Talking with T. C. Archer/Excerpt

To get us started can you tell us a little about what you are working on or have coming out?

We're currently working on another space opera where our heroine's boss sends her a fantasy role-playing vacation. The rub is, she thinks she’s on vacation to rest.  A third romantic sci-fi we're working on dabbles in the paranormal where a galactic war separates factions that threaten our hero and heroine's love. He must decide whether or not to trust her with the knowledge of what he is, and she must decide if she can trust a man who has lied to her.

Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Shawn--I love pastries!

Evan—I take long lunches and play tennis.

What is the hardest scene you have had to write (published or not)? Why?

One of our toughest scenes is from an as yet unpublished romantic thriller. The scene is an action/fight scene that takes place in an alley between our heroine and half a dozen attackers. Things get even more complicated when the hero shows up and she thinks she has to save him. When a hit man makes an appearance, pacing and tone shift gears to a slower pace, while maintaining tension. Information is integrated into the scene at that point, making it all the more difficult to keep tension high

Fight scenes are highly choreographed. Aside from making sure the action makes sense and tension remains strong, the reader mustn't get confused at any point, otherwise, the scene comes to a halt. Its painstaking work, but the results are so much fun.

If you had a reporter follow you around for the day, what would the readers get to see in your daily schedule?

Shawn--ROFL. They would be very bored! During the school year, I start my day by getting my daughter off to school. Then, if I'm not working away from home that day, I do enough cleaning for me to be able to sit down and start writing, which is where I sit until my daughter gets home from school. The bored reporters would trail after me between the kitchen and my seat throughout the day as I get up for coffee, snacks, lunch, and maybe laundry. (I wonder if I could get them to pitch in with that housework!) Once my daughter gets home, I cook lunch (or an early dinner, depending on how you look at it,) then help her with homework. Once she's settled in, I'm back at my seat, writing. On days I work, the reporters would be sitting in the back of my car as I drive clients to the airport. I own a small business that shuttles people to and from the airport.

Evan—I shower, shave, and drive to work. I go to my cubicle, read the email I got during the night and reply to some of it. The people I don’t like will have to wait. I get on IM and see if Shawn has any news, or we talk about the books. I’ll have meetings or work in the lab or write reports all day. I drive home, do supper, and write for a couple hours. Pretty boring. Save me, please.

When you begin your stories, do you go with the flow, or go with an outline?

We always begin stories by going with the flow. It's hard for us to get a handle on a story without digging in just a little bit. For longer novels, we do outline after those first few chapters. For shorter works, we pantser our way through until we have a finished manuscript.

Is it hard coming up with titles or characters names?

Not really. Between the two of us, we come up with names pretty quickly. 

What does your workstation look like?

Shawn--ordered chaos. (Is anyone buying that?) I have a three tiered desk, with a folding table to my right. I keep books, papers and two computers on my workstation, along with a large lazer printer that is too ancient to date, as well as reference books on the top shelf of the desk.

Evan—I have a Morris chair and matching ottoman I built myself a MacBook Air and that’s pretty much all. My reference books are in the bookcase. The Internet is my library.

When you're not writing, what do you like to do to just kick back and have fun?

Shawn--I read and bake, and I love going to the movies with my daughter.

Evan—I play tennis.

Do you ever experience writer's block? If you do, how do you cope with it?

We definitely hit spots where we come to a halt for one reason or another. However, this is one of the advantages of collaboration. If one of us gets stuck, we simply pass the book to the other, and command them to make it so. Hasn't failed yet.

Were you an avid reader as a child? What type of books did you enjoy reading?

Shawn--Yes, yes, and yes! I was a total book geek as a kid. I still am. I read absolutely everything from the Box Car Children to Rudyard Kipling. I read all of Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Pippi Longstocking--I absolutely adored Pippi--C. S. Lewis, Zane Grey, Georgette Heyer, and so many more.

Evan—Yes. I could read before I knew the alphabet. Well, I knew the alphabet song, but the letters had no meaning to me since they were not the words. I asked my first grade teacher how to spell the letter a. After all, the Greek letters had a spelling (i.e. alpha, beta, etc.). I swear she thought there was something wrong with me. I used to read a lot: Scifi, mysteries, adventures, spy novels, historical novels, the classics, and electronics text books.

Tell us a bit about your latest book, and what inspired you to write such a story.

Sasha's Calling is an erotic space opera. Sasha Smirnov is a professional spy--only the current mission is personal. She must discover the secret to Centor's warp field. This warp field can save her planet from being destroyed by their sun, which is about to go nova. Dirk Roscoepilot works for the Ethan Syndicate, the legal pirates of the galaxy. Dirk has other plans for Sasha. He is going to save her from herself--even if that means chasing her across the galaxy and dragging her back to his bed.

What inspired us to write this story? The move into romantic science fiction was a natural step for us. Evan writes hard sci-fi and, together, we write romantic suspense, so the fast paced subgenre of space operas holds a strong appeal for us. After all, high stakes, swash-buckling-techno adventure, and a heroine (or hero,) in distress just can't be beat. Put all that in a setting where technology is limited only by the possibilities of unlimited science and the imagination runs wild.

Is there any books coming that you are itching to read (either electronic or print) from your favorite authors?

Shawn--So many books, so little time. I just started a book by an author I've never read before, Ghost Swamp Blues by Laraine Herring. This genre of this book is magical realism, a genre I've read little of, but am very intrigued with. I also want to read Douglas Clegg, who writes horror, and Philippa Gregory. (Those are just a few in my overflowing TBR pile.)

Evan—I’m still playing catch up. There are so many books I have not read yet. I’m reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo now and Larsson’s other two books are next and I found a Mickey Spillane book I haven’t read yet. (I started that one last week, couldn’t wait).

If you were to replenish your cabinets with one junk food, what would it be?

Shawn--OMG, so many choices. As odd as it is, one of my favorite combination is pretzels and Red Vine licorice.

Evan—Popcorn, especially the white cheese kind. And goldfish. And peanut filled pretzels. And – oh, you asked for one.

What is one thing scientists should invent?

Shawn--A way to eat all those goodies without gaining an ounce.

Evan—A transporter so I don’t have to drive to work. But then again, if I could write full time . . . okay, then a device to extract free energy from the quantum vacuum. 

Are you a morning person or a night person?

Shawn--I've developed much more into a morning person than I used to be. My energy is higher, and I'm more productive.

Evan—I’m a morning person. By 2 pm, I’m ready for a nap.

Where can readers find you on the ‘Net?

www.tcarcher.com

 Sneak Peek into Sascha's Calling

Buy link

http://www.loose-id.com/Sashas-Calling.aspx

Nothing can stop freelance thief Sasha Smirnov from saving her planet -- except, Dirk, the gorgeous ambassador with polychrome eyes. Is it lust or designer pheromones? He is hot, too hot to resist -- or forget. A single, sizzling kiss burns him into her memory, and her body, but she can't afford to stop for passion, let alone love.

Sasha needs to get as far away from Dirk as possible and take the classified data she stole with her. So she stows away on a ship outward bound, only to discover Dirk's the pilot. Now she can't get away from him, or the system, but he will let her into his bed...
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Public sex.

Excerpt

Sasha leveled her gaze on the ambassador. “I locked that door.”

He shrugged. “Memory erased.”

The green field. She repressed a shudder. “I’ve never seen anything like that Memstat.”

He edged closer. “It’s special technology that allows me to come and go freely. With all electronic memory on the ship erased, no one can accuse me of stealing secrets.”

She pretended not to have caught the lie. The ship would need all forms of memory to function. He had to have sent that beam only to this room because he knew she was there. But how?

Sasha eyed him. “What about the ship’s computer? How do you operate without computer memory?”

“The little bot stores all that’s necessary. It has diplomatic immunity.”

Diplomatic immunity? Excitement tightened her stomach. Diplomatic immunity would get her back inside the spaceport, no questions asked. “Who do you work for?”

He took another step forward. “The Ethen Syndicate. You?”

Sasha holstered the Omegatron. Why lie? Only someone from the Syndicate could need or afford a fancy runabout like a Dasinger-Wong. He could verify her identity with a quick DNA scan anyway.

“Freelance,” she answered.

His gaze sharpened. “You play the freelance game hard and fast, little cowgirl.”

She blinked. “Cowgirl?”

“The way you wear that Omegatron low on your hip reminds me of nineteenth century Earth cowboys, but you’re certainly no boy.”

She stared, torn between lust and laughter. The Pinkertons had kept alive their humble beginnings in the old cowboy stories. She’d never been compared to anything resembling them.

The ambassador took another step, stopping at arm’s length. “I could teach you a thing or two. Join us. The pay is better.”

Warmth radiated from his body. “If the pay was better, I’d already be working for you,” she said in a casual tone she was far from feeling. Damn his pheromones. They were working overtime on her. “I like things the way they are.”

“Not me.” His gaze dropped to her breasts. He reached out with a finger, slow and unthreatening, hooked her bra at the little pink rose on the clip between the cups, and pulled her so close, she could taste his breath. “I think we have some unfinished business.”

He flicked open the bra’s clasp, and her breasts pushed free against the fabric of her bodysuit. He bent toward her, and Sasha jerked back. He caught and held her gaze, then slowly leaned closer and kissed her lightly, flicking her lips with his tongue.

Heat exploded between her legs. He pulled back an inch and lifted a questioning brow. Her heart jumped into warp drive. It had been so long since she’d had a man, and an Adonis like him didn’t come along every day. Sasha pictured straddling his hips and lowering herself onto his hard, beautiful cock. She shivered, forcing the picture from her mind with some effort. What was wrong with her? That was the second time she’d envisioned doing just that in the last hour. Jumping into bed with strangers wasn’t her forte—not to mention, this lovely would consider her enemy number one after she commandeered his ship.

She hesitated. After she stole his ship, then what?