Pippa Jay: Interview with romance author Krystal Brookes

Please tell us a bit about yourself: I live on the west coast of Scotland where all it ever seems to do is rain. I live alone but that suits me. I don’t have to relinquish the TV remote or share the Pringles. I started writing fan fiction in January 2011 and haven’t looked back. Writing is my passion. It’s just a shame it took me until now to realise it.

Tell us about Bounty: Bounty was originally written and published as part of the Dangerous Men, Dangerous Places anthology from Pink Petal Books. The anthology is still available to buy. Gemma is a bounty hunter. When her plane crashes into the prison planet and she is rescued by one of the inmates, she fears he’ll work out who she is. But they are attracted to one another and that complicates matters.

What inspired you to write this particular story?: As I said, I started off writing through Fan Fiction. I’ve only ever written Star Trek: Voyager fan fiction. I was reading a lot of ff at the time too and kept wondering why these fantastic writers were not published. Now I suspect some of them are but under different names (just as I have different pen names for published works and fan fic). I had taken part in nanowrimo but my novel was a mess (I’m currently redrafting it). So I decided to see if I could get published. I saw the submissions call at Pink Petal and worked out what would be a dangerous place in space. That’s when I came up with the idea of a prison planet.

Which comes first for you – a character's looks, personality or name?: I’m a very visual person so probably their looks.

Any tips for aspiring authors?: Be yourself and use your own voice. Don’t try to emulate others. Publishers like different voices, as long as your sentence structure, grammar etc are good.

Questions for fun:

If you had the power of time travel, is there anything you would go back and change? Why/why not?: In my own life, I wouldn’t. I regret a lot but I accept that the things that have happened have made me who I am. On a global scale, I’d go back and kill Hitler in 1936. I think most of us would like to have done that.

What super-power would you choose?: Teleporting. I have so many friends world wide and would like to meet them. I’m not keen on flying but will suffer it as a necessity. But the idea of just transporting there in a few seconds really appeals to me.

If you could have three wishes, what would they be?: For everyone to be more tolerant of others beliefs (whether religious or not), to be able to give up my job to write, to find Mr Right.

Coffee, tea or wine?: Coffee

What is your favourite book? (aside from one of your own!): Honestly, I don’t have a favourite. I like too many books and too many genres. I’m kind of into my vampires at the moment so I’ve read a lot of books by both Lynsay Sands and Molly Harper.

Favourite genre and why?: I have to say romance as an umbrella genre. Within romance I love the sci fi, contemporary, historical and paranormal stories but it’s the relationships that I like the best.

Favourite colour?: Purple

Upcoming news and plans for the future?: The second book in my Kilrigh Heat series (Scottish contemporary romance) comes out in October and the third comes out a few days before Christmas. I’m redrafting my erotic sci fi nanowrimo novel called When in Rodomir at present and hope to sub that to publishers soon.

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us!

Thanks for having me.

And now let's take a look at Krystal's latest release.

Bounty—Description

When Gemma Scott’s shuttle crash lands on Alcatraz prison planet, she’s sure of one thing. If the impact doesn’t kill her, the inmates will. She wakes up in the hut of a convicted terrorist and wonders how long it will be until the handsome but dangerous man finds she was the one who arrested him two years earlier. As their attraction grows, they work together to help Gemma escape the dangerous planet. But they can’t deny the sparks that fly between them.

Bounty – Excerpt

“I see you’re awake,” a gruff male voice stated.

Gemma looked in the direction of the voice. Wherever she was, it was dark and damp smelling. Her mind was struggling to make sense of what had happened. She could tell there had been an accident but the immediate events before the accident were extremely fuzzy.

“Where...?”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re safe–for now. How are you feeling?”

“Sore and groggy,” she replied quietly.

She couldn’t quite make out the man in the dim light. She didn’t recognise his voice or where she was. Her memory was still fuzzy but something in the back of her mind scared her. She seemed to be alone with this man and she certainly was not in a hospital.

“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you crashland your shuttle into a planet Ms. Scott.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Your ID was in your pocket. And your phase gun was in your holster.”

“Where is my gun now?” Gemma asked, trying to stop the fear in her voice.

“It’s safe.” The man moved forward into the thin shaft of light coming from the dim overhead light on the ceiling of the hut they seemed to be in. The man was tall, muscular and tanned, with a shock of medium length brown hair. She recognized him, but couldn’t quite recall from where.

“I’d prefer it if you returned my gun. I need it.”

“I said it’s safe,” he returned.

She sat for a few moments trying to remember what had happened. She knew she had to get her gun back from this man but her head was too befuddled to form a coherent argument for now.

As the details of the accident came back to her, she squinted again at her rescuer, trying to recall how she knew him. She felt her blood drain as she remembered.

“I need to fix my shuttle,” said Gemma, hoping that he hadn’t realized who she was.

“It’s dark outside, you won’t be able to do anything just now.”

She tried to sit up but a shard of intense pain ripped through her shoulder and made her fall back on the pillow.

“You dislocated your shoulder, so I had to put it back in the socket. It’s going to be sore for a while.”

She rubbed her shoulder and grimaced.

“Thanks, I think.”

“If I’d left you in that shuttle, believe me, you would have been murdered or worse.”

“What’s worse than being murdered?”

“On this planet? Not being murdered and being kept alive long enough to be aware of what they’re doing to you.”

She shuddered.

Contact Links:

Web/blog: http://krystalbrookes.com