Interview With Author Aubrie Dionne

So you all know how much I loved Aubrie Dionne's Sci-Fi Romance Paradise 21, right? Well if you don't you can check out my review here in which I embarrass myself by gushing profusely. Seriously Paradise 21 is awesome.

And you know what else is awesome? Paradise 21 author Aubrie Dionne, who graciously agreed to allow me to fumble my way through my first author interview with her.

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First, I want to thank you again for allowing me to be a part of your blog tour.  I loved Paradise 21 so much and I feel honored to be able to feature it on my blog.

You’re welcome! I’m honored to be a guest on your blog and so humbled that you liked it!


I’m going to start out with a few getting to know you questions, so here we go…

1) What is your favorite book? And why?

I have to pick one? Well, growing up it was Secret of the Unicorn Queen. Now, I’d have to say Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip. Every sentence is a jewel, and the romance is soooo good. The entire book reads like a fairytale. I love it!

2) And your favorite movie?

Star Wars, Episode VI. I love the ewoks on Endor, the Jabba the Hut fight, and ultimately, Darth Vadar’s turn around at the end. (Plot Spoiler) My favorite scene in it is at the ewok party, where you see the three ghosts at peace. Newer versions put the younger Anakin in there instead of the older version, and that’s okay as well. I just like seeing them all happy and coexisting.

3) What 3 things would you have to have with you on a desert island?

My flute.
A computer with access to the internet! (Is that cheating?)
A kindle loaded with 300 books.
   
4) When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I’d always wanted to be a flutist ever since 6th grade. Now I play in orchestras and teach flute for a living. In my flute lessons, I come up with stories to go with the music to get my students to understand the music better and play with emotion. They told me I had to start writing these stories down, and here I am today!

5) Are you a plotter or a pantser?

A little of both. I know the beginning and the end, and then I “pants it” in the middle!



Okay, now onto Paradise 21…

1) What inspired you to write Paradise 21?

I’m a big worry wart, and I worry about the people living on Earth when the planet becomes uninhabitable, or when the sun dies out. I know it’s a long ways away, but I still worry about them anyway because I’m silly like that.

I wondered if people could live on space ships for their entire lives. Then, generations could pass down our history and genetic code until we reach a planet able to sustain life. That’s where Paradise 21 came from!

2) I really liked Barliss as a character. He’s so deplorable yet intriguing. What inspired Barliss?

All of my characters have a little bit of me in them, whether I want them to, or not! I’m very ambitious, not like Barliss, but still, I put my career above a lot of other things in my life. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to balance it with family and time for myself. I wondered, what if I created a character who only had career and nothing else going for him. What would he be like? Barliss came to mind.

3) Some reviewers have stated that they feel Aries and Striker fell in love too quickly. I never felt this to be the case. How do you feel?

If I was Aries, and I’d just escaped from Barliss and landed on a desert planet, and a hot space pirate rescued me and told me all he wanted was my happiness, I think I’d fall pretty hard myself!
   
Aries’ is very naïve. She doesn’t know what it’s like to be in love, or the pain of rejection. She has no inhibitions like the rest of us do!

4) I personally loved Striker. I think he is an incredible hero for an incredible story. What is your favorite thing about him?

I love how he follows in his great great great grandfather’s footsteps by saving his people and providing them with a future. For a pirate, he breaks the mold and only thinks of others, not himself.

5) One thing I have to say is that when it ended I wanted more.  Will we be seeing more of Aries, Striker and Barliss in the future?

Book 2, Tundra 37 is about James Wilfred, Striker’s great great great grandfather. Book 3, Haven 6, is about Aries’ and Striker descendants on Refuge.

I’ve also just submitted a YA tie in series about Barliss and Tiff’s great granddaughter as the New Dawn reaches Paradise 21. Barliss and Tiff are still alive, but very old.

I hope this gives you want you want!


In closing, a lot of my readers are aspiring writers. If you could give them one piece of advice, what would it be?

Keep writing! Paradise 21 is my fourth book after writing twenty short stories, three other books, and a novella. It took four books for me to get an agent, so don’t give up! Keep honing your craft and make sure you have critique partners to point out your weaknesses, because you won’t see them yourself, no matter how hard you look!

Thank you for a wonderful interview with thoughtful questions, Melanie!



About the Author:


Aubrie is an author and flutist in New England. Her stories have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, A Fly in Amber, and several print anthologies including Skulls and Crossbones by Minddancer Press, Rise of the Necromancers, by Pill Hill Press, Nightbird Singing in the Dead of Night by Nightbird Publishing, Dragontales and Mertales by Wyvern Publications, A Yuletide Wish by Nightwolf Publications, and Aurora Rising by Aurora Wolf Publications.  Her epic fantasy is published with Wyvern Publications, and several of her ebooks are published with Lyrical Press and Gypsy Shadow Publishing.

When she’s not writing, she plays in orchestras and teaches flute at Plymouth State University and a community music school. 

http://www.authoraubrie.com
http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com


About the Book:

Aries has lived her entire life aboard mankind’s last hope, the New Dawn, a spaceship traveling toward a planet where humanity can begin anew—a planet that won’t be reached in Aries’ lifetime. As one of the last genetically desirable women in the universe, she must marry her designated genetic match and produce the next generation for this centuries-long voyage.

But Aries has other plans.

When her desperate escape from the New Dawn strands her on a desert planet, Aries discovers the rumors about pirates—humans who escaped Earth before its demise—are true. Handsome, genetically imperfect Striker possesses the freedom Aries envies, and the two connect on a level she never thought possible. But pursued by her match from above and hunted by the planet’s native inhabitants, Aries quickly learns her freedom will come at a hefty price.

The life of the man she loves.

Excerpt:

“Might as well stay here and make camp for the night.”

His casual tone stung her composure. How could he talk of such mundane things when they’d almost been captured, when she’d touched him so tenderly?

“We’ll let them get farther away,” Striker explained, reasonable as always. “We’re going in their direction tomorrow.”

The sting of rejection grew, burning a hole in her heart. “Why?”

“Why what?”

Her lips trembled. “Why not kiss me like you did before?”

“I can’t.” He shook his head, and the air cooled between them; so much so, Aries wondered if the desert had turned into deep space.

He’d teased her with such affection before, it was cruel to take it away. “I don’t understand,” she said, wishing she didn’t care, wishing she could stop all the emotions he’d started in her heart.

Aries caught a glimpse of pain etched in the wrinkles around his eyes. Striker turned away and started pulling supplies out of his backpack. “I can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

Striker shook his head and Aries prompted, “Can’t kiss me, can’t trust me? What?”

“I can’t allow myself to get tangled up with someone. Not again.”

The thoughts of Striker with another woman confused her. On the New Dawn, everyone had one lifemate and that was it. “You mean you loved someone before?”

Striker’s hand tightened on the backpack. “I trusted someone a long time ago, allowed myself to love, if you will. She hurt me so much I lost my entire life and ended up here. I can’t experience that kind of pain again.”

Aries clasped her hand over her heart. “I’m so sorry.”

He waved her apology off as if it meant nothing. “It’s a tough world, Aries. And it’s dangerous to love. If I were you, I’d keep my heart well-guarded, because you never know when it will affect your decisions, when it will make you weak.”

Aries couldn’t take his advice. Watching him talk about his past made her realize she’d already given up her heart.

He had it.

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