Cynthia Sax on Cyborgs, Socialites and Missions

My guest today is Cynthia Sax. I met Cynthia through the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, the best place to find new authors and their books. I love her post since she mentions my two favorite quest or mission movie series--Mission Impossible and Indiana Jones. Whenever I watch those movies, I mentally tick off the steps from Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey.

Cyborgs, Socialites and Missions

By Cynthia Sax

I LOVE reading, writing or watching stories/movies with missions, whether it’s a quest for the Holy Grail, a CIA themed thriller or a delicious SciFi romance. The characters have a purpose. They’re often going on a trip. There’s danger and twists and the constant question about whether or not they’ll be successful.

Whenever I hear the word mission, I think Mission Impossible, the Tom Cruise movies. I usually hum the theme song hopelessly off-key. I think spies and secrets and life or death situations. The action is heart pounding. The stakes are high. If they fail in their missions, the world and humanity will be in peril.

I also envision Indiana Jones and his quests to uncover archaeological treasures. Again, there’s action and secrets and thrill after thrill. The stakes are as high. The Nazis might win or a plague might take over the world or there will be some other dire consequence.

There are many missions in SciFi romance also. Jileena, Diane’s heroine in The Chameleon, is given a covert mission by her father.  She must travel to the Outer Rim to negotiate an agreement. There are consequences if she fails. There is danger even if she succeeds.

Rage and the other cyborgs in my latest SciFi romance release, Releasing Rage, are assigned missions by their human masters. At the beginning of the story, they are tasked with battling the Mantidae, huge insect-like aliens intent on migrating through human-populated areas. If they fail in this mission, humans will die.

The cyborgs give themselves a mission also – to escape their servitude and free themselves. Rage is willing to end lives to achieve this liberation. One of the humans he might have to kill is his curvaceous female engineer, Joan. Will he achieve his mission? If so, at what cost? Could the price of freedom be love?

Yes, I’m humming the Mission Impossible theme right now. (grins)

What are your favorite mission movies or books?

***

Blurb
Releasing Rage
Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.
Rage, the Humanoid Alliance's most primitive cyborg, has two goals--kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that's all he's been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.
Joan, the battle station's first female engineer, has one goal--survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.
When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage's priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg's heart for both love and revenge?

Buy Now:

On Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Rage-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZOL1DRO

On Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ZOL1DRO/

On ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-releasingrage-1850041-340.html

On B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/releasing-rage-cynthia-sax/1122455646

 
Bio

About Cynthia Sax

USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Sax writes contemporary, SciFi and paranormal erotic romances. Her stories have been featured in Star Magazine, Real Time With Bill Maher, and numerous best of erotic romance top ten lists.

Sign up for her dirty-joke-filled release day newsletter and visit her on the web at www.CynthiaSax.com

Website:  CynthiaSax.com

Newsletter:   http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/

Facebook:  facebook.com/cynthia.sax

Twitter:  @CynthiaSax

Blog:  TasteOfCyn.com

Thanks for coming today, Cynthia. Thanks, too, for mentioning The Chameleon.

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!