The Sky's the Limit

Please welcome guest blogger Phoebe Conn

In 1987, Claire Zion, an editor with Warner Books, asked me to write a futuristic romance. She loved them and thought their readers would too. I had a wonderful time writing BEYOND THE STARS and it was published in 1988. Whenever I do signings, someone will bring their cherished copy of the book, and it’s a thrill the story is still loved. The heroine, Kara, is a pilot who is stranded on a planet which once held a penal colony. The prison was abandoned after the inmates led a revolt and life there in the hero’s world is primitive compared to Kara’s spaceships. The sharp contrast between their lives led many readers to remember the book as a time-travel story.

Alicia Condon, who was then with Leisure Books, invited me to write futuristic books for them. Because the stories weren’t the historicals I usually wrote, I created the pseudonym, Cinnamon Burke. RAPTURE’S MIST, LADY ROGUE, and RING OF FIRE were published in the 1990s. I also wrote STARFIRE as Phoebe Conn for Pinnacle Books during the same time.

As you might imagine, I absolutely love writing futuristic books. They allow me to write the adventure stories I love in whole new settings with characters who aren’t restrained by limiting traditions. I’ve recently written one simply for fun, and will find a market for it soon.

You’ll find the books with their beautiful covers and descriptions of the plots on my website: www.phoebeconn.com

In my class, I’ll use popular films rather than books as samples of successful futuristic stories. We’ll analyze what draws people to the box office and how to use that same magic in your manuscripts. Within the limit of your own imagination, the sky’s truly the limit!

My current release is DEFY THE WORLD TOMATOES from Samhain Publishing.

In one scene, the heroine is watching GALAZY QUEST, one of my all time favorite futuristic films. Tim Allen and Signorney Weaver turn Startrek inside out for a thoroughly entertaining adventure. If you missed it, you’ll find it fun to rent.

The Sky's the Limit: Writing the Futuristic Novel, presented by Phoebe Conn, runs from March 28, 2011 through April 24, 2011

Always a passionate lover of books, this New York Times bestselling author first answered a call to write in 1980 and swiftly embarked on her own mythic journey. Her first book, LOVE’S ELUSIVE FLAME, was a Zebra historical in 1983. Her 33rd book, a contemporary, DEFY THE WORLD TOMATOES is a November 2010 release from Samhain. With more than seven million copies in print of her historical, contemporary and futuristic books written under her own name as well as her pseudonym, Cinnamon Burke, she is as enthusiastic as ever about writing.

A native Californian, Phoebe attended the University of Arizona and California State University at Los Angeles where she earned a BA in Art History and an MA in Education. Her books have won Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards and a nomination for Storyteller of the Year. Her futuristic, STARFIRE, won a RonCom award as best Futuristic Romance of the year. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Novelists Inc., PEN, AWritersWork.com and Backlistebooks.com.

She is the proud mother of two grown sons and one adorable grandson, who loves to have her read to him.