Thursday Takeover & Giveaway: Interview with Jessa Russo, Author of Divide

Have I told you guys how much I love Jessa Russo? I probably have, but let me clarify just in case you missed it: I love Jessa Russo. I was over-the-moon impressed with Ever when I first read it not long after its release (so impressed that I am rereading it now before reading the sequel Evade), and my mind was absolutely blow by Divide. I jumped at the chance to be on her Street Team and was thrilled to see her book come through Bewitching Book Tours. So you can imagine how excited this fangirl was to get the chance to interview Jessa herself! Jessa is one of the single most open and honest authors I have ever had the fortune to interview, and I can't wait to share her answers with you. Before we get to the interview and I start flailing, let me remind you of how awesome Divide is and why you should go buy it now:

Divide

Jessa Russo

Genre: Young adult, fantasy, fairytale redux

Date of Publication: 4/17/14

ISBN: 149540899X

ASIN: 978-1495408991

Number of pages: 340

Word Count: 80K

Cover Artist: Michelle Johnson of Blue Sky Designs

Book Description:

From senior class president to dejected social outcast, with just the flick of a match.

After accusations of torching her ex-boyfriend’s home are followed by the mysterious poisoning of her ex-best friend, seventeen-year-old Holland Briggs assumes her life is over. And it is. But not in the way she thinks.

As Holland learns the truth about her cursed fate—that she is descended from the Beast most have only ever heard of in fairytales—she unites with an unlikely ally, good-looking newcomer Mick Stevenson.

Mick knows more about Holland’s twisted history than she does, and enlightening as it is to learn about, his suggestion for a cure is unsettling at best. Holland must fall in love with Mick in order to break the spell, and save their future generations from repeating her cursed fate. Having sworn off love after the betrayals of her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, this may be difficult to accomplish.

Complicating things further for Holland and Mick, time runs out, and Holland’s change begins way before schedule. With Holland quickly morphing into a dangerous mythical creature, Mick struggles to save her.

Should they fail, Holland will be lost to the beast inside her forever.

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About the Author:

Jessa Russo believes in fairytales, ghosts, and Jake Ryan. She insists mimosas were created for Sundays, and that’s not up for discussion.  She’s obsessed with the great city of New Orleans—where she’s collected too many beads to count, eventually married her sweetheart, and visited graveyards they don’t include on maps.

She’s loud, painfully honest, and passionate about living life to the fullest, because she’s seen how abruptly it can be taken away.

What began as a desire for reading and writing young adult paranormal has bled into stories of all kinds. From fantasy to pre-dystopian to erotic contemporary, Jessa’s stories always include romance, though she’s given up on pigeonholing her work into a category or genre box.

Jessa was born and raised in Southern California, and remains there to this day with her husband (a classic car fanatic), their daughter (a Tim Burton superfan), and a Great Dane who thinks he’s the same size as his Chihuahua sister.

ENTWINED, the final installment of Russo’s Ever Trilogy, will be released later this year, as well as an erotic romance written under the pseudonym Parker Jameson, so please stay tuned!

If you'd like to connect with Jessa online, please visit the following pages:

GoodReads | Website | Twitter | Facebook

TO THE INTERVIEW!!! *flail*
Mara: Jessa! *tackle hugs* I’m really excited to get the chance to interview you! 
Jessa: *blushes* Mara! It’s still so weird to me that people want to know about me and my books! But I love you, and I’m so glad you asked me over to your blog! *tackle hugs you back* 

Mara: First of all, let me say once again that I loved Divide. It’s a brilliant reimagining of Beauty and the Beast with a really nice Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde twist. Where did you get your inspiration for Divide?

Jessa: Brilliant?! Aw, you flatter me!

But, um . . . I have NO idea. Lame, huh? I was driving. Idea hit me. Light bulb moment. Boom. Honestly, I was thinking about writing something different, then my brain wandered to cool covers I’d seen recently, which led to fairytale retellings that I wanted to read (CINDER comes to mind), and from there I pondered how I could make my fairytale redux different. And my brain said: What if your Beauty is also the Beast?

The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tie-in came later . . . I hadn’t even realized I’d meshed the two story concepts together until my critique partner pointed it out! So I ran with it. 

Mara: How do you relate to your main characters in Divide? Do you find that you have more in common with Holland or Mick, or is it an even balance with both?

Jessa: I definitely have more in common with Holland. I was fairly popular and pretty growing up, walking on cloud nine for a long time, then brought down a few pegs by some girls in high school, so Holland’s fall from grace is a bit familiar for me. I can also relate to the massive betrayal Holland had to go through, as I’ve been betrayed by boyfriends and ‘friends”. But I’m also the damsel in distress, like Holland, and the girl who loves and trusts too easily.

With Mick, I’d say I relate most to his “love conquers all” outlook on life. Love is what drives him. Like me! *cheesy grin*

Mara: Divide is your third published book, released after the first two books in the EVER trilogy. How did the process of writing Divide differ from writing Ever?

Jessa: For one thing, it was so much easier to write DIVIDE! I think this is partly due to the fact that I’d grown in my craft, but also in part because DIVIDE was a standalone, so I didn’t have to worry about setting things up to be discovered in future books. Stuff like that. Also, for whatever reason, DIVIDE just flowed from me. I needed to tell that story at that moment, you know? 

Mara: As a member of your Street Team, I know how involved you are directly with fans. What is that experience like for you, connecting directly with your readers?

Jessa: I love it! I’m an extremely insecure writer—hell, I’m insecure in real life, which is odd coming from someone so vain (though I’ve begun to realize the two are very much one in the same)—so connecting with fans and friends who love my stories is a constant boost. And one I desperately need. The praise is something I’ll never get used to, but I sure do love it. 

Mara: Social media is a really big tool for authors now. What is your favorite form? (Twitter, Tumblr, blog, etc) Why?

Jessa: Uh, I’d say Twitter, though I’ve really fallen off the face of the *online* planet these last few months. I’m quite busy with editing for Curiosity Quills, and fell a bit (read: a lot) behind, so my online interaction has suffered tremendously. Though I hope that won’t last forever—I adore my friends and fans, and the writing/reading community as a whole. We’re surrounded by some pretty amazing people! 

Mara: You are moving towards the goal of writing it all now that you have your adult projects with the pen name Parker Jameson. How do you balance it all, and do you find characters from other projects trying to sneak into new ones?

Jessa: Yay for the pen name plug! Thank you! <3 I’m not sure I balance it all very well, to be honest, seeing as how I’m constantly behind in one thing or another (or all things), but I do so enjoy writing all kinds of genres. I love the aspect of first loves and first heartbreak that comes with YA stories, but the freedom in adult writing is so . . . freeing. lol! There’s just some amazing stuff out there, and I want to write about all of it, so I’m just going to continue writing whatever story strikes me at that moment. It will likely have romance, and almost always break some rules. 

Mara: Your bio is very open and honest about your past and the hardships you’ve endured, particularly losing your father at a young age. How does your life experience impact your writing and your characters? Do you give a piece of yourself to your characters, or are they completely separate from you and your experiences?

Jessa: I want to be very real with my readers. I am who I am in real life, so I want to be that way online as well. I’m loud. I’m opinionated. I’m passionate. I’m honest to a fault, and I often say things I regret later. I make mistake after mistake after mistake. But I wake up every day with the goal of being just a bit better than yesterday. And you’ll never wonder who I am or question my motives. I’m right here, exposed for all to see. That definitely transfers into my characters . . . Ever especially. She was such a huge part of me. Her dad’s death and her behavior thereafter, especially, came under fire in quite a few reviews. People questioned why I even added the death of her father. It didn’t propel the story along. It wasn’t necessary. Um, forgive me for saying so, but, NO SHIT. Neither was it necessary when I lost my father—unexpectedly, and while he wasn’t even in the same state—at the young age of sixteen. And my behavior afterwards? Um, far from “appropriate”. FAR. But it’s who I was and how I handled things. It absolutely does not have to make sense to you, you know? That came across in my writing, in my character.

I think that everything about me will seep into my writing at one point or another, though not everything about my characters will be who I am. Does that make sense? For instance . . . Sage, from CHLORINE&CHAOS, is a cutter. I never did that, never even considered it. But I know all about self-abuse and self-medicating, so . . . it’s there, just not exactly. Maybe reading between the lines is how you can get to know your authors. Or maybe just this one. 

Mara: What was the last amazing book you read?

Jessa: All books are amazing in their own right. (Vague response is vague.) Honestly, the last book I couldn’t get enough of was one of the titles I edited for Curiosity Quills. It’s called TREASURE, DARKLY by Jordan Meirek and it is AMAZING. It’s a YA steampunk western with paranormal elements and I was captivated! Please watch for it!

Mara: Now that the last book in the EVER trilogy is set to be released (*happy flail* Can’t wait!) later this year, what is ahead for you as a writer? Do you have another series you are looking forward to?

Jessa: I’m really excited about CHLORINE&CHAOS (Parker Jameson), and after that, I have two YA books I’m working on, both very close to my heart, and both of them major pieces of me. The first, MEAN GIRL REDEEMED, is about a mean girl, obviously, but what I wanted to show you was the confusion, the motives, the fear. Many mean girls are mean only as a way to protect themselves from their mean girl friends. I wanted to tell the story of the mean girl, told by the mean girl. Written by a former mean girl.

The other YA project, MY ROMEO IS BLEEDING (Book One of The Defining Desi Series), is the hardest story for me to tell, thus far. It is based on the psychological and physical abuse I endured during my first major relationship, by a beautiful and tortured man, and includes my original poetry from that time. I wanted to show the side of abuse that no one really talks about . . . how it often creeps up on you. How it’s happening to teens. How it changes a vibrant girl into an empty husk. I was sixteen when I met him, and it wasn’t long after that that the mental mind-f*ckery began . . . and I still struggle with his abusive voice in my head. Telling this story exposes me. A lot. But I want to be honest, transparent. I want to honor that sixteen-year-old me. So it’s going to take a long time to complete it.
Damn. I’m really an open book today, aren’t I? *hides*

Mara: What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given as a writer, and what would you pass along to those aspiring to be published writers?

Jessa: Write what you love. People think this is so simple, but I’ve recently found more and more that you really need to stick with your soul on this one. I write what I love. I break rules. I bend genres. But this is me. This is my career. My husband once posed the question: “Do you want to write what you love, or do you want to write what sells?” I didn’t even have to think on it. Love wins EVERY time.

Thank you so much to Jessa for such a beautiful interview! It's always a pleasure chatting with her, and this has been no different. Want to read between the lines of Jessa's books and get to know her a bit better? Enter to win your copies below!

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Thursday Takeover: Interview with Paul DeBlassie, Author of The Unholy

Today's Thursday Takeover is with Paul DeBlassie III, author of The Unholy. Before we do, allow me to introduce Mr. DeBlassie and his book.

The Unholy

Paul DeBlassie III

Publisher: Sunstone Press
Genre: Psychological thriller

A young curandera, a medicine woman, intent on uncovering the secrets of her past is forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Set in the mystic land of Aztlan, the Unholy is a novel of destiny as healer and slayer. native lore of dreams and visions, shape changing, and natural magic work to spin a neo-gothic web in which sadness and mystery lure the unsuspecting into a twilight realm of discovery and decision.
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About the Book:

Part psychological thriller, part supernatural heroine’s journey and part gothic horror, The Unholy lures the reader into a twilight realm that pits two old worlds against each other: the medicine woman against the church. Witchcraft, magic, demons and religion each play a role as healer confronts slayer. 

“Paul DeBlassie III has brought us a richly imagined supernatural thriller set in the high mountain desert of Aztlan, where Claire Sanchez, an herbalist and medicine woman, has come to reclaim her healing heritage and uncover the secrets of her mother’s death. The book digs deep into legend, folklore, and the author’s own imagination to paint a stirring picture of traditional curanderismo pitted against the oppressive forces of institutional religious power. Make sure you have lots of time; once you start reading this book, it will be hard to put down.”—Stephan V. Beyer, author of Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon 

Rich in the native lore of the southwest and set in the mythical, yet modern, land of Aztlan, you will follow a young curandera (Spanish medicine woman) Claire, who is intent on uncovering the secrets of her past, secrets that lead her into a life-and-death battle with an evil archbishop. As women die in mysterious circumstances, Claire must decide how much faith she has in her own powers and how far she can go before putting her own life in mortal danger. 

The Unholy will appeal those who are fascinated by the old traditions of healing and magic as well as those who simply desire a fast paced battle between good and evil, masculine and feminine, darkness and light…

“The Unholy, an excellent novel by Paul DeBlassie III, keeps the reader engaged throughout in mystery, suspense, and church politics. In addition to vividly depicting the beauti- ful landscape and culture of New Mexico, it exposes and strengthens the traditional work of the medicine women of the Southwest. I am looking forward to Dr. DeBlassie’s next book.”—Eliseo “Cheo” Torres, author of Curandero: A Life In Mexican Folk Healing, professor, and university administrator 

Book video: http://youtu.be/O6dqH211hKA  

About the Author

Paul DeBlassie III, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist and writer living in his native New Mexico. A member of the Depth Psychology Alliance, the Transpersonal Psychology Association, and the International Association for Relational Psy- choanalysis and Psychotherapy, he has for over thirty years treated survivors of the dark side of religion.

SoulCare, his professional consultation practice  is devoted to the tending of the soul. One of the few therapists writing fiction with a healing emphasis, Dr. DeBlassie has been deeply influenced by the surreal beauty and natural magic of the mestizo myth of Aztlan.

The Unholy is his first novel.

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Question: I get the impression that The Unholy is a book only you could write, because of the setting, and because of your own background. Let's start with the setting. Tell me about Aztlan.  

Paul DeBlassie III: Aztlan is the mythopoeic realm of the mestizos (mixed bloods of southwestern United States). I am mestizo. Aztlan is New Mexico, especially  the region of Albuquerque (southern Aztlan) and Santa Fe (northern Aztlan) and extends to the four corners area. Spirits, dreams, visions, and natural magic are woven seamlessly into everyday life. 

Q: Your protagonist, Claire Sanchez, is a curandera, a term which roughly translates as "Medicine Woman." What exactly is a curandera? What led you to choose this occupation for your heroine? 

Paul: A curandera is a healer. She spoke to me as the story evolved, told me who she was and told me of her struggle to find herself. The path of a healer is fraught with danger. She dramatizes the life of so many women and men seeking to face their fears, find themselves, and walk the path of healing, natural magic, and life.

Q: Faith and religion are central themes of The Unholy. You explore the abuse of religion and the conflict that can come from spirituality. What would you say is the central theme or message of Unholy? What impact are you hoping to have on your readers? 

Paul: The central message of The Unholy is Religion Kills. It is made explicit at the end of the tale. News media broadcast Religion Kills as they describe the battle between the evil Archbishop and the young curandera. 

Q: You live in New Mexico, in the general area where the novel is set. How has this affected the writing of The Unholy? How important was your knowledge of the places and people and culture? What kinds of personal knowledge did you draw on as you crafted your characters and setting? 

Paul: New Mexico is Aztlan. My lineage reaches back for over three-hundred years in Aztlan, a long line of medicine people, healers.  I live here, breathe its air, am sheltered under the canopy of its turquoise sky. The Unholy and the natural magic of the medicine women, forces of darkness and light, exist side by side in the daily, mythopoeic realm of Aztlan. I live here. It is my homeland.

Q: How has your training and experience as a psychologist impacted your writing in general?  

Paul: For over thirty years I have treated survivors of the dark side of religion. I chose to write a novel about this human drama. Stories cut to the chase. I’ve written three other books in psychology and spirituality, but there is nothing like stirring the imagination via story to set the mind working and the heart healing. 

Q: I know you've had some specific experiences in your role as a psychologist that led to your decision to write this book. Tell me about that.  

Paul: Religion can be both terrifying and damaging. I help people to heal from the dark side of religion. Decades of such experience led me to write this book and the ones that will follow. Each phantasmagoric story, much like The Unholy, plumbs the dark and light sides of human nature and spiritual experience. 

Q: The cover image for The Unholy is striking and haunting, and it's not just some random stock photo. Tell me about that picture.  

Paul: It is the Devil’s Throne, an actual site between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The evil archbishop performs atrocities there. The land has been contaminated by evil, women desecrated, the air itself befouled. It is the Devil’s Throne in the realm of Azltan!

Interview with Iain McChesney, Author of the Curse of Malenfer Manor

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of reviewing this book. Now, I am sitting down with the author, Iain McChesney, to talk about his family's rich history, his process, and what's ahead for him as a writer.

Don't forget to check out the tour wide giveaway below, where you can win your own copy, and where U.S. entrants can win these awesome charm book marks:

And now for the interview!


Mara: You were born and raised in Scotland, and your family has quite a history there with the World Wars. What can you tell us about that history?

Iain McChesney: Most families have a collective experience from any time of war. Ours is not so special in that regard. There are many families who suffered more. Glasgow was bombed and its children evacuated – I got those stories – but it is the photographs I remember most, relatively young men in faded black and white, all done up in uniform. They lined the shelves and hung on the walls where they never grew old. If you are ever in Scotland, you can go to the capital, Edinburgh, where there is a large castle high on a rock above the city. You can’t miss it. In a room in the centre there is a room full of books that lie open on grand tables. Each book has the hand-written name of every Scottish soldier ever killed in war. I said hello to my grandfather who died at Normandy, and to my great grandfather who died in World War I. They weren’t easy to find; the books were so big and so plentiful. I couldn’t remember the name of the ship on which an uncle went down, so he was lost and never found – again – the irony didn’t escape me. Last year I visited the Vietnam Veteran’s memorial in Washington DC – the stone with all the names inscribed onto it. It was a little bit like that castle room. In such places you get a weight, an impression of the immensity of history, and what those losses did to all those families. Things that should never be forgotten.

MV: A family rich with history like that must be full of stories. What stories in particular did you draw from for inspiration when you were writing The Curse of Malenfer Manor?

IM: My family always seemed to be getting killed, so there weren’t a lot of first-hand tales of war around the dinner table. Growing up, I was amazed at what different people tell you about the dead. They are mosaics, these men that never came home, pasted into the mind of a child. I tried to get a bit of that across in the book. All the heroes have flaws and all the villains something redeeming. Life is full of complexities. The war scenes were composites of history books and research of veterans’ experiences.

MV: You went on to study History and Geography at the University of Glasgow. Is your interest in history what drew you to writing fiction?

IM: Despite the best efforts of my grade eight teacher, I’ve always found history fascinating. No, I don’t write fiction because I’m interested in history, but it certainly colours what I write about. Give anyone the choice between a dry academic textbook full of dates and names and a colourful piece of escapism, and you’d be nuts to go with the former. But that’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m not trying to teach anyone anything – though if you find out something you didn’t know, I won’t be disappointed. A great thing about history is that it affords the writer extraordinary settings in which to spin a plot, and this stuff really happened. Fiction is a time machine. It can take you any when.

MV: In 2010, you and your family moved to Bali, Indonesia for a year, which is where you wrote The Curse of Malenfer Manor. What made you decide to make the move, and what made you choose Bali?

IM: Ha! You’ve been checking up on me. Guilty. Yes, I did. The move to Bali was about a lot of things – showing the kids a different sort of life; exposing them to different cultures outside of North America. But I won’t deny I harboured the intention to use the move for writing. I get a lot of questions (I’m sure any author does) about how one writes, or how one finds the time. For me I had to take the plunge. I had to leave a perfectly good job and take the risk that my family would be okay long term. And I’m very glad we did. My accountant is not so sure. Bali? Why Bali? That’s a longer story. A great deal of luck is the short answer. Besides its physical charms (it is a tropical island in the Indonesian archipelago – what’s not to like?) it is a very creative place. “I quit my job to come and write.” “Hey, so did I. Ain’t it great!” These conversations are not common anywhere else I’ve lived. I kept a diary during my year there, “Letter from Bali,” which you can find at http://mcchez.wordpress.com/. Anyone thinking of quitting their job might want to give it a read.

MV: What can you tell us about your writing process? Are you more of a pantser or plotter?

IM: I thought I was a pantser – make it up as I go along. I wrote Malenfer with a pantser’s methodology and I remain, in a sense, one at heart. But let me tell you, there is a lot of road kill as a pantser. The clean up in the editorial stage made writing the book twice the work. I’m guessing I wrote a solid 150,000 words for this novel of which almost half was put in recycling. That was my experience of writing free thought – it worked, but it went everywhere, and everywhere wasn’t good. I have since adapted. I haven’t gone entirely the other way, though. I heard a story that William Golding, he of Lord of the Flies fame, was so detailed in his planning that when he was finally ready to write, he sat down and wrote the book straight through. One sitting. Urban legend? I don’t know. But that is not me. What I am happy with (at time of press) is a ‘goalpost’ process of writing. I have enough of a plot that I know who I want in a chapter and where they have to get to by the end of the next twelve pages – what hints or events need to take place, where they must go. Then I let it fly. I give the characters their freedom so long as they pass through the goalposts at the end. It works for me.

MV: Can you tell us anything about your other two projects, The Calling and Krator?

IM: Krator I promised the kids. It is a genre jump, so my publisher is not as keen. :-p The Calling (or whatever it ends up being called – for the title of Malenfer I put it to a vote on the blog) will be another Gothic mystery. Anyone who enjoys Malenfer will find The Calling to their taste. In Tweet speak: A varied group is invited by a reclusive industrialist to a remote Scottish island in the 1920’s. Bad things happen.

MV: You were published by Wayzgoose Press. How did you discover this publisher and what made you decide to go with them?

IM: Sort of like Bali, I found Wayzgoose by good fortune, and I have been very happy with what they have done for me. You hear the stories. New writer goes door to door around agents and/or publishers and gets plenty of rejections. I was not immune, but remained positive. I was being asked for a full manuscript by a few of them. What happened was that a publisher I had submitted to eventually declined, but asked if they could show it to Wayzgoose. I am very glad they did. Wayzgoose liked the writing and were not put off by the problem of genre fit. (Is it a mystery or historical fiction, or horror, or romance, or or… what is gothic, after all?) I have been very happy with my editor there, she put in a lot of good work and the book is far better for it.

MV: What was the last book you read that absolutely blew you away?

IM: I don’t get “absolutely blown away” easily. But it happens. There have been a lot of good ones, but Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell took me there. I love how it was sewn together from different torn parts – very inventive. And it had a big theme. I’m a sucker for ‘life, the universe, and everything’ books. The movie didn’t do too bad a job.

MV: What authors inspire you?

IM: I have this love/hate thing with other authors. I like reading quality work, but then it risks plunging me into despair. I can’t read Henry James without wanting to burn my own pages. Ditto for Somerset Maugham. <Insert expletive of your choice.> Here is an idea for a story: Struggling gothic writer is taunted by the ghosts of his betters and peers. Inspiration of a sort.

MV: What’s ahead for you as a writer?

IM: Degeneracy and oblivion. Or soccer practice for the kids. I’ll have to check the calendar.

Big thanks to Iain for giving me the chance to interview him! You can follow him on Facebook or Goodreads. Don't forget that you can purchase The Curse of Malenfer Manor on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes for just $0.99!

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Author Interview: Ann Gimpel, Author of Earth's Requiem

Ann Gimpel, author of Earth's Requiem, book one of the Earth Reclaimed series, is stopping by today and has been kind enough to let me interview her. We'll be talking ecological influences, processes, publishing, and everything in between, and then I'll fill you in on the details of her new book. Let's get to know Ann a bit first, shall we?

Ann Gimpel is a clinical psychologist, with a Jungian bent. Avocations include mountaineering, skiing, wilderness photography and, of course, writing. A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Several paranormal romance novellas are available in e-format. Three novels, Psyche’s Prophecy, Psyche’s Search, and Psyche's Promise are small press publications available in e-format and paperback. Look for three more urban fantasy novels coming this summer and fall: To Love a Highland Dragon, Earth’s Requiem and Earth’s Blood.

A husband, grown children, grandchildren and three wolf hybrids round out her family.

           

www.anngimpel.com

http://anngimpel.blogspot.com

http://www.amazon.com/author/anngimpel

http://www.facebook.com/anngimpel.author

@AnnGimpel (for Twitter)

MV: You say that your books have an ecological twist. What does that mean, and what else can you tell us about the ecological twists you write?
Ann Gimpel: I’m concerned about the damage we’ve done to Earth, and about climate change, and things like genetically modified foods and their impact on our bodies. It isn’t surprising many of my books have a dystopian, post-apocalyptic feel to them. 
I’ve spent a great deal of my life in the backcountry, both in the U.S. and in other countries. Pollution is truly shocking in some third world countries. For example, the river flowing through La Paz, Bolivia, runs red and nothing grows within about a hundred yard radius of its banks, probably because it’s full of raw sewage. I read an article a few days back about the oceans, titled, The Oceans are Broken. It was chilling, and made me sad reading about overfishing, no more seabirds, and the Pacific being turned into a giant garbage dump that’s so bad the sailor was afraid to turn on his motor, for fear the propeller would tangle in debris.
I guess I’d like to believe if each of us did a little bit, like watching our carbon footprint and making a conscious effort to reduce it, we’d make progress toward saving our home.

MV: What can you tell us about that first 500 page novel you wrote? What are some of the lessons you learned from writing that first book?

AG: Oh my. I learned about writing clean POV, and about building solid characters, and about plot lines and pacing and tension. Just about everything, really. Fortunately, a wonderful copy editor took me under her wing. Jessica will always have a warm spot in my heart.
There are many, many elements that go into writing a novel. It’s impossible to master all of them at the same time. I focused on character development first, probably because it was easier for me than weaving plot lines together. Over time, I’ve worked hard to hone my craft, but I’m still learning. It feels good to pick up something I wrote a year ago and be able to see mistakes in it. That tells me my craft has grown.

MV: As writers learn more about their craft, their process tends to change. How has yours changed since you first picked up a pen?
AG: Funny you should ask. I used to have to go through my manuscripts at least four times before they were ready to submit. I’ve pared that to twice. And I’m much better at reading on the screen. I used to print everything, which was an enormous waste of paper and ink. I’ve learned to keep storyboards to keep my characters straight. I do that on paper, not with one of the computer programs like Scrivener. I’ve also gotten better at seeing how plots weave together, so I think my storylines have become more natural.

MV: You write paranormal romance and contemporary fantasy. What draws you to these types of stories?
AG: I write the same kinds of stories I like to read. I also read some science fiction and high fantasy. I’ve sold a number of short stories in those genres, but the sad truth is there aren’t that many readers in those two genres. One of the reasons I started writing romance, other than that I enjoy reading about hunky alphas and gutsy heroines, is there are lots of romance readers. It’s easy to understand why. HEAs are a huge draw. Reading is an escape and everyone wants to read about something that gives them hope.

MV: Are you more of a pantser or plotter?
AG: I’ve tried to plot. It doesn’t work for me because me characters thumb their noses and tell me they have better ideas than mine. They’re generally correct, so I’ve learned to just sort go with the flow.

MV: The wilderness seems to be your soundtrack. Do you also use music as inspiration to write, or do you prefer the quiet?
AG: I’ve always been one of those people who can’t listen to music and write. I was like that in school doing homework, and I’m still that way. Now I can listen to music and do math. Go figure.

MV: Your website lists several other books and series. What can you tell us about these other works?
AG: They fall into two general camps: urban fantasy and paranormal romance. The urban fantasy novels are full length, so 80-100K+. The paranormal romance books range from 15K to 71K, with an average around 50K. I do have several series, but my personal bent is to stop a series at three books. Beyond that, the characters don’t feel as fresh to me, and the world sort of runs out of oomph. At least that’s been my experience reading other writers and there’s absolutely no reason to believe I could do a better job than them.

MV: What can you tell us about the path you took to getting published?
AG: After that first novel that went nowhere (and its sequel!), my copy editor friend suggested I try my hand at short stories. That was in Sept of 2009. By late December, my first short story, a hard science fiction tale about life in the arctic, was accepted by the Aurora Wolf Literary Journal. I started getting stories accepted fairly regularly after that. Encouraged, I began a new novel as part of a Book-in-a-Week challenge my online critique group hosted. I didn’t finish an entire novel, but I did get 50K words written. I built on them, honed my effort, and the book was accepted as part of a three book deal from a small press. Acceptances started rolling in after that. I’ve pretty much stopped writing short stories for now, but I may pick them up again because they offer opportunity for me to write in different genres.

MV: What advice would you give to other writers who wish to get published?
AG: Write every day. Find a good critique group where they’ll be honest, and develop a thick skin. No one can see the mistakes in their own writing all the time and neophyte writers can hardly see any of them. For two books of mine that released this summer and fall (Fortune’s Scion and Earth’s Requiem), I’d written them quite a while back. Frankly, I was horrified by all the mistakes in the manuscripts and shocked either had been accepted for publication. Of course, all (or most) of the mistakes were fixed prior to publication. Both were always good stories, but my rendition was rough. I like to think it’s improved.

MV: What’s ahead for you as a writer?
AG: Good question. 2013 was nuts. I’m slowing my output considerably to allow myself to have some kind of life away from the keyboard. The plan I instituted last summer was I’d write a book a month, ten months out of the year and take two months off. So far, it’s working. Of course the “off” months aren’t truly “off,” since I have marketing and editing to do, but at least I’m trying to manage my time better. Hubby gets grumpy when I don’t make time for him, and I don’t blame him!

Earth’s Requiem

Earth Reclaimed, Book 1

By Ann Gimpel

Publisher: Musa

Release Date: 10/4/13

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Romance

Resilient, kickass, and determined, Aislinn's walled herself off from anything that might make her feel again. Until a wolf picks her for a bond mate and a Celtic god rises out of legend to claim her for his own.

Aislinn Lenear lost her anthropologist father high in the Bolivian Andes. Her mother, crazy with grief that muted her magic, was marched into a radioactive vortex by alien creatures and killed. Three years later, stripped of every illusion that ever comforted her, twenty-two year old Aislinn is one resilient, kickass woman with a take no prisoners attitude. In a world turned upside down, where virtually nothing familiar is left, she’s conscripted to fight the dark gods responsible for her father’s death. Battling the dark on her own terms, Aislinn walls herself off from anything that might make her feel again.

Fionn MacCumhaill, Celtic god of wisdom, protection, and divination has been laying low since the dark gods stormed Earth. He and his fellow Celts decided to wait them out. After all, three years is nothing compared to their long lives. On a clear winter day, Aislinn walks into his life and suddenly all bets are off. Awed by her courage, he stakes his claim to her and to an Earth he's willing to fight for.

Aislinn’s not so easily convinced. Fionn’s one gorgeous man, but she has a world to save. Emotional entanglements will only get in her way. Letting a wolf into her life was hard. Letting love in may well prove impossible.

Author Interview: Co-Writers James Wymore and Aiden James

I'm happy to have James Wymore back on the blog today, along with his co-writer for The Actuator: Fractured Earth, Aiden James. I was lucky enough to interview both of these extremely busy authors, and find out about their book and the anthology contest set in the Actuator universe. Here's a bit about the book to get your interest piqued:

On a secret military base tucked in a remote desert mountain, a dangerous machine lies hidden from the American public. Known as “The Actuator”, this machine is capable of transforming entire communities into alternate realities. In theory, these often terrifying realities are reversible.

The scientists in charge of this machine employ operatives called Machine Monks, who attune their minds to manifest single ideas from the realms of fantasy and science fiction. These ideas are then superimposed upon sparsely inhabited areas for testing. For a while, the enigmatic Actuator cooperates with the experiments, using dampeners to limit the affected area. But those in charge of the project eagerly anticipate exploring the full potential of this amazing device.

Experiments progress to where they feed more than twenty different genre ideas simultaneously into the Actuator’s database. Meanwhile, an unknown saboteur dismantles the dampeners. The affect is catastrophic. The entire world is plunged into chaos, and familiar landscapes become a deadly patchwork of genre horrors. Overnight, the Actuator becomes the worst menace the earth has ever seen, claiming lives in staggering numbers.

Can a few surviving Machine Monks band together to set things right again? It all depends on whether Red McLaren and the Monks can survive their journey through the various realms that separate them from the Actuator, where ever-present orcs, aliens, pirates, and vampires seek to destroy them. They must move quickly, as time is running out to stop the Actuator and the villain who controls it and the earth’s destiny.


Get it now on Amazon for Kindle. Also available on Barnes and Noble for Nook and Kobo for Kobo.
You can get the trade paperback from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

And now let's hear from the authors!

Interview with James Wymore:

Mara V: What can you tell us about your latest release The Actuator: Fractured Earth?

 

James: Somebody builds a machine capable of transforming the whole world into anything the user wants.  A group of people who enjoy various types of fiction get together to experiment with the machine.  An unknown saboteur activates it and they break the world into patches of every genre imaginable.  People begin dying in real life horrors, fantasies, and science fictions.  Only a small group of people in the world even know what happened.  So they are working frantically to try and put it right.  It's a pretty fun ride.

 

MV: This is your first coauthored book. What was the experience of working with another writer like?

 

James: I think it went so well because Aiden is really nice.  We never had any problems as far as communication or planning.  I've heard horror stories about projects like this, but I have no complaints at all.

 

MV: What can you tell us about the process of co-writing a book?

 

James: I've actually collaborated on a writing project before.  Although I wrote the whole book, my second book, Exacting Essence, is a collaborative project with R. A. Baxter.  We both write in the same world.  Each collaboration is a unique situation.  Every person is different, so the projects have to fit the specific relationships for the people involved.  I've heard people talk about co-authoring as if a list of rules will work for everybody.  That hasn't been my experience.  It's a lot of communication between everybody involved.  Most authors don't do it because it's more work for less percentage of the royalties.  But I really like to.

 

MV: It looks like you have another project on the horizon. What is Salvation about and when can we hope to see it?

 

James: It's a military fantasy (high fantasy) I wrote last year.  I have a contract for it already.  But I've been so busy with editing and writing, that I'm putting it off for just a little while.  Hopefully in a few months things will settle down to where I can give it the attention it deserves.  I love the ideas in Salvation.  It kind of came out of nowhere and just demanded my attention.  It's always fun when a book does that.

 

MV: Curiosity Quills recently announced that an anthology for The Actuator series is on the horizon. Tell us about the plans for this anthology, and what you are looking forward to the most with it.

 

James: The call for submissions is already out: http://curiosityquills.com/giveaways-contests/borderlands-anthology/  It's a fun idea.  The Actuator world is so diverse and amazing that I can barely scratch the surface of it in the trilogy.  But through this anthology (and maybe another one) I hope to see a lot more of the potential in it explored by other authors.  I've had several people talk to me about stories for it and I'm really excited by what they've suggested.

 

MV: You stay pretty busy with a full-time job, family, and a full-time writing career. What’s next for you? Besides the vacation you deserve. =)

 

James: Writing is my vacation.   Actually, I'm trying my hand at a comic book script.  I've always wanted to, so I thought I'd slip that in.  You know, because I have so much free time.

 
Interview with Aiden James:

MV: Your first book, The Forgotten Eden, was based on a bedtime story you made up for your kids that became so much more. What can you tell us about the transition into writing professionally?

Aiden: It was a tricky process, as I expected immediate success--both in terms of being good as a story teller and financially. I didn't make a dime for another nine years, and didn't find consistent financial success until 2011--nearly fourteen years later. As far as the story telling angle, my first effort was terrible, and my wife suggested I give up. But she was testing me...to see how much I loved writing stories. Through determined trial and error, I steadily improved, and finally was at least 'signable' to small press in 2004 (seven years after I started). I still strive to get better and better at telling stories, and doubt I will ever be completely satisfied with what I create.

MV: First book experiences tend to be filled with hard lessons learned for writers as they get to know the business end of writing. What did you do differently for your second book because of lessons you learned from the first?

Aiden: Ha! Great question. Get to the point quicker--that was what I set out to do. And, again, this is something I still seek to get better and better at. How to tell a dynamic story? Limit the details to where you steadily feed them to your audience. Start fast and keep up the pace, but never overload your readers with more than they can comfortably digest.
 

MV: To date, you have nineteen titles available since you first published in 2006. Does this mean you have achieved the seemingly elusive author dream of writing full time? How do you balance this with your personal life?

Aiden: I am a full time author, and have been self-sufficient since July of 2011. It came fourteen years after I started, and it was a challenge up until then. Most of my jobs required 50+ hours of work each week, since I was a call center supervisor/manager throughout most of those years. Even though I am full time now, it is incredibly hard to balance my personal life. Writing and inspiration are not always things one can sit down and do on the spot. Sometimes that works, but most often, I feel it is better to write when you are inspired to do so. If you need to get the train running, maybe a little music, extra research, etc can get things going. That being said, I do try to write something everyday, when working on a new book. Usually, that means churning out anywhere from 300 to 2,000 words. If I get in a pinch with deadlines, then the 2,000 might become 3,000 or even 4,000 words.

MV: Some of the titles you’ve released recently have been co-authored. You’ve worked with three different authors to bring different series to light. What have those experiences been like?

Aiden: Actually, it is now five different authors. I started with J.R. Rain, and added Michelle Wright late last year. This year, I am also working with James Wymore, Lisa, Collicutt, and Mike Robinson. The collaborative experience is different with each author. Some books, I write 80 to 90% of the story, and in others, the other author takes over the lion share. Almost all of the books start with my outlines, but there are no hard and fast rules in the creative process. The big thing is staying consistent enough to where my audience recognizes my style--even though they certainly recognize my co-authors' styles, too. In truth, cowriting is a great way to explore new viewpoints and storylines. I love it! :-)
 
MV: What can you tell us about upcoming projects?

Aiden: Two projects will be released in September: "Hurakan's Chalice" with Mike Robinson, which is the third installment of The Talisman Chronicles (a long awaited third book), and J.R. Rain and I will be releasing the third Nick Caine book next week ("Pyramid of the Gods"). Then, in late October comes a new novella series with Michelle Wright, entitled "Blake 187: The Zombie Revolution". And there will be at least three more books released by the end of 2013, including the fifth Judas Chronicles installment ("Tyranny of Coins"), and the second book of The Actuator series and The Serendipitous Curse series.