Welcome to the Book Tour for Beyond Love by JJ Lore. And be sure to read to the bottom for your chance to win a $25 Amazon eGift card from Sensuous Promos!
Every
mining outpost needs a sheriff, and Eidan Cozad is just the Eleoni for
the job. Newly arrived on planet with his deputy sister in tow, he faces
corruption, hostility, and nearly continuous rain. A chance encounter
with a defiant human postal worker adds yet one more complication to his
mission.
Neat
and tidy Teah Ruida thought when the Eleoni arrived and enforced some
law and order, it would be easier for her to deliver her packages.
Instead, she’s somehow become embroiled in spat after spat with the
handsome and assertive Sheriff himself. Even though she doesn’t want to
think about it, she’s become madly curious if the rumor about the
strange markings Eleoni hide under their clothes is true.
Tension
between Eidan and Teah ignites into passion that defies the barriers
between their races. When there’s a violent ambush initiated by the
settlement’s criminal organization, the future of their love hangs in
the balance.
Purchase BEYOND LOVE:
Author Interview
What does your writing desk look like? What would we find on it right this minute?
I actually don’t have a desk. I write wherever I can find an undisturbed spot in the house. Just me, a chair, the laptop, and some tea is my office. Maybe someday I’ll get a desk but it would probably soon be covered by research books and action figures and I wouldn’t be able to use it anyway.
When and why did you begin writing?
At what point did you first consider yourself a writer? This will probably sound stupid, but I considered myself a writer when I had to write my first blurb. It’s one thing to write your story, polish it, and send it off to a publisher. Those are all hard work and it’s easy to get sidetracked after any of them. But when the contract is in hand and you have to write a blurb, the thing that is supposed to hook the reader, that’s when it hit me. People I didn’t know were going to read this first, and decide if they wanted to try my book. It was very intimidating and made the business side of it very real.
How did you come up with the titles to your book(s)?
Titles, along with commas, are the most difficult part of writing for me. I use the names of my main characters as a title until the entire book is written. Then I struggle for days to come up with something that relates to the story, and doesn’t show up on an Amazon title search a hundred times before. Beyond Love came about as I was thinking about how my characters are in love, and then some.
Is there a message in your book(s) that you want readers to grasp?
As with all my books, I like to explore social issues. That’s one of the joys of writing science fiction. In Beyond Love, my characters grapple with feeling an attraction to someone who is not of your species. This leads to many cultural misunderstandings. I’m always fascinating by how societies organize their citizens’ lives in everything from the food they eat to the way they find their sexual partners.
How much of your book(s) have a bit of you in the characters?
A bit of me is in all my characters, amplified for dramatic effect. Most of my characters take their responsibilities seriously, like I do, and most of them are pretty well-balanced, emotionally, like I hope I am. When I have two characters verbally sniping at each other, that’s all me. I like to argue in real life, and when I write one of those scenes, it’s pure fun because I get to take on both sides.
What are you currently working on? Can you give us a sneak peek?
I just finished another sci-fi romance. It needs polished before I can even think about submitting it anywhere, so please forgive the punctuation issues, but here’s a sample:
‘His
face an implacable mask, Dram stared at her. “Why did you go into that
neighborhood tonight?”
He
was between her and the door, held her clothing hostage, had been questioning
her for what felt like weeks, and she wanted to kick his Sion shins. They were
probably hard as rocks and she’d just break her toes. Embarrassed but
determined, she made a grab for the kidnapped garment, but he lifted the
trousers high. She stumbled over his booted feet. Sasha’s injured ankle shouted
a protest and she lost her footing. The beige walls spun as her sense of
balance collapsed and she was suddenly on the floor, staring at the
leaf-patterned tiles. Even more embarrassed, she wondered what the hell had
happened to her in the soft years of work at the Reliquary. When she’d been a
reclaimer, she’d scaled walls, shimmied down pipes, walked across exposed beams
and girders all in pursuit of valuables.
Strong
arms circled her as Dram righted her. His face was close to hers and again she
was assailed by his scent, by his keen and assessing gaze. As he leaned in, his
cheek so close to hers she could feel his body heat, he whispered in her ear.
“I
know you’re tough and strong.” Dram’s voice shivered her nerves and she grabbed
at his arms, ready to push away even though she wanted to pull closer. Her
belly flip-flopped like she was teetering on the brink of a high fall. “Save it
for when you need it.”’
Do you
recall how your interest in writing originated? According to my kindergarten teacher, I already knew how to read before I entered her classroom, so apparently I was pretty interested in the written word early on. While in school, I wrote skits and plays for my classmates and I always enjoyed creative writing assignments. As an adult, I had to do a lot of writing for my job, but that involved historical research, so everything had to have a footnote. It’s only been in the last few years that I gave serious fiction writing a try, and so far it has agreed with me.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
I have a couple of manuscripts I need to polish and decide what to do with. One’s a m/m and the other is a futuristic dystopian m/f. I’m also working on what I hope will be another Planet Alpha book. So that’s keeping me pretty busy. I’m hoping to release at least three more books this year.
Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
No, as faster than light travel isn’t possible at this time, so I have to use my imagination to visit other planets. I do love to see new places. My dream trips would include the Galapagos Islands, New Zealand, and Japan. Alaska too. Basically circle the Pacific and discover that side of Earth.
Do you have any advice to offer other writers?
Know what you want, then target that goal. If you want to write for your own enjoyment, do that and don’t pressure yourself into trying to publish. The business side of writing is difficult, time-consuming, and often frustrating. If you want to write something to put in front of readers, do some research. Decide if you want to self-publish or find an agent, or a publisher directly. Each of these routes take a different approach, and different investments of time, energy, and money. The type of stories, length, and style will all vary according to what you want to achieve.
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Brooks http://authortaylorbrooks.blogspot.com
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I enjoyed the interview, and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeletejslbrown2009 at aol dot com
Loved this book! Received an ARC to review, and ended up buying the book before I was finished! LOL!
ReplyDeleteLoved this book! Received an ARC to review, and ended up buying the book before I was finished! LOL!
ReplyDeleteHaha, the blurb is great! That first paragraph did not go where I was expecting it to!
ReplyDeletecaitlinmmccutcheon at gmail dot com