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Thursday, January 31, 2013

#Author Jill James Does #Romance and #Zombies!


Happy Friday, all! Today at The Divas of Desire we're thrilled to welcome romance author Jill James. She's published with The Wild Rose Press and is self-published as well. She's also a great sport who's kindly agreed to let me ask her five nosy questions. So let's get started!

Hi, Jill! It's great to have you with us today. You've written across the genres from Contemporary Romance (Tempting Adam) to Paranormal shapeshifter romance (Dangerous Shift). Do you have a preference?

I love the whole make-your-own-world fun of writing paranormal. I’m a science fiction fan going back to Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galatica (the original), and Star Wars. The idea that there could be something else out there is enticing. There could be a veil between us and this Other world, a world of vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters.
My daughter was just the right age to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer with me. I loved telling her that the show might seem like it was about demons and monsters, but it was more than that, deeper, just like excellent science fiction.

That must have been cool for your daughter, watching Buffy with her mom! You mention reading being very important to you—can you name a book that's had an important influence on you as a reader or writer?

The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The idea that you could just write about your life and someone would like to read it was eye-opening.

Save The Cat by Blake Snyder. I was able to meet him in person at RWA National before his death. I’ll never forget how he broke films (books) into manageable pieces. The idea that books were a product was so surprising. I think I put authors and books up on a pedestal and hadn’t understood that we need to think of them as art when we create them and something to market once they are done.

I love both those choices. Little House on the Prairie is still so popular with children all these years since it's first publication. And Save the Cat is such a wonderful tool for writers.

You have another book, Love in the Time of Zombies coming soon—what made you decide to write about Zombies?

I’ve been on a zombie watching/reading kick for about 18 months now. The Walking Dead is my favorite show right now. I have this theory or idea about apocalypse books and movies. It comes down to finding someone to love, because if you don’t have someone to care for, what is the purpose of surviving? If you can do that in the middle of the world ending, renegades trying to seize what is left, and zombies wanting to eat you, how hard does it have to be in the ‘normal’ world. Don’t just sit around, go search for The One.

You have a three book series available—The Lake Willowbee Series. What is it about writing a series that appeals to you?

LOL Actually, I didn’t start out with the idea of writing a series. I had an idea of a divorced couple working their way back to each other but my publisher didn’t do married couples working out their problems or a divorced couple getting back together. But, I loved the idea of what would it take to forgive and forget infidelity if the love was still there. Now, I always get asked, would you forgive and forget? Ain’t no way and my husband knows it. So once I had one story in Lake Willowbee I wanted to stay there and put some other stories in my fictional town. I’m going to return to Lake Willowbee with The Single Mommies Club series this year.

Do you have a recent or upcoming release you'd like to tell us about? Please give us all the deets!

Lined up for this year is Love in the Time of Zombies, The Single Mommies Club (again in Lake Willowbee and a series), a sequel to Dangerous Shift, and a sequel to Tempting Adam.

I’m most looking forward to the zombie book. The characters are Emily Gray, a former neglected housewife who finds her strength with the apocalypse, along with the truck-driving, poetry-writing Seth Ripley. For zombie book lovers, be warned; there is sex and romance. For romance book lovers, be warned; there is ooey-gooey gore and scary zombies and evil renegades.

Whoa, sounds like an awesome story—sex and guts! LOL! Sounds like you've planned something for everyone in your upcoming books.

Thanks again for joining us today, Jill, and much success to you!


Jill refers to these little cuties as her "muses"!


Dangerous Shift by Jill James:
HE IS MR. BY-THE-BOOK, WITH A SECRET...
Shapeshifters live among us but remain unknown to most people except for the highest echelons of law enforcement, the military, science, and medical fields—until now.

SHE IS A LOOSE CANNON WITH AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM...
When a fatal virus strikes Shapeshifters all over the West coast, including members of the Shapeshifter Task Force in San Laura, California, reinforcements are called in from around the United States.

TOGETHER, THEY JUST MIGHT CATCH A KILLER.
Lt. Nikki Hill of Missouri comes to San Laura and is partnered up with Lt. Sean Evans. They quickly butt heads on everything from proper police procedures to the moral ethics of euthanasia. They can’t seem to get a lead on the serial killer even as members of their own families are stricken with the virus. In their grief they turn to each other and hope they have time to discover if their relationship stands a chance or if they might just be the next victims of the species extinction disease.

Dangerous Shift is available at: Available at Amazon, BN.com, Smashwords, All Romance eBooks, Kobo, iTunes
and available in print at Amazon and BN.com


About Jill:
Jill James didn't start out wanting to be an author. Along the way she wanted to be an astronaut, President of the United States, a lawyer, and a doctor. Once married with children she realized she could be all those things in the pages of the stories she wrote.

She lives in Northern California with her husband, who is the inspiration for all her romance novel heroes.

Find Jill here:



Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Nona Raines
Hot Contemporary Romance
Edgy ~ Emotional ~ Erotic
www.nonaraines.com


7 comments:

  1. Cool interview ladies! Nice to meetcha Jill!

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  2. Hi, Lisa. I think Nona did a wonderful job with the interview. Thanks, Nona. It was fun.

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  3. The questions were great! Loved hearing about Dangerous Shift and the other stories Jill has in the works, especially the zombies. A heroine finding strength in a horrible situation and a poetic truck driver - looking forward to that!

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    1. Thanks Melissa. I'm loving working on Love in the Time of Zombies. Emily and Seth are such a cute couple.

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  4. Jill, it's great to have you here today. Thanks so much for stopping by, Lisa and Melissa!

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  5. Nona, thank you for having me. Love the pretty red hearts.

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  6. Jill, I'm looking forward to the sequel of Tempting Adam as I loved that book. The Single Mommies series sounds intriguing, too. Dangerous Shift, also, sounds very interesting. When I get caught up with all the books I have I'm going to start buying again. Smile!

    I admire you for being able to write in more than one genre.

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TRR

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