Author Spotight - Michelle Levigne talks about her passion for writing Science Fiction Romance

I just like the flexibility, the extra possibilities available in the whole SF genre. I guess I write romance because relationships are important in the stories. One of my friends pointed out that my stories were very "domestic," meaning the relationships were a large partof the story.

There are more "toys" to play with, writing SF. More things to do, more places to go. But the important thing is to make sure that the "toys" and the otherworldly settings and situations are integral to the plot -- if you took them out of the story, the story would fall apart, it couldn't be written without them. If you can take away the ray guns and the spaceships and have the same story without a hitch, then maybe it really isn't an SF story, you know? I'm working on a series of short stories where I take faerie tales and turn them into SF romances. This is possible, maybe even necessary, because of the "unearthly" elements in faerie tales -- the magic, the creatures, the strange landscapes, the curses, the quests, the characters -- it translates well into SF settings and characters. The genie can turn into a sentient computer. Goblins turn into aliens. The Beast turns into a hero infected with a mutating disease. Beauty is the intrepid doctor who works to cure him. On and on.

A classic example is a story idea I had, where a rich, powerful, ruthless man, kidnaps a young woman who turns out to be his daughter. He couldn't get away with it for long in our modern world. However, put the story in a star-spanning civilization, where every planet has its own laws, and communication and tracking people isn't easy between worlds, suddenly it's very possible. And the daughter he kidnaps was originally bred for him for a specific purpose, for possible genetic gifts that will make him even more powerful. If he can get her to think like him.

So the possibilities are broader and more convoluted in SF, and you can have all sorts of tools and toys and settings and sidekicks that you can't find in our modern world that has become so very small and familiar.

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Michelle Levigne

STEPH: I don't know much about "That Syncing Feeling." What's it about?

MICHELLE: It's a tie-in to my full-length novel SF romance, "Blue Fire." Nureen, the heroine of "Syncing" is childhood military brat friend with Rhianni, the heroine of "Blue," and even shows up several times.

Nureen is a hot-shot pilot, out having a snit-fit in a scout craft, because she's stuck patrolling dead space instead of being in on the action, supporting Rhianni. She gets a distress call, and ends up falling through a vortex into another dimension -- the Borealis universe -- with a shapeshifting creature named Tessur. On the Borealis, she runs into Tedrin Creed. He's been there 5 years, after falling through a similar space anomaly. Problem: Nureed knows who Creed is, her grandfather's best friend, a war hero, who is presumed dead after a massive space battle 50 years ago. Naturally, she doesn't believe he is who he says. Creed has bigger problems: they only have so much time to get to the space anomaly and get home before it closes. Maybe permanently.

STEPH: How did you become involved in writing for the Borealis Science Fiction Series?

MICHELLE: Gail asked for more victims -- err -- intrepid writers willing to try to play in her playground. I got my start writing fan fiction, playing in someone else's playground, and it sounded like it might be fun!

STEPH: What inspired your story?

MICHELLE: I wanted to give Nureen an adventure. I had to figure out how to get from the "Blue Fire" universe to the Borealis universe. Answer: Space anomaly. Then I thought about all the trouble you can get in if it's not only distance, but time that's messed with. Then I had this shapeshifting critter I created for a bunch of Star Trek stories years ago, that I wanted to take out of retirement. And I wanted to have some fun.

STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

MICHELLE: Maybe 1 week for the first draft, then maybe 2 days each for each revision. When you're having fun, the stories just flow.



STEPH: How did you come up with the title "That Syncing Feeling?"

MICHELLE: Tessur, the shapeshifter, refers to the space anomaly/vortex as the Sync -- as in "synchronizing" as well as "sinking." And I wanted to get a little silly -- play on words, "Sinking Feeling."

STEPH: Have you read other Borealis stories?

MICHELLE: Yes! Fun. I read them for research before I got started. Big shoes to fill!

STEPH: Did you grow up with a passion for Science Fiction?

MICHELLE: I think so -- I can remember playing Star Trek on the elementary playground. The climbing tower was our spaceship. We slid down the poles for our "transporter." I always got to play Spock because I was the only one who could do the Vulcan salute.

There's always been SF around. I loved it when they started publishing the Star Trek novels. Then the original Star Wars came out when I was in high schoo. I can remember going to the SAME theater to see Star Wars for my 16th and 17th birthdays.

STEPH: What's your writing space like?

MICHELLE: Right now it's a mess. Lots of bookshelves at one end of the room. computer desk and worktable at the other end of the room. Papers everywhere, notebooks on the floor, where I'm organizing/sorting/ridding notes for upcoming books. Don't even look in my closet, where it's always a jumble of promo materials and packing boxes and projects I haven't finished yet. But it's all MY mess, and it's a comfortable place with a big chair that's good for sitting and typing for a looooong time. I have my music to shut out the rest of the world, a window that looks out on the back yard with a creek and trees and bluejays and deer walking through.

STEPH: How long have you been writing?

MICHELLE: Feels like forever! I can remember scribbling stories in junior high, daydreaming and rewriting TV shows that didn't satisfy me, or continuing the storyline of movies and books that really caught my attention. I started seriously writing books, actually FINISHING them, in 10th grade. So yeah ... forever!