Introducting Erica Anderson

Hello Brigaders! Please join me in welcoming our new recruit, Erica Anderson.

Erica, Please tell us a little about yourself

I live in Alaska and make the cat-food money by teaching anthropology at the university level. I’ve lived all over the United States and travel as much as I can internationally. I’m pretty introverted, except when I’m teaching. That’s part of the reason I love writing—it’s a solitary pursuit and it allows me plenty of time alone. Well, not quite alone. My kitty Cyrus keeps me company by sprawling on the closest piece of furniture and making sure I don’t forget to feed him.



We’d love to hear more about your book, The Antaren Affair.

The Antaren Affair is a erotic M/F SFR set “dirt-side,” so I can focus on cultural difference and social interactions. It’s definitely more character-driven than plot driven. The hero is a linguist and diplomat who arrives on the planet Antares to negotiate a treaty. He’s presented with a sexual companion as a gift for the duration of his stay, and they end up falling in love. The heroine is being used as a spy by her own people, so I explore issues of trust and communication in the book. She’s also a member of a social underclass, which gives me the chance to deal with questions of equality and gender politics.


Would you like to share any upcoming projects (and links)

Because of the way I write, I have three WIPs in various stages of completion. All three are set in the same universe as The Antaren Affair. I’m about half done with the story of Lt. Jholtan, who was a character in TAA. He meets a woman from the notorious “pleasure planet,” Vanora, and teams up with her in an attempt survive some harrowing adventures. Here’s a link to an excerpt.


What do you like about writing SFR?

I’ve always been interested in other places and other cultures, so writing SF gives me the chance to explore a limitless universe of species, cultures, behaviors, and identities. Though I love to read military SF and space opera, I think my talents are best employed in exploring biological and cultural differences on more intimate levels.

I try to draw on my knowledge of the incredible diversity of human behavior to add depth and detail to my characters’ lives. I’m also very interested in biological adaptation and I try to employ evolutionary principles when I create a new species in a book.

For example, the hero of one of my WIPs sports some reptilian characteristics, including dentition adapted for carnivory and a physical feature he employs to express aggression.


What do you find challenging about it?

As someone who writes erotic SFR, the biggest challenge for me is to make an alien hero or heroine attractive to the prospective love interest (and to the reader!), but retain their “otherness.” Where is the line between what’s icky alien sex and what’s hot alien sex? Obviously the threshold is different for each of us.

I make my sister read everything and then we have conversations along the lines of “Is it gross if I give my hero a ruff like a frilled lizard?” LOL.



What is your favorite SF book or movie?

You want me to choose? I’m a huge fan of the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold, so Shards of Honor ranks very high on my list of favorites.
I also adore the movie Alien and the short-lived series Firefly.


What SFR book would you most like to be stranded in and with whom?
I confess to unrequited lust for Turk from Wen Spencer’s Endless Blue and for Vel in Ann Aguirre’s SIrantha Jax series. Aguirre writes such a great character that the fact Vel is insectoid seems like a minor obstacle to overcome in a romantic relationship. : )

Favorite mode of fictional travel?
Definitely Star-Trek transporter -style “beam me to the planet’s surface.”

AUTHOR BIO: Erica writes stories set in the imagined worlds of the future and the past. She’s able to write almost every day–one of the benefits of no husband and no kids!–but at a glacial speed (that is, glaciers before global warming).
She has a job in the “real world” as a university prof, but dreams of some day writing her way out the office.
In addition to writing, Erica reads voraciously–everything from military SF and space opera to historical fiction, traditional Regencies and m/m romance.
When she’s not reading or writing, she loves to travel, make contemporary-style quilts, and eat peanut butter M&Ms (which are chock full of protein and niacin, BTW).
Her travels have taken her to just about every country in Europe as well as to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru. She lived in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Florida, and New Mexico before she settled in Alaska, one of the most beautiful places in the world.
She’s blessed to share her life with rescue kitty Cyrus indoors and birds, deer, seals, and bears outdoors.
Erica loves to hear from readers, so leave a comment, visit her at Goodreads, or stop by her blog. She’d love to meet you!

blog: www.authorericaanderson.blogspot.com
To purchase The Antaren Affair http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-8459-50-the-antaren-affair.aspx

Book blurb:
Colonel Rakosy Avar is an officer in the Imperial Forces sent to the planet Antares to negotiate an alliance. He’s learned the hard way to trust no one and has only one passion—duty. But when an Antaren kebara is sent to serve him in any way he desires, she proves too great a temptation for the battle-scarred warrior. Although he suspects a trap, he still wants her on her back. In his bed.

Meraya is a woman trained to provide sexual pleasure. A woman whose duty is to serve. She has never known freedom. Or desire. She discovers both in the arms of the barbarian colonel. But Meraya is a pawn in a deadly game of interstellar politics that could cost her everything…including her heart.

When Avar discovers he wants more than the paradise found between Meraya’s lovely thighs, he must play for the highest stakes ever, gambling with the life of a woman he can’t resist. A woman whose betrayal would destroy him.