Mated with the Cyborg by Cara Bristol - Interview and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Cara will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Thanks for stopping by to chat with us. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I’ve written all my life. I have a degree in journalism, and I’ve worked as newspaper reporter and PR manager. But writing fiction is fun. I love making stuff up! Sci-fi (and paranormal and fantasy) allow the most elbow room for creativity. With historical fiction, you’re limited by facts, and in contemporary fiction you’re bound by culture and commonly accepted truths. That said, in sci-fi, there are still rules. You can’t defy the laws of physics and other accepted scientific facts and not get a negative reaction. I find that sci-fi allows me freedom to express ideas that would not be accepted in a contemporary novel. It challenges me to think outside box.

What world-building is required?

First, one needs to recognize how broad the world really is. In sci-fi, you need to account for popular culture, language, clothing, weaponry, government, religion, geography, transportation, and interpersonal relations. Even if you don’t expressly mention those things, they still permeate the world. Take cursing for instance. Our curse words are either religious or sexually based. So what do aliens yell when they’re angry, surprised or excited? It’s probably not g-damnit or f-k.

I’m continually googling for research and fact-checking. With the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance series I’ve had to research bombs (explosions in outer space), space shuttle sizes and runways, gravity, types of espionage, what actually makes a cyborg a cyborg, government titles, national monuments, even what someone three hundred years in the future might carry in his pockets.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

Don’t accept group think. Challenge what you’ve been taught. Question even your core beliefs, because they may not be true.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

I write erotic sci-fi romance. I cannot write the sex scenes if someone is in the room with me—and that includes my husband. We used to share an office until I started writing erotic romance, and then I realized, hey, this isn’t going to work. So now I have my own office. The first Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance, Stranded with the Cyborg, was released in audiobook recently. I was alone in my office, but I can’t tell you how uncomfortable it was to listen to the narrator read my sex scenes. OMG!

Are you a plotter or pantser?

I’m a pantser. Until I get into the story and get to know the characters, how can I know what’s going to happen? Often my characters take charge and direct the action. That said, I generally plot my shorter works, but I believe that the ideas that come to me at 3 a.m. are better than the ones that I would hard plot. I guess that’s another writerly quirk.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

The L of my desk with my reference books, and over it, my white board. I have important dates written on the board, things I don’t want to miss.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

Captured by the Cyborg (Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance 3) will be released in March. Dale Homme, a secondary character in Mated with the Cyborg, is the hero of that one. Carter Aymes, the director of Cy-Ops, a secondary character in all three books, will probably be the star of book 4. I also have a BDSM Valentine’s Day story, “Stepping it Up” in the anthology, Bound, Spanked & Loved, available for pre-order now. It will be released February 8.

Do you have a question for our readers?

Yes! I would like to know what readers find most interesting about cyborgs. Do they like the part-man part computer aspect? The “alphaness”? Also, what is their favorite type of sci-fi setting—Terra of the future, alien planets, space stations, spaceships?

Kai Andros’s orders were simple. Get in. Gather the intel on the terrorist organization. Get out.

Then he met her. Mariska. Beautiful. Innocent. Ignorant of her father’s atrocities. And marked for death.

His orders said nothing about saving her. But he did. He went off-mission.

Can a rogue cyborg outrun both Cyber Operations and the terrorists to save the woman he loves?

Enjoy an excerpt:

Her father pushed back his chair and patted Janai’s head before rounding on Mariska.

She dropped her gaze to the floor. Her stomach was already there. Show no fear. Show no fear.

“Stand up,” Obido ordered.

She attempted to rise, but her feet tangled in her skirt. R981’s arm shot out as if to keep her from stumbling.

“What are you doing?” Obido glared at the android.

“I am performing my duty and assisting her,” he replied.

“Your duty is to report to me.” Her father confirmed what she’d suspected.

“She was about to fall.”

It sounded like R981 was arguing. The general must have thought, too, because his eyes narrowed on the android, but then he jerked his attention back to her. “Remove your scarf.”

No one had seen her face since she was a child teased to tears by her siblings. It had been a relief to be ordered to wear the veil to spare the sensibilities of others and escape their horrified looks. While bathing, she avoided the reflection glass and its taunting reminder of her ugliness. Stomach clenching into a hard knot, she released the opaque fabric from one side of her headdress.

Her father grimaced, and Janai, who’d never seen her naked face, gasped.

Mariska held her head high and stared straight ahead.

HOLY HELL! KAI Andros almost fell over. This was what Lamis-Odg considered deformed, ugly? Fortunately, his black contact lenses concealed most of his shock. Intel intercepted by Cyber Operations had reported the fifth daughter of one of the most infamous terrorists had a “significant facial defect.” Her eight sisters had been married—mated was the term these people used—but no one wanted her, fearing she would produce hideous offspring.

He hadn’t seen her face until now.

In the genetic game of chance, Mariska had been dealt a royal flush. She was fucking gorgeous.

Don’t gawk! A real android wouldn’t react, but as a cyborg, a red-blooded heterosexual man working undercover as a robot, how could he not?

About the Author: Multi-published, Cara Bristol is the author of more than 23 erotic romance titles. She writes science fiction, contemporary, and paranormal erotic romance. No matter what the subgenre, one thing remains constant: her emphasis on character-driven seriously hot erotic stories with sizzling chemistry between the hero and heroine. Cara has lived many places in the United States, but currently lives in Missouri with her husband. She has two grown stepkids. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading and traveling.

Cara Bristol web site/blog - http://carabristol.com
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Facebook Author Page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cara-Bristol-Erotic-Romance-Author/178661122147994
Amazon Author page - http://www.amazon.com/Cara-Bristol/e/B004D8KZTQ/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/CaraBristol
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4136271.Cara_Bristol

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