Veronica Scott on Top Gun SFR - Guest Blog

Honored to be a guest here in the Spacefreighters Lounge and follow up a bit on the recent Pauline B. Jones’ post about “top gun scifi romance”. I agree the emphasis in SFR these days has moved away from this kind of action and adventure to a strong focus on alien abductions and steamy adventures with alien warriors who may or may not resemble humans. I also enthusiastically concur that there are those of us still writing what we refer to as more “space opera SFR” and finding our audience. We supply varying levels of steam and spice along the way but our emphasis is on the classic scifi action and adventure, as well as the romance.

My male main characters are almost always military men. I guess I was strongly imprinted with that model as a kid when I fell in love with the original Flash Gordon serials (on late night TV) and other older scifi fare in books and movies. I’ve written some heroines who are active duty or ex-military as well though. I gravitate to the Special Forces branch of the service primarily although I do have a couple of out and out “Top Gun” types in the Badari Warriors series. I was always fascinated by fighter pilots and in fact one of my prized possessions is a photo of three of the famous Flying Tiger aces from World War II high in the air over China, which was signed by each of the gentlemen.

I also had two nephews by marriage who were fighter pilots in the Air Force and one of them in fact flew with guys who worked with Tom Cruise on the original “Top Gun” movie so it was always fun to talk with him about the differences between what Hollywood depicts and real life.

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Getting back to the books, however, Gabe Carter (book 5 in the Badari Warriors Sectors New Allies Series) is the quintessential “Top Gun” who could fly wingtip to wingtip with Tom Cruise’s character in the movies and not be fazed by anything. He’s dashing, a skilled pilot, confident but not cocky because he can make good on any promise he utters, in the air or out of it, and he’s a confirmed bachelor.

Until of course he isn’t.

He meets his fated mate in the book and although they have to go through quite a few hardships and difficulties while fighting their way to freedom, it all works out in the end. He still flies the most dangerous combat missions for the Badari and is a continuing character in the series.

Here’s a short snippet of Gabe attempting to elude the enemy:

Gabe worked the controls to send the flyer diving as close to the ground as he dared to go at this speed. Proximity alarms blared, warning him of both the terrain underneath and the three flyers on his tail.

Three! Where the seven hells had the Khagrish gotten three armed flyers?

He zigged left as a bolt of energy sizzled past his wing. This was a new and unwelcome development in his people’s war against the alien enemy, the Khagrish, who’d kidnapped and imprisoned them. Making a dramatic move straight up before jinking to the left again, he did a tight loop and banked in the opposite direction. No way was he leading the enemy to the valley where his friends and allies were hidden. He wished he had weapons, but his stolen flyer wasn’t equipped for combat.

Good thing I’m a reckless pilot. He grinned as he executed another daring maneuver. A towering front of gray and black storm clouds loomed ahead, and if he could just get into the maelstrom, he could lose the Khagrish chasing him. The lightning playing across the tops of the anvil shaped clouds didn’t deter him.

Cross winds and lightning arced as he entered the wall of clouds. His flyer was buffeted by downdrafts. In the vidscreens, he watched as two of the enemy craft on his tail veered off. The third continued its pursuit.

Pilot number three has guts. Or he’s slightly crazy like me. He fought the controls and tried not to think about how well constructed the alien craft might be. If he’d been flying a Sectors ship, he’d know how far he could push the design parameters, but it was all guesswork with his stolen ride. Another glance at the vids had him riveted as the Khagrish flyer rolled over and dove to the ground thousands of feet below, in what was obviously not a planned or controlled maneuver.

Alarms blared, recalling him to duty. If I don’t want to suffer the same fate, I’d better pay attention.

Time to exit the storm. Hopefully, the other two pursuit ships had broken off and gone home by now.

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Giving equal time to the ladies, I wrote Flo Michetti, also a hot pilot and all around badass, who works with Gabe and fights for the Badari cause. She meets her fated mate in book 10, DAEGAN, and really struggles with whether she’s ready to settle down and be in a relationship. Giving up her plans to return to the Sectors someday and resume her life as an elite mercenary requires a lot of thought but love wins out of course, in the middle of all the action and adventure going on.

Even the Top Gun pilots need their downtime!

Some other space opera romance authors I’d recommend are E. G. Manetti, Keary Taylor, Carol Van Natta and Jessie Mihalik. And of course my hostesses here at Spacefreighters Lounge!

Author Bio

USA Today Best Selling Author Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories. 

Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances! 

She read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the official audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”

You can connect with Veronica Scott here:  

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