Hi SFF Insiders! I’m Amy, new indie author and book blogger focusing on the sci-fi romantasy and space opera subgenres. 

One of my favourite things about book blogging is getting to “meet” authors in my genre and find out about their books and publishing journeys. I was extra excited when I had the chance to interview author Jennifer Brody, who not only writes in my fave genre, but who has also worked on movies I love and has written for two of my all-time favourite franchises: Star Wars and Disney!

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be eager to hear from Jennifer, so let’s dive right into the conversation!

Amy: It's a treat to interview an author with such a broad range of interesting publications under her belt. Tell us a little about yourself, Jennifer. 

Jennifer: I graduated from Harvard University and worked as a film/TV producer and writer. I'm the author of the Disney Chills series under the pen name Vera Strange, and my work has been included in Disney and Star Wars anthologies. I wrote The Thirteenth Continuum trilogy and Spectre Deep 6, which was a Bram Stoker Award finalist. My new space romantasy, A Sacrifice of Blood & Stars, debuted on September 17th.

Amy: I'm sure readers will be interested to hear about your work in film and TV. Can you tell us about any of the projects you've been involved in?

Jennifer: My first job in Hollywood was during college when I interned for a producer on the Disney lot. He was making a little indie film that shot in LA callined "Donnie Darko." I was about the same age as a lot of the people involved in the film. It was a little movie that became a big movie and a cult classic. And I was hooked! 

I loved the experience and learned so much. So after going back for my senior year at Harvard and graduating, I hit the assistant trenches as the first hire at Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay's new genre company, working on "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake. Then I hopped over to New Line and landed my dream job working for Mark Ordesky, who was the President of Fine Line Features and making "The Lord of the Rings" films. It was a dream come true! Those are some highlights.

Amy: Sci-fi romance fans are probably one of the groups with the biggest crossover between a love of Disney princesses and a love of all things Star Wars, so I'm sure readers would like to hear about your work with these IP's. What was it like to write a story about Darth Vader? And how did you end up working on a horror series for Disney?

Jennifer: Getting to write a canon Darth Vader story in "Blood Moon Uprising" was a dream come true! I'm a huge Star Wars fan—and Anakin Skywalker is my favorite character. It was interesting writing his POV and getting into his mindset (which is fueled by a lot of ANGER). 

Lucasfilm hired me because they loved how I'd made the Disney villains scary again in my Disney Chills series, which is kind of like a Goosebumps meets Disney mash-up featuring their most iconic villains. Each book has an "unhappily ever after" twist ending ... that shocked readers at first. But now the series has a bit of a following and they love to guess the dark and terrible ending for each new book. I love taking the Disney movies back to their darker fairtytale roots in many cases and adding to the villains storylines.

Amy: So, after working with Disney characters and graphic novels, what inspired you to write your first sci-fi romance?

Jennifer: My debut trilogy was a YA dystopian sci-fi trilogy called "The 13th Continuum." That is what originally put me on the publishing map. The series is known for worldbuilding and multiple POVs (kind of like a mini "Game of Thrones"). Sci-fi is one of my biggest loves. 

After that series, I started working on the broad strokes of the idea that would become "A Sacrifice of Blood & Stars." As the ideas evolved, it became clear that the "Dear John" in outer space concept had to be more of a romance. I decided to feature the two POVs — Kari as she enlists in Space Force and Drae as he goes to a future U of Berkeley — to explore the dual yet divergent coming of age experiences. 

I also wanted them to go from enemies to lovers, when they get "Paired" together in a program designed to keep guardians (Space Force soldiers) oriented to Earthside as they serve their terms of enlistment and deploy to the stars. 

The book took over 5 years to write (partially because I penned a whole 7-book series for Disney in that time, along with two original graphic novels and a smattering of short fiction like the Vader story).

Amy: Tell us more about A Sacrifice of Blood and Stars. Is this one geared toward a YA audience, or is it written for adults? And without giving too much away, what's the story about?

Jennifer: The book is most accurately "New Adult" (much like "Fourth Wing" and other big recent hits out of SFF) with characters who have just turned 18 years old. The book is appropriate for teens (who also do tend to read up), but the themes and characters are slightly older than YA fiction and the story veers more adult. I like to pitch the book as "Dear John" in outer space. 

A little more about the book ...

Two months after her eighteenth birthday, scrappy Hikari Skye is ready to leave her ramshackle mobile home on Earth for icy dwarf planet Ceres and the underground bases that house Space Force. She's trading her dingy trailer park; her baby sister, Bea; and her best friend, Rho, for the excitement of the Proxy Wars and the freedom of the galactic front lines—where her father once deserted his own platoon. And the most appealing part? She's leaving behind Draeden Rache, the cocky, privileged bully who tried to kiss her last year.

Appealing, that is, until Drae and Kari are tied together by the Pairing Ceremony as Sympathetics. Each week, she'll share everything with him and him alone: emotions, fears… and the sneaking suspicion that something is very, very wrong. 

With the California Federation's proxy war with the Siberian Federation heating up, Kari and Drae's weekly interactions turn into a race against time, even as their feelings for each other grow. And there's something both Kari's tough drill sergeant and Drae's wealthy father don't want them to know . . .

Amy: Just hearing about this storyline makes me so excited to read your book, Jennifer! Thanks again for giving readers the scoop. For those who'd like to know more, where can they get their hands on a copy?

You can find my books on Amazon and Audible at the links below:

Connect with me on social media, too!

Amy: I had this chat with Jennifer early in September, before her book became available. As soon as my preorder rolled in, I started reading A Sacrifice of Blood and Stars, and so far I’m loving it! I hope you’ll all show Jennifer some love and check out this exciting new sci-fi romantasy read!

Hi! I’m Amy. I live in British Columbia, Canada with my husband, kids, and a dog who looks like a mop.

I read, write and blog about character-driven science fiction, or what I like to call “science fiction with heart.”

A Symphony of Starlight is my first book and I published it myself. You can support me by leaving a review, subscribing to my newsletter,
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