Hi. I’m Cailin Briste, sci-fi fantasy suspense erotic romance author. I think that’s all my author hats. Thank you, Delilah, for allowing me to guest post on your blog.

As an author, I find myself researching everything from the structure of foam to the direction shards of concrete take when a pillar is struck by a bullet. Before I began writing, I thought authors who wrote historical fiction were the only ones required to do extensive research. Not true. All fiction writers do or should.

The existence of the Internet is a major boon to researching the details that make my speculative fiction stories realistic. I don’t write highly detailed technical sci-fi, but I want my stories to be plausible. I read several academic papers online about foam before creating the stuff that I used in a car crash in How to Steal the Pharaoh’s Jewels. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to have a foam that solidified quickly enough to be effective. (The foam is in the excerpt below.) I learned a lot of interesting things about bubbles and what constitutes foam before deciding my creation was credible. None of that research ended up in the book. But if I’m ever asked about my vehicle safety foam, I ought to be able to answer the question. If I don’t forget what I learned. No guarantees.

When it comes to guns, weapons, and fighting, I work hard to achieve accuracy. My characters know that running behind something doesn’t guarantee safety. (Not all screenwriters understand this point.) But despite all I’ve read on the subject, each situation is unique, and sometimes you need to see an event to be able to describe it. Amidst the gazillion videos of people shooting guns, I found a real treasure.

Personal Defense Network posted a video on concrete bullet ricochet. It was perfect for figuring out where my hero or heroine might get hit by flying concrete in a sniper attack while hiding behind a bank pillar. Another scene found in How to Steal the Pharaoh’s Jewels.

As great as the Internet is for research, I’ve also come to depend on in-person expertise. How to Steal the Pharaoh’s Jewels, required input from my massage therapist and my son-in-law the paramedic. In the past I’ve worked with a rope bondage master, and I’m currently working with a sadist for my next BDSM title, Rand: Marshal of Tallav.

No matter what a scene involves, there’s always something that I need to look up. How to Steal the Pharaoh’s Jewels is set on a world colonized by the French. I use French place and business names. The Banque Populaire is an actual French bank. The designer of the Pharaoh’s jewels of the title is Alessandro Castellani. I used the first and last names of two renowned Italian goldsmiths. These are the details I love to seed through my books. Research makes this possible at the same time it adds an enjoyable element to grinding out my quota of words each day. Not that every day is a grind, but some days…

How to Steal the Pharaoh’s Jewels

Release Date: April 23, 2018
Price: $2.99
Universal Buy and Pre-order Link: https://books2read.com/pharaohs-jewels

Cade’s fantasy is to seduce his best friend if he isn’t murdered first.

His comfortable routine as a member of Sebastian St. Croix’s cat burglar team is shattered the day he’s pinned in a crushed car. In a moment of clarity, before everything goes dark, he realizes he’s in love with his best friend, a woman who has sworn off intimate relationships for life.
It’s taken Bassinae years to overcome a past filled with physical abuse and embrace the truth that she is a powerful, capable woman in her own right. Tamping down a case of nerves, she’s ready to take on a larger role as a thief in Sebastian’s next caper. If only Cade would stop acting like a lovelorn idiot. She needs her best friend’s support to help steal the Pharaoh’s jewels.

Set in the distant future, this sci-fi suspense romance has action and adventure as well as a sizzling romance.

Excerpt:

With a grunt of approval, Cade noted the route change had worked. The road ahead was less congested, so he relaxed back into his seat and picked up speed. A parking garage lined the left side of the street with office buildings on the right. He checked the time and glanced in the rear-view mirror. “Want some music?”

At that moment a large dump truck came barreling out of an exit of the parking garage. Cade swung right and hit the brakes hard, hoping to lessen the inevitable impact, but even with the protection devices built into the vehicle this would be a brutal collision. Safety foam inundated the foot wells of the car, and the air ballasts deployed. The scree of metal and the splintering of the car’s plastic shell, filled Cade’s ears along with a sound like the roaring thunder of thousands of wild animals stampeding toward him. One thought struck him. No pain. And then the world winked out.

The next he knew, someone was shouting his name and agony radiated from his pelvis. The gray airbags that held him in place deflated while before him the mangled remains of the windshield gave him a partially obstructed view of the front end of the dump truck, an irresistible force that even Gerald St. Croix couldn’t have stopped. The left side of the car was crushed and had been pushed into the passenger side. Cade had been displaced two-and-a-half feet to his right.

A voice sounded behind him. “Cade. We’re going to get you out of there. Hang on. They’ll have to cut you out.”

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My Facebook readers’ group, Cailin’s Romance Immersion Therapy, also has openings for anyone who needs group romance therapy sessions. We support one another’s need for romance, and as the group therapist I regularly add useful and entertaining posts to help you keep yourself fully dunked in romance. https://www.facebook.com/groups/CailinsRomanceImmersionTherapy/