Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Interview With Pippa Jay, Author Of KEIR


KEIR by debut author Pippa Jay is now out from Lyrical Press! It’s always exciting to discover another author who decided to write a science fiction romance. Plus, color me giddy with anticipation about diving into a new story.

I invited the author aboard to discuss her novel-length book. But first, here’s the cover and blurb for KEIR:

Outcast. Cursed. Dying. Is Keir beyond redemption?
For Keirlan de Corizi--the legendary 'Blue Demon' of Adalucien--death seems the only escape from a world where his discolored skin marks him as an oddity and condemns him to life as a pariah. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise: Tarquin Secker, a young woman who can travel the stars with a wave of her hand. 

But Quin has secrets of her own. She's spent eternity searching through space and time with a strange band of companions at her back. Defying her friends' counsel, Quin risks her apparent immortality to save Keir. She offers him sanctuary and a new life on her home world, Lyagnius. 

When Keir mistakenly unleashes his dormant alien powers and earns instant exile from Quin's home world, will she risk everything to stand by him again? 

***

And now discover what Luke Skywalker, mitochondrial mutations, and freestyle street dances have in common:
 
The Galaxy Express: Congratulations on the release of KEIR! Please tell us three unforgettable facts about yourself.

Pippa Jay: Thanks so much! Hmmm, unforgettable? I do freestyle street dance, have a celtic butterfly tattoo on my right wrist, and my first crush was Luke Skywalker. They might just be odd enough to be memorable.

TGE: What inspired the story of KEIR?

PJ: Originally he was just someone I had in my head from a dream, all beaten and locked up alone in a dungeon. When I woke up, I instantly had a name for him, and the whole story came from that one image. But it’s also based on my aversion to discrimination of any kind. The hope that one day we’ll all be able to see beyond someone’s appearance/race/faith/disability etc to what really lies within.

TGE: Please list six brief tags for KEIR that you would like readers to know about.

PJ: Science fiction romance, time-travel, redemption, space travel, aliens, demons

TGE: What was the path to publication like for this book?

PJ: Convoluted but relatively short! I’m a UK author so it comes as a surprise to some that my publisher is in the US. I started off with the Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook like most British writers, researching the very few agents and publishers in the UK that take speculative fiction. It’s a long, slow process with almost all submissions done via snail mail -  time-consuming and darn expensive!  But science fiction is a bit of a niche genre here and although I got feedback that my writing was good, no one took me on. Research and networking on the internet helped me hone my query letter and sharpen up my editing skills. Then a friend and fellow author in Alaska suggested that I move my efforts to the States. She helped me find and research publishers in the US and I submitted to my top three choices. KEIR got snapped up pretty quickly after that.

TGE: Please describe the heat level in KEIR.

PJ: It's sweet, with just the one bedroom scene. The bedroom scene is mildly sensual, with no explicit terms.

TGE: What’s the most interesting scientific fact you discovered in the past six months?

PJ: That a group of individuals cloned from a single organism won’t necessarily be identical, as you might think. Mitochondrial mutations mean they can vary.

TGE: Which science fiction romance stories from books, film, or television had the most impact on you? 


Looking back on it, I can see I’d come across a lot of sfr in books and films, especially with reading authors like Anne McCaffrey. But I wasn’t really consciously aware of it until Farscape when the romantic tension between Aeryn Sun and John Crichton grabbed my attention. I loved the whole concept of the series, and although I always thought they would end up together, the relationship had a lot of interesting twists on the way.

TGE: Where can readers find you?

PJ:

Twitter:  @pippajaygreen   http://twitter.com/pippajaygreen
Facebook:  Keir - Beyond Redemption (book page) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keir-Beyond-Redemption/114058821953752

TGE: What else can readers look forward to from you? 


PJ: The sequel to KEIR - LOST SERENITY - is currently with my editor. I have a straight scifi novella that needs a little more tweaking before it goes out on submission, and I’m polishing the rough draft of a science fiction romance novella. There’s also a scifi short that I’m hoping to self-publish as soon as it’s finished and fully edited.

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Ms. Jay, thanks for your time, and for your art.

The author is on a blog tour currently and there are giveaways, too! Click here for complete details.

Joyfully yours,

Heather