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Why I Love Writing Science Fiction

By Cheryl Brooks

Some of you may have seen this new cover on my blog or Wickedly Romantic, but unless you've looked closely at the sidebar lately, most of you probably haven't seen this one. So, allow me to officially present the cover of Fugitive, book 5 of The Cat Star Chronicles. I absolutely love it!

Perhaps the most fun thing about writing science fiction romance is that the romance can take any form you like. Societies on different worlds can have any kind of taboo or requirement I choose to give them. The entire culture can revolve around the style of dress, or certain patterns of sexual behavior, which is what I did in Slave.

The settings can be anything I like, too. I set Warrior on a planet whose inhabitants colonized it with the intention of returning to an earlier era of non-mechanization in an effort to live more in harmony with nature. The society later reverted to a patriarchal form of feudalism, which allowed me the freedom to write a "historical" adventure in outer space!

In Rogue, I created Darconia, a desert planet populated by dinosaurs who had a different kind of rock to fill most of their technological needs. For the culture, I went matriarchal this time, with males who were considered "too volatile" for most occupations--something which my hero and heroine manage to disprove.

Now, in Outcast, I've got a newly colonized planet that has a climate and terrain similar to Central Africa which gave me the opportunity to have a "pioneer woman" heroine with a "hired hand" hero--which is one of those Wild West scenarios I've always been partial to.

Fugitive is set on a jungle planet with a wildlife painter who finds a Zetithian Tarzan-type living there in hiding from his enemies. This one has given me the opportunity to develop several different forms of wildlife, as well as some natives with interesting talents.

In Hero, you'll travel to a distant space station filled with aliens from all over the galaxy, take a side trip back to Darconia, and then on to several new worlds, hurtling through space on a wild adventure to finally take down the ultimate bad guy.

The settings and the heroines may be different, but thing these stories all have in common are those sexy Zetithian heroes! When you're only dealing with human males, you pretty much already know what most of them are capable of, but with aliens, anything is possible. When I created these guys, I gave them every characteristic I would want my dream alien hero to have--fun personalities, cat-like grace, long, curly hair, and some rather remarkable "equipment"--with the result that I have fallen head over heels for each one of them, and some of my readers have, too!

In Hero, I get the opportunity to explore an aspect of the Zetithian species that I've only hinted at in other books, which is the women. With men who are so incredibly hot, what kind of women would they have? I'm writing my own version, but what about you? Any ideas?

Comments

  1. Hi Cheryl!

    I have heard nothing but great things about this series -- all over the blogosphere -- WOW!! Keep writing, everyone loves them!!

    I'll be checking them out, I love SciFi paranormal romance!!

    Dottie :)

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  2. Thanks, Dottie! I hope you enjoy them!

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  3. Your books sound so cool... I cut my teeth on SF, Heinlein, Asimov, etc. Neat to see it combined with romance!

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  4. Good Morning Cheryl,
    This is a safer place to hang out. Back at your SpacePort Blog there's mayham.
    I'm raising my hand. I admit it. I'm in love with one of your aliens.
    In my Fantasy of a Female Zetithian. They're very beautiful, graceful but athletic, smart, strong willed and feisty. They give off very Strong PHEROMONES in their Saliva. So a Female Z-Cat bite is disabling. If they do find a man to love. They bite them once to mark them, twice to connect their minds, three times to bind to them forever. That's the HEA. And they all have Star shaped birthmarks that are very sensitive to touch. Have I been reading to many of Cheryl's books. NOT!!!!!

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  5. Cheryl-

    One of the most consistent things that comes up in every review/interview/comments is talk of your world building. I'm glad you gave us some insight into each book's specific world!

    I think a female Zetithian would have to be similar to the males, in that she should ooze sex appeal, and have total confidence, but to differentiate, she should be softer and sensuous :) i like all of Donna's ideas!

    Have a great weekend,
    Danielle

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  6. Cheryl, I'm sure nothing I could come up with would be as awesome as what you're already doing, so I'll just wait and see what your female Zetithian is like! I'm sure she'll be amazing.

    I love that you do sci-fi romance. It's one of those things I've always loved reading, bbecause the sky really is the limit with what you can do.

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  7. This is so cool, Cheryl.You have given yourself a way to 'have it all!'

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  8. I think you should make your Zetithian women just like you: fun, fearless, fabulous, and ALL about s-e-x. Oh wait, was I supposed to keep that last part a secret? LOL "The Cat" is now out of the bag!

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  9. Cheryl, this is a nice synopsis of your Cat Star Chronicles books. Thanks for posting them.

    Donna, I tracked you down.

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  10. I couldn't agree more, Donna! I have ALWAYS thought there should be more romance in sci-fi!

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  11. Yes, Donna, the girls went wild last night. Haven't been there since I got up, though. Is it safe to enter? Your Zetithian girls sound great!

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  12. Thanks, Danielle!
    I hope my female version lives up to all expectations!

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  13. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kendra, and, yes, the sky's the limit, which I why I'm having so much fun with it!

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  14. LOL, Marie! You know me much too well... Well, maybe not the fabulous part, but I'll plead guilty to the rest!

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  15. thanks, Sharon! Have you scared Donna away from the blog???? I'm not sure I want to look, now....

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  16. Oh Cheryl. How could you? How am I supposed to wait for the rest of the series now that I have these fantastic teasers to nosh on! ;D lol

    Lovin' the magenta hue on the Fugitive cover and the book sounds fantastic. I can't wait!

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  17. Thanks, Rhi!
    Glad you're looking forward to the next in the series. I hope you'll like them!

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  18. Great job, Cheryl! Sorry to be so late on posting...still have tons of deadlines but trying to drop in and say hi! :)

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  19. Hi Terry!
    Better late than never! Good luck with those deadlines!

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