CJ Barry discusses UNMASKED

I'm thrilled to be here to answer the question all writers fear: Where do you get your ideas?

For my last futuristic, UNMASKED, the idea came to me fairly quickly. Whenever I begin a story, I search for something unique. In the case of UNM, I knew I wanted to write a pirate but I wanted him to be different. Special. To find that, I do research. I read, I study, I watch movies. And during my pirates of Caribbean research for UNM, I found a passage in a reference book that described how pirates viewed slavery as a direct threat to their fairly democratic way of life. If they ran across a slave ship, many times they would kill the crew and free the slaves. It was such a mix of right and wrong that I had to explore it. I decided to write about a pirate with great humanity and Qaade is such a man.

From this, Unmasked became a story about a space pirate on a mission to save as many souls from the plight of slavery as possible. As a former slave himself, Qaade endured the horrors and dedicated his life to stopping slavery, by any means necessary. That included pirating to fund his operation. He turned out to be the most fascinating hero I've ever written.

CJ Barry
CJ Barry will be writing a contemporary romantic suspense series with Warner Books under the name, Samantha Graves. Look for HOT coming out July 2007.
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A MAN OF MANY MASKS To the merchants he plunders, he is the Ghost Rider of the Dead Zone. To sector law enforcement, he is a wanted space pirate. To the slaves he rescues, he is the savior laghato. To one determined female captain, Qaade Deter is serious trouble. Torrie Masters had heard of the legendary raider, but she never expected to encounter him, especially on her maiden voyage for her family's shipping business. Nor would she have expected that beneath his black mask lurks an enticing man destined to challenge her in ways she can’t shoot herself out of. But a great threat has emerged, one that leaves Qaade no choice but to join forces with the woman he believed was his enemy. A woman with a warrior's spirit—now entrusted with the fate of thousands, one pirate’s impossible dream, and the power to leave Qaade…UNMASKED.