A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, there was science fiction and there was romance, but there was very little crossover. My name is Cheryl Brooks, and though I grew up reading the novels of Mary Stewart, Daphne du Maurier, and Georgette Heyer, I loved Star Trek, too. The idea of traveling through space and visiting other worlds fascinated me. I was intrigued by the idea of alien beings, but I was dissatisfied with the little snippets of romance in Star Trek and Star Wars; I wanted a sci-fi story that focused more on romance than space battles. A little action and adventure would be fine, humor was a must, steamy love scenes were a plus, but the romance needed to be the primary theme. I couldn’t find one, so I started writing.

I wasn’t sure there was a market for what I wanted to write—heroes who are less like the typical conquering alpha male and more like regular guys. I’ve always felt that male dominance was something we could do with a bit less of, and stories that glorify that sort of man leave me cold. I want a guy who is warm, sexy, funny, and well, just plain nice. I know what you’re thinking: it sounds like they’d be spineless and boring, but they are not! They are strong and resourceful, but they are not self-centered pricks. They are men you could actually live with, while many of the old-style romantic heroes were not.

Thirty years and several false starts later, along with a venture into contemporary romance, I wrote the manuscript that was to become Slave, the first book in The Cat Star Chronicles series. It was fun, it had action, it had adventure, starships and strange planets, a sizzling hot alien hero, a kick-ass heroine, but above all, it had romance.

A friend of mine got me started on this project quite by accident. She gave me an erotic romance anthology and, in it, there was a story about a woman who had to pose as a slave to a dominant male. That idea practically turned my stomach, but then I got to thinking… What if the man was the slave and the woman only purchased him to set him free? Following that, I envisioned Zetith, a world where the men are so hot that one insanely jealous man set out to destroy it and all its inhabitants. There are only a handful of them left, and since they are an alien species, that left the doors wide open for my imagination to run wild to create some of the sexiest men in the galaxy. With a touch of the feline in them, they’re such cool cats, they can even purr.

The first publisher I sent it to bought it, and I was asked to write a series, but though they are designated as romance novels, they are often lumped into the paranormal or fantasy categories where they do not belong. Calling them futuristic romance comes closer, but it’s still not entirely accurate. They are erotic, but not erotica, romantic, but not sappy. What they are is erotic science fiction romance, or, to put it more succinctly, the kind of books I want to read.

The latest installment, Fugitive, features Manx, a Zetithian captive who escaped from the auction block and has been on the run from the Nedwut bounty hunters ever since. His current hideout, Barada Seven, is a jungle planet with strange, toad-like natives who are intelligent, but not quite what they seem. Enter Drusilla, a wildlife painter who has come to the lake house on Barada seeking to capture the images of the fabulous waterfowl on canvas. There, she meets Zef, an amphibious eltran who thinks that Drusilla and Manx are made for one another, but getting Manx to come out of hiding and Drusilla to acknowledge the fact that her life would be greatly improved by the addition of a little romance is quite a challenge for the garrulous Zef. The two eventually meet and fall in love, but the Nedwuts are still on the hunt, and they are not the only ones searching for the last Zetithian. Will Drusilla get to keep her new found love, or will he be snatched from her just when she realizes that she can’t live without him?

I invite you to join me on another exciting, fun-filled adventure in outer space, fraught with danger, laced with humor, and loaded with sizzling hot romance.

Come on, you know you want to go there.

After all, it is the final frontier….

FUGITIVE BY CHERYL BROOKS—IN STORES JANUARY 2010

When a Zetithian fugitive meets a beautiful Earth woman, their passion may cost them both their lives…

Manx is a Zetithian fugitive with a feline gene that gives him remarkable sexual powers. He has been in hiding in the remote jungles of Barada Seven ever since being marked for extermination by the violent Nedwuts.

Artist Drusilla arrives on Barada Seven, enticed only by the promise of finding a nature paradise there. But she discovers a wildlife she wasn’t expecting when she encounters Manx. Reckless with desire for the beautiful Earth woman, Manx risks his life to win her as his mate.

It’s only a matter of time until the Nedwuts find them, but it will take all of Manx and Drusilla’s passion, skill, and ingenuity to survive.

About the Author

Cheryl Brooks is an Intensive Care Unit nurse by night and a romance writer by dayt. Previous books in The Cat Star Chronicles series include Slave, Warrior, Rogue and Outcast. Hero, book six, will be in stores August 2010. She is a member of the RWA and lives with her husband and sons in Bloomfield, Indiana. For more information, please visit http://cherylbrooksonline.com/

How to Win:

+1: be a subscriber to this blog.
+1: leave a comment for Cheryl Brooks.
+1: What is your favorite sci-fi erotic romance book?
+1: Check out my review here.
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2 winners of Fugitive will be posted after February 12.
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Tags: Cheryl Brooks, Danielle Jackson, Sourcebooks