Wednesday, February 6, 2013

A Kiss For A Cure by Sidney Bristol ~ Guest Post

Thanks so much to Lindsey for letting me hang out here today! You see, Monday my first science-fiction romance was released from Lyrical Press out into the wilds of space and your ereader! A Kiss for a Cure was a lot of fun to write. It started with a simple idea of: What if there were sharks…in space? Crazy I know!
I did a lot of things in this book really just because I could.Sharks in space? Check! Monarchy society? Check! An alien who needs skin-on-skin time to live? Check! An alien culture built on the concept that the woman is the bedrock of the family? Check!
There are three camps of authors. Those who pants, or write by the seat of their pants. Those who are planners, planning out every element of the book. And a hybrid of the two. At my worst, I’m a planner. I like to craft and coordinate elements within a book. And to that direction, I wanted to create a culture that was very dissimilar to what I’m used to.
The hero in A Kiss for a Cure is from an alien race that appear very similar to humans. It’s under the skin that they’re different, and those differences have spawned a culture unique to that people group. So why not have it be a matriarchal culture as well?

  I’m fascinated by matriarchal societies. The reasoning behind it makes sense to me. Life comes from the female form and various religions and cultures have placed considerable weight on this ability. A lot of anthropologists claim that there have been no true female dominated societies in history, with the exception of the Iroquois, a Native American tribe. In truth, all of the known cultures with an emphasis on female leadership have been more of a partnership, with women running the moral, religious and political aspects and allowing men a say or vote as well, and delegating other roles to them.
In my humble opinion, those women were smart. The ability to delegate and spread jobs around makes for a more efficient system. And that’s what I wanted to emulate. While I didn’t get the chance to put Cai’s full culture into the book, I enjoyed mapping out how my matriarchal culture would have worked.
Think of a tree, with each woman as a trunk and her husband, children and grand children as the branches that create a network. Women are creators and teachers, leaders and innovators. Why shouldn’t we run an alien culture somewhere?
  
If you could be the ruler of an alien race for one day, what would be the first thing you did?



It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life.  She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing.

Kiss for a Cure   Lyrical Press |B&NAmazon iTunes

What’s a girl to do when her parents gift her with a man for Christmas?
Caught between two kingdoms, Jordan has given up the privileged world of intergalactic court life to become an interstellar biologist researching space sharks. Unexpectedly saddled with a husband from a race who are rumored to be sex fiends, her life is yanked in a direction she doesn’t want.
But Cai isn’t human and he must have the emotional feedback of a mate in order to survive. Charged with protecting Jordan, can he win her heart and keep her safe from harm?
Will they survive the challenges that arise…sexual, emotional and political? Time is ticking away and it’s not on their side

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