Nancy: Christina stopped by to talk about two loves we have in common: Writing romance...and CATS! Take it away, Christina!
Since the long
ago day I discovered Space Cat Meets Mars
in my local library, I’ve loved science fiction and fantasy. So I guess it was
natural that when I tried my hand at writing, I’d choose space opera. My
stories were always less about the technology and more about the people, how
they interacted and cared about each other—even if some of them were aliens.
Sure, there was adventure and danger, but my characters were often motivated by
the emotions they felt for each other. They wanted to save the universe, but
more importantly they needed first to save each other, because they were in
love. I labored for years, receiving many letters from editors. You know the
ones—“We liked this, but…” Eventually I found some success in writing magazine
articles, but fiction remained my elusive first love.
Once again, a
cat stepped in to show the way. In my local Barnes & Noble, while perusing
the science fiction section, I came across a book with a cat on the cover. I
decided to take a chance on it. It had cats in it; that alone was worth the
price. It turned out to be the first science fiction romance I’d ever seen. The
echoes to my own stories were astounding and heartening. Not only did it have
adventure, space battles (and of course cats) but it had love. And (gasp) sex
scenes, right there on the page—actually no, they were usually in bed.
I was hooked.
Now my long
literary pregnancy is over and those chance encounters with cats have led to
the release of my first SFR (Sci-Fi Romance) this month, A
Hero For The Empire. Are there cats in it, you ask? Bet your whiskers.
BLURB:
Cybernetically augmented Kimber
FitzWarren has been given the task of locating a missing military icon, Arianne
Ransahov, but the only person with a clue to the woman’s whereabouts is
mercenary, Wolf Youngblood. The Empire just attempted to assassinate him
because of this knowledge, so when Fitz shows up in his bedroom at 0-dark-30,
he’s less than happy to see her. She explains she isn’t there to kill him, but
to plead for his help. Help he’s reluctant to give—until another assassin comes
after both of them.
The two set off
on their quest along with Fitz’s sentient starship, Lizzy, and Wolf’s
telepathic cat, Jumper—who’s a cross between Chewbacca and Garfield. The action
is non-stop, with our heroes escaping one Imperial trap only to face another
danger, then another. But there is enough time for the pair to fall in love.
Hero for the Empire is good, old-fashioned space opera in the style of Star
Wars, Firefly or this summer’s blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy.
I’ve always
thought that when man went to space, cats would follow him. Their lithe bodies
are built for flying in zero gravity and their paws grip with the tenacity of
Velcro. Now if we can just figure out what to do about that pesky cat litter in
zero gee…
Cat have always
gone adventuring with mankind, accompanying us on voyages of discovery, riding
on merchant vessels and have even following us to war. There’s the story of
Oscar, the German cat who was aboard the battleship Bismarck when it was sunk
in 1941. He was rescued by a British ship, which was itself sunk four months
later. Only to be rescue again and—you guessed it—sunk again before the year
was out. Eventually, his name was changed to Unsinkable Sam and he was retired
to an old sailors home in England.
In that
tradition, the cats in my imaginary worlds, ride aboard starships to protect
their crew from frainies, a
particularly nasty mind parasite. Fearless space cat, Jumper, does battle with The
Enemy to save the hero and heroine.
EXCERPT:
Now The Enemy had come aboard this ship
and wanted to kill his person. That would not be tolerated.
Five fuzzy globs of light drifted out
of the common room. Jumper saw them as dirty gray spheroids of wiggling
tentacles tipped with organs to locate the thoughts of their prey. His green eyes
narrowed, a hunter’s growl rumbling in his throat.
The powerful muscles of his hind legs
hurled him among them, claws slashing, jaws crushing. He hit the deck and
rebounded, tumbling and slaughtering until only one remained. It flashed away
and down the stairs to engineering. Jumper spit out the foulness of his last kill
and soared after it.
He grabbed the handrail on the stairs,
slowing his forward momentum and peered down into the room. A glowing ball of frainies
a meter across churned in mid-air. Was it a trap? He’d heard stories of cats
swarmed by The Enemy and killed, but were they true? Or only cautionary tales
to keep high-spirited kittens in check?
The puff of fur on his behind twitched
as he tried to lash his non-existent tail. Jumper leapt, screaming his battle cry. He was
a Gold Dragon and this was, as the mercenaries liked to say, a target rich
environment.
BIO:
As long as she can remember,
Christina Westcott has had imaginary people living in her head. Cyborgs,
mercenaries, wizards, dragons and cats. Lots of cats—shape-shifting cats, talking
cats and telepathic cats. After continual nagging from this bizarre cast of
characters, Chris decided to turn them loose on the world in her science
fiction and fantasy stories. She’s been an incorrigible collector of not only
books and cats, but of experiences, riding in rodeos, driving racecars and
flying airplanes. All good experience for becoming a writer.
She lives in sunny Southwest
Florida where she delights in telling all her friends “up north” the local
temperature in the middle of January and she proudly wears the moniker Crazy
Cat Lady. She’s currently at work on the second book in the Dragon’s
Bidding series, Cypher, where we learn what happened the day after the first
book ended.
You can catch her on her
website at christinawestcottauthor.com or on
facebook.com/chriswestcott33.Buy A Hero for the Empire at:
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