Tell me about yourself, and your
writing.
I like Pina
Coladas and getting caught in the rain? Okay, not really. I hate
getting wet. Um…I’m the Amazon Bestselling author of the
F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad, Midnight Magic and Galilee Falls series, I’m
single, I live in Northern Virginia, and I spend my days thinking up
ways to kill people. Just your typical gal.
How long have you been writing? How
many published books do you have, and what genres?
I’ve been writing since I was a
teenager, first screenplays then books. Currently I have five books
in “print”: My F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad (Mind Over Monsters, To
Catch A Vampire, Death Takes A Holiday) my Midnight Magic Mystery
Series (What’s A Witch To Do?) and the first in the Galilee
Falls Trilogy (Justice) out now. They’re all urban fantasy,
but Justice is about superheroes instead of vampires.
Do you write in multiple genres or
just one? If just one, do you ever consider straying outside your
genre?
The first book I ever wrote was a plain
old serial killer thriller. What’s great about urban fantasy is
they’re really a blend of genres, thriller plus fantasy with a
little romance to boot. I’d love to write a plain old horror with
ghosts or zombies or even a romantic comedy. I’ve got a lot of
years left (hopefully) I’ll get around to them.
Are you a plotter or do you write
from the seat of your pants?
I have the main
characters and the major plot points worked out years before I even
pick up a pen but sometimes those can change so I’m both a pantser
and planner. I think most writers are.
What is a typical writing day like
for you?
I wake up, make
the long five step trek to my desk, then spend ten minutes staring at
the blank page before getting coffee for twenty more minutes of
staring. Eventually the muse gets her ass to the office to help me
(she’s in an abusive relationship with procrastination right now
and really needs an intervention.) I listen to music while writing,
and only occasionally get up to walk around. Writers are a boring
bunch.
Who do you love to read? Favorite
authors, favorite books?
I go though
phases. One year I devour cozies, then the next year I can’t stand
them and I move onto horror. I stopped reading paranormal/urban
fantasy when I started writing them because I was afraid I’d OD on
vampires and werewolves. I do love humorous memoirs like those of Jen
Lancaster and Laurie Notaro, and biographies on great women like
Charlotte Bronte and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Really, no matter the
genre, if it catches my fancy I’ll give it a whirl.
What is something you'd like to
accomplish in your writing career next year?
I’d love to be able to make enough
money to support myself with the books. I’ve been at this since I
was eighteen, published at 28, and by the end of the year I’ll have
six books out. Should be doable, right? God I hope so.
If you could have one paranormal
ability, what would it be?
Time travel. I’d love to see what
life was really like in the past and what it will be in the future.
If you could keep a mythical/
paranormal creature as a pet, what would you have?
A dragon so I could claim the Iron
Throne.
Tell us a little about your latest
release.
It’s entitled, Justice, and
it’s the first in The Galilee Falls Trilogy. Basically, it’s
about a hard-boiled female police officer who lives in a world filled
with superheroes and villains. One villain escapes and targets her,
though she doesn’t know why. That’s the plot, but really it’s
about unrequited love, betrayal, accepting yourself and your life
just with superheroes kicking ass around it. I’ve been asked the
genre, but it doesn’t really have one. It’s a thriller, a
hard-boiled mystery, action and adventure, romance, allegory for
modern apathy. I can almost guarantee you’ve never read anything
like it. (And if you have, e-mail me the title so I can read it.
Seriously.)
What is something that you
absolutely can't live without? (Other than family members)
Television. I’ve managed to avoid
most of the addictive substances in life but I am beyond addicted to
television. I really need an intervention.
Could you ever co author a book
with someone? If so, who would you choose, and what would you write?
I’d love to get to a place in my
career like James Patterson where I write out the outline then give
it to someone else to do the heavy lifting. I am just naturally lazy.
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?
Oscar Wilde. That’d be an
interesting conversation.
What are some of your other hobbies
outside of writing?
I’m basically a teenage boy now. I
play video games, read comics, and watch crap TV. God, I’m boring.
If you were on the staff to have a
book adapted to movie, what would you pick?
I’d love to see a biography on
Charlotte Bronte. She had an amazing life that was better than
anything in fiction.
What is a talent you wish you had,
but don't?
I’d love to have Game. I have no
game, I have no mojo, no matter the Spanx or push-up bras I am
totally awkward or downright invisible to men. If awkwardness was
seductive, I’d be freaking Angelina Jolie.
Favorite color? Pink
Weather: Hot or cold? Cold
Favorite place to read? Hyde
Park in London
Favorite meal: French fries
Favorite non-alcoholic drink. Mocha
frapacchino with whip cream
If you could travel anywhere and do
anything, no limits or money holding you back, where would you go?
Nathan Fillion’s bedroom, as for what we’d do, use your
smutty imagination
Book One of The Galilee Falls Trilogy
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Justice
Book One of The Galilee Falls Trilogy
Jennifer Harlow
Genre: Urban Fantasy (Superhero)
Publisher: Devil on the Left Books
Date of Publication: 5/13
ISBN: 978-0-9893944-0-6 ebook
ISBN: 978-0-9893944-1-3 print
ASIN: B00CTY1QZ8
Number of pages: 320
Word Count: 100,000
Cover Artist: Damonza
Book
Description:
It’s
hard being a regular police officer in Galilee Falls, a city with the
highest concentration of superheroes and villains in the country.
It’s even harder watching your best friend, the man you’re
secretly in love with your whole life, planning to marry another
woman. Detective Joanna Fallon has to contend with both. When the
vilest supervillain in the city’s history, Alkaline, the former
crime boss who can shoot acid from his wrists, escapes from the
maximum security prison, the whole city is gripped by panic.
Leading
the pursuit is Captain Harry O’Hara, Joanna’s boss and secret
lover, and the city’s champion superhero Justice, who caught the
villain last time, much to Joanna’s chagrin. Before her father was
murdered in a mugging twenty years earlier, Joanna worshiped the
hero, but when he disappeared and failed to save her father, that
adoration turned to contempt for all supers.
After
Alkaline attacks too close to home and targets Joanna as his next
victim, tough-as-nail Joanna has to contend with her increasing fear
while struggling to choose between her life-long crush and her
new-found love.
At
turns vulnerable and fierce, equally mordant and winsome, Joanna is
an earnest yet emotionally damaged heroine, who despite the tough
breaks of her childhood sees the good in people and vow to protect
her beloved city at all costs. An ass-kicking petite firecracker with
no superpowers of her own, she charges after supervillains
unflinchingly, never losing her wit even when facing her toughest
fight. With a coy blend of whimsy and vivid imagination, she
delivers both humor and thrills in an action-packed and edgy blend of
comic book cool, fantasy-noir, and bitter-sweet romance.
Excerpt:
“‘Can
you be so cruel?’
‘Yes,
I can be very cruel. I have been taught by masters.’”
-Paramount
Picture’s The Heiress (1949)
Prologue
The
wolves are at the gate.
I
count thirty police officers on my security monitors, including SWAT,
all armed to the gills led by
him. I always knew
this day would come. It has been almost twenty years in the making,
but now it’s here…this must have been how Nero felt as he played
that fiddle. My Rome is burning. Soon my freedom will be gone and yet
I could still manage a tune. First things first.
Waverly,
one of my loyal employees these two years, runs into the study. His
fear does not inspire confidence. “Sir, what are we supposed to do?
The police and—”
“Stop
sniveling for one,” I say, taking a sip of my Scotch. I will miss
this.
“Did
Grace—”
The
bullet I put between his eyes stops the rest of that sentence. I
don’t have time to answer a million questions. Company’s coming.
I down the rest of my drink as I run the electromagnet over my
computer. Cleaner than the day I bought it. Must leave things tidy.
I’ve already set the timers in the file cabinets. Thirty more
seconds before, like Nero, all that remains of my empire is ashes.
The
bombs detonate as I walk down the hall, no louder than gunshots but
still rocking the walls sprinkling dust on my paintings. I wonder
what will happen to my art. Probably sold for victim reparations. The
Degas alone will cover the cost of the library we destroyed today.
Smith and Rees are waiting in what is left of my living room. Just
looking at it, especially what’s left of Bradley under that bloody
sheet, I feel embarrassed for myself. I never lose control like that.
I don’t know what I was thinking. I suppose I’m paying the price
now.
“Sir,
where do you want us?” Smith, a five year veteran of my service,
asks.
I
turn over the couch with a sigh. “Gentlemen, I want to thank you
both for your loyal service through the years. You have both been
invaluable. I wish things could have gone a different way. I
apologize.” I fire a single shot into Smith’s forehead. Poor Rees
is too shocked to even draw on me before he meets the same ending.
The loose ends are no more. The rest is in the hands of the fates.
The
last of my security doors fall, the sound of steel hitting marble
echoing through the room. I cross my leg, wipe the speckles of dust
off my costume, and put a smile on my face. The bane of my existence,
the man I hate, who has consumed my life for years, super-speeds into
my living room as if he owns it. And the press calls me arrogant.
“Alkaline,”
he says beneath that dark mask.
“Justice,”
I say with a nod. We stare at each other for a few seconds, even now
locked in battle. “Grace?”
“She’s
safe. You can’t hurt her or anyone else ever again.” He pauses
for dramatic effect, or to savor his victory. “Will this be easy or
hard?”
For
a moment, I consider an attack. It always gives me almost orgasmic
pleasure when my fist hits his body and he cries out in pain. One
last taste for the road? No, I quell this urge. My body has not
completely healed from our fight a few hours ago and quite frankly, I
need a break. Being the scourge of the city is exhausting. “You may
take me to jail now.”
As
I’m led out past the frightened police and gawking bystanders, I
keep that smile on my face. Not because I’m arrogant, not to save
face, because…I may have lost this battle, but the war has just
begun.
Then
Rome will truly burn.
About
the Author:
Jennifer Harlow spent her
restless childhood fighting with her three brothers and scaring the
heck out of herself with horror movies and books. She grew up to earn
a degree at the University of Virginia which she put to use as a
radio DJ, crisis hotline volunteer, bookseller, lab assistant,
wedding coordinator, and government investigator.
Currently she calls
Northern Virginia home but that restless itch is ever present. In her
free time, she continues to scare the beejepers out of herself
watching scary movies and opening her credit card bills.
She is the author of the
Amazon Best-Selling F.R.E.A.K.S. Squad and Midnight Magic Series.
For the soundtracks to her books visit www.jenniferharlowbooks.com.
http://blog.jenniferharlowbooks.com
Tales From the Darkside Blog
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/jenharlowbooks
Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/jenharlowbooks/
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