Marie Dry shares her love of Jayne Ann Krentz early sci-fi

Thank you, Liza, for allowing me to be on your blog.

Since this is a Science Fiction Romance blog, I thought I’d talk about the author that inspired me years ago to write Science Fiction Romance. I do think she is a large part of the reason I now have four Science Fiction Romances and one Paranormal published.

AMAZON

Many authors have influenced me with their stellar writing but the one who made the biggest impact on my reading and writing is Jayne Ann Krentz.

Decades before Science Fiction Romance became popular Jayne Ann Krentz invented and wrote it. I found Sweet Starfire in a second-hand bookshop. She wrote it in 1986 and I am always amazed when I hear her speak and when she says they did not sell. I read it over and over and couldn’t believe my luck to get my hands on the kind of book I’ve always wanted to read. I loved that book and searched for more copies to give my friends. In South Africa in those days getting ahold of specific book was difficult. Difficult is an understatement. Bookshops did not order books for you and if I wanted to order from the publisher in the US or UK, I had to go through a long process to be able to send the payment in dollars or pounds. This was before internet and I drove myself crazy looking for more of these books in the bookstores and second-hand bookshops.

Many readers have different authors who they feel gave birth to the Science Fiction Romance Genre. For me, I firmly believe Jayne Ann Krentz established this genre. She also published Crystal Flame in 1986. I managed to nab it through a reading subscription service. It is still one of my most precious possessions. I wish I had bought two, one to read and one to keep in perfect condition. 

In 1989 she wrote Shield’s Lady and I managed to get that copy by haunting the second-hand shops. She wrote it as Amanda Glass but luckily I have managed to recognize her writing style and I even got some Jayne Bentley’s in the 80s for about twenty cents. Remember, still no internet. My equivalent of an internet search those days was to be at the bookshops every week to make sure I got ahold of any good books they got in.

A few years followed where I read any book by her I could find since I love her writing and would read anything she publishes. Still, I kept hoping for more Science Fiction Romance. I didn’t think of it as Science Fiction Romance at that stage. In my mind, I referred to them as those books that ticked all the boxes. The books where all my needs as a romance reader were met. Distant planets, adventure, mystery and romance all in one package.

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Then in 1996, she published Ameryllis and I grabbed a copy through the book subscription service I belonged to. I lived in Lusaka, Zambia at this stage and a colleague told me about this new website called Amazon that ships books anywhere in the world. I never looked back. No more reading about good books in the back of books and not being able to get my hands on them. No more driving the subscription service crazy asking for books they did not have on their lists. And the best of all was, I could depend on at least one Science Fiction Romance a year. Since then we have been spoiled for choice but I never forgot those years when I so desperately searched for more Science Fiction Romance books by JAK and authors who wrote similar books.

Which author set you on the path to reading and writing Science Fiction Romance? That one author that ticked all the boxes for you?

Ever since she can remember Marie Dry wanted to travel. She had had the privilege of living in Zambia, Morocco, and Spain and sees herself as a bit of a gypsy. Every few years she gets restless and has to be some place new.

She read romances since she was nine and was fairly young when she decided she would write the perfect story that had all the elements she looked for in a romance. In 1997 she decided to go all out with her writing and to get published. Being published by Black Opal Books is a dream come true for her.

There are several wonderful moments in her life that she would never trade for anything. One of them is meeting President Nelson Mandela and the second being published.