Please help me welcome Allie Ritch to my blog today. She’d love to have lots of comments and if you want to win you must leave a comment and include your email in the comment.

What genre(s) do you write in and why? I write erotic sci-fi and paranormal romance. I enjoy a good love story, and I especially like the fantastical elements that science fiction and the paranormal bring to the table. Turning up the heat on the love scenes just adds to the fun.

What is your favorite part of writing? Writing is a playground for my imagination. I’ve always liked being creative, and the written word has proven to be the best outlet for that part of me. The process is still hard work, but it’s a labor of love.

What is your next project and when will it be released? I started a series of erotic sci-fi romance novels called the Alien Sex Ed series. Alien Sex 101 and Alien Sex 102 are already available from Liquid Silver Books. Next up is Alien Sex 103, which is slated for release on October 15, 2012. If all goes according to plan, then the last book, Alien Sex 104, will land a contract and be released sometime in 2013.

Where do you get the ideas for your stories? Where don’t I get ideas? I’m constantly finding new inspiration for my work, sometimes from the most unexpected places. For instance, I got the idea for Switching Positions from a discussion with a friend about how hard it is to be a woman in our society. That got me thinking, and I realized men don’t exactly have an easy time of it either. Next thing I knew, a whole story emerged about a planet where gender roles are reversed. Then I got the idea for my Alien Sex Ed series from a small comment I made in Switching Positions about a Sex Ed class the heroine took in school. My main inspiration for Mating Season was a wildlife documentary. You’d think I was talking about a documentary about polar bears since Mating Season takes place on an arctic planet with huge frost bears, but it was actually a show about cheetahs. A female cheetah was being stalked by some amorous brothers and was going to great lengths to get away from them. Bingo: the idea for Mating Season. Shila, a frost-bear shifter, is being pursued by two shifter brothers who want her for their own. Shila runs from them and is eventually rescued by Koll, who takes her as his mate and offers his protection.

Tell us about your hero. Give us one of his strengths and one of his weaknesses. In Mating Season, Koll lives on the arctic planet of Jensen. Because he grew fast and got so big he towers over his fellow villagers, he doesn’t really fit in. He’s strong and responsible, but he’s a loner who is rough around the edges. His greatest strength is his ability to deal with whatever the frozen wilderness throws at him. This is definitely a guy you’d want guarding your back. His weakness is his low self-esteem. He doesn’t realize how his antisocial attitude has contributed to him feeling like an outsider. A community is so much stronger than one lone person.

Tell us about your heroine. Give us one of her strengths and one of her weaknesses. Shila belongs to a race of shifters that take the form of the enormous frost bears that prowl the ice floes on Jensen. The instincts of the bear are very much mixed up with those of the woman. As a big, strong person herself, she appreciates Koll’s size and ability to protect her, and his occasional grumble and growl turn her on. She is very in tune with nature, concentrating on her basic needs first and foremost. Her greatest strength is her self-sufficiency. Shila was able to survive the death of her first mate and their unborn twins, and she has managed to stay one step ahead of the males stalking her. One of her weaknesses, however, springs from her dual nature. It’s hard to balance the bear’s need for a solitary roam with the woman’s desire for companionship and community. Can Koll bridge the gap and satisfy both of her natures?

Do you prefer to read in the same genres you write in or do you avoid reading that genre? Why? I enjoy reading lots of genres, especially those mixed with romance. Historical, fantasy, sci-fi/futuristic, paranormal, contemporary, etc. Seriously, the list goes on. I find reading too many books in the same genre right in a row can get boring. It’s like listening to nothing but one type of music; eventually you want variety. If I had to pick two favorites, then sci-fi and paranormal romance definitely stick out. Most of the time, I don’t avoid these genres. However, I do refrain from reading them when I’m busy writing a work of the same type. So no reading sci-fi when I’m drafting a new sci-fi romance. I don’t want echoes of another author’s voice in my head when I’m creating something of my own. During such times, I still read, but I select something in a totally different category, like historical romance.

Tell us a little about yourself and your latest book. As I mentioned, I write erotic sci-fi and paranormal romance. In Mating Season, I got to blend my two favorite genres by creating the planet of Jensen, which is populated by shifters and regular villagers. The shifters, who are called the Children of Nanook, are the creatures of myth. The progenitors of the Children of Nanook had a single humanoid form, but their bodies were susceptible to the bacteria of Jensen when they first settled the planet. The myth goes that their leader, Nanook, bound his spirit with that of the frost bear in order to create a new race that could survive in the arctic wilderness. Shila is now a descendent of this new race, while Koll is part of a village founded long ago by a separate, non-shifting group of pioneers. The two races usually don’t have much to do with each other, but love can have a unifying effect. In their different ways, both Koll and Shila are struggling to fit in and find their place in life, and they discover what they’re looking for in each other’s arms.
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About the Author:
Allie Ritch is a multi-published author of erotic sci-fi and paranormal romance. She has an active imagination and enjoys entertaining others through storytelling. Allie lives in her own little world in the Southeastern United States, where she spends time appreciating the ocean and sunshine. To learn more about Allie, you can visit her website/blog at http://allieritch.wordpress.com.
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Excerpt from Mating Season:
It was that time of year again. The snow was already thick on the ground, and Koll’s village prepared to hole up for the brutal winter. Highlighted by the frosty glow of the moon and stars, the gently rolling land around him was bathed in bluish white from horizon to horizon. To the north, the mountains stretched skyward while the sparse trees stood like naked skeletons. It was easy to get lost in the endless haze, but Koll kept his sled hound, Greyfell, on a steady homeward course.

He also kept a careful lookout. There were many predators on the arctic planet of Jensen. The terrain was rife with giant wolverines, spear-toothed cats, and enormous frost bears that prowled the ice floes. Some said Jensen was the last true wilderness left in the universe, which was what had attracted the immigrants who’d settled on this planet generations ago. Untamed nature was both beautiful and deadly, and this time of year could be especially dangerous as food grew scarce. Winter was the season of endings. And beginnings.

Koll blew out a loud sigh and watched his breath fog and disappear in front of his face. Although he should have known better, he’d thought to make a new beginning for himself this year. This was the season when the single men of the allied villages went courting. More precisely, it was a time for those looking to settle down to hunt for a possible wife.

When a man found a female he wanted, he offered her a ribbon bearing his family color—in Koll’s case, a damn unfortunate color. If the woman accepted, she wore it in her hair as a warning to other males and moved in with him for the winter. Come spring, if the pair decided they suited, they married and used the breeding season to start their family. If they were unhappy, then they simply parted ways, free to try with someone else next year.

Koll had seen this mating dance before. Seen it but had never experienced it. No female had ever accepted his ribbon, not from any of the villages nearby. He blamed his size.

From an early age, Koll had grown fast and hadn’t stopped until he’d towered over his peers. His childhood awkwardness had been a source of amusement to the village kids, and they’d excluded him from most of their games. Puberty had only added bulk to his tall frame, turning him into a muscled giant.

He wasn’t a gentle one, though. Koll knew how to be gentle and never looked for trouble, but he was not an easy man. Having learned to control his strength, he was now a seasoned warrior. Usually he did battle with the elements and the beasts that prowled these lands, but the men on the other side of the mountains had been known to raid his village during lean times.

As a mature male, his size and strength should have been an asset, proof that he could protect and provide for a female. Instead, he frightened most women with his large body, dark looks, and gruff manner. As for those females who weren’t put off … well, men didn’t hold a monopoly on lechery. Unfortunately, the women who were attracted to his size, or at least the size of one body part in particular, never seemed interested in more than a night or two.

Koll wanted more. He wasn’t the quitting kind—stubborn, his mother would have said—which was why he hadn’t given up hope. That’s how he found himself here in the dead of night, trekking endlessly through the snow on his way back from the distant village of Idona. Year after year, he ventured farther and farther abroad in the hope of finding a wife. He’d even lined his sled basket with furs to keep her warm and comfortable for the ride back to his home. But his sled was empty of occupants because he’d failed. Again.

“None of them would have suited me anyway,” he groused, trying not to wince at the memory of his recent rejections.

His sled hound twitched an ear in response. Fully in travel mode, Greyfell focused dead ahead and kept his pace steady. Then he did something Koll knew better than to ignore. With an audible breath, Greyfell broke stride to smell the air. His head popped up, his lungs inflated, and his ears swiveled forward as he scanned the terrain.

Koll threw the brake before unsheathing the knife at his belt. He went as still as his hound, letting his gaze slide over his surroundings. The muffled crunch of snow caught his ear just before Greyfell released a soft whine.

Ready for an attack, Koll spun to face the threat and froze in shock. The source of the commotion was closer than he’d expected—close enough that he knew he’d be dead were this a hungry frost bear sneaking up on him. Fortunately, it wasn’t a beast he faced. There, limned by moonlight, stood the most breathtaking woman he’d ever seen.

Her hair was so white it was nearly transparent as it drifted down to curl just beneath her cheekbones. Those cheeks were rosy from the cold—a pretty contrast to skin almost as pale as the snowflakes. His first impression was that she was an albino. Then he saw her eyes. They weren’t colorless or gray or even the pale blue of a clear winter sky. Instead, they were rich brown, full of depth and life. They were also pleading.

“Please.” Her full lips delivered the word before she swayed forward. She would have collapsed if his reflexes hadn’t made him fast enough to catch her.

Mindful of the blade in his hand, Koll wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her up. He received the second shock of the evening when he realized she was tall enough he could tuck her head under his chin. Even through the fur coats they both wore, he felt her full breasts pressing on either side of his sternum instead of landing somewhere near his navel. His groin heated before he got his mind working.

“Please,” she murmured again.

“Are you hurt?” His voice came out even more like a growl than usual.

Trying not to jostle her, he pulled her to the side of the sled. Her head lolled back on the furs as he laid her in the basket and leaned back to look at her. He kept his knife out.

“Answer me, woman. Are you injured?”

“No.” Her eyelashes fluttered as she fought to stay conscious. “Please help. They’re stalking me. Can’t run … can’t run any farther.”
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Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Cynthia. It’s the next best thing to visiting Centauri 🙂
And now for the really fun part. Visitors, leave your e-mail address in a comment, and you’ll be entered to win a free book—winner’s choice of either Mating Season or Switching Positions.

To learn more about my work, you can find me at the following URLs:
Website/Blog: http://allieritch.wordpress.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/allieritch

Liquid Silver Books Buy Link: http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/books/matingseason.htm
ARe Buy Link: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-matingseason-882394-140.html
Amazon Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Mating-Season-ebook/dp/B008MICWMG/ref=la_B007NL8FMO_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1342620628&sr=1-5
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