My guest today is a close relative who is also a USA Today Best Selling Author (under another pen name) and it was fun to ask her questions about writing and her books!
What was the first scifi romance book you wrote, when, give us the 2-3 sentence logline.
The first scifi romance I ever wrote was a novella called Zandro for one of the Pets in Space anthologies. The logline: Hunky kitten rescuer is stranded in space with his ex-girlfriend, and they’re on the run from some bad dudes who want the two rare alien kittens he just rescued.
I know you were in two Pets in Space anthologies with us. 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?
That would have to be my Time Traitors universe. Yes, there are giant dinosaurs trying to eat you, but they’re still really cool! (I might have more in common with my paleontologist heroine than I want to admit.) Also, the idea of time travel, and being able to go back and fix a mistake, rescue someone you lost, change the past all really appeal to me.
What was your most recent book and what was the story spark or inspiration for that story?
Book One
I just released a novelette set in my Time Traitors universe on Jan. 7th. It covers some of the events in the first book Time Traitors but from the hero’s POV, which we don’t get in Time Traitors itself. The spark was me wanting to get into his head a bit more before I write book two and sort of figure out why he made some of the choices he made. I loved writing it, and probably fell even more in love with Ben as a character afterward. He is very dreamy.
I really enjoyed both the first book and this latest novella. I felt I really got to know Ben much better. Your own favorite tropes? Least favorite tropes?
I am very fond of gender swapping stories. One of my favorite books to write ever was probably my take on Sleeping Beauty, Enchanting the King, where the handsome king is the one put under a sleeping curse and the princess has to rescue him. I’m also finishing up a scifi romance, Defy the Stars, that is sort of reverse Han Solo/Princess Leia. In my story, he’s the royal and she’s the cynical tough “guy.” My least favorite tropes are probably any of the ones that diminish women or take away their power. “Sexy lamp” comes to mind. (Which is the idea that if you can swap the heroine of a story out with a sexy lamp and the story is not affected in any meaningful way the writer might need to take a closer look at their heroine’s actions in the plot.)
Do you also write other genres? Which ones? How does writing a book in that genre compare to writing an SFR? I do write other genres! I mostly bounce back and forth between different flavors of scifi and fantasy with liberal splashes of romance. I like writing all of it but I probably get most excited by the ideas you can play with in scifi (space travel, time travel, etc.). My fantasy novels are cozy retreats I can return to after the scifi adventures, lol.
Orly with matching vintage Beanie Baby
Do you have a ‘writing buddy’ pet? Care to share a photo?
My 16 year old housecat Orly is snoring next to me as I type. He is a very helpful editor and never tries to sit on my laptop. Nope, never.
What’s next for you?
I’m planning to write a new fairy tale retelling of The Swan Princess set in my Fairy Tales of Lyond universe. Then I might write the second Time Traitors novel which will involve more dinosaurs, one stubborn paleontologist chasing them, and the man who loves her running after saying “are you sure this is a good idea??”
What’s on your To Be Read List?
I’m finishing up reading the latest paladin romance from T. Kingfisher: Paladin’s Faith. The heroes in that series are so sweet and hot. And the heroines are fantastic.
Give us your short author bio and where you can be found on social media.
Eli Donovan is an author who thinks dinosaurs are just neat and grew up reading too many Jane Goodall biographies. Eli lives in Southern California with a husband, kids, and one grumpy elderly cat.
You can find me online at my website and Instagram:
Website: https://elidonovan.wordpress.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elidonovanwriter/
TIME TRAITOR FILES: AGENT NAKAMURA (THE TIME TRAITORS SERIES) by Eli Donovan
VS Note: I loved the story, which fits in with, and explains part of the backstory to TIME TRAITORS. Think time travel and dinosaurs (and a relatively slow burn romance). An 11K word short. Previously released in a newsletter.
After a thrilling career of time-traveling escapades, Time Agent Ben Nakamura finds himself abruptly awakened by the rhythmic beeping of machines and a throbbing head injury. His last memory? A daring expedition to the time of dinosaurs, battling through a perilous jungle with the woman who has stolen his heart. But now she’s missing, and no one will tell him what happened. Faced with fragmented memories, Ben digs into her disappearance. Unfortunately, the more he puts together of the truth, the less certain he becomes that he wants to know. But if he wants a future with the woman he’s falling for, he’ll have to face the past. And maybe…change it? Sometimes it’s good to be a time traveler. Note from the author: Although I believe you can read this novelette without having read the first book in this series, Time Traitors, you are likely to get much more out of it if you read Time Traitors first.