Please help me welcome Suzanne Johnson to the blog for an interview!
Tell
me about yourself, and your writing.
I’m
a magazine writer and editor by training, but I caught the
fiction-writing bug in 2008 when I was trying to deal with the
lingering aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—I’d been living in New
Orleans for more than a decade when the levees broke and almost
destroyed my city. Even three years after the storm, I was struggling
to move past it, as were many of us. I’d always been a fan of
paranormal fantasy so when I began to write my Katrina story, it came
out in the form of an urban fantasy that takes place in New Orleans
just as the hurricane’s about to hit. My first novel Royal
Street
started as a love letter to New Orleans and ended up opening a whole
new chapter in my life. No one was more surprised than me!
How
long have you been writing? How many published books do you have, and
what genres?
I’ve
been writing forever, but it’s been nonfiction and longform feature
articles. So I’m a newbie in the fiction world, having completed my
first book in 2009. My third urban fantasy novel, Elysian
Fields,
will be published in August (following Royal
Street
and River
Road).
I also write paranormal romance, and in July will publish my fourth
book in that genre. Man, no wonder I feel as if I write all the time!
Do
you write in multiple genres or just one? If just one, do you ever
consider straying outside your genre?
Urban
fantasy and paranormal romance are “kissing cousins,” although I
think they’re more different for the writer than for the reader. I
have all these crazy Southern family members and friends and stories,
so at some point I will have to do a Southern gothic novel. It might
be historical or humorous or even horror. But there’s a book in
there somewhere.
Are
you a plotter or do you write from the seat of your pants?
I
have a full-time day job in addition to a brutal writing schedule, so
I can’t afford to be a pantser. Over the course of writing seven
novels so far, I’ve developed a plotting system that works for me,
and keeps me on track without stifling the creative aspect of
writing. I’m very rigid with my work schedule, though.
What
is a typical writing day like for you?
If
it’s a weekday, I’m at my day job from 7:30 a.m. until after 5
p.m. I usually take a couple of hours to unwind, and then by 7:30 or
8 p.m., I’m at my computer and work until 11 or 11:30. I make up
ground on weekends, and usually work about eight hours on Saturday
and twelve hours on Sunday. Did I mention my life is pretty dull!?
Who
do you love to read? Favorite authors, favorite books?
I
love Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series and Kim Harrison’s
Hollows series—those are my favorites in urban fantasy. They both
have what for me is the perfect blend of humor and wackiness and deep
emotion. I’m also a fan of Patricia Briggs’ two related series,
Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega.
Tell
us a little about your latest release.
River
Road
is the second book in the Sentinels of New Orleans series, but it
works well as a standalone. The sentinels are wizards whose job it is
to keep order between the “Beyond,” which is the preternatural
world, and modern New Orleans, where the humans don’t know things
like werewolves and mermen exist. A couple of Cajun merfolk clans are
feuding, someone’s killing off wizards, and the sentinel heroine,
DJ, has to try and sort it all out as the stakes keep getting higher.
It has a lot of humor and drama and, yeah, a touch of romance as
well. Magic and werewolves and a 200-year-old French pirate add up to
adventure!
What
is something that you absolutely can't live without? (Other than
family members)
My
pets, although I guess they’re family members, technically. I have
two aging rescue dogs that are my babies. I can’t imagine being
without a dog, so it’s ironic that my heroine in the Sentinels
series has a cat. Although DJ suspects that Sebastian might really be
a spawn of satan.
Could
you ever co author a book with someone? If so, who would you choose,
and what would you write?
I
think it would be great fun to co-author a book. One of my favorite
writers is Rick Bragg, who writes these funny, amazing Southern
memoirs and essays. I’d like to take his ability to spin a real
story and blend it with my fiction and plotting, and see what we’d
come up with. Probably a big mess, but it would be fun.
If
you could spend a day with anyone from history, dead or alive, who
would it be, and what would you do? What would you ask them?
This
would probably change from day to day, but I’ve just finished
copyedits on the new Sentinels book coming in August, so I’m in the
mood to chat with the pirate Jean Lafitte. In my series, he’s come
back in undead form as one of my ongoing characters, so I’ve done a
lot of research on him. He was the last great Caribbean pirate,
sailing the Gulf and Caribbean in the early 1800s and basing an
empire of a thousand pirates and ruffians in Barataria, south of New
Orleans. He was fascinating—fluent in several languages, brutal and
brilliant, charming and cunning. It has been fun to recreate him and
put him in a modern setting, so meeting the real Lafitte would be
amazing. And probably scary.
What
are some of your other hobbies outside of writing?
I
used to enjoy paper-pieced quilting, a technique that allows you to
create these really intricate, artistic quilted wallhangings with
hundreds or even thousands of tiny pieces of fabric sewn together. I
just don’t have time for it with my current writing schedule,
though.
What
is a talent you wish you had, but don't?
I
wish I could sing, and write songs. I love music—if my dogs don’t
count as the thing I couldn’t live without, the other would be
music. But I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, as my Southern
relations would say.
Favorite
color?
Teal
Favorite
place to read?
In
my living room chair, with my feet propped up.
Favorite
meal
Right
now, I’m eating low carb, so anything filled with sugar and white
flour sounds good. Cake! A nice caramel or lemon doberge cake, which
is a specialty in New Orleans. Seven layers, cream filled,
iced…utterly evil.
Favorite
non-alcoholic drink.
Diet
Coke.
If
you could travel anywhere and do anything, no limits or money holding
you back, where would you go?
Ever
since “Lord of the Rings” (the movie trilogy) came out, I’ve
wanted to visit New Zealand. What a gorgeous place!
Royal
Street
Sentinels
of New Orleans Book One
Suzanne
Johnson
Genre:
Urban Fantasy
Publisher:
Tor Books
Number
of pages: 337
Word
Count: approx. 94,000
Cover
Artist: Cliff Nielsen
Book
Description:
As
the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco's job
involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing
out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal
were-creatures. DJ's boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard
tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might
slip over from the preternatural beyond.
Then
Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans' fragile levees, unleashing
more than just dangerous flood waters. While winds howled and Lake
Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the
Otherworld crumbled. Now the undead and the restless are roaming the
Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering
soldiers sent to help the city recover.
To
make it worse, Gerald St. Simon has gone missing, the wizards' Elders
have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ's new partner, and
undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The
search for Gerry and the killer turns personal when DJ learns the
hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the
unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love creates one bitter roux.
River
Road
Sentinels
of New Orleans, Book 2
Suzanne Johnson
Suzanne Johnson
Genre:
Urban Fantasy
Publisher:
Tor Books
I
Number
of pages: 336
Word
Count: approx. 92,000
Cover
Artist: Cliff Nielsen
Book
Description:
Hurricane
Katrina is long gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New
Orleans. New species from the Beyond moved into Louisiana after the
hurricane destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to
wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep
the preternaturals peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is
brewing between two clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish,
and down in the swamp, DJ learns, there’s more stirring than angry
mermen and the threat of a were-gator.
Wizards
are dying, and something—or someone—from the Beyond is poisoning
the waters of the mighty Mississippi, threatening the humans who live
and work along the river. DJ and Alex must figure out what unearthly
source is contaminating the water and who—or what—is killing the
wizards. Is it a malcontented merman, the naughty nymph, or some
other critter altogether? After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate
Jean Lafitte, knows his way around a body or two.
It’s
anything but smooth sailing on the bayou as the Sentinels of New
Orleans series continues.
About
the Author:
Suzanne
Johnson writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance from Auburn,
Alabama, after a career in educational publishing that has spanned
five states and six universities. She grew up halfway between
the Bear Bryant Museum and Elvis' birthplace and lived in New Orleans
for fifteen years, so she has a highly refined sense of the absurd
and an ingrained love of SEC football and fried gator on a stick.
Website:
www.suzanne-johnson.com
Publisher
Page: http://us.macmillan.com/author/suzannejohnson
The Sentinels of New Orleans has become one of my favorites. Elysian Fields is next. Have been waiting to see D.J. again. Highly recommend the series when I can. Currently reading Storm Force, Susannah Sandlin's serial novel. Wonderful read. Today is episode five. Happy Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Roger! And there WILL be a Jean Lafitte novelette sometime this summer. It is written; I'm just waiting to find out how it's going to be distributed. You heard it here first!
DeleteI enjoyed the interview. I wish i could sing too. My boyfriend is always trying to get me to sing because he knows I can't carry a tune.
ReplyDeleteLOL--why do I suspect he's not encouraging you because he enjoys the sound of your voice? I can belt it out in the car by myself, but that's it for public singing for me. :-)
DeleteKNowing Jean 's novella is already written is a great motivation ^^ but it also make me even more impatient ^^( normally does his story happen before elysian field or after or somewhere else in the story time line^^)
ReplyDeletei don't know why but i though you would partner with Lexi for a common book ( i don't know the author you choose but i will check it out)
Actually, I almost said Lexi. I would LOVE to write a book with Lexi George. She's a friend so I know we get along well and have similar senses of humor. We'd probably get in great trouble.
DeleteNever say never, although she just signed a contract for three more books in her Demon Hunting series so she'll be busy for a while!
Yahoo! More of Jean LaFitte! Looking forward to the summer!
ReplyDeleteYes, Jean Lafitte takes on the historical undead Andrew Jackson :-)
DeleteI'm just waiting to see whether I'll have it on my website or my publisher's. Hope to know more soon!
aww..this post really makes me want to read the series even more..have to win this ;)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy reading the interview :)
ReplyDeleteWant to know more about Jean ups I meant Alex and DJ :D
Hey who says that Southern Gothic novel can't contain historical, humorous, and horror. Sounds like a winner to me!
ReplyDeleteOoh, Jean LaFitte! Before Sentinels I've actually never heard of him before (I know, I live under a rock >.<) and it got me interested. My favorite reading spot is also in the living room chair + feet on footstool! :)
ReplyDelete