Meet the Author Monday: JC Hay

Today, we're featuring author JC Hay, who is not only a long-time member of the SFR Brigade, but also an award-winning SFR writer who will be one of the eleven featured authors in the upcoming Pets in Space 3: Embrace the Passion anthology! Welcome to Meet the Author Monday, JC!


How many SFR Books have you published and what are the titles? Can you give a quick blurb on your most recent or upcoming title?

At the moment, I’ve got seven titles out and an eighth that is out of print. The bulk are split between two series: Corporate Services, my gritty, cyberpunk romance series (Dubai Double Cross, Mumbai Manhunt, and South Seas Salvation), and TriSystems: Rangers, which is military romance in space, with soldiers who are empathically bonded to their Wolves (Inouye and Grenville). There’s also Flare: Team Corona, which was part of 2017’s “Great Space Race” project, and Hearts and Minds, a stand-alone space opera romance with psychics, pirates, and space-vikings.

As for an upcoming title – one of my favorite side characters from the TriSystems: Rangers stories, Commander Penzak, is getting his own happily ever after in the anthology Pets In Space 3: Embrace the Passion. Here’s the blurb:

Loss casts a shadow you can’t outrun…

Commander Rafe Penzak is tired of jockeying a desk. With only months left before his forced retirement from the rangers, he decides to bend a few rules for one last mission: follow up on intelligence that vicious criminals have found the ranch that supplies the rangers’ umbra wolves. He’s ready to confront the reminder of his wolf’s death, but nothing in the Three Systems could prepare him for the spitfire who runs the farm.

Veterinarian Nafisi Sultana has run her wolf breeding program her way since the death of her husband. The last thing she wants is another ranger taking up space, correcting her methods, or being underfoot. But she can’t miss the pain and sorrow that haunts the greying commander, and her need to heal others pulls her into his orbit despite the agonizing memories he wakes in her.

With storms, raiders, and a renegade wolf pup driving them together, Nafisi and Rafe have to set aside their damaged past, or they’ll never be able to save something they both want more—a future.


When writing, which comes first for you – the romance or the other elements of the story?

That’s a chicken and egg question for me; with my series I know a lot of the setting elements and how they play into the various characters stories but I can’t begin to plot until I know what the wound is at the heart of the romance; the reason why they think they don’t deserve love, and the thing they’ll turn away from love in order to protect. Once I know that, the core of their romantic arc, then the rest of the story tends to fit into place around it.


Have any of your books received any special recognition? What and Where?

South Seas Salvation (the third of my cyberpunk books) is a 2107 SFR Galaxy Award Winner! I love my horribly broken, unapologetic hacker, and to see other people loved her as much as I do means the world to me.


Where’s your favorite place to write? Do you have a dedicated writer’s cave?

I have a dedicated writing space in the house – it was even featured on Authors in Space earlier this year – It’s got my dictation set up, and my lovely, clicky keyboard. That said, I also have a smaller tablet that I use when I need a change of scenery or have to jot down to the coffee shop for a while.


What are your favorite SFR movies or television series and why?

We’re really living in a feast-time for great sci-fi television, especially if you like a bit of romance sprinkled in. Killjoys is amazing, and Dutch is one of those wonderful characters that I wish I’d written. That said, my favorites are still the classics – Babylon 5 gave us John and Delenn, which made me laugh, cry, and scream in equal measure. I watched B5 when it first started airing, and it’s still one of my favorite series, years later.

Another series I really loved was Farscape, again because the romantic arc at its heart was so good. Aeryn Sun and John Crichton are probably my favorite Enemies to Lovers arc on television, and it’s part of why I love that particular trope so much.

About the Author

SFR Galaxy Award Winner JC Hay writes romantic science fiction and cyberpunk where the relationships matter as much as the tech. After all, the coolest gadgets in the world are useless without someone to share them.

In addition to Romance Writers of America, he is also a proud member of the SFR Brigade (for Science Fiction Romance), the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal Romance chapter, and RWA’s Published Author Network.


Upcoming Release!

Pets in Space™ is back!

Join us as we unveil eleven original, never-before-published action-filled romances that will heat your blood and warm your heart! New York Times, USA Today and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, Anna Hackett, Ruby Lionsdrake, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Carol Van Natta, Tiffany Roberts, Alexis Glynn Latner, E D Walker, JC Hay, and Kyndra Hatch combine their love for Science Fiction Romance and pets to bring readers sexy, action-packed romances while helping our favorite charity.

Proud supporters of Hero-Dogs.org, Pets in Space™ authors have donated over $4,400 in the past two years to help place specially trained dogs with veterans. Open your hearts and grab your limited release copy of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space™ 3 today!

Amazon   |   iBooks   |   Kobo   |   Google Play 

Here’s my Amazon author page: Author JC Hay

If you’d like a taste of my TriSystems: Rangers series before Pets in Space 3 releases, the first two books can be found at your favorite e-tailer:

Inouye (book 1)           Grenville (book 2)

Worldbuilding Gets Punk’d @j_c_hay

by JC Hay

For me, cyberpunk has always been the genre of rebellion. It eschewed the shiny futures and far frontiers that other science fiction genres promised. More importantly, it focused on the rebels and runners who made their living in the cracks where society had left them – thriving like weeds in the neon-soaked concrete. When I started the Corporate Services books, I knew I wanted to keep that rebellious cyberpunk ethos. That meant I needed something to be rebelling towards – an end state for the world that would level the playing field between the haves and the have-nots in my stories.

For me, that meant the Singularity. Or at least some version of the singularity.

For the unfamiliar – the Singularity is considered to be the moment when technological growth of artificial intelligence exponentially increases and bypasses human ability. I could talk at length about how we’re already seeing hints of what that could look like (look at what AlphaGo is doing to our perceptions of how Go is played, for example), but for the Corporate Services world I needed to create a over-arching story point that would usher in the end of the anthropocene. And, more importantly, that all of that would be set-up for the next arc in the series.

To do that, I had to come up with my idea of how the Singularity would arrive, and then build backwards from there, laying out the foundations that would allow an artificial intelligence to begin quickly iterating itself and surpass our own capabilities. Once I knew where it was going, the rest of the world building dropped into place quickly, pieces I could build into the individual plots of each book as the AI begins its quest to free itself.

For this first arc, which began with Dubai Double-Cross, I knew that multiple organizations in the world I was building were doing their own research into Artificial Intelligence. I also knew that their researchers were smart enough not to allow their work to have access to the whole of humanity in the ‘Net. Something that the AI ultimately needs. Setting up that moment of choice was the point I wanted the series to drive towards.

As a result, the first three books in the series can be seen as a prequel of sorts, or eve like the first season of a TV series, where the final episode sets up new changes for the season to come. Certainly things in the Corporate Services world will be very different when we return. Both old and new characters will find themselves dealing with the repercussions of the choices made in this first series, and antagonists from old books may become newfound allies as a communal enemy begins to make itself known.

And that means more rebellion, in a classic cyberpunk fashion, as everyone tries to level the playing field once more.

Dubai Double Cross

Elise is looking for an exit. Too many years as a top-talent thief in the digital shadows have whittled away her patience and her humanity. She’s not looking for complications, but with one more job, she’ll finally have enough money to leave the life for good.

Na’im does what he must to survive. Whether it’s selling his body to the corporate glitterati, or going on the run when things get bad – but even a survivor can be caught off guard, and his boss’s murder has left him with no one to trust but a thief with her own agenda.

Together, they’re on the run trying to figure out who framed them both and stay one step ahead of the murderer who’s close behind. Trust is a rare commodity for accidental lovers, but in a dark future where everything can be upgraded and emotions can be programmed, sometimes all that can keep you human is your heart.

On the fence? See what the SFR Brigade had to say: http://sfrcontests.blogspot.com/2017/04/sfrb-recommends-71-dubai-double-cross.html

Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01M1M8FRL

 

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dubai-double-cross/id1162248808 

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dubai-double-cross 

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dubai-double-cross-jc-hay/1124769476  

Author Bio: 

SFR Galaxy Award Winner JC Hay has never seen the distinction between science fiction and romance, having been raised on a steady diet of Robotech, Babylon 5, and Farscape. A proud resident of the Pacific Northwest, he writes science fiction and cyberpunk romances where the relationships matter as much as the shiny tech. After all, the coolest gadgets in the world are no fun without someone to share them.

Website: http://jchay.com

Follow my Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/jchay

Follow me on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jc-hay

Like my Facebook Author Page https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJCHay/

Follow me on Twitter @j_c_hay: https://twitter.com/j_c_hay

Follow me on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15727236.JC_Hay

Newsletter Sign-Up (Get a free copy of Hearts and Minds): https://dl.bookfunnel.com/xe6v3q4u1a

Martian Dreams by JC Hay

 

by JC Hay

All the excitement lately has been about those seven planets discovered in TRAPPIST-1, but thirty-nine light years is a long way to travel, and if we want to spread beyond our fragile blue-green rock, we’re going to need to look a lot closer to home. That means Mars.

I consider myself an optimist where Mars is concerned. Despite humanity’s mostly bad track record sending stuff to our nearest neighbor – we’re currently only at a 44% success rate overall – I think that the time is going to come when we establish a long-term base of operations on the Red Planet. Maybe not in my lifetime, but before the century is out.

That doesn’t mean I think it’s going to be easy – every element of Mars seems to be designed to inhibit human habitation. From the reduced sunlight (leading to a sense of perpetual exhaustion, at least for the first generation of colonists), to the superfine dust that clogs even the tightest seals, to the broader dangers of windstorms and radiation, Mars is not rolling out a welcome mat for us.

The moon wasn’t in a hurry to welcome us either, but we managed to make that trip repeatedly (not without risks, or deaths, but we did it). Mars will be the same way. In my Corporate Services books, the colony on Mars is in its infancy. Though we haven’t seen it in the books (yet), I’ve got a clear picture of how it looks – domes of 3-d printed concrete, covered with two-three feet of soil to protect the inhabitants from radiation and micro-meteors. Those, in turn, connect together to form larger structures like workshops and gardens, running of a combination of wind and reduced solar. It’s not a utopia, but it’s enough of a break from the corporate wars that high-tech thief Elise wants to head there as soon as her next job is done.

Too bad fate has other plans.

Dubai Double-Cross

From the underworld of corporate infighting…

Heavily modified and highly skilled, “acquisitions expert” Elise Briggs worked behind the scenes of the corporate world’s espionage wars. Or she had, until her most recent target turns up murdered and she’s forced to go on the run with the only person who can exonerate her, the victim’s lover and personal assistant.

…To the city’s glittering towers…

Plucked off the street to be the plaything of one of the richest women in the world, Na’im thought his life was finally complete; his obedience and the suite of cybernetic modifications he carried were a small price to pay for life at the top of society. Until his boss is murdered and his only ally is the professional thief hired to rob them.

…They can’t run from what’s inside

On the run and running short on allies, Elise and Na’im are about to discover that the murderer is closer than either of them suspect. If they plan to survive on the futuristic streets of Dubai, they need to learn how to trust each other, because when everything can be upgraded and emotions can be programmed, sometimes all that can keep you human is your heart.

Dubai Double-Cross is available now from:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M1M8FRL

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dubai-double-cross/id1162248808

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dubai-double-cross

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dubai-double-cross-jc-hay/1124769476

Author Bio: 

JC Hay writes romantic science fiction and space opera, because the coolest gadgets in the world are useless without someone to share them.

In addition to Romance Writers of America, he is also a proud member of the SFR Brigade (for Science Fiction Romance), the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal Romance chapter, and a member of RWA’s PAN (the published authors network).

His Corporate Services series, a set of connected cyberpunk romances, are set eighty years in our future where the limits of humanity are being stretched and tested, and our hearts are the hardest thing to keep pure.

Find JC Hay online:

Newsletter Sign-Up (get a free Corporate Services short story!): http://jchay.com/mailing-list-sign-up/

Website: http://jchay.com

Follow my Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/jchay

Like my Facebook Author Page https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJCHay/

Follow me on Twitter @j_c_hay: https://twitter.com/j_c_hay

Follow me on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15727236.JC_Hay