Hello Robin, and welcome!
Q: Robin, so when did the idea for the book come to you? And, when did you
decide that you wanted to be a writer?
A: Let me answer the second question first. Reading the Nancy Drew mystery
series as a kid inspired me to want to be a writer. When I started college,
I gave up the dream as being impractical and pursued a career in business
instead. In 1997, I ran into a casual friend who told me about the Romance
Writers of America and how they helped writers become published. She took
me to my first chapter meeting and the dream of writing was reborn.
The idea for TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN came to me sometime late in 1999. I was
mowing the lawn, or doing something equally tedious, when this scene popped
into my head. The hero and heroine were inside enemy territory, she was stranded
without clothes, fighting the hero, who was trying to help her but whom she
had mistaken for one of the enemy. This turned out to be the scene where Nicoli
first finds Angel in the Harvestors' Donor Room. The rest of the story evolved
from trying to explain what events lead up to this scene and what happens
next.
Q: Could you tell us about, Too close to the Sun?
A: The Harvestors are the veritable bogeyman of the modern universe, swooping
down from the sky unseen to kidnap victims, destroy their minds and sell their
bodies, in whole or in parts, on the Black Market. Colonel Nicoli Romanof
has allowed his life essence to be separated from his physical form and placed
into the computer of his ship. He intends to use his body, with implanted
tracer tag, as bait to track the Harvestors to their uncharted home planet,
where he will reclaim his body and destroy the alien race. Everything goes
according to plan until a terrorist attack kills his pilot and his ship is
stolen.
Galactic smuggler Angel Torrence is on the run again - this time from Felinean
Avengers. When her ship is blown up in a terrorist attack, she steals another,
rescuing an elderly by-stander in the process. Allowing the old man to believe
she is "Michels" (a young man), she pilots the ship to safety, only
to have the ship's computer take over. She soon learns that the computer is
the disembodied life essence of Colonel Nicoli Romanof and the old man is
his friend, Yanur Snellen. The men are on a mission to destroy a deadly race
of aliens. From the first order Col. Romanof barks at her, he rubs Angel the
wrong way, yet she can't deny he has a sexy voice. Nevertheless, she wants
to be rid of the Colonel and his friend to pursue her own freedom, yet there
seems to be no escape for her.
Now it's a race against time to get Nicoli's body back, and in one piece,
if he's going to destroy the Harvestors. After a Free Rebel attack on the
ship leaves Yanur injured, "Michels" is the only one who can help
Nicoli. But what happens when Nicoli discovers his pilot isn't a young boy,
but actually a beautiful young woman? And what will Angel do when their mission
leads them to Coronado, the one planet she must avoid at all costs if she
is to remain free. Will she allow Nicoli to face the Harvestors alone? Or
will she risk her own freedom in order to help Nicoli and prevent the Harvestors
from taking over her home world?
Q: Did the book take a long time to write?
A: It took about two years to write TCTTS. After completing about a third
of it, I was told by a literary agent that I would have a difficult time "breaking
into the paranormal market," so I put the manuscript away and started
work a contemporary romantic suspense. I worked on that for about a year then
decided that I wasn't ready to shelve TCTTS just yet. Although "life"
and my day job prevented me from doing much writing, I entered TCTTS in contests
and it started doing well. At the beginning of 2002, I put serious effort
into finishing it, which I did in September of that year.
Q: Angel, your lead female character, had some very difficult decisions to
make. She sacraficed
quite abit, did you by chance model her character after anyone in particular?
A: I always liked Hans Solo from the original Star Wars movie and feel like
Angel is a female version of that character in personality. As far as her
life and the sacrifices she made, they were her own. I didn't consciously
model her after anyone.
Q: As an avid reader of futuristics, sometimes, I wish that I could have
a better of understanding of the world and culture which an author creates.
I was very fascinated by Angel's homeworld. Could you give us an idea of what
it must have been like for her, growing up as a child?
A: I envisioned Angel as having a happy childhood, ignorant of the politics
around her. Angel's father was more forward thinking than the other males
of her planet, allowing her to learn and experience many of the same things
the young boys did. This made her father unpopular with the rest of the men,
and especially with Angel's maternal grandfather, who was a very powerful
man and wished to keep things the way they were. It wasn't until her father
was murdered by her grandfather and her mother was being forced to wed another
man that Angel realized how shielded her childhood had been and what few rights
women had. By that time, she had developed too much independence and spirit
to suddenly turn submissive, so rather than stay and become her grandfather's
pawn, she escaped the planet with help from her mother. Because her grandfather
needed her for his own political plans, he pursued Angel, forcing her to always
keep running, never staying in one place so long that he could track her down.
Q: Robin, you mention the terrible devastation that the Harvestors have caused
to Nicoli's homeworld and beyond, how long had this race been raiding the
galaxy?
A: The Harvestors had been raiding the galaxy for several decades - starting
slowly and increasing their raids as their need for bodies and resources grew.
Because they were rarely seen taking the bodies and their planet was uncharted,
they were not immediately discovered. As the race neared extinction and they
became desperate, they stole bodies more frequently. And with the diminished
mental capacity, they were not as careful.
Q: Thanks so much for giving us an inside of view of, Too close to the Sun.
So, any plans for the future? Works in progress or new releases coming out?
A: I'm currently working on another futuristic. It takes place about 20 years
after TCTTS and while Nicoli and Angel make an appearance, it is an unrelated
story about a galactic bounty hunter with a past forced to team up with a
naïve, yet adventurous empath to rescue a USPSF agent from the sadistic
crime lord holding him hostage.
Q: Any upcoming book signings or appearances?
A: I had several book signings and appearances in July and my August schedule
is below. So far I have nothing scheduled after August - except to write!
August 19 at 9:00 PM ET - An online chat at KarenLovesBooks.com.
August 20 at 7:00 PM CST- Participate in local Houston book club discussion
of TCTTS; book signing to follow.
August 23 at 10:00 AM CST- Guest speaker for NW Houston Chapter of RWA - Writing
the Paranormal Novel; book signing to follow.
Q: Robin, it has heen wonderful having you with us today, any last words
for your readers?
A: Thank you so much for having me and I would like to thank all my readers
for picking up my story and taking a chance on me. You are the ones that make
writing worth the effort. Last words? I would say - never give up on your
dreams. It may not be easy, but they can come true.
