Why I Wrote Badari Warrior's Baby
Wayyyy back in MATEER, book two of my award winning Badari Warriors series, I left the heroine Megan pregnant with the first ever Badari child. Since these soldiers of the far future are genetically engineered rather than born and have been held by alien scientists as captives and experimental subjects for over 800 years, there was a lot of emotional investment by the Badari in Megan and Mateer’s child.
Readers of the series have been hinting that it was probably getting to be time for Megan’s baby to be born and I certainly agreed. My dilemma as an author was to tell a good story that advanced the overall series arc a bit, maintained the elements my readers enjoy in each book and did justice to this highly significant event.
I decided to go for the shorter novella format because I felt that worked best for this situation. I didn’t want to draw things out too long and also since the heroine was going to be in the final stages of pregnancy, there weren’t going to be any steamy scenes, so this would be somewhat unusual for the series. And me! I’ve never had a scifi romance character pregnant or giving birth before…I have written a birth scene in my ancient Egyptian paranormal romance series, which was different to say the least because the customs in 1550 BCE were obviously unusual to us here and now.
I’d known since writing MATEER that the character of Harker was going to be a Very Bad Guy at some point, so hopefully no one is too surprised at the role he plays.
As I was writing the book, I felt the need to have a new romantic subplot going on. I love Megan and Mateer as a couple very much but I also wanted to ‘meet’ a new, just falling in love Badari soldier and human woman. The book didn’t feel complete to me without a new romance at least sparking. So Bettira, who we met briefly in KIERCE, finds herself in the wrong place at the right time, acquires vital information and seeks out the one Badari she trusts above all others to help her. It’s a low key romance and at this point I have no idea if I’ll give her a book of her own. We’ll have to see how the plots develop!
One of my favorite characters is Yonn, the young alpha-born Badari boy, who appeared in TIMTUR and keeps finding his way into the books. I’m so fond of him now that I seriously think about writing him his own book, maybe ten or twenty years in the future after this series arc would have ended. I was happy to find a way for him to take part in the story here. It’s really a delight to an author when a supporting character becomes so strong and just inserts himself into the plot of succeeding books after he first appears.
When it came to Megan’s actual labor process, I drew on my own experiences obviously and my daughters’ to some extent, but I didn’t want to get into too much detail. Shall we say not all my readers would be as thrilled about living every moment of every contraction with Megan. (I do have a sizable contingent of guys who read the books.) But I wanted Megan’s experience to feel grounded in reality.
And finally, I added my late husband to the book dedication because he was there for me every moment when we had our daughters – they were three and five when he was killed - and also highly supportive of my writing and trying to become a published author. He’s been gone many years now but our romance and the time we did have together shaped my life in so many wonderful ways that I’ll always be grateful.
Thanks for all your support and interest in my Badari Warriors! I love my readers! You make it all possible…and fun.
The blurb: Dr. Megan Garrison, mate to the Badari Warrior pack’s senior enforcer Mateer, is perilously close to the due date of their baby when she’s kidnapped by human malcontents in Sanctuary Valley. The kidnappers threaten to harm her and intend to ransom the half human-half Badari child to the evil Khagrish scientists in return for their own lives.
Mateer and his fellow Badari launch a desperate effort to save his mate and child but the situation is made more complicated as Megan goes into labor. Can they rescue her in time to save mother and child?
A 25K word novella…
Genetically engineered soldiers of the far future, the Badari were created by alien enemies to fight humans. But then the scientists kidnapped an entire human colony from the Sectors to use as subjects in twisted experiments…the Badari and the humans made common cause, rebelled and escaped the labs. Now they live side by side in a sanctuary valley protected by a powerful Artificial Intelligence, and wage unceasing war on the aliens.
This is the ninth book in the Badari Warriors world (and the eighth book in the numbered series) and each novel has a satisfying Happy for Now ending for the hero and heroine, not a cliffhanger. Some overarching issues do remain unresolved in each book since this is an ongoing series but romance always wins the day in my novels!
BADARI WARRIORS Timeline:
AYDARR
MATEER
TIMTUR
JADRIAN
DARIK
GABE
KIERCE
CAMRON
BADARI WARRIOR’S BABY: MEGAN AND MATEER
Readers of the series have been hinting that it was probably getting to be time for Megan’s baby to be born and I certainly agreed. My dilemma as an author was to tell a good story that advanced the overall series arc a bit, maintained the elements my readers enjoy in each book and did justice to this highly significant event.
I decided to go for the shorter novella format because I felt that worked best for this situation. I didn’t want to draw things out too long and also since the heroine was going to be in the final stages of pregnancy, there weren’t going to be any steamy scenes, so this would be somewhat unusual for the series. And me! I’ve never had a scifi romance character pregnant or giving birth before…I have written a birth scene in my ancient Egyptian paranormal romance series, which was different to say the least because the customs in 1550 BCE were obviously unusual to us here and now.
I’d known since writing MATEER that the character of Harker was going to be a Very Bad Guy at some point, so hopefully no one is too surprised at the role he plays.
As I was writing the book, I felt the need to have a new romantic subplot going on. I love Megan and Mateer as a couple very much but I also wanted to ‘meet’ a new, just falling in love Badari soldier and human woman. The book didn’t feel complete to me without a new romance at least sparking. So Bettira, who we met briefly in KIERCE, finds herself in the wrong place at the right time, acquires vital information and seeks out the one Badari she trusts above all others to help her. It’s a low key romance and at this point I have no idea if I’ll give her a book of her own. We’ll have to see how the plots develop!
One of my favorite characters is Yonn, the young alpha-born Badari boy, who appeared in TIMTUR and keeps finding his way into the books. I’m so fond of him now that I seriously think about writing him his own book, maybe ten or twenty years in the future after this series arc would have ended. I was happy to find a way for him to take part in the story here. It’s really a delight to an author when a supporting character becomes so strong and just inserts himself into the plot of succeeding books after he first appears.
When it came to Megan’s actual labor process, I drew on my own experiences obviously and my daughters’ to some extent, but I didn’t want to get into too much detail. Shall we say not all my readers would be as thrilled about living every moment of every contraction with Megan. (I do have a sizable contingent of guys who read the books.) But I wanted Megan’s experience to feel grounded in reality.
And finally, I added my late husband to the book dedication because he was there for me every moment when we had our daughters – they were three and five when he was killed - and also highly supportive of my writing and trying to become a published author. He’s been gone many years now but our romance and the time we did have together shaped my life in so many wonderful ways that I’ll always be grateful.
Thanks for all your support and interest in my Badari Warriors! I love my readers! You make it all possible…and fun.
The blurb: Dr. Megan Garrison, mate to the Badari Warrior pack’s senior enforcer Mateer, is perilously close to the due date of their baby when she’s kidnapped by human malcontents in Sanctuary Valley. The kidnappers threaten to harm her and intend to ransom the half human-half Badari child to the evil Khagrish scientists in return for their own lives.
Mateer and his fellow Badari launch a desperate effort to save his mate and child but the situation is made more complicated as Megan goes into labor. Can they rescue her in time to save mother and child?
A 25K word novella…
Genetically engineered soldiers of the far future, the Badari were created by alien enemies to fight humans. But then the scientists kidnapped an entire human colony from the Sectors to use as subjects in twisted experiments…the Badari and the humans made common cause, rebelled and escaped the labs. Now they live side by side in a sanctuary valley protected by a powerful Artificial Intelligence, and wage unceasing war on the aliens.
This is the ninth book in the Badari Warriors world (and the eighth book in the numbered series) and each novel has a satisfying Happy for Now ending for the hero and heroine, not a cliffhanger. Some overarching issues do remain unresolved in each book since this is an ongoing series but romance always wins the day in my novels!
BADARI WARRIORS Timeline:
AYDARR
MATEER
TIMTUR
JADRIAN
DARIK
GABE
KIERCE
CAMRON
BADARI WARRIOR’S BABY: MEGAN AND MATEER
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