I am so happy to have a special guest here today. Veronica Scott is one of my all-time favorite science fiction romance authors. Her books take me away to unknown worlds with characters I'd love to spend more time with.
Welcome, Veronica. Tell us about yourself.
I’ve always written, even since I was about
seven and penned a long, self-illustrated epic about a princess with flying
cats, flying horses, many sisters and a riverboat captain boyfriend. I grew up
in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved
ancient history and I clearly thought there needed to be more romance in
everything. I had a long career at NASA/JPL in the business side of things and
received a NASA Exceptional Service Medal for process improvements along the
way. But now I’m fortunate to be a full time author. I also write the SciFi
Encounters column for the USA Today Happily Ever After blog, which lets me do
fun things. A big thrill for me this year was to read the part of Star Trek
Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “City On the Edge
of Forever.” I’m a Red Shirt who survives! I write science fiction romance and
ancient Egyptian fantasy romance.
A Red Shirt who survives? You lucky duck! Tell our readers where they can find you? (social media, etc.)
How long does it take you to
write a book?
I write very fast – well, when not spending too much time on
social media! – so I can finish a book in about two months, depending on the
length. Then the editing process can take as much as another two months.
You are a fast writer. Where do you get your information
or ideas for your books?
Anything can and does spark my imagination. Sometimes
just one photograph can give me the idea for an entire book. Other times, I’ve
maybe always been fascinated with a topic, like the sinking of the Titanic, and
eventually the science fiction twists on the event come to me and I write a
novel inspired by reality. I read voraciously too, both fiction and nonfiction,
and magazines galore. I’ve found a few good plot ideas in Business Week!
I get the reference to the Titantic. Loved Wreck of the Nebula Dream. What do you like to do when
you're not writing?
I read, watch movies or TV, take walks, build Lego sets
with my grandson…
My grandson could play with Legos for hours! What does your family think of
your writing?
My family is extremely supportive and happy for me that I’m
published and writing fulltime. One of my daughters is in fact also a published
author.
That is so cool. Like Mother, Like Daughter. What do you think makes a good
story?
Characters the reader can care about and root for, adventure and
romance!
Definitely agree there. What is the best part of writing
for you?
I love sharing my stories with readers and there’s nothing better than
hearing from someone that they’ve enjoyed one of my books, or that I “got it
right” with a certain plot element.
What do you enjoy most about
writing?
I just get into the ‘flow’ as athletes say, and the words come easily.
I’m excited to get to my laptop and work on a scene – I know it’s all going
really well when the first thing on my mind when I wake up in the morning is a
plot twist or a new angle on something I wrote the day before.
What a great feeling. Where do you start when writing?
Research, plotting, outline, or...?
I usually know the two main characters, the
beginning and the ending, and a few key scenes. I start writing at the
beginning of the story and the other details and scenes fill themselves in
along the way. Total seat of the pants person! I do a LOT of research,
especially for the ancient Egyptian stories, but usually I’ll go look up what I
need to know when I arrive at that part of the Work In Progress. For my newest
release, I did a lot of research on various ritual ball games played by the
ancient peoples of Central and South America, as an example.
Omigosh, someone who writes like I do. LOL If I was a first time reader of
your books (which I'm not, btw), which one would you recommend I start with and why?
That’s hard
because I love them all! For the Egyptian fantasies, maybe Ghost of the Nile,
because it’s a good example of how I like to blend reality and the ancient
Egyptian gods into an adventure, with romance of course! It’s also a Finalist
in the 2016 RONE Awards contest. For the scifi romance, Star Cruise Outbreak
has recently Finalled in a contest where the first round judges were
genre-specific book clubs, so I thought that was quite a vote of confidence
Star Cruise Outbreak was great. What two authors would we find
you reading when taking a break from your own writing?
Nalini Singh because I
love her books and all her series! I’m a huge fangirl. For the second author,
I’m always on the lookout for new scifi romance and fantasy, so I try to keep a
pretty hefty To Be Read list and work through it. I’ve been reading the Fallen
Empire series by Lindsay Buroker.
Nalini Singh is a terrific author. I've not read Ms. Buroker's work. I'll have to check her out.
Tell us about your latest release. My latest release is Trapped
on Talonque, a science fiction romance.
Here’s the story:
Will an alien sleeping beauty
awaken to save him, or destroy everyone around her?
When a Sectors Special Forces
soldier and his team crash land on an alien planet, they’re taken captive and
given a challenge–win at the violent ball game of sapiche and live. Lose, and
they die, sending a mysterious, alien beauty to an even uglier fate. To
survive, these soldiers must win the game and find a way to free the dangerous
prisoner from her locked chamber.
Nate Reilly and his team are in
deep trouble. Prisoners on a backward alien planet, they’re brought before an
alien ‘goddess’, sleeping in her high tech seclusion. Nate is astonished when
she awakes and establishes a psychic link with him. But her news is not good–he
and his men must win a brutal challenge set by their captors, or they will die.
She’ll give her aid, but in the end their courage and strength must win the
contest.
Bithia sleeps in her chamber, as
she has for thousands of years, since her own people unaccountably left her
there. Viewed as a goddess by her captors, she must hide her ancient secrets to
survive. But only the bravest of men may free her. Can she use her psychic
powers to keep Nate and his men alive long enough to help her escape, or will
her only hope of freedom die with them?
The excerpt:
He stood wreathed in gray-green mists
coiling around him like the ghosts of snakes before falling away to reveal the
mysterious subterranean room deep under the palace. He faced the sleeping
woman. Nate descended the three stairs and walked across the chamber until he
stubbed his toe against an invisible but potent barrier. Trying to reach through
or past this obstacle, Nate saw his hands outlined in pale green light. He
shoved harder. If he could just reach her, wake her, ask her a few pointed
questions… As if sensing his efforts, she moved her head on the mattress and
opened her eyes, revealing dark lavender irises flecked with gold.
“I am sorry,” she said, clear as day, in
Basic.
But no, Nate realized, he heard the words
in his mind, not with his ears. Her lips moved, but not to shape the syllables
he heard.
“Sarbordon thinks you and I are of the same
people. Therefore, what he wants lies outside your power to provide,” she said,
as if the piece of confusing information would help him navigate the perilous
situation.
“Why are you sorry?” Nate stayed with her
first words to him. “You’ve done nothing to harm us.”
“I pity anyone trapped here on this cursed
planet. The king will sacrifice you to his hungry gods when you don’t produce
the miracles he expects. Demands. I—I didn’t tell him the truth when he asked.”
Brow furrowed, she studied Nate’s face. Biting her lower lip, she said,
“Honesty on my part would have brought instant death for you. He believes
you’re my father’s warriors, come to rescue me, so I agreed with his
conclusion. I said you were also sent to retrieve certain possessions. He’s
desperate to acquire the marvels my father wielded. My deception may give you
time, perhaps a chance to save yourselves.” She studied him from head to toe,
and her lips curved into a slight smile. “You have the attitude of a warrior,
one able to survive. You must play the game.” After a moment, she averted her
gaze, but Nate still heard her next words. “Sarbordon will bring you here again
if you earn the privilege. If you can survive to that point, I may have a plan,
a chance for you to seize freedom. I can’t promise.”
He was woozy, possibly an aftereffect of
the wine with dinner. Maybe the drink had been laced with a primitive drug. His
powers of concentration were affected, and frustration with his
uncharacteristic lack of focus built. “What’s your name?”
This vision he was having was dangerously
fascinating, and he wished it were real. No one had ever even seen a
representation of a living Ancient Observer, much less conversed with one. He
accepted Haranda’s educated assessment that she wasn’t a member of the
mysterious race of galactic forerunners from a million years ago, but the way
her chamber was encapsulated deep in the palace, as if the building had grown
organically to house her, spoke of centuries, if not millennia, passing since
she was placed in her high-tech prison. The equipment must have kept her alive,
but why was she here in the first place?
The incongruity of trying to solve her
puzzle while his life and the lives of his men hung in the balance made him
shake his head. This was one hell of a dream, built on his fascination with her
earlier in the day.
“We’re not dreaming.” Seizing on his
unspoken thought, she denied his conclusion scornfully, staring at him with
wide-eyed contempt. “I dream only of death. We’re communicating. Perhaps your
people are too primitive for the concept, fallen from the sky or not.”
Buy Links:
Thanks for coming, Veronica. Best wishes on Trapped on Talonque. It's on my Kindle and next up to read.
