Today, we’re happy to host Melissa Aires. In addition to writing, she is also admin of the terrific SciFi Romance Group.

SGLSF:  What books had an influence on you growing up?

MELISSA: I had a much older brother who collected classic scifi and he let me read whatever I wanted. Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, and Frank Herbert were favorite authors, and I soon found Anne McCaffery, Ursula Le Guin and Madeleine L’Engle. I was fortunate to grow up in a bookish family–the public library and bookstores were constants in our lives. Later, as a teen I found genre romance fiction and I enjoyed that, too.

SGLSF: What attracts you to the romance genre, particularly SF/futuristic romance?

MELISSA: I love books with an optimistic ending and romance is a guarantee of that. Like many women the great joy of my life is my marriage and family. Stories that build a romance relationship set in the future with space travel and high tech adventures are a perfect fit.

SGLSF: What do you feel makes an engaging hero/heroine?

MELISSA: Actually, I empathize with the decent characters, the hard workers, the ones trying to live their own lives and lending a hand to others along the way. I like characters who care about others, not just about the H/h. They are not perfect, but they are also not selfish.

SGLSF: Where is your favorite place to write and why?

MELISSA: I write in my living room. I have one of those little one legged laptop desks that is ergonomic and comfy. I hate to be isolated in another room, that makes me antsy. In the living room my husband is around, my pets come visit, I catch a glimpse of my college kids running out the door. I’m very good at tuning out sports or cooking shows that my husband enjoys. Or I listen to music.

SGLSF: Please tell us a bit about your most recent project.

MELISSA: Right now I am working on a short story set in the Diaspora Worlds series, a cyborg and single mom romantic adventure. Single mom Aerria has a precocious child who causes her a great deal of trouble that only Security Chief Shan (a cyborg) can help her clean up. It will be in an antho this spring.

And some fun questions…

SGLSF: If you had to choose which would you pick: biological enhancement or cybernetic enhancement?

MELISSA: Biological enhancements that delay the feebleness of old age would be my choice. Imagine having the life experience of an eighty year old and the vigor of a twenty five year old!

SGLSF: Do you think there is a real possibility of alien life? Do you think we’d ever be able to make contact?

MELISSA: I think there is a real possibility of alien life but the universe is so huge making contact may never happen. Perhaps if our technology continues to advance and we don’t knock ourselves back to a new stone age.

 

Links

Website: http://melisseairesbooks.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melisseaires

Twitter: Melisse_Aires

Others: I admin(with a group of terrific SFR authors) a fun social group for readers and writers — limited promo–https://www.facebook.com/groups/the.scifi.romance.group/