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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Meet Cara Bristol

Today I have a terrific guest. I met Cara Bristol through the SciFi Romance Group on Facebook--a great place to meet new authors and learn about their books.

Welcome, Cara.Tell us about yourself. 

I’ve been a newspaper reporter, a public relations manager, and an author. I absolutely love being an author. It’s the best gig in the world. I’m married with two  grown stepkids. When I’m not writing, my husband and I enjoy traveling and have been all over the world. In November, we’ll be going on a European river cruise. To unwind, I read, walk 4-5 five miles every day, and watch reality TV shows (my guilty pleasure).


"Dancing With The Stars" is my guilty pleasure. When you're not off gallivanting around the world or watching reality TV, what is your work schedule like when you're writing? 


I get up about 5:30 a.m. and hit the computer. I spend an hour on email, FB, checking my blog, etc., then I start writing. I write until about 4 p.m. with breaks for breakfast, showering, and lunch. I try to write 2K a day. My work time also includes promotional activities besides writing, but writing always comes first.



How long does it take you to write a book? 

Most of my books are novellas, 30K to 50K words. The first draft takes about month, then it takes another month to revise, edit, and polish. So two months.

Are your stories driven by plot or character? 

Character. For me, character drives the plot. When you put the “right” two characters together, the story practically writes itself. I’ve paired a feminist with a Dom (Body Politics), an Alpha commander with a slave (Breeder), a maid with billionaire (Irresistible Attractions) and an alien who hates Terrans with an earthling (Terran). The story evolves out of the natural conflict that ensues.

How do you balance a life outside of writing with deadlines and writing muses? 

I’m still working on this one! I don’t have good balance. Work is consuming, partly because I love it so much, and partly because there’s so much that needs to be done.

If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why? 

Good question! I’ve written and published 22 titles. I would recommend readers start with Stranded with the Cyborg (SFR), Goddess’s Curse (SFR/fantasy), or Longing (paranormal).  I’m known for my “spanking” romances, and the books I’ve listed while being erotic, do not contain spanking. If someone wants a “gritty” sci-fi romance, I recommend the Breeder series (Breeder, Terran, Warrior). And if they want to try a spanking romance, start with Stolen Moments. It’s a light romantic comedy about a wife who’s jealous of the time her husband spends writing romance novels.

What do you hope readers take with them after reading your work? 

I hope they find the characters unforgettable. That they like the heroine and fall in love with the hero. That they continue to think about the book after they’ve finished it, and they recommend it to their friends. And then they buy another book of mine! J

Ditto. Tell us about your latest book.

Stranded with the Cyborg is a science fiction erotic romance. Brock used to be a secret service agent assigned to protect the president’s teenage daughter, Penelope. She was a spoiled brat who pretty much made his life hell and got him kicked off the force. After being severely injured in an attack, Brock is transformed into a cyborg and joins the covert Cyber Operations force. The story begins when the president’s daughter has grown up and become an interplanetary ambassador. She has received a death threat, and Brock is called in to protect her. Neither one of them is happy to see the other, and she doesn’t know he’s cyborg.



Stranded with the Cyborg blurb
Penelope Aaron, the former Terran president’s daughter, regrets how she got Agent Brock Mann booted from the security force. But now that she’s an interplanetary ambassador about to embark on her first diplomatic mission, she still doesn’t want him tagging along. Especially since he seems to be stronger, faster, more muscled, and sexier than she remembers. And pretending to be her husband? This mission couldn’t get more impossible!
Ten years ago Penelope Isabella Aaron had been a pain in Brock Mann’s you-know-what. Much has changed in a decade: “PIA” as he code-named her, has grown up and is about to attend her first Alliance of Planets summit conference, and Brock has been transformed into a cyborg after a near-fatal attack. Now a secret agent with Cyber Operations, a covert paramilitary organization, Brock gets called in, not when the going gets tough, but when the going gets impossible. So when he’s unexpectedly assigned to escort Penelope to the summit meeting, he balks at babysitting a prissy ambassador. But after a terrorist bombing, a crash landing on a hostile planet, and a growing attraction to his protectee, Operation: PIA may become his most impossible assignment yet.

Excerpt
“Ten years have passed. Penelope is different now,” Carter said.
Brock doubted that. “Does she know about me?”
“That you’re a cyborg? Of course not. She hasn’t been told anything about the program or even that you’re the one who’s been assigned to her.”
“Yeah, spring it on her. That will go over well.” He could envision the tantrum, and, after she calmed down, the scheme she would devise to circumvent the decision. The last time he’d seen her, she’d been emerging from his quarters half-dressed, a triumphant smile tilting her lips. Shortly thereafter, two fellow agents had come to arrest him.
President Aaron had exonerated him, the transcripts from the investigation had been sealed, and he’d been offered reassignment. Instead, he’d taken a position with an anti-terrorist investigative organization. His unit got attacked; his fellow operatives had died. Carter, who’d been working with Cy-Ops all along, had swooped in and saved his ass.
“I’m not saying I’ll do it, but, hypothetically, if I had a computer meltdown and agreed, what would be my cover story? I couldn’t tag along as her bodyguard because that would unsettle the Xenians.”
Carter poured another shot of Cerinian brandy and downed it. He met Brock’s gaze dead-on. “You’d accompany Ambassador Aaron as her husband.”
“Oh, hell no!”

Stranded With The Cyborg is available at:








Love that excerpt, Cara! One last question.Where can readers find you? 

On my blog and Facebook. I also recommend readers sign up for my author newsletter. That’s the best place to get info about new releases, contests, and freebies.



Thanks so much, Cara, for being here today and sharing Stranded With The Cyborg with us. Best wishes!
 

4 comments:

  1. My pleasure, Cara. It's great to get to know you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice interview. It takes me hours to get through my emails, but I work 17 hours a day on creating new stories.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Emails are a bear. And the more involved one is with social media, the more emails you get.

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