Welcome Science Fiction author KS Augustin to Love Romances & More. We are excited to have the opportunity to speak with you and learn more about your work. 

How long have you been writing; was it something you have always wanted to do? 

I'd been trying to break into professional writing for seven years, and really only succeeded at the end of 2006. However, I also have more than 20 years experience in technical writing and, even before that, used to write my own stories in primary and secondary school. 

What influenced you to get published? How long did it take you to get your first book published? 

The greatest influence in getting published was my husband! He's the one who saw how miserable I was in my day job and suggested starting a climb on a different business ladder ... as an author. And it really is a business; I just want to say that. 

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing? 

With two small kids, I have so little time when I'm not writing. LOL Am I allowed to say, thinking about writing? I do enjoy kite-flying and, of course, I read as much as I can. 

I see you have done many different things; IT consultancy business, bookshop, gym, swimming pool business, martial arts school, and of course, writing! What is your favorite? 

That's difficult to say. Each job “spoke” to something different in me. I really enjoyed instructing martial arts and I loved owning an indie bookshop! Maybe the ultimate would be owning a small bookshop and being an author at the same time. 

When was your latest book, COMBAT! Released and where can we find it? 

COMBAT! was released by Samhain Publishing on Christmas Day last year. I was inconsolable! LOL I mean, who goes shopping for books on Christmas Day?! I'm usually stuffed too full of food to think beyond the dining table, myself. Ha ha. No, forgive me, that's a running joke of mine. You can find Combat! At My Bookstore and More (http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/product_info.php?products_id=803) 

Can you tell us a little about COMBAT!  

COMBAT! is the story of Ebony Strike, a renowned martial artist who's not as hardbitten as she appears. She enters an illegal fighting tournament to save her home province from starvation, but is confronted by a conundrum in the form of her major rival for first prize, Aldanen. The guy who organizes the tournaments (a corrupt regional governor) has added little “improvements” over the years and the book is about an equal mix of fights and sex, with some intrigue thrown in. 

Ebony Strike sounds like an intriguing character. Is she based on a real life person?  

No. However, she is based a bit on a Sam Spade type of character. I don't mean in her work, but she's one of those tough exterior/heart of gold characters that you often used to see in the old 40s black-and-white movies. That's what also dictated the use of first-person for the book; I wanted that gritty, self-deprecating feel about it. 

Can you tell us the titles of your other books that are currently available and where they can be found? 

I'd love to! My very first release was “The Commander's Slave”, available from New Concepts Publishing. 

I have two releases with Samhain Publishing: a fantasy romance called “The Dragon of Ankoll Keep” and, of course, “Combat!”.

And I also have two releases with Total-E-Bound: both s-f romance, called “On Bliss” and “Prime Suspect”.

If you'd like a bigger taste of any of my books, or how I write, you can visit my website at http://www.ksaugustin.com I have moved away from selected excerpts to including the first full chapters of each of my books, so a reader always knows what she's in for! 

Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you? If so, who are some of your favorites? Have any influenced your writing?

Yep, can't get enough of the books! When J and I were house-hunting, the critical factor was the amount of wall space a house had, because we had to fit a few thousand books in. I'm trying to get better by also buying ebooks, which currently only number in the hundreds!

I'm actually a huge historical romance nut. Amanda Quick is my favourite, but I also read Lisa Kleypas, Jo Goodman, Anna Campbell ... all the usual suspects. LOL I also like Anne Stuart and, of course, Linnea Sinclair.

As a late starter to romance, my influences have been more from the science-fiction side of the fence – Harry Harrison, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Iain M Banks being the three standout names. 

Your characters come to life in your books. Do you feel each of your characters live with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? Can you name an example?

Why, thank you ma'am! Er, no. I have profiles of each character before I begin writing. And, sometimes, I may change how an imagined scene works out because I realize the action I'm contemplating is out of character for that particular person. But as for, you know, buying them presents, or writing them letters, or something like that ... nope, they're just fictional characters. 

Do you find it difficult at times to write love/sex scenes?

Sometimes? Try, all the time! The biggest stumbling block for a writer is to try and keep the sex scenes fresh every time. As well, for erotic romance, it's my firm opinion that the sex scenes are a continuation of the characters' psychology, so I want to make sure that the way my characters behave when having sex is consistent with how they behave in the rest of the book. 

Also, the last thing I want is for a reader to read a scene, and think to herself, oh yeah, I read exactly the same thing in her previous book. That would be terrible. So it takes effort to make sure you're writing something real, touching, but not repeating anything you've done already. 

Have you ever suffered from "writer’s block"? If so, what did you do to get past it?

A perennial problem! I plan. I plan out each one of my books, by word count, by chapter, and by scene. Before I sit down and start writing, I have brief descriptions of almost all the scenes in a book, and what each scene is meant to achieve. It's a lot of work at the beginning, but it means I can always look over the outline and envisage the finished manuscript in my hand. It's very motivating and is the best (though not fail-safe!) way I've found to get over writer's block. 

Is there any other genre you would like to try your hand at but haven’t yet?

I've actually started on a contemporary, believe it or not, and am seeing how I go with that. It's a bit easier than my usual s-f romances in that I don't have to do such extensive world-building. You can say “car”, for example, and everybody knows what that means whereas, in s-f romance, you may have to explain the implications of using a “fast scout” as opposed to a “skimmer” or explain how you're getting past Einstein with faster-than-light travel. 

Are you working on anything right now? Can you tell us a teaser about these projects?

I'm working on a few things at the moment! I have two s-f romance novels completed. “The Turk” is about a scientist, and a man with an amazing gift that she falls in love with. However, they live in a very corrupt galactic republic, and have to battle many people, all with their own agendas. “War Games” is another s-f romance novel, this time with two female protagonists. It's set in the middle of a war zone on an alien planet, and is very much “not quite what they appear to be” in nature. And I've begun work on that contemporary I mentioned, which is about a female bodyguard guarding a very self-assured businessman, and is set in Australia, where I lived for a number of years.

In the pipeline, I'm thinking about a sequel to “The Turk”, although that probably won't be for a while. I do have another novel in mind before that, also set in the Republic, which has common elements to “On Bliss” (shapeshifters) and “The Turk” (creases in hyperspace). I'd also like to do a redux on a particular myth that's been kicking around my head for more than a year now, and another contemporary plot popped up, and then there's an almost-finished space opera that I'm not quite sure what to do with at the moment, so I'm sure I'll be keeping busy for the next couple of years. 

On a more personal note, what do you think readers would be surprised to discover about you?

Besides the fact that, with all that writing swirling around in my head, I'm really a very boring person? LOL I hope readers will be surprised to hear that I also interview authors! I just started my own podcast, titled “Radio Free Bliss”. My first victim, er, guest was Ashley Ladd, erotic romance author, who I interviewed this month, and I'm talking with Alexis Fleming next month. And Carol Lynne in May! I'm quite excited about that. So, if anyone's interested, they can direct their browsers to http://radiofreebliss.ksaugustin.com and have a listen. 

Any final advice to aspiring authors?

My question to all aspiring authors is, do you really want to do this? Because it's tough, and you can't ever coast, not for a moment. I can't believe how woefully ignorant I was of the business side when I first got into this writing gig. I thought it would be enough to write the best I possibly could, and the rest would take care of itself. Little did I know that a contract arriving in the mail is only just the start of an entirely different life, encompassing things that I'd never envisaged. The business side of being a writer will eat into your time and creativity, so I definitely recommend getting, and sticking to, a time-management regime that works for you.  That's probably the best piece of advice I have. 

Thank you so much for spending time with us at Love Romances and More. We wish you the greatest success in all of your future endeavors.

Thank you Penny. It's been a pleasure!