You have no idea how excited I am to have had the opportunity to interview Cara Bristol. Her Rod and Cane Society books were the first thing I knew about Spanking Romance and what a floodgate she opened for me. It is no exaggeration to say she was an inspiration.
Hi Cara, thank you so much for agreeing to
let me interview you. Congratulations on the release of Warrior, which I can’t
wait to get my teeth into.
Thank you, Tara. I’m thrilled to be on your
blog—although you did ask some hard questions!
1.
Can you share a little of Cara
Bristol, the person?
This is the
question I find the hardest. Well, I’m American. I’m married, and I have two
grown stepkids. I’ve written my entire life, even as a child. I’ve worked as a
newspaper reporter and public relations manager, but being an erotic romance
author is the best job I’ve ever had. I’ve enjoyed many different hobbies and
interests over the years, but the only thing I’ve been passionate about is
writing.
2.
If you were to describe
yourself in five words, what words would you use?
Dependable. Quiet.
Responsible. Pragmatic. Arrogant.
3.
What sort of thing gets you
really excited / hyped up?
I have my pet peeves, to be sure, but I’m an
even-keel kind of person. I’d never get accepted on a TV game show because I
wouldn’t be “perky” enough. If I won a lot of money, I’d probably say, “Oh,
that’s nice,” while in my head I’d be doing the math to figure out how much I’d
take home after taxes. Did I say I was pragmatic? J
4.
What is your favourite way to
relax?
I watch TV, read, and play a couple of games on my Kindle. And I walk.
Four-plus miles every day (6.5 km).
5.
What is the book / series by
another author, that has stayed with you most throughout life and why? Several
bodice ripper & Harlequin romances immediately come to mind, but one book
that I must have read eight times is Women’s
Work by Anne Tolstoi Wallach, about a woman struggling to succeed in the
male dominated world of advertising. She becomes involved with one of her
agency’s clients. At the time I read it, I was just starting my career, and the
book resonated with me.
6.
What prompted you to become a
writer?
Something in me needs to
write, to express myself through the written word. One of my earliest memories
is when I was three years old, and I bragged to the four-year-old little boy
next door about all the letters of the alphabet that I knew. He wasn’t
impressed, but to me, knowing letters
was something great. When I started to learn to read, I would lists the words I
knew how to spell. I wrote my first “novel” at age 10.
7.
What is your favourite thing
about your job?
Being able to do what I want
to do. As a reporter, and a PR person, I did a lot of writing—but I was writing
what other people wanted me to write. To sit at my computer and make stuff up
and get paid for it is the best gig in the world.
8.
What is your least favourite
thing about your job?
There isn’t anything I dislike about it. It’s all good.
Even the promo.
9.
I know you are “out” as in your
friends and family know you are Cara Bristol, for some time now. Do you think
that was the right decision? And why/why not?
Yes, it was the right decision.
At first I was a little embarrassed—not about what I wrote exactly, but more
concerned what people would think of me—how I would face them. But I had to
account for my time. People wondered what I did all day, why I wasn’t
available. And second, it’s a lot easier to sell books if you can talk about
them! (See how pragmatic I am? I should have put that first on the list!) Now
that I’m out, I don’t even think about what people think of me. They will have
their opinions, but people who genuinely liked me before they learned what I
write will still like me. I don’t worry about the others. However…if I were a
school teacher or something like that, it would be a different matter.
10.
I’ve loved the Breeder series
to date. Can you say what prompted or inspired it?
Thank you, Tara. Most of my ideas start out as
little seeds that when planted grow into something entirely different from what
I expect. It’s like planting an apple and getting a grapefruit. The original germ
of an idea for Breeder was of a society in which women were sexual slaves--not
BDSM slaves, but slaves under the law. It was a kinky domination fantasy. But
as I developed the story, Dak and Omra fell in love, and he didn’t want to
share her with other men. The Breeder series has a point to make. Society assumes that one kind of sexual behavior
is normal because that’s what people have been taught. Beliefs are so engrained
people don’t question them. This is true of all our essential core beliefs, not
just the ones about sexuality. Consider your unshakable beliefs. Why are you so
sure they’re true? Because someone you
trust or someone in authority told you it was true? In the Breeder society, M/F
sexual behavior is considered abnormal and is relegated to breeding. And then
the ruler responsible for enforcing this law (Protocol), falls in love with his
breeder and starts to question everything he was taught…
11.
In Breeder you introduced us to
an incredibly male dominated society, where women were worth no more than
beasts and gave us a character to love, by his willingness to look beyond
protocol and taboo, and to experience deep emotions; in Terran, again you
challenged protocol and interracial, or should I say inter-galactical
relations, by having a Terran and a Parseon fall in love, can you tell us what
the main challenges the characters will face in Warrior?
Muwahaha… I put my characters through hell in Warrior. Just when you think you understood Parseon society, I turn
it upside down. The series has been called “misogynistic” in some reviews, and
I concede that the females have had a rough time of it on planet Parseon. In Warrior, they have rougher time, but the females get mad, and they don’t take it
anymore. I think many readers will cheer; others will be shocked at what
happens, at the direction I take the story. Muwahaha…
12.
What would you say was the most
challenging thing about creating a sci-fi series?
Trying to create everything from
scratch--the landscape, the housing, the commerce, the animals, the language.
You have to create an economic system, a government, a culture, a religion. You
are creating an entire world.
13.
What, if anything, is next for
the Breeder series?
Warrior finishes
the series (trilogy). However, in the epilogue of Warrior, I set the stage for a Breeder
spin-off series. It would be set on planet Parseon in the future and would
feature the children of the existing Breeder
characters. From the epilogue, you’ll get a pretty good idea which way I’m
headed. However, I only know the ultimate destination—I don’t know how I will get
there—or how many books it will take.
14.
What are you working on now?
I hope to publish Reasonable Doubts, a Rod and Cane Society spanking romance, in
January 2015. I am actively writing a new science fiction erotic romance
tentatively called, The Goddess’s Curse,
which I hope to publish in April 2015. I don’t know if it will be a stand-alone
or series. Plus, I have a new spanking romance series in mind. And finally,
there’s the Breeder spin-off series.
15.
You’ve recently gone down the
road of self-publishing, what are you finding the biggest challenges there
compared with having a more traditional publisher?
The biggest challenge is figuring
out what I want to do and how I want to do it. There are so many options, it
can be hard to know what is going to work the best. But the beauty of
self-publishing, is that if you make a mistake—you have the power to fix it.
Control of your work is in your hands.
16.
If you were starting out on
your writing career again, is there anything you would do differently?
A couple
of things. One, I would “jump” sooner. I’ve made several key career moves that
boosted my career. I wish I’d made those moves sooner. Second, I would have
picked up the pace. I write full-time now. But I wrote my first erotic romance
in 2009. I didn’t approach erotic romance writing as a full-time career until
about 2011. If I had hit it harder the first two years, I’d be farther ahead
now.
Warrior (Breeder 3) blurb
A female fighting for freedom. A male armed with determination. Can they
save their people?
As a despotic Qalin marches through Parseon
intent on conquering every province, Commander Marlix pledges his sister to
another Alpha to protect her. Desperate to decide her own fate, Anika flees and
finds refuge with the guerilla resistance movement against Qalin. Marlix’s aide
Urazi hunts her down to bring her home to fulfill her duty. But when love
blossoms between them, and provinces fall to Qalin, Anika and Urazi realize
home has ceased to exist, and they are all that stand between the people of
Parseon and the end of the world.
Warrior is the third and final book of the Breeder science fiction romance series, but it can be read as a
stand-alone.
Warrior (Breeder 3) excerpt
She stared at the bloodied body. “Is Grogan
dead?”
Urazi knelt and checked for a pulse against
the alpha’s neck. “Yes.” He peered up at her. “Who is he to you? Has he used
you?”
“Monto, no!” she gasped, not considering
the alpha’s intentions pertinent. “Grogan is the leader of the Guerilla
Resistance against Qalin and Artom, which I have joined,” she explained.
Urazi’s eyes narrowed, and she added, “Grogan was training me and other
breeders to fight.” Breeders could approach a sentry without arousing his
suspicion then immobilize him, allowing male guerillas to storm the post and
secure it. She thrust back her shoulders with defiant pride. She, a female, was capable of supporting the
war effort in a productive way.
Urazi rose to his feet to examine the paper
target. “You are an excellent sharpshooter, but winning a battle requires more
than skill with a crossbow. You would not fare well in hand-to-hand combat.”
Anika shrugged. “If I have a crossbow, I
will not need to engage in hand-to-hand combat.”
“Did it help you today?” Urazi strode to
Grogan’s body, and yanked up his bloodied uniform shirt. Attached to the
alpha’s nipple was an insignia ring. Urazi unclipped it and carried it over to
her.
Anika stared. A single star. Province one.
Qalin.
“You have joined with the enemy to strike
against your own people? You would betray your Alpha? Your sibling?”
Qalin’s insignia lay in Urazi’s palm,
damning, but untrue. So untrue. “No! How could you say that? The Resistance
plans to strike against Qalin. Against Artom.”
Urazi tucked the star into his uniform
pouch.
“But maybe Grogan is an infiltrator acting
alone,” she argued, fighting against the insidious memories; the ease with which
she’d been accepted into the camp when her comrades learned of her familiarity
with both Marlix’s and Dak’s provinces; Grogan’s constant but subtle questions
about locations. He’d asked if she’d ever encountered Marlix himself. At the
time, she’d feigned ignorance of the latter, fearing they would send her back
to him.
Anika clutched her throat. What if Urazi’s
accusation was correct?
“If he were an ordinary alpha or beta, I
might concede it possible. But he is—by your account—the leader. I do not believe
in coincidence. I have been observing the camp. Neither Marlix nor Dak would
have sent females into combat.
“The Resistance
you are so proud to be a part of is using you as expendable cannon fodder.”
Author Links:
Cara Bristol bio
Cara Bristol continues to evolve, adding
new subgenres of erotic romance to her repertoire. She has written spanking
romance, contemporary romance, paranormal, and science fiction romance. No
matter what the genre, one thing remains constant: her emphasis on
character-driven seriously hot erotic stories with sizzling chemistry between
the hero and heroine. Cara has lived many places in the United States, but
currently lives in Missouri with her husband. She has two grown stepkids. When
she’s not writing, she enjoys reading and traveling.
Welcome to another WIPITUP Wednesday. Big thanks to Melody Parks for organising this for us every week.
