May 10

BRoP interview: Pauline Baird Jones

  • Filed under Featured

  • May 10, 2012

  • 6 mins to read
Pauline B. JonesToday I’m thrilled to introduce you to Pauline Baird Jones–a friend I met through our publisher, L&L Dreamspell, and Broad Universe. This is the first stop in the Blog Ring of Power interviews. Don’t miss the rest of her interview:
  • Part 2 @ Emily – Friday, May 11
  • Part 3 @ Sandra – Monday, May 14
  • Part 4 @ Dean – Tuesday, May 15
  • Part 5 @ Terri– Wednesday, May 16

Pauline Baird Jones began her writing career penning romantic suspense (fictional murder doesn’t get you strip searched!) but she had a secret longing to ramp up the spills, chills and daring do.  By chance she wrote a science fiction romance, realized she’d been mixing fiction into her science since high school (oops, sorry science teachers!), and thought, why not go where she hasn’t gone before? After that, it was easy to stir in some steampunk. The Key was the first in her Project Enterprise series, which will conclude with #6, Kicking Ashe.

Part 1: ABOUT YOU

BRoP: How long have you been writing?
Pauline: My dad used to tell us about their neighbor, who wed when he was 13. He’d tell my dad, “I’ve been married as long as I can recollect.” I feel a bit like that about my writing. I’ve been doing it as long as I can recollect. I did not, however, start writing for publication until the late 1980’s. I sold my first short story in 1988 and my first novel was contracted in 1998.
BRoP: Tell us about your early works—what was the first thing you ever wrote?
Pauline: The first thing I ever wrote was some fan fiction about a Georgette Heyer novel. I ran onto it when we moved to Houston and oh my. Yeah, it wasn’t pretty. LOL! It only took me a thousand years to get better.
BRoP: What books have most influenced your life?
Pauline: Georgette Heyer was obviously a huge influence. I learned about crafting character and humor from her. Also Alastair Maclean and Mary Stewart taught me about ramping this up with high energy adventure and action. Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande also impacted me. I found it in the library and it gave me the courage to learn the craft and press forward (this after finding a book that claimed if you weren’t a wonderful writer already, then you would never be anything but a hack).
BRoP: What genre do you write?
Pauline I presently write science fiction romance and steampunk romance, but I have wandered through many genres and indeed, I frequently mix more than one into a story. I started writing comedy romantic suspense, then mystery suspense and finally action adventure. I can’t seem to help it and couldn’t stop, even back in the 1990’s when it was the kiss of death for New York publication. I tell people I commit random acts of writing. I like doing it, even though it often makes me worry my head will explode.
BRoP: If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be?
Pauline: I’d sell chocolate. I’d need lots of it if I couldn’t write. And donuts. Yeah, I’d need donuts, too. So I’d open a chocolates and donut shop.

BRoP: What format is your book(s) available in (print, e-book, audio book, etc.)?

Pauline: Trade paperback, most digital formats. I have one book available in audio: THE KEY.

BRoP: Please let us know where your readers can stalk you:

With hearts and lives on the line, a kiss may be all they have time for…
Time has dumped Ashe on a dying planet and she needs to figure out why before she ceases to exist. Or gets vivisected by some Keltinarian scientists. Or worse.
Vidor Shan might help—since someone somewhere is trying to hose him, too—if she can convince him to trust her. Probably shouldn’t have told him that only someone he trusts can betray him. Also wouldn’t mind if he kissed her on the mouth.
Vid would love to kiss the girl, but his brother is lost, he’s got hostile aliens on his tail, and the stench of betrayal all around him. Can he trust the woman who told him to trust no one?
Then a time quake hurls them to a nasty somewhere and some when…
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T.W. Fendley

Author of historical fantasy and science fiction for adults and young adults.

Permanent link to this article: https://twfendley.com/brop-interview-pauline-baird-jones/

9 comments

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  1. Teresa and Pauline, a terrific interview. A chocolate and donuts shop, yes! And I too love “random acts of writing.”

  2. Enjoyed the post. I’m also a fan of genre blending and you’re a master at it. Thanks for sharing with us.

  3. Pauline, I love the way your brain works and the way you combine genres. You are one of the most creative authors I know. I also love the idea of a chocolate/donut shop. The perfect setting for writers. If I didn’t have a supply of chocolate on hand, my characters would lead very dull lives!

  4. Many thanks to you both for stopping by! Most kind! I think I need to start making up stuff about me, so I won’t bore those who have known me longer. (grin)

  5. :Pauline, it’s always fun to hear more about you. I enjoyed the interview.

    • Jacqueline Seewald on May 10, 2012 at 1:41 pm
    • #

    Hi, Pauline,

    A very interesting interview. Great learning more about you. Like you, I like writing in a variety of genres.

  7. First off, Pauline, I love your author photo and I’m totally digging those goggles. “Random acts of writing”, what a great way to describe an eclectic career of mixing genres.

    To what do you attribute your broad interest in writing across genres? I like to think that when authors do that it means they’re so creative that they won’t limit themselves to a single genre (and why should they?). It just spills out into multiple writing projects and lots of genres — at least, that’s how I roll.

    I really enjoyed this interview by T.W. Fendley and will be checking out the follow-up interviews in the Blog Ring of Power. Thank you!

  8. Totally my pleasure! Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our many, many questions. 🙂

  9. Many thanks for letting me enter the Blog Ring of Power, TW!

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