Veronica Scott for AMAZING STORIES: Welcome to my periodic series of author profiles. Today I’ve chosen Pauline Baird Jones, whose plots range from time travel to space opera with “blush free” romance and high adventure as a constant. She’s mastered the art of unpeeling a convoluted plot for the reader page by page, with new details and insights arriving at just the right pace to keep your interest levels fully engaged and the pages turning. By the end of each book, you’re left marveling at how it all came together so smoothly and enjoyably.
Pauline and I are old friends and collaborated on creating and managing the Pets in Space science fiction romance anthologies for the first five years.
Veronica Scott for ASM.: What was the first scifi romance book you wrote?
PBJ: The first scifi romance that I wrote was The Key. It was supposed to be a one-off, just to get the characters and the story out of my head. Lol But it took on a life of its own and is now an eight book series called Project Enterprise. I wrote it in 2011, if I am remembering correctly. Here’s the log line: The key will unlock more than an unknown civilization; it will define who one woman will become….Elite pilot, Sara Donovan and resistance fighter, Kiernan Fyn must stop those that would use the key for their own agenda. Don’t miss out on this Independent Book Bronze Medal and Dream Realm Awards Winner!
ASM.: None of us can ever pick a favorite book or character but if you had to go live in one of your own books, which would you choose and why?
PBJ: I would be afraid to go into any of my books. My characters would LOVE to pay me back for what I put them through.
ASM.: I think many of us authors would have to say the same when it comes to our characters and the angst. How do you go about world building? Do you do elaborate planning, keep a big file, use post its, wing it – what method works for you?
PBJ: I world build pretty much the way I write—by the seat of my pants. I can’t decide if it saves me time or makes things harder. Probably both. I know that setting is often a character in my stories and impacts my characters for good or ill.
ASM.: Which character in your books is either most like you or who you’d like to be and why?
PBJ: None of my characters are like me at all. They are much braver. They leave home (I’m a hermit). They are taller. Did I mention they are taller? And they are good at math AND science. Okay, they might be a little like me, because family and honor are important to them.
ASM.: My characters are definitely taller than I am, so I can relate! Which book was the most fun to write and why?
PBJ: That would have to be The Key, the book that started all this made up science for me. I’d been writing romantic suspense, but I was also watching STARGATE ATLANTIS. And I got this idea for an episode. Yup, it started as kind of fan fiction, only I peopled it with my own characters (which is a big no-no). I needed to get it out of my head, so I wrote it down. One hundred pages in, I realized I had two characters who were not going away until I wrote their story. I tried to move it back here on Earth and they told me no.
So I had to figure out how to write a story set in space. But an amazing thing happened. I LOVED it. It was so fun breaking free of gravity and soaring all the way to another galaxy.
ASM.: Your own favorite tropes?
PBJ: I seem to love fish out of water stories. It’s kind of funny for a hermit who does like like to leave her own “water.” But I love putting characters into new settings, meeting unexpected people, and then seeing what happens.
ASM.: I think Arian in Found Girl: Project Enterprise 6, which is one of my favorites from your backlist, exemplifies this pefectly. She starts as a farmgirl on a remote planet, makes a trip through a wormhole and….all kinds of amazing things happen. And there are alien flamingoes…Do you also write other genres?
PBJ: I do! I write time travel, romantic suspense, thriller, comedy romantic suspense, and scifi mystery. (My Muse likes to rampage through my head like Godzilla.)
ASM.: What’s on your To Be Read List?
PBJ: I have The Weight of Command by Michael Mammay, Saturn Night Fever by Diane Vallere, and Fair Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I also have some fun books I got on Kickstarter, including Fracture by Kyndra Hatch.
ASM.: Give us your short author bio and where you can be found on social media.
USA Today Bestselling Author, Pauline never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance.
Website: https://paulinebairdjones.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPaulineBairdJones/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulinebjones
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/247227.Pauline_Baird_Jones
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/perilouspauline/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulinebairdjones/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/paulinebjones
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/author/pauline-baird-jones
Pauline’s latest book:
AZUMC: CYBORG CHRONICLES BOOK FOUR : PROJECT ENTERPRISE by Pauline Baird Jones
VS Note: I’ve been waiting for this one! Had it pre-ordered.
He’s a pilot in search of a mission. She’s a doctor lost in time. Can they fix each other before time runs out. Az, the robot formerly known as AzumC, is finding his return to mostly human form as challenging as his other crewmates. A ship would help. A pilot needs a ship. Luckily, the Garradians have a ship and a mission for him and his AI, Woolly: The Garradian Rescue Service. The pirates are a problem, but an even bigger problem is the mysterious woman who appears on his ship. Dr. Jacklyn Lee knows who she is and what she does. She doesn’t know where she is or how she got there. She does know one thing: if she gets sent back, she will die.
