My special guest today is author Cheryl Brooks. Cheryl writes futuristic romances and I really enjoyed the first story in her Cat Star Chronicles series–Slave. Today, Cheryl is talking about the background and setting of her unique series.
When I wrote Slave, the first book in the Cat Star Chronicles series, I had Star Wars, Star Trek, and Farscape to inspire me, but for the second book, Warrior, that spark came from my love of animals, my own personal interest in the healing powers of herbs, and Practical Magic. One of my all-time favorite movies, Practical Magic was perfectly cast in every role, and the way the “aunts” dabbled in spells, herbal medicine, and people’s love lives made being an “old witch” something to aspire to—and certainly brought out the witch in me!
Since then, I’ve been envisioning a wise woman living alone in her woodland cottage, growing herbs, concocting potions, and treating those who come to her for healing, and when I began developing the plot for Warrior, I knew the time for my witchy heroine had come! My first task was to give her a name that sounded witchy and herbal, so I called her Tisana, which is derived from the word tisane, meaning an infusion of herbs. After that, I could almost see the flowing fabrics of her clothing, as well as her long dark hair and green eyes—eyes that could literally set you on fire with a glance. Then I endowed her with another remarkable ability, that of telepathic communication with animals. She is human, but with a touch of alien ancestry that gives her and others of her kind their unique powers. Those talents have been passed down from mother to daughter for generations, and each witch must wait for the one man who can father her only child—always female—to enable the line of witches to continue.
The setting is is one of the planet Utopia, an Earth colony whose original intent to live in harmony with nature has became distorted over time, and what began as a noble ideal has now become a feudal society with slaves providing some of the manual labor for wealthy lords. Each lord has a witch-healer to serve the inhabitants of his realm, and each witch possesses powers that she would prefer to keep secret.
I pictured Tisana in mid-winter, snug in her snow-shrouded cottage sitting by the fire with her cat, and then a horse and rider braving the weather to bring a battered man to her for healing. The rider is Rafe, Tisana’s former lover, and her patient is Leo, a newly purchased slave so near death that Tisana fears he is beyond her aid. He may be the one she’s been waiting for, but to keep him, first she has to save him.
Leo is Zetithian, and, if you’ve read Slave, you will understand what this distinction entails. My Zetithian heroes are the last of their kind, and though they can purr like kittens, they are still the kind of warriors you’d want on your side in a fight! All possess feline traits, a dry sense of humor, long, flowing hair, and, as lovers, they are unsurpassed by any men in the galaxy.
With a witch who is able to understand them, of course there had to be lots of animals in the story! Some were brought with the colonists from Earth, while others are indigenous to Utopia, but they all have their own opinions, their own brand of humor, and some rather pithy comments about humankind.
Of course, no romance is complete without something to thwart our lover’s plans for happiness, and in this story, it is Rafe, the local lord who has no intention of giving away a slave he paid good money for. Tisana has no means of freeing Leo, but when Rafe’s sons disappear and he needs help tracking them down, Leo and Tisana see their chance to earn that freedom by rescuing the boys.
This book stretched my writing skills further than anything I’d ever done before. I’d never written a battle scene and the conversations between the animals and Tisana were tricky because they were all thoughts, rather than actual speech; what Tisana learned from them, Rafe and Leo couldn’t know unless she told them, and vice-versa. However, even with all the difficult details, it is still a story very near and dear to my heart, and I hope my readers will enjoy it as much as I did!
Cheryl Brooks
The Cat Star Chronicles: Slave
The Cat Star Chronicles: Warrior
http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com
http://wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com
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Good Morning Shelley!
by Cheryl Brooks October 4th, 2008 at 6:15 amThanks so much for having me here as a guest blogger today! Looking forward to some fun!
Cheryl
Great post, Cheryl! My CasaSister is awesome!
Linda
by Linda Wisdom October 4th, 2008 at 9:30 amLove the post, Cheryl! Can’t wait to read the book.
Robin :)
by Robin Kaye October 4th, 2008 at 1:16 pmAnother of your CasaSisters!
Thanks Linda! All my Casa sisters are just sooo cool!
by Cheryl Brooks October 4th, 2008 at 1:36 pmHey Robin! Looking forward to your book, too! Thanks!
by Cheryl Brooks October 4th, 2008 at 1:37 pmOoh, this sounds like a great read!
by Sandra October 4th, 2008 at 2:57 pmThanks, Sandra!
by Cheryl Brooks October 4th, 2008 at 3:24 pm[...] More here: Cat Star Chronicles: Warrior with Cheryl Brooks [...]
by Cat Star Chronicles: Warrior with Cheryl Brooks | Cat, Kitten and Feline Information Blog October 4th, 2008 at 4:37 pmHi Cheryl – I’ve just got home after being out all day. I have to say I loved your first book, Slave, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Warrior.
You’ve mentioned you found inspiration with Star Wars, Star Trek and Farscape, but what made you decide on the Zetithians? Was there something in particular that inspired you?
by Shelley Munro October 4th, 2008 at 8:02 pmOh how funny – I just finished reading Slave a couple of days ago!!! I loved it! And I totally love the premise of Warrior. Witches are so close to my heart (and yes – I loved the aunts in Practical Magic too!!!)
by Christina Phillips October 5th, 2008 at 12:25 amHi Shelley!
by Cheryl Brooks October 5th, 2008 at 5:41 amLOL!!! Those Zetithian guys are the product of my own crazy imagination! I was influenced by other sci-fi, but I’m pretty sure you won’t find anything like them anywhere else. I created what I consider to be the ultimate male–and they’re all mine!
Hi Christina!
by Cheryl Brooks October 5th, 2008 at 5:45 amI think Stockard Channing is fabulous–everyone in the whole movies was–and I’m rather fond of Aidan Quinn, too! He’s my kind of hero: just a helluva nice guy with a sense of humor–and one green eye, and one blue….
Glad you enjoyed Slave!
Hi Cheryl, I came to see about Fabio and found this wonderful article, instead. Sounds fascinating and I’m intrigued by Tasana.
by Dana S December 29th, 2008 at 7:30 am