CONTEST INFORMATION-to be entered to win a copy of Jennifer's latest release, Tagled Threads, please leave a comment or question for Jennifer here on the blog along with your email address so we can contact you if you have won. Contest ends Sunday May 15th at Noon est. This only open for Canada and US residents only. Sorry international fans.
So let’s get this party started. Please tell us about yourself. What got you interested in being an author?
A: Hi, Dawn! Thanks for having me on the blog. I appreciate that. ;-)
My name is Jennifer Estep, and I write the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket and the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series for Kensington.
I’ve always loved reading ever since I was a kid. One day, I had the thought that I think a lot of authors do after reading a book that maybe isn’t so good – Why, I could write something better than that. So one summer during college, I wrote a really bad epic fantasy book. But I’d been bitten by the writing bug, so I wrote another book and then another one … and I’ve been writing ever since.
Can you tell me a bit about your upcoming release, Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin Book 4)? What inspired it and what can readers’ expect to happen to Gin next?
A: Sure. I write the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy killing people and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.
Books in the series are Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, and Venom. Tangled Threads, the fourth book, was released on April 26.
In Tangled Threads, Gin finds out that her nemesis, Mab Monroe, has hired an assassin named Elektra LaFleur to come to Ashland to track down and kill the Spider, aka Gin. Along the way, Gin also searches for a kidnapped girl and struggles with whether or not to tell her younger sister Bria that she’s really the Spider.
Basically, though, I thought it would be fun to write an assassin vs. assassin book, so that’s what I did.
How do you keep track of the world building for each series?
How do you keep track of the world building for each series?
A: Mostly, it’s all in my head, but if I need a refresher course, I just go back and re-read my books. I’ve thought about creating a world/character bible for both of my series, but I think I’d spend as much time writing that as I would a new book! So I just go back and review the books if I need to check on something.
How much of yourself, if any, do you put into your characters?
How much of yourself, if any, do you put into your characters?
A: I think there’s a little bit of me in my main heroines, Gin and Gwen (from my Mythos Academy series). We like some of the same things (reading, cooking, etc.), but Gin and Gwen are definitely far stronger and braver than I could ever be.
Is there a genre you haven’t done that you would like to explore in the future?
Is there a genre you haven’t done that you would like to explore in the future?
A: There are a lot of genres I’d like to explore. I’d love to write a contemporary romance, a western, a heist book, a spy thriller … I have so many ideas. Now, I just need to find time to work on them. LOL.
If you could throw a party with any five people (living or dead) who would you pick and why?
If you could throw a party with any five people (living or dead) who would you pick and why?
A: Hmm. That’s a toughie. There are so many people that I’d like to meet and whose work that I admire. But I’ll go with Ian Fleming, Clint Eastwood, Daniel Craig, Jimmy Buffett, and J.K. Rowling. Writers, actors, a musician. I think it would make for an interesting party.
You have two adult series (Elemental Assassin & Bigtime) and have a young adult series (Mythos Acedamy) coming later this year. Do you prefer writing series books over stand alone titles or did it just happen that way?
A: I like writing (and reading) series books – creating a world and magic system and then letting my characters play and explore in that world over the course of several books. I also like writing series books because of how your characters can grow and change. I love seeing my characters come into their own and finally beat the bad guys that have been threatening them for so long.
What are at least five things you have on your bucket list and have you done any of them?
A: I would say five things on my bucket list are: getting a book published; hitting all the best-sellers lists; visiting Alaska/Hawaii; traveling to Europe; and doing something crazy, like sky-diving.
So far, I’ve only done one of them – getting published – but I’m really grateful that’s the one that I’ve accomplished. Maybe someday, I’ll get around to the others. Here’s hoping, anyway. ;-)
Is there one series/author you feel is a must read for readers to explore (can be e book authors or print NY house authors)?
Is there one series/author you feel is a must read for readers to explore (can be e book authors or print NY house authors)?
A: There are so many great books out there that I couldn’t pick just one or just one series. Some of my favorite authors are Robin McKinley, Donald Westlake, David Eddings, Robert Parker, Lisa Kleypas … I think one of the joys of reading is discovering an author whose books you absolutely love. So I would just encourage folks to read as much and in as many genres as possible.
Do you listen to music when writing? Do you feel like some stories write themselves a soundtrack with specific music? If so, what book and what kind of music influenced it?
Do you listen to music when writing? Do you feel like some stories write themselves a soundtrack with specific music? If so, what book and what kind of music influenced it?
A: I do not listen to music when I write. I like dead freaking silence, as I call it, when I write – it just helps me concentrate better. LOL.
But I love listening to music when I’m not writing. My tastes are pretty eccentric, though. I like everyone from Jimmy Buffett to The Killers to The Pretenders, and I love oldies.
What is coming up for you in 2011?
A: Tangled Threads, the fourth book in my Elemental Assassin series, was published on April 26, while Spider’s Revenge, the fifth book, will be released in October.
I also have a young adult urban fantasy series called the Mythos Academy series coming out this year. The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psychometry, or the ability to know an object’s history just by touching it. After a serious freak-out with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors like Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons, and more.
The first book, Touch of Frost, will be out in August, while the second book, Kiss of Frost, will hit shelves in December. First Frost, a prequel e-short story to the series, will be out in July. Visit www.jenniferestep.com for excerpts and more.
Are any of your characters just like you or have personality quirks/traits of you or someone you know?
A: Well, I try not to base characters on people I know. That being said, I love to cook and read just like Gin does in the Elemental Assassin books. Also, my grandma hates wearing socks, just like Jo-Jo Deveraux does in the Elemental Assassin books.
Where can readers find you on the web?
A: Folks can find me at the following sites:
Website: http://www.jenniferestep.com
Facebook fan page: http://artist.to/jenniferestepfanpage/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Jennifer_Estep
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/580315.Jennifer_Estep
Book 4 in Elemental Series
Urban Fantasy
I’d rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings.
But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson’s front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my forehead. Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me. Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. The only problem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sibling . . . or that I’m the murderer she’s been chasing through Ashland for weeks. And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead. . . .
Chapter One Excerpt:
“Are you going to kill this guy? Or are we just going to sit here all night?”
“Patience, Finn,” I murmured. “We’ve only been in the car an hour.”
“Longest hour of my life,” he muttered.
I arched an eyebrow and looked over at Finnegan Lane, my partner in crime for the night. Most nights, actually. Just after ten o’clock a few days before Christmas, and we sat in the darkened front of Finn’s black Cadillac Escalade. An hour ago, Finn had parked the car in a secluded, out-of-the-way alley that overlooked the docks that fronted the Aneirin River. We’d been sitting here, and Finn had been grousing, ever since.
Finn shifted in his seat, and my gray eyes flicked over him. The wool fabric of his thick coat outlined his broad shoulders, although a black watchman’s cap covered his walnut-colored hair. His eyes were a bright green even in the semi-darkness, and the shadows did little to hide the square handsomeness of his face.
Most women would have been glad to have been in such close quarters with Finnegan Lane. With his easy smile and natural charm, Finn would have already had the majority of them in the backseat, pants off, legs up, steam covering the windows as the car rocked back and forth.
Good thing I wasn’t most women.
“Come on, Gin,” Finn whined again. “Go stick a couple of your knives in that guy and leave your rune for Mab to find so we can get out of here.”
I stared out the car window. Across the street, bathed in the golden glow of a streetlight, the guy in question continued to unload wooden crates from the small tugboat that he’d pulled up to the dock forty-five minutes ago. Even from this distance, I could hear the warped, weathered boards creak under his weight as the river rushed on by beneath them.
The man was a dwarf—short, squat, stocky, sturdy—and dressed in black clothes practically identical to the ones that Finn and I were wearing. Jeans, boots, sweater, jacket. The sort of anonymous clothes you wore to go skulking about late at night, especially in this rough Southtown neighborhood, and most especially when you didn’t want anyone else to see what you were up to.
Or were planning on killing someone, like I was tonight. Most nights, actually.
I rubbed my thumb over the hilt of the silverstone knife that I held in my lap. The metal glinted dully in the darkness of the car, and the weight of the weapon felt cold and comforting the way that it always did to me. The knife rested lightly on the spider rune scar embedded in my palm.
It would be easy enough to give in to Finn’s whining. To slip out of the car, cross the street, creep up behind the dwarf, cut his throat, and shove his body off the dock and into the cold river below. I probably wouldn’t even get that much blood on my clothes, if I got the angles just right.
Because that’s what assassins did. That’s what I did. Me. Gin Blanco. The assassin known as the Spider, one of the best around.
But I didn’t get out of the car and get on with things like Finn wanted me to. Instead, I sighed. “He hardly seems worth the trouble. He’s a flunkie, just like all the others that I’ve killed these past two weeks. Mab will hire someone else to take his place before they even dredge his body out of the river.”
“Hey, you were the one who decided to declare war on Mab Monroe,” Finn pointed out. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that you were rather eager to kill your way up to the top of the food chain until you got to her. You said it would be fun.”
“That was six hits ago. Now, I’d just like to kill Mab and give everyone in Ashland an early Christmas present, myself included.” My turn to grouse.
But Finn was right. Two weeks ago, a series of events had led me to officially declare war on Mab, and now, I was dealing with the fallout—and the tedious boredom of it all.
Mab Monroe was the Fire elemental who ran the southern metropolis of Ashland like it was her own personal kingdom. To most folks, Mab was a paragon of virtue, a Fire elemental who used her magic, business connections, and money to fund worthwhile charity projects throughout the city. But those of us who strolled through the shady side of life knew Mab for what she really was—the head of a moblike empire that included everything from gambling and drugs to prostitution and kidnappings. Murder, extortion, torture, blackmail, beatings. Mab ordered all that and more, practically on a daily basis. But the Fire elemental was so wealthy, so powerful, so strong in her magic that no one dared to stand up to her.
Until me.
