Picture: Awkward teenage girl with huge glasses and thin
hair that never did anything. Yep, that was me. And before I was swept away in
a romance, add to the geeky scene pants that went to high, comic books before
they were considered trendy, plaid shirts, and a father who enjoys science
fiction enough to ‘recommend’ books too. This picture was those painful
memories of my teenage years, but somehow now, I look back with approving eyes.
It could have been a lot worse.
So I read books where the usually male hero goes off and
has some grand adventure while saving Earth, the known universe, or time as we
know it. All fun reads. But as a female, the fiction world was male geared. My
gender was an anomaly. When writing science fiction as a female, not everyone wants
to write the aliens need women stories. I’ve been considered an alien in my
viewpoint. An alien at her heart can never be human because she’s not one of
us.
So instead of writing about hot alien men, to me part of
the fun is writing an alien through female eyes. For human audiences, she has
to have something so basic about her that we relate to her. There is so much
internal drama that can make the heroine stand out. For me, Ariel might steal
other people’s bodies, but it’s more about her journey home. How far would
anyone go to get home? The journey home is also a common science fiction theme.
And what I love about romance novels is that despite the
alls, I the reader invest in a good will triumph, happy ever after story.
Vampires, werewolves, elves, witches, well they are all fun magical creatures.
But to me venturing into the male dominated world where the readers and writers
are often men means the female author has a unique story to tell. We’re not
seeing the issue of ‘the story has been told before’ because the field is vast.
Female aliens who are relatable are a wide open story. Leia in Star Wars is
technically an alien woman to humans. She’s relatable. In fact, my fall back
outfit every Halloween is my Princess Leia wig. If you enjoy aliens and stare
up at the sky with the question, ‘what if’ then aliens aren’t just for boys
anymore.
Blurb for The Zoastra Affair:
A hundred years from now, Earth has
trading partners with alien beings, mostly humanoid. However, going into space
brought forth an unknown enemy who attacks Earth at will.
The Zoastra is part of the Earthseekers,
an organization originally designed to go into space. Its new mission is to
find Earth’s enemies.
Ariel is stuck on a Victorian planet and
steals Grace’s body and life to get off the planet. Grace must get her body
back before Ariel bonds with Grace’s husband, Peter. Then there is Cross, the
man on a mission to find those who killed his family. Ariel is attracted to
Cross, but she’s stolen someone’s life.
The Zoastra Affair
by Victoria Pinder
Published
by Soul Mate Publishing
Science Fiction
Romance
Heat Level: Intimate
Length:
85000 words
Available at:
Coming December 30th
from Soul Mate Publishing.
Victoria Pinder grew up
in Irish Catholic Boston before moving to the Miami sun. She’s worked in
engineering, after passing many tests proving how easy Math came to her. Then hating
her life at the age of twenty four, she decided to go to law school. Four years
later, after passing the bar and practicing very little, she realized that she
hates the practice of law. She refused to one day turn 50 and realize she had
nothing but her career and hours at a desk. After realizing she needed change,
she became a high school teacher. Teaching is rewarding, but writing is a
passion.
During all this time, she always wrote stories to entertain
herself or calm down. Her parents are practical minded people demanding a job,
and Victoria spent too many years living other people’s dreams, but when she
sat down to see what skill she had that matched what she enjoyed doing, writing
became so obvious. The middle school year book when someone wrote in it that
one day she’d be a writer made sense when she turned thirty.
When she woke up to what she wanted, the dream of writing
became so obvious. She dreams of writing professionally, where her barista can
make her coffee and a walk on the beach, can motivate her tales. Contemporary
romances are just fun to write. She’s always thinking whose getting hurt and
whose story is next on the list to fall in love. Victoria’s love of writing has
kept her centered and focused through her many phases, and she’s motivated to
write many stories.
Member of Florida Romance Writers, Contemporary Romance,
Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter of RWA, and in Savvy Authors.