Spotlight on EMBRACE THE ROMANCE: PETS IN SPACE 2

As I said in yesterday's post, I'm excited to share a fun anthology by some friends of mine. They have been sharing excerpts on their blogs, which has only increased my desire to read the book. The original Pets in Space was so much fun to read, I pre-ordered my copy of Pets 2 as soon as it was ready. My copy downloaded last night, and I can't wait to read it. Here's my friend Cara Bristol to tell you more about it.

Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 description

By Cara Bristol

The pets are back! Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2, featuring twelve of today’s leading Science Fiction Romance authors brings you a dozen original stories written just for you! Join in the fun, from the Dragon Lords of Valdier to a trip aboard award-winning author, Veronica Scott’s Nebula Zephyr to journeying back to Luda where Grim is King, for stories that will take you out of this world! Join New York Times, USA TODAY, and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, M.K. Eidem, Susan Grant, Michelle Howard, Cara Bristol, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie A. Green, Sabine Priestley, Jessica E. Subject, Carol Van Natta, and Alexis Glynn Latner as they share stories and help out Hero-Dogs.org, a charity that supports our veterans!

10% of the first month’s profits go to Hero-Dogs.org. Hero Dogs raises and trains service dogs and places them free of charge with US Veterans to improve quality of life and restore independence.

Buy link for all stores: https://books2read.com/u/3L9aYM

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Embrace-Romance-Pets-Space-2-ebook/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon AU https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon FR https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon DE https://www.amazon.de/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon JP https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B073W5WQBH/

iBooks http://bit.ly/EmbraceTheRomanceiBooks

B&N https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/embrace-the-romance-se-smith/1126723852?

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/embrace-the-romance-pets-in-space-2

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/S_E_Smith_Embrace_the_Romance_Pets_in_Space_2?id=Jp8rDwAAQBAJ

Rescued by the Cyborg (A Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance) by Cara Bristol

A cyborg’s haunted past and a Faria’s clouded future entwine…

Hostage and sole survivor Solia waits for death at the hands of vicious predatory aliens when Cy-Ops agent Guy Roarke disobeys orders and charges in. A former medic, he initiates emergency medical procedures before rushing her to Cybermed.

Guy is taken with Solia, but the guilt of a past mistake won’t allow him to plan for a future with the delicate, brave beauty. Life is so uncertain, he can’t even keep Mittzi, the kitten his niece gave him. What he can do is see to it Solia gets the help she needs for a full recovery. But when best intentions place her in greater danger, it’s up to a little kitten to make everything all right again.

Excerpt

Something kept poking her. Solia rose to consciousness but buried her face in her wing and squeezed her eyelids even tighter. She didn’t want to see what existed in the light. Monsters were real, and they didn’t just creep in the night. Don’t look. Stay here. Here, wherever that was, with her eyes closed, was warm, pain-free, safe.

Safe from what? What was she forgetting?

Pat. Pat. Something pawed at her feathers. Then a rumble. Pat. Pat. Poke. Something sharp, like a claw scraped across her face.

Claw.

Ka-Tȇ.

Jungle.

Cage. Death. Her lids sprang open. Two green Ka-Tȇ eyes stared into hers. The creature yawned, revealing a mouthful of small, sharp teeth, and then struck out with its paw.

Solia shrieked. The creature somersaulted and disappeared. Dragging her broken, torn wing, Solia stumbled for the door and plowed into a massive chest.

“What’s happened? What’s wrong?” A man gripped her shoulders. Though he barricaded the way, his presence exuded safety, calmed her panic. More memories flashed. Racing through the jungle. This man carrying her to a pod. Bodies hitting the window, scratching, clawing, trying to crack it open. The man—Guy— had rescued her from Katnia. The floor hummed beneath her feet. She was on a ship now.

But one of the creatures—“K-K-Ka-Tȇ. Here.”

“What? Where?” Disbelief knit his brows.

Solia gulped air and pointed. “Under the berth. It’s little, but I woke up, and it was on me, scratching my face. It had green eyes. Claws.” She patted her cheeks. There didn’t seem to be any injury.

“Mittzi.” Guy shook his head. He got down on all fours to peer under the bunk.

“Be careful.”

He reached under the berth and pulled out a ball of gray fur with white feet. Maybe Ka-Tȇ were born furry but lost their hair as they matured? The creature spoke, emitting an odd little meow noise. Neither language training nor the implant provided a translation. It clung to Guy, showing no sign of savagery, but maybe viciousness developed with time, too.

“It’s not a Ka-Tȇ, it’s a kitten, a baby cat,” Guy said, his tone gentle. “Don’t you have felines on Faria?”

About the Cara Bristol
USA Today bestselling author Cara Bristol writes steamy science fiction romance with an emphasis on the characters and their romance, with a little humor, heat, and danger added for fun. She is the author of three science fiction romance series: sexy cyborg Cy-Ops Scifi Romance series, the dark erotic Breeder series, and the new humorous Alien Mate series. She likes to say that she writes science fiction for readers who don’t like sci-fi.  Cara lives in Missouri with her alpha hero, her husband, and Hannah, her cat, aka her writing supervisor.

Website:  http://www.carabristol.com

Newsletter: http://carabristol.com/get-your-free-book/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cara.bristol.3

Why Cara Bristol Writes About Aliens

Why I Write About Aliens

By Cara Bristol

Once word got out about Alien Mate, I was asked why I chose to write about aliens. I hope readers realize that I’ve been writing about aliens all along. The Breeder trilogy has alien main characters, and even though cyborgs are the leading men of the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance series, there are alien secondary characters, villains, and even two alien heroines.

Romance in all its subgenres offers readers escape and vicarious wish fulfilment. All heroes are handsome, powerful, funny, sexy, rich, and in sci-fi romance (as well as fantasy and paranormal), the male leads can be all of that and more.  They can have special powers or superhuman abilities. For an author, writing about aliens offers flexibility in story and character development. Aliens can be whatever you want them to be.

With villains and/or secondary characters in particular, an author has tremendous creative freedom because they don’t have to be humanoid. In the Breeder series, I created an alien whose skin exuded a caustic substance that burned on contact. In the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance cyborg series, I introduced the reading world to the Arcanians, the pickpockets of the future who have six eyes and “sticky fingers.”

The heroes and heroines of sci-fi romance still need to be humanoid to appeal to human readers, but an author can still have fun and create interesting characters with unusual traits, habits, customs, and abilities. Alien Mate is a “mail order bride” romance in which Earth exiles its female felons and sentences them to become the mates of aliens. The men are tall, dark, handsome, muscular, strong—and horned. There’s a scene in the book where the heroine finds out about the horns. “Dakonians” have never seen blue-eyed blondes, so when they see the heroine for the first time, they think she’s very alien looking and “unnatural.”

Writing about aliens also makes me look at my own world in a more questioning way. What is normal? What things do I take for granted? How would my Earth culture be viewed by someone not of this world?   

  An excerpt from Alien Mate
“Any idea what the aliens look like?” I’d kept to myself, but I’d heard rumors our intended “mates” were scaly blue with long tails. Only recently had Terra One World made contact with Dakon. I’d been told the aliens “looked like us,” but I had little confidence in my government to tell the truth.

“I did a little ’net research before they transported me to the shuttle,” Andrea explained. “They are humanoid, genetically compatible with us, but they’re taller, much more muscular, and bigger.” She held her hands about a meter apart.

“Are you talking about their penises or their bodies in general?” Tessa asked.

Shit, I hoped Andrea was referring to their bodies. I eyed the span between her palms.

Andrea rolled her eyes. “Their bodies in general. I did not research their junk.”

“It would be proportionate, though, wouldn’t you think?” Tessa persisted. You could take the girl out of the escort business, but you couldn’t take the escort business out of the girl.

Andrea placed her index fingers to her forehead so they stuck up. “And they have—”

“Antenna?” My jaw dropped.

“More like horns.”

“That’s worse!”

“Vestigial horns. Mostly hidden by their hair.”

“So we’re the court-ordered brides of horned aliens who may or may not have big dicks,” I said.

“That’s the size of it.” Andrea snickered.

I got up and moved to the observation window. Without the filtering effects of a planetary atmosphere, stars in space didn’t twinkle. They appeared as solid points of light. We’d traveled far enough none of the constellations were familiar anymore.

“Dakon must be very far away.” We’d been on the ship for two months with thirty days left to go.

“It’s hyper speed compared to the three-year round trip the first contact took. Thanks to the illuvian ore, we’ll do it in three months,” Andrea said. “The Dakonians have been waiting a long time for their mates. After the first contact ship returned to Earth, it took a year to set up the program and recruit the first group of women.”

Tessa giggled. “They’re going to be really horny by now. In more ways than one.”

Alien Mate blurb

Falsely convicted of murder, I'm sentenced to life as a mail-order bride to an alien.

I'm Starr Elizabeth Connor. Earth's government falsely convicted me of a crime, packed me on a ship with other female felons, and sent us to Dakon, a primitive, frozen wasteland of a planet. Why? Earth needs minerals, and Dakon is desperate for females.

But I'm no barbarian’s 'mail order bride,' even if he is super tall, muscular, and the chief of his tribe. He doesn’t want a BBW blonde, either--it's written all over his chiseled face. He'll be truly angry if he ever learns what my 'crime' was.

I am Torg. I have waited 34 rotations for a mate of my own. With this shipment, I was sure to get a fine, sturdy mate who'll bear me many daughters. Instead, I receive a small, curvy, pale-haired female who looks at me with anger and fear.

It is only when we 'kiss' that I believe things may work out between us. But I'm hearing rumors that Starr and her shipmates are law-breakers. To survive, Dakonians must obey all laws … or be exiled into the frozen wasteland.  Just when I have found her, will I have to send my mate to die?

Alien Mate will be released April 10. Don't miss this sexy, suspenseful sci-fi romance--preorder your copy of Alien Mate today!

Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XPTS6W2

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XPTS6W2

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XPTS6W2

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XPTS6W2

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1216239742

Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/alien-mate-8

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alien-mate-cara-bristol/1125991880

Meet the characters of Alien Mate. Download a free three chapter sampler: http://dl.bookfunnel.com/k5dew3u7eu

About the author

USA Today bestselling author Cara Bristol writes steamy science fiction romance with an emphasis on the characters and their romance, with a little danger and adventure added for fun. She likes to say that she writes science fiction for readers who don’t like sci-fi.  Cara lives in Missouri with her alpha hero, her husband.

Cara’s Website:  http://carabristol.com/
Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/Cara-Bristol/e/B004D8KZTQ/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cara.bristol.3
Author Newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/9aRJj

Twitter: @CaraBristol https://twitter.com/CaraBristol

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carabristol/

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:

Amazon US - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015NJUGT2?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B015NJUGT2?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Amazon CA - http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B015NJUGT2?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Amazon AU - http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B015NJUGT2?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

ARe - https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-strandedwiththecyborg-1893588-340.html

Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stranded-with-the-cyborg-cara-bristol/1122676806?ean=2940150922334

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.

Cara Bristol web site/blog

 Author Newsletter

Facebook Author Page

Amazon Author page

Twitter

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