This is our kick-off "Meet the Author Monday" interview, so we thought it would be fun to have newly minted SFR Brigade administrator and newly announced RWA RITA Award® finalist Vivien Jackson (that was a heck of a week for Vivien!) tell us more about herself and her books.
How or why did you first start writing SFR? Any inspirations?
I was trundling along writing (bad) sci-fi and went to an ArmadilloCon (annual Austin SFF literary convention) and lo! Catherine Asaro was there! And she was amazing. And I started reading her books. And light burst through the heavens, raining down the revelation that romance and science fiction do not have to be two different things. They can be together. In the same story! Like chocolate and peanut butter! So, um, yes. That was the beginning of SFR for me.
How many SFR books have you published and what are the titles? Can you give us a quick blurb on your most recent?
Only two: Wanted and Wired was my debut, and its follow-up was Perfect Gravity. Both came out in November, 2017.
Ack! I'm blanking. I've heard some folks really liked the car scene in Wanted and Wired, but it's probably too dirty to paste in here.
I really like the scene out on the beach in Perfect Gravity when Kellen gets nekkid and changes into his diving suit while Angela bald-eyeballs watches. But again, NSFW.
Oooh! And the scene that is a huge spoiler and I can't talk about. And the Perfect Gravity prologue, but that's kind of long.
Have any of your books received any special recognition? What and where?
Wanted and Wired was an Amazon Best Romance of 2017, an Amazon Best Romance of April 2017, the winner of the 2017 SFR Galaxy Award for "Best Hi-Tech Lovemaking," and a 2018 Romance Writers of America® RITA® Finalist.
Perfect Gravity was an Amazon Best Romance of November 2017 and winner of the 2017 SFR Galaxy Award for "Best Politician Protagonist."
Where's your favorite place to write? Do you have a dedicated writer's cave?
I keep meaning to put a spot together, but I move around a lot. My critique partner, Sloane Calder, has this amazing dark corner in her house with a super comfy chair and no one to bother me, and I'm always amazed by how I much work I get done over there. But generally? I'll work anywhere -- sofa, hub's desk, coffee shop, public library, car while kids are at music lessons. Oh! I have this app on my phone called BrainWave that makes almost any setting an instant-focus opportunity. It's like ear magic.
What are your favorite SF/R movies or television series and why?
I love so many of them! Seriously, I have been -- and continue to be -- a giant fanfic-writing, tee-shirt buying, convention-attending, spoiler-hunting fangirl of Farscape, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The X-Files, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, Heroes (not the recent revisit, just the original series), Fringe, and Westworld.
How long have you been a member of the SFR Brigade and do you serve any special roles within the community?
I don't remember a time when I was on Facebook and wasn't a member of the Brigade. I think I found it through Pippa Jay, way back when, and just hung around soaking up the awesome. Last year I bothered the admin team until they let me join up, and now I have super powers. (Not really.)
About the Author
Vivien Jackson writes fantastical, futuristic, down-home salacious kissery. Her debut science fiction romance, Wanted and Wired, was selected as an Amazon Best Book of 2017 in the romance category and is a 2018 Romance Writers of America® RITA® Finalist. A devoted Whovian Browncoat Sindarin Jedi gamer, she has a degree in English, which just means she's read gobs of stuff in that language. With her similarly geeky partner, children, and hairy little pets, she lives in Austin, Texas, and watches a lot of football.
Member of Romance Writers of America, Austin RWA, and the online Fantasy, Futuristic, & Paranormal chapter, Vivien is represented by Holly Root of Root Literary.
She'd love to hear from you on the web, Twitter (@Vivien_Jackson), Facebook or you can sign up for her newsletter.
Many thanks to Vivien Jackson for being our first Meet the Author Monday interviewee. Going forward, we hope to make this a regular series on the SFR Brigade blog.
Wanted and Wired is amazeballs! I've got my fingers crossed for the win!
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