Borealis Week - Welcome and Author Interviews

The Borealis I Anthology released on 1 OCT and contains stories from Gail R. Delaney, PI Barrington, and J. Morgan. The stories are centered around a space station in the future. This week, the blog will be visited by the Borealis I Authors who share their thoughts about writing, the Borealis and science fiction romance. Enjoy the week!


5 QUESTIONS FOR GAIL R. DELANEY:


1. How did you come up with the idea to do a Sci-Fi series?


I can take no credit for this series whatsoever. In truth, fellow Borealis author J. Morgan approached me with the idea. He can be very convincing, and the more the two of us talked about it the more I liked the idea.

I like the concept of individual stories set in a common place with 'threads' connecting them because it's almost like an episodic television show. And since many lovers of science fiction are influenced by episodic television, it seemed appropriate.

2. How did your vision for the Borealis take shape?

I have to refer back to Jmo on this. Once he gave me the original idea, the two of us did a lot of 'back and forth' brainstorming on what the stories could be about and how they would tie in. I loved the idea of not only doing an anthology of 'like' stories, but a series of anthologies that interconnected. We could delve deep without each author committing to a full length novel.

3. What's it like editing an anthology where the stories intertwine with each other? Do you have to tell authors, "well, you can't do that because so-so did this...?"

I worked as a writer on a continuity series a few years ago, and unfortunately, the 'continuity' was lost in the series. By the time I was asked to write the last book, the storylines had gone off course so badly I couldn't write it and match the other books. Anyway, this was definitely on my mind when I began editing these stories. And yes, I've had to point out areas that don't work, or ways to make them work, or even ways to tie in other stories that might not be 'required', but adds interest. It's been a challenge.

4. How did your story in the anthology come to be?

Remember that continuity series I mentioned? ☺ Well, the book was never written for a variety of reasons. The timelines didn't mesh, and ultimately the publisher shut down before the book was done. I'd written about 45k words of the book, and liked several elements of it. So, I took the parts I liked, edited out parts that no longer applied, and added a new ending. It works GREAT in the Borealis setting.

5. Are there more Borealis Anthologies on the horizon?

The first Borealis anthology is October 2010, with the second coming immediately after in November 2010. This anthology has morphed a couple of times. It started as 5 stories in one release, but I realized quickly that the single anthology would be much too long. So we split it and added a 6th story for two releases. Borealis II has contributions by Stephanie Burkhart, Esther Mitchell and Shea McMaster. We also have Borealis III scheduled for next year, but if sales go well, I'm not opposed to also doing Borealis IV next year. Borealis III has stories by Vijaya Schartz, Michelle Levigne and Shay Wells. Time will tell on whether a fourth Borealis will happen in 2011, but if it does, I have a few authors in mind.

5 QUESTIONS FOR PI BARRINGTON:

1. How did you get involved in the series?

Gail (DBP Editor in Chief Gail R. Delaney) invited me to participate in the anthology she was creating which was Borealis (I love that name) and I accepted. I loved the whole concept and Gail is really good at creating sci-fi worlds.



2. Did you pick your story or did it pick you? *grin*

As I said Gail created it, and gave us the bones of the stories so we jumped off from there and created them in relation to the concept.

3. Where did you find your inspiration for your story?
I wanted a different character type for both hero and heroine in Inamorata Crossing. I think the casting I did really developed them and their particular story. Just the fact that they were part of a futuristic military setting aboard a transport and that each had an unresolved past, especially Khai and that Teyrnan had such an annoying/endearing sense of humor was the basis for the inspiration.


4. Did you "cast" your characters? Write character bios? How did you shape the characters for your story?

Yes, I definitely did, I almost always do. Bios I try to do but I'm not very successful at it. Usually just a particular photo of a character gives me the personality and conflicts but also helps me to create dialogue. If I can picture that actor/person in that photo speaking or behaving or thinking then I've pretty much got the character. Usually if I've got the photo and the first line the story falls into place. I picked Eric Bana, because as I told Gail, he started out in stand-up comedy and I've seen him do 'bits' and he fit the character of Teyrnan Sajan perfectly. Evangeline Lilly was perfect for Khai Zafara. For some reason I picture her fairly tall and the character of Khai is a soldier, lean but athletic when needed.


5. Did you coordinate with other authors on your stories? How was that like? Did JMO and Gail play nice in the sandbox? *wink*

I did not. My story was set on a transport ship en route to Borealis and there was no interaction between my characters and other stories' characters because of that. I didn't really think it needed interaction because Khai is a dedicated soldier and she contents herself with that, she would rarely if ever be spotted at a tavern or bar off duty because for her, she's never off duty. It's her life, her compulsion in a way. So I was flying solo, pardon the expression, when I wrote Inamorata Crossing,LOL!

5 QUESTIONS FOR J. MORGAN

STEPH: How did you get involved with the Borealis? 



JMO: 
I believe it started with 'Hey Gail, wouldn't it be fun to do a SciFi anthology based on a space station'. From there, her imagination took over with some nudges from me on details but the heart of Borealis is all hers.

STEPH: Did you pick your story or did it pick you? *grin*

JMO: I'd have to say it picked me, then fought me every step of the way. It was one of the hardest stories for me to write for some reason. I think that was because I wanted it to be perfect and hope I succeeded.


STEPH: JMO, we all know your tag line is "Romance straight to the Funny Bone." Is your story humourous? Serious? A blend? 


JMO: Humorous, of course, with some serious undertones. You can't write a totally comedic story without something to drive the funny. In Kate's case, it is to discover the man both he and his planet need him to be.

STEPH: What's your story about? Where did the inspiration come from?

JMO: I think the title of my story gives the answer to both questions away. Kiss Me Kate is a reworking of Taming of the Shrew and Our Fair Lady, only Sci-Fied up. K'tlyn is a prince from the planet of Pyern. He comes to Borealis in search of the one man who can turn him from a foppish figurehead into a real man. A warrior if you will. Only instead of the Professor, the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, he gets the Professor's second in command, Richelle Burton. She might not be the man K'tlyn wanted but she is woman enough to turn a boy into a man.


STEPH: Did you coordinate with other authors? What was it like it? Did Patti & Gail play nice in the sandbox? *wink* 


JMO: 
There are no sandboxes in outer space. If there were in this case, I think I'd be playing in Gail and Patti's, since this was my first stab at writing SciFi.