Aliens

     My name is Diane Burton and I have a confession. I write about aliens. What is it about that word that sends people into a tizzy, makes politicians talk about building electrified fences and twists Arizona sheriffs' panties? Unless we're one hundred percent Native American, our ancestors were aliens.

     But, wait. That's not the kind of aliens I write about. My aliens are from another world. Oh, ho, you say, outer space. That conjures up Devil Girl from Mars. Men in Black. Invasion of the Body-Snatchers. Planet of the Apes. Alien.

     No way. I do not write about creepy aliens. I write futuristic romance. My stories are more like Buck Rogers, Star Wars and E.T. with some Star Trek for good measure. Space adventure. My characters are people, more like you and me, living and working on starships or planets in other galaxies. Why, you may ask, do I write about them?

     Because it's fun. I love a good adventure. Space exploration has fascinated me since we finally put a man on the moon. No, wait. Even before that. Every space launch I was glued to the television set—black and white, at first, but that didn't make it any less exciting. The possibility of exploring beyond our universe intrigues me, captures my imagination. What if . . .  Isn't that the way all stories begin in an author's mind?

     What if people from an advanced society in another galaxy parked a starship above Earth in order to research our civilization? While the serious researchers examine Earth because of its similarity to their own world of the past, the younger, more enthusiastic crew members become enamored with the transmissions of our communication satellites. Forget War of the Worlds. How about Galaxy Quest meets Desperate Wives? Throw in a deranged scientist and a rebellion and you have the beginning of my Switched series.

     Hold on, you say? What happened to the romance part of futuristic romances? Well, of course, there has to be hunky heroes (aren't they always?) and beautiful (ditto) heroines. (As we all know, hunkiness and beauty are in the eye of the beholder.) What if the hero and heroine are from different worlds, different cultures? The possibilities of conflict increase.

     As our own space exploration ramps up (I hope) with NASA pushing ahead on deep space exploration and private enterprise venturing forth, we might just come across those aliens. They're probably sitting back, watching us take our first steps, waiting for us to catch up with them.

Switched, Too, coming June 10th

Be careful what you wish for . . . you might get it.

Down-sized astronaut candidate Scott Cherella leaps at the chance to go into space. He just has to pretend to be an Alliance of Planets starship captain. His lifelong dream quickly becomes a nightmare when sabotage erupts. To save the ship and crew he has to depend on an uptight, disapproving colleague.

The only time Veronese Qilana broke the rules, tragedy resulted. She vowed never again. Now, to protect the real starship captain, she'll have to deceive the crew by helping the imposter. They must work together to uncover the saboteur and get the crew safely home. In doing so, they discover opposites really do attract.

Diane Burton is the author of the Switched series. Book 1, Switched, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Switched, Too will be released June 10^th. The final book in the series is slated for release in 2013. Readers can follow Diane on FaceBook, GoodReads, her blog, Twitter and her website.