I can't believe it has been a year since I published my first book The Bride Program. I have a confession - I had absolutely no idea what I was doing at the time. And mostly, I still don't. By trade, I am a mechanical engineer. The last time I had written something creative (and not schematic based) was high school.
I wrote The Bride Program on a dare. I was complaining to my husband about certain recurring themes that show up in the alien romance genre. I think the abduction aspect of the genre leads to lots of issues that make me uncomfortable - slavery and alpha douche bags being the main two. Now don't get me wrong, there are some writers out there that can tackle these kinds of things and make outstanding, amazing stories. My rule became 'if the heroine broke up with him, would the guy turn psycho?' I guess it bugged me because it often felt like the author was trying to demonstrate the guy just loved her so much, but really it was some unhealthy obsessions masquerading as romance.
You know what? It doesn't matter why it bothered me actually. I'm just explaining how I got started. I wanted to explore the reasons why someone might volunteer to join the aliens as brides, rather than get kidnapped and dropped into an adventure. At the time I had a very good friend battling cancer (he still is but the outlook is good) and I often thought about what I would give to get rid of cancer (because fuck cancer).
I just want to say thank you. To my husband - he's the real reason for the books and a better support system than I could hope for. To my kids - the lights of my life and silliest, goofiest, most amazing creatures on the planet. To my readers - thank you for taking this journey with me; your feedback, criticism and praise have kept me going. To my beta readers - a bunch of awesome bitches, my own personal squad of grammar nazis; my books are better because of your help and loyalty.
I can't believe it's been a year.
Posted March 27th, 2020 by Dane Griggs
