Spotlight, Interview and Giveaway - The Zoastra Affair by Victoria Pinder

 

The Zoastra Affair

by Victoria Pinder

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BLURB: 

A hundred years from now, Earth has trading partners with alien beings, mostly humanoid. However, going into space brought forth an unknown enemy who attacks Earth at will. 

The Zoastra is part of the Earthseekers, an organization originally designed to go into space. Its new mission is to find Earth’s enemies.

Ariel is stuck on a Victorian planet and steals Grace’s body and life to get off the planet. Grace must get her body back before Ariel bonds with Grace’s husband, Peter. Then there is Cross, the man on a mission to find those who killed his family. Ariel is attracted to Cross, but she’s stolen someone’s life. 

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EXCERPT:

I’m going to have to steal someone else’s body to get out of here. 

“Ariel, are you listening?” 

Ariel Transcender stared dumbfounded at the mother superior of her prison, a/k/a Aulnale School for Orphans. “Yes, mistress.” 

She had no idea what happened, though she pasted a fake simpering smile of appreciation on her face. Ms. Rochelle walked away. 

A few minutes later, Ariel looked out the window again, tuning out Rochelle’s mind numbing lecture on what was proper behavior when near a man. The boarding home on this planet gave the stupidest lectures of the galaxy. Her lips curled into a sneer. Women were not excited to be bound to men.

Could I do this to someone else? Do I have any other choice? 

Lenchena, the teenage girl who’d stolen her adult body and taken off on Ariel’s ship, needed to be found. And Ariel refused to listen to the daily drivel about always listening to a man.

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Buy Link:    Amazon

 

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Let's Learn a Little about Victoria:

What is your writing environment?

I’m in a huge transition at the moment. Wedding and fiancé changed everything. So when I wrote the Zoastra Affair, I sat on my mis matched couch with recliner and a coffee table that pulled up to be a desk. It was comfy. And quiet. I lived by myself, and wrote quite a few novels. Now the fiancé moved into save money for our getting expensive June wedding. The couch matches the clean coffee table that is now square and not a desk. But I do have a chaise lounge now, and it’s become my writing corner. Post wedding, we move July 1^st. Where is a mystery, but the date of the move is decided. I’ll be getting an office then. So ask me again later, but the biggest thing I need is quiet.

Who is your perfect hero and why?

Is there a perfect hero? I don’t know. In my newest one that I am about to pitch, I have a tortured hero who is dark. Currently he’s my favorite, but he’s new. I love to write romance novels where I can pick an honorable trait or two about a guy. Cross is a military guy. In Chaperoning Paris, Sean survived cancer and is picking up the pieces of his broken life. In Borrowing the Doctor, Daniel was the oldest and must be successful doctor. In Electing Love, Gerard is frank with his opinions to the point of rude and knows he’s always right. In Favorite Coffee, Favorite Crush, Jay is just 22, post college. He’s striking out on his own and ambitious. I love finding flaws that make us human and using love to move past the negatives to be positives.

What authors have caught your interest lately and why?

Many in my critique group are getting published. I’m so excited for the novels. Kristin Wallace is inspiration and writing about the Covington Falls. Sheena Snow is all about Robots and young adult. I highly recommend them. And the other two well technically three, but two more novels in the critique group need to be sent out on submission. Kim write fun historical romance. And E.O Michael is all about the vampires.

What type of book have you always wanted to write?

The Zoastra Affair represents a type of book I always wanted to read, but couldn’t find. Science fiction has a futuristic wonder to it. Romance is happy ever after and a woman plays the integral role. She chooses her life and her love. But I secretly read lots of romance. I love my genre.

 

Top 3 things on your bucket list? 

Good question. I want to write a lot of books, like Nora Roberts and Steven King, and have people always coming back. But then my dad raised me to be ambitious.

For fun, I want to see more of America, especially the open spaces of the West. Do they still exist? Or it is only in books? I am an East Coast city girl, but I’d like to experience a semblance of country life.

And last, well travel more, with the fiancé. And get married every year. (Planning my wedding is fun.)

How did you get the idea for this particular novel?

The Zoastra Affair came from the concept that I wanted to write the science fiction series that I couldn’t read.

What is your favorite scene in your new release?

With this interview posting in April, that’s a great question. Chaperoning Paris becomes available that month. But this is the Zoastra Affair tour. So I’ll talk both. In the Zoastra Affair, I love that magical moment where Ariel is about to die. Then Cross walks in the room and everything changes. Love saves the day. (And if you’ve not read it, Ariel either must marry at 18 or she dies. Cross comes in to question the body stealing suspect.) In Chaperoning Paris, Gigi tortures herself because she can’t forgive herself. She pushes Sean away and doesn’t accept love in her life. When she realizes she’s caused the problems far more than anyone interfering… I loved that moment. She then has to change and go after him.

 
What are you working on now and when can we expect it to be available?

I’m working on the last Collins brother book, the sequel to the Zoastra Affair, and the sequel to Favorite Coffee, Favorite Crush. Plus I love to stay fresh and write something new too. The new adult books when the students just graduate college: ¾ done in February. The Zoastra Betrayal, 2/5 done. And The Collins brother is 1/7^th but will likely be done first as it’s the most plotted. This is unusual for me! I’m usually a one at a time book girl. But the wedding plans for the June wedding took over. July life will normalize and production continues.

What do you like to do when you are not writing? 

Planning my wedding. It’s taken over everything. And it makes me unbelievably happy. I honestly thought that moving to Miami meant I gave up ever finding a good honest man of my own. I was settled in my own skin. People don’t believe it, but it’s so what I thought. Finding the dear man was an accident that I had tried to avoid. Now I’m happy and corny and bridal. It’s a fun experience. And it totally makes me believe that romance is possible.

What would you consider a perfect date? 

Dance classes these days. I love them. We’re having fun. And it’s just the two of us. I’d rather eat at home and go to another class. Or just walking. But you’re asking the engaged woman whose happy just sitting on a bench next to my guy. So forgive me.

What is one interesting fact about you that readers don’t know? 

A “psychic” once told me I must have been a man in my previous life. When I asked how he deduced that, his answer was ‘your handshake.’ Guess engineering and law school taught me to shake hands like a man. I didn’t know this was a difference. Do women shake hands different than me? Or was that just some random thing a pseudo psychic decided to say. And I don’t put stock in whatever anyone says about me. Life is my choice to make.

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

Victoria Pinder grew up in Irish Catholic Boston before moving to the Miami sun. She’s worked in engineering, after passing many tests proving how easy Math came to her. Then hating her life at the age of twenty four, she decided to go to law school. Four years later, after passing the bar and practicing very little, she realized that she hates the practice of law. She refused to one day turn 50 and realize she had nothing but her career and hours at a desk. After realizing she needed change, she became a high school teacher. Teaching is rewarding, but writing is a passion. 

During all this time, she always wrote stories to entertain herself or calm down. Her parents are practical minded people demanding a job, and Victoria spent too many years living other people’s dreams, but when she sat down to see what skill she had that matched what she enjoyed doing, writing became so obvious. The middle school year book when someone wrote in it that one day she’d be a writer made sense when she turned thirty. 

When she woke up to what she wanted, the dream of writing became so obvious. She dreams of writing professionally, where her barista can make her coffee and a walk on the beach, can motivate her tales. Contemporary romances are just fun to write. She’s always thinking whose getting hurt and whose story is next on the list to fall in love. Victoria’s love of writing has kept her centered and focused through her many phases, and she’s motivated to write many stories. 

Member of Florida Romance Writers, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter of RWA, and in Savvy Authors. 

Visit Victoria online at: 

Authors Website:  http://www.victoriapinder.com 

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-Pinder-also-writing-as-Greta-Buckle/294685373900979 

Twitter:    http://twitter.com/victoriapinder 

Tumblr:    http://victoriapinder.tumblr.com 

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/victoriapinder/ 

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=200859737&trk=hb_tab_pro_top 

Google+ https://plus.google.com/105161432419802350109/posts/p/pub
 

Giveaway:

Victoria will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.  The more you comment, the better your chances of winning!  Follow the tour HERE
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