Why Marie Andreas Wrote Warrior Wench

Vaslisha Tor Dain is a mercenary starship captain with a few simple rules: A good ship is better than a great man, in case of confusion always err on the side of blowing someone’s head off, and never fall for a telepath or a member of her crew. 

And it’s all about to go sideways in a very painful way..

Warrior Wench is the first book in a space opera trilogy and is full of action, romance, and humor. The title refers to the starship she’s stuck with, as well as a play on the main character.

I started this book a good many years ago. I wanted a SF adventure for women to enjoy, one we could see ourselves in the lead, not as the princess to be saved (although to be fair—Leia could really take care of her own after that first little snafu with the empire ;)).

It went through a number of “re-thinks” where notes might have been taken, ideas tossed around, characters stolen from other works of my own that I never finished or did anything with. I really saw it more as a graphic novel and even now when I reads certain scenes I think how awesome it would look in comic book form (or anime-even have some sound tracks that would go perfect!).

Alas, while I had some very talented artist friends, none would have been up to a project that big—not to mention I wouldn’t know how to market it. I still have the image in my head of my ideal cover though. Vas holding a sword in one hand and a gun in the other—standing in a space station pub, obviously the scene of a major brawl, with the words, “I KNOW you didn’t just call me that!” over her head. While that would have been great for a comic or graphic novel, it wouldn’t have worked for a regular novel. However, my amazing cover artist did a great job coming close to the mindset.

Then about five years ago, I decided to “nano” it. For those of you unfamiliar with NaNo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and a more wretched hive of scum and villainy you’ll never find. Okay, not that bad. However, it is where writers go to write like mad fiends for a month.

Obviously, I didn’t finish the book in that time, but it did get down the bones. From there I kept working on it, setting it aside, working on it, setting it aside. Finally finishing it.

I write the books I want to read. Ones that don’t exist yet, so if I don’t write them, I can’t read them ;). In the case of this trilogy, space opera without the elements of hard SF. I’m more about the characters and what they’re going through in both my space opera and my fantasy series.

Thanks for having me over, Pauline!

Marie is a fantasy and science fiction reader with a serious writing addiction. If she wasn’t writing about all of the people in her head, she’d be lurking about coffee shops annoying innocent passer-by with her stories. So really, writing is a way of saving the masses. She lives in Southern California and is currently owned by two insane cats.

When not saving the general populace from coffee shop shenanigans, Marie likes to visit the UK and keeps hoping someone will give her a nice summer home in the Forest of Dean.

Find out more about Marie or buy Warrior Wench

What a great story! Thank you so much for visiting! Well, peeps, do you like books where you can be the hero or heroine of the story? I know I love strong heroines!

And I love comments so much that I pick a favorite to receive my monthly AnaBanana gift basket ($25 value).  (And don’t forget that once a quarter I’ll be tossing in something fun from the Perilously Fun Shop!) Recipient is announced the first blog post of the new month.

Perilously yours,

Pauline