, chalking them all up to research!

So, I think I've finally found my niche. I just hope others enjoy my books as much as I do writing them. Now if I could just find away to be a vampire and a shifter, preferably on another planet ruled by alpha men where it's like living in the old west, things would be perfect.

LOL okay, then, I'll put out the order today, Kris. :D You can find out more about Kris Norris's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Veronica Scott

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This week Veronica Scott visits the blog. I met Mardi online during Six Sentence Sunday that morphed into Weekend Writing Warriors. Veronica writes some magnificent science fiction and fantasy Egyptian romance. I truly appreciate that because I started out as a science fiction/fantasy reader and writer. Today I asked her one question about what grabs her most about ancient peoples.

BBTF: Many of your books contain ancient civilizations with a magical twist. What spurred you to write about these historical peoples?

Veronica: I grew up in a home with a huge library and parents who read all the time, which encouraged me to do the same. My Dad loved science fiction and my mother was into fiction and nonfiction about the ancient world, especially Egypt and Greece. So I grew up loving both genres but definitely leaning toward stories containing mysterious, mystical touches. I ate up the novels where cool things happened if the old gods – of Earth or out in the galaxy – got involved. I enjoy giving glimpses of mysteries that are so far in the past we can’t ever know anything for sure about them, even as my characters are affected for better or for worse, as in Escape From Zulaire. I love events that can’t be explained by any rational process because I believe they add spice to life. I always wanted to write romance novels about ancient Egypt, but couldn’t bring myself to do it without involving the gods as active participants. When I write my science fiction romances, I bring all the research I’ve done into Egypt’s past, and other ancient civilizations, plus that healthy imagination I developed as a kid, and I add touches of myth and mystery to the SF goings-on.

You can find out more about Veronica Scott's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week - Andrew Grey

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This week Andrew Grey visits the blog. I met Andrew in person at Authors After Dark in New Orleans in 2012, and connected with his compassionate and down-to-earth personality. Andrew writes just about everything M/M, but he has a gift for heart-felt, sexy and sensual romance with dramatic background stories. Today I asked him one question about how he got started writing romance.

BBTF: The romance genre is often dominated by female authors. What got you into writing the genre?

Andrew: My mother read them all the while I was growing up and I have to admit I sort of made fun of it until I started reading gay romance when I was trying to get into shape a number of years ago. I wanted something light and sexy to read on the treadmill. They were fun, light, hot, and gave me something in gay stories that I had rarely seen before. A happy ending. The gay stories I grew up with were either satirical and stereotypical or simple tragic. After reading them for a while, I got an idea and decided to try writing one. I actually accomplished my first manuscript in about two months and told no one until it was half way completed. I firmly believe that everyone should see themselves in a story and I think writing romance is my way of showing that people like me can find love.

I think you're right, Andrew. You can find out more about Andrew Grey's books on his website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week - Ann Mayburn

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This week Ann Mayburn visits the blog. I met Ann in person at Authors After Dark in New Orleans in 2012, and fell in love with her forthright, no-nonsense humor immediately. Ann writes just about everything, but she has a gift for BDSM romance in both contemporary and paranormal settings. Today I asked her one question about how she budgets her time with family.

BBTF: You put out a great deal of work each year. How do you balance your writing time with your family time?

Ann: Not easily. Either the house is dirty and the book gets worked on, or the house is clean yet I got 0 word count in. :P I've found the best I can do is balance between the two, clean when my muse is on strike, write when she won't shut the hell up. There is constant clutter, something always needs to be cleaned, but I manage to play in my worlds and throw video games at my kids so it all works out. ;)

Somehow that sounds a lot like my house, Ann. :D You can find out more about Ann Mayburn's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading! 

Author of the Week: Doris O'Connor

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This week Doris O'Connor visits the blog. I met Doris online at Evernight and Siren Publishing, and she has visited my #ThursThreads #flashfiction challenge several times. Doris writes everything from contemporary romance to science fiction fantasy romance and usually with a fair amount of sexy action. Today I asked her one question about how she balances writing and family.

BBTF: You write several books a year. How do you find time for writing and still keep up with your large family?

Doris: Ah, you know that old saying… want something done; give it to a busy person to do? Yeah, that kinda applies to me. It also helps that I’ve become an expert at multitasking over the years, and that I have a very understanding and supportive husband. After nine babies I can also survive on very little sleep.

The bulk of my writing gets done when the kids are asleep, late at night, during the toddler’s nap, and at the weekend. Hubby fields the kids, so that I can get some uninterrupted writing time. I set myself a minimum word count goal of 2K a day when I’m writing a story. Invariably I’ll exceed that, because I only write when my characters are screaming at me, and then my fingers fly, and I cannot stop writing.

Those are the days I’m tapping away while cooking the dinner for my brood, and write sex scenes while sorting out sibling squabbles, lol.

On the whole I prefer peace and quiet when writing, though. Hence the late nights and lack of sleep, because, let’s face it. Only time they’re quiet is when they’re asleep, and then they snore, sleep walk, talk in their sleep, or the teens come in to have a 2.00 am feast.

You get the idea ;-)

Somehow it works. I try not to overthink it, and just listen to my characters. All I do know is that I get decidedly grumpy, when I haven’t managed to write for a few days… Hmm, maybe that’s why hubby tells me go off and write, huh. Well, that and the research he likes to help with. *sniggers*

Thanks for having me on your blog today!

You can find out more about Doris O'Connor's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!

Author of the Week: Cara Michaels

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This week Cara Michaels has dropped by. Cara writes heroic science-fiction and paranormal fantasy, and is a #flashfiction host of #RacetheDate flash challenge. No matter the genre, Cara writes a darn good story. I asked Cara one question about world building.

BBTF: What is your favorite thing about building new worlds?

Cara: World building is far tougher than character building. Worlds are all about rules, and breaking those rules breaks faith with readers. It's up to the author to make sure the rules stay constant. I suppose I find research to be the best part of world building. In attempting to create a believable environment, I study and research all sorts of wild things to establish rules that make a crazy sort of sense.

You can find Cara's worlds and her new worlds at her website. And be sure to pick up a book and tell a friend.

Happy reading!

Siobhan