Interview of Author Cathryn Cade

Today I'm pleased to present an interview of romance author Cathryn Cade.

Latest Book: Deep Indigo
Buy Link: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/deep-indigo-p-6258.html

BIO:
In real life, Cathryn Cade is an elementary school librarian–a lovely job, if she must work. She’s married to her sweetheart, has two tall, extremely handsome sons and a golden retriever. She loves quilting, golf, boating and shopping.

In her secret life, she drives a sleek space cruiser–often pursued by dangerous men in extremely well-fitted space uniforms, who want to unzip her flimsy, extremely well-fitted space uniform and perform sensual acts in their shifted state, as half-hunting cat or even half-dragon. To take her place, read her books.

Q: What’s the first thing you did when you received word you’d sold a book?
A: Screamed out loud! Fortunately I was home alone, so I didn't frighten anyone. Then I called my husband, crying. Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bryght is not only the first book in my Orion series, it's the first book I ever submitted to a publisher, so I was thrilled when Samhain picked it up.

Q: What part of the book is the easiest for you to write? Why?
A: A scene or an episode just explodes into my mind—often a love scene. I can't rest until I get it on the page. I'm a huge reader, so I can literally run a movie in my head, only I'm in the middle of it, with all the senses involved. When I'm writing a new story, the same thing happens. It's better than chocolate!

Q: What part of the book is the hardest for you? Why?
A: For me, writing is easy—rewriting and editing is just plain hard work. I've learned so much about fiction writing from my editors. How to look at the story from the outside, and see what you, the reader need to know to make the characters truly come alive. My characters inhabit paranormal worlds, so I want them to feel very real. And in the end, it's worth every moment of work, when we polish my stories to their finest glow.

Q: Who is your favorite character in this book and why?
A: My favorite character in Deep Indigo is the hero, Commander Daron Navos. To me, Star Trek's Spock is by far the most interesting space opera character, ever. All that intellect and power under such tight control—oh, my. However, Navos's legendary chill is tested to the breaking point when Nelah Cobalt crosses his path. A fellow Indigon, she wants him to teach her how to use her intuitive and empathic powers. He'd rather teach her how to please him.

Q: What’s your strongest point as a writer?
A: I believe it's that no matter how spicy or adventurous my stories, they are romance. My characters are falling deeply in love—we just get to follow them into the bedroom as they're discovering each other. To me, the pleasure in reading and writing love scenes is not how many times and ways the characters can experience coitus, it's the breathless, shivery excitement of daring to reveal one's deepest desires and needs. The funny thing is, I'm usually surprised to discover my characters, shall we say, little kinks. They reveal themselves to me as I write. Hey, it's a wild and wonderful world in my imagination.

Q: What genre would you like to try writing in but haven’t yet?
A: I'm actually delving into a new genre now--Gaslamp fantasy. As in Steampunk, I've re-imagined some important elements of the Victorian age for the series. Including … nah, don't want to give it away yet. It's still paranormal, though, and my readers will be glad to know I'm having lots of fun creating gadgets and sexy shifters, as usual.

And I'll be back to the Orion galaxy soon for a paraquel series.

List all places where we can find you!
http://www.cathryncade.com
http://cathryncadesblog.blogspot.com
http://samhainpublishing.com/authors/cathryn-cade
http://rosecityromancewriters.com
Also, find me on Facebook and Twitter

BLURB:
When icy control meets loose laser cannon, the rules go up in flames.

Commander Daron Navos. Renowned Indigon intuit, respected leader…a man running from half of himself. He can control the mind of any creature in the galaxy, even lock his dark, human sexual needs behind a wall of icy self control. Until he meets a woman who tempts him into using his powers for seduction—the lovely, innocent Nelah Cobalt.

As Nelah’s star rose with her burgeoning Indigon powers at university, she leapt at the chance to intern under Navos. But the hero of her fantasies fears her human half is too volatile to be trusted with the coveted position.

When they are forced to combine powers to stop a sabotage attempt, their incredibly intimate mind-meld turns a simple case of post-battle attraction into a night of passion neither thought possible. And, as Navos teaches her to use her powers to heighten sensual pleasure, he finds she isn’t the only Indigon with much to learn.

Except it’s clear someone is remotely using psychic powers to endanger the ship. Nelah may be the key, and Navos faces his greatest challenge ever—loving the woman who may have to sacrifice herself to save The Orion.

Warning; Spock-like hero who gives into temptation and uses intuitive powers for sexual satisfaction, heroine who is more than happy to submit to his sensual control, and ship full of space voyagers enjoying the waves of passion emanating from the powerful couple. Voyeurism shockingly included.

EXCERPT:
Daron Navos stood at the porthole of his office on the command deck of the Orion, gazing at the incredible view flung out before him. Against the blackness of space, the planet Porphyry glowed a hazy blue and green, its moons scattered about like silver balls dropped by a celestial juggler. Beyond it streamed the edge of the galaxy, a gauzy stole flung down by the same careless hand.

The Indigon was only peripherally aware of this beauty. His gaze turned inward as he reviewed the last few hours.

It was his task to do a routine telepathic examination of the passengers about to board the Orion. Under the command of Captain Steve Craig, she was bound for Frontiera, by way of Cirrius and the Ballarian system, on her fourth voyage. One her crew commanders hoped would be without suspense or violence of any kind. The first three voyages had each been fraught with tension, as the doughty crew repelled vicious clandestine attacks on their ship.

The Cassiopeia, Orion’s sister ship, had just embarked on her third voyage, so there was the added tension of knowing the Orion’s mysterious attackers might choose to strike at Cassiopeia as well.

With all this in mind, Navos had done an intense perusal of the passengers. No saboteur would slip aboard on his watch, not if he could stop them.

He was certain all beings aboard had intentions that were, if not exactly noble, at least not deadly. The passenger roster revealed mostly tourists and business travelers, intent on the profit and pleasure that drove most galactic voyagers.

He turned away from the porthole and sank into his chair, distracted from his thoughts by new images bombarding his senses. He was tired from his mental exertion, or he wouldn’t be so open.

These new stimuli were pleasant. Very pleasant. A female had just boarded the Orion. A fellow Indigon, she was sending as strongly as he was receiving.

The other passengers were busy, eating and drinking, bustling about to explore the great cruise ship. Some were hoping to sight a royal personage. After all, the magnificent Prince Azuran and his retinue had been on the last voyage. He’d even held some kind of wild, licentious party in the ballroom, sending smoke and loud music billowing out.

None were thinking of the Orion’s second-in-command. Except for this female. She was focused on him to the exclusion of all else. He was bombarded with her tangled thoughts: hope, yearning and even, unbelievably, hero worship. Her effervescent emotions burst into his consciousness like bubbles in moon-ring champagne.

His own anticipation swelled. Although he held himself still with practiced discipline, his eyes narrowed with interest. A female empath this strong had to be an Indigon. It was most unusual to find a mature Indigon who would allow emotions such free rein. He looked forward to meeting her in person.

Navos was startled by his own response. He lived a life founded on the principles of intellectual control for which Indigons were well-known. Many called his father’s people cold, emotionless. His mother had been among them.

This bothered Navos not at all, for he looked with contempt at beings who chose to live in constant tempests. He was extremely fortunate, as only a half-Indigon, to wield such strong telepathy. But it came with a price. He could not afford to wallow in human emotion. That way led to misuse of power. He must remain above petty drama, using his gifts judiciously.

Certainly he had sexual urges—strong ones. He was a male in his prime and in the peak of physical condition. He assuaged his needs with paid sex companions. There was a certain resort on Serpentia that specialized in beautiful, skilled females of all species. And if he occasionally felt these encounters lacked something, that was no one’s business but his own.

Although the crew of the Orion contained many attractive women, including the lovely, lethal Serpentian guards, most of whom would leap at the chance to try the Orion’s second-in-command as a sex partner, he did not consort with the crew. He was an officer of the ship. If anything were to happen to Captain Craig, he would be the acting captain. With power came responsibility.

A similar bias kept him from consorting with passengers. He shuddered at the thought of pouting looks in the mess hall or passageways.

An Indigon lady would of course be different, with the superb control of their race. Although this female was unique in her effervescence. He viewed the warm, happy tangle of her aura as an inner portrait, unique as a retinal scan. He was certain he didn’t know her, but he wanted to, at least for the space of this voyage. He’d have to be careful, of course, to remain detached. That should be no problem—his mental discipline was superb.

This lady knew him, or at least knew of him. Perhaps they had met at a gathering on Indigon, or she might have been a passenger on one of the first three voyages of the Orion. Bemused, he shook his head. She was as eager to meet him as a fan meeting Chaz Jaguari, the galactic singing star.

She was outside his door now. Rising, he walked around his desk. He was expecting an intern from the Indigon University to arrive shortly, but the young man could wait for a bit while his commander met this fascinating woman.

He heard a soft tap on the door.

“Enter,” he invited.

She was much younger than he’d expected. This thought flitted across Navos’s mind. But his foremost reaction was the solid jolt when their eyes met. Her gaze hit him square in the chest, rocked him back on his heels and sent heat flooding through him, arrowing straight down into his loins.

Deep, deep blue, her eyes held a glow of anticipation that was echoed in the mauve flush high on her cheeks. Her piquant, oval face was framed by dark hair cut in a short, feathery cap that bared her delicate ears and emphasized her lithe slenderness. She was lovely.

The flush on her cheeks deepened. As if Navos needed another sign—he was awash in the warm flood of her emotions. Now that they were face-to-face, a new current surged to the forefront. A sexual glow of attraction joined the other emotions in her aura.

Male triumph swelled in him. Here was an antidote to the ennui plaguing him lately. He would allow himself to enjoy her. She was a passenger on his ship, but she was unique. This was going to be a very interesting voyage.

“You are Commander Navos?” she asked in a husky voice that shivered over his skin like a caress.

“I am.”

A smile quivered at the corners of her soft lips, the hue of Pangaean roses. Her eyes widened.

“Oh, sir. It is such an honor.”

Without taking his eyes from hers, he stepped closer. She gazed up at him uncertainly, her soft lips parted, small breasts rising and falling with her quick breaths. Her scent was as delicate as she.

“We need no such formality,” he said. “I’m very pleased that you’re here.”

Her eyes widened. “You are?”

“Of course. It’s not often that I’m visited by a lady of my own race, especially one with such…power.”

She fairly glowed. “Oh, Commander. You don’t know how much that means to me. I—I have wished to meet you for so long.”

“And now you have.” He allowed some of his own arousal and anticipation to flow outward.

Her response was immediate. Shock was followed swiftly by a feminine flowering both physical and psychic.

Navos lifted his hands to her slender shoulders and pulled her closer.

“It’s all right,” he murmured. “We’ll go slowly.”

Savoring the anticipation, he bent his head to her. She smelled of fresh, warm woman and some faint flowery perfume, an intoxicating blend. Her breath hitched as she tipped her head back, her lips parting moistly. Her lashes fluttered and sank in feminine surrender.

He was about to take her soft mouth with his own and pull her hard against him, hell, perhaps even take her right here on his desk, so powerful was the need swirling between them. Soon the sensual whirlpool would sweep them both down into its depths.

Uncertainty speared like a shard of ice through her arousal. He froze, a hairsbreadth from kissing her, then slowly forced himself to straighten.

“Who are you?”

As he waited for her answer, the heat that roared within him congealed into cold, hard anger. For along with the uncertainty in the indigo depths of her eyes, he sensed trepidation, chagrin.

“I—I’m Nelah Cobalt,” she faltered. “Your—your new intern…sir.”

Anything else you'd like to add?
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