All Hallow's Eve Indies Blog Tour: Jennifer James, author

When I first saw the title of the paranormal romance I’d agreed to promo on the All Hallow’s Eve Indie Tour, I shot the author, Jennifer James, an email saying, “ROCK HARD & WETt? Wow. Quite the title.” Her reply: “It's Rock Hard cause the hero is a gargoyle, and Wet cause the heroine is an Oceanid.”

(Oceanids, for those who’ve forgotten their Homer, were the 3,000 daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Each was the patroness of a particular spring, river, sea, lake, pond, or other body of water.)

The “wet” heroine is Callianira, a curvy, vivacious BBW water nymph. Once the life of every oceanic orgy, she’s fallen into a depression of late no amount of hot sex can shake. The “rock hard” hero is Theo, a smoking-hot gargoyle shifter who’s just been released from prison. Theo has his hands full looking out for his brother and the people of Brooklyn while trying to get back in with his peeps in the gargoyle elite.

They’re completely wrong for each other. Callie’s magic is tied to the ocean; Theo can’t swim.
Callie is carefree, sweet, and finds joy in bending the rules; Theo toes the line and is ever vigilant. He’ll sink to the bottom of the ocean; she’ll fly above it to claim their happily ever after.

Here’s an excerpt from the erotic paranormal romance (18 years and older, por favor):

This had to stop. Right now. And there was only one way he could think of to get her to shut up. It was time to accept his loses and turn the tide of the battle to minimize the damage on his side.

“Callie.” He threaded his hand into her hair just behind one ear and clenched the back of her skull with enough pressure to let her know he had control.
She glanced up at him, and the acceleration of her heartbeat filled his ears, drowning out everything around him but her.

Theo lowered his head and kissed her, the first woman he’d held in his arms in five hundred years. Her taste on his tongue when she opened to him exploded and overwhelmed his control. He ground his mouth on hers, desperate to get closer, to crawl inside her and soak up her carefree joy. She tasted like sunshine and water, the dew in a meadow on a summer morning, sweet honey, and the scent of tiny wild roses.

The kiss did its job. It shut her up, got her to stop commentating on the very public sex not twenty-five feet away, but it came with a price. His d*ck sprung so hard in his pants he had to grit his teeth against the surge of pain.

He gripped her by the a** and picked her up off the ground. Her strong fingers dug into his hair, tugging on the long strands trailing onto his collar. She mewled in frustration, long legs twining around his waist. Callie undulated her hips on him, and he almost burst.

Jennifer James

Now, without further ado, here’s my awesome interview with author Jennifer James:

NM: What drew you to the genre?

JJ: Probably my early reading experiences. I loved the Sweet Valley High and Babysitter’s Club books, but found THE CELERY STALKS, AT MIDNIGHT, and BUNNICULA around the same time. It wasn’t long before I was pilfering my father’s horror and dark fantasy novels. I read all the original Pern books, the Anita Blake series…. It’s probably not surprising that I love scary movies as well.

NM: How would you describe your style/voice as a writer?

JJ: Geeky with a side of cheek. ;) I love inside jokes, dropping (and messing with!) pop culture references, and throwing together people who don’t make any sense on the surface, but when you dig a little deeper, you find all that wonderful grit and loam that glues them together.

NM: Which character is your favorite? Tell us about him or her.

JJ: Arghhhh! No! I don’t have one! ;)  That’s like asking for my favorite child. Like, in this book, I love love love Callie’s free spirit and sense of fun. But she’s also sweet, caring, and artistic. Theo is this grump. A real stick in the mud. But he’s drawn to Callie’s light and warmth…while simultaneously pushing her away. And then there’s Callie’s BFF Petra, who is  smart as hell, and a backroom manipulator setting all her friends up for their HEA’s while totally screwing up her own. And Theo’s twin, Logan, who portrays himself as a total fun-loving, party-time goof. But under that? A whole big well of hurt.

NM: What other authors inspired you to write?

JJ: Laurell K. Hamilton. Steven King. Kelley Armstrong. Patricia Briggs. Gosh, I could go on and on . . .

NM: Who else do you read in your genre?

JJ: Well, see above! LOL Also Kevin Hearne, Kim Harrison, some JR Ward. Karen Marie Moning.  Also, lots of e-book first writers. Mina Carter. Milly Taiden. I’m in love with Cherise Sinclair right now (her Shadowlands series is so awesome.) ßNot PNR. LOL. But SO amazing.

NM: Who’s your favorite author and why?

JJ: Ergh . . . um . . . IDK if I could pick only one. I think Patricia Briggs is a master at conflict and compelling characters who are so damn multi-dimensional that they seem like real, live people. Kevin Hearne’s sense of humor kills me. I adore him. Karen Chance, who writes the Cassie Palmer series? WOW. I’m in a FB group for one of the male characters from that series. That’s the ONLY one of those I’m in. If you don’t know who John Pritkin is? Go find out about him. Cause, damn. Plus, Chance is a history buff, and all that geeky goodness is peppered all over the books, and I read them and am floating in nerd heaven.

NM: What other writing projects are in the works?

JJ: WET FOR THE TITAN is a novella length book, that is a prequel to ROCK HARD & WET, but both can be read as stand alones. Just waiting on cover art. RIDING WITH THE HUNT is a fae motorcyclist/ Wild Hunt novella. Love that one. It’s about to go to the editor. PANTS ON FIRE is a NA contemporary stand-alone that’s already at the 40K mark, and I have no idea where that juggernaut is going to stop! Also working on a sports romance with circle track drivers called EXHAUST. It’s at 10K, and I think it might be a full-length also. I’m also working on a second book in my werewolf series, it’s called DISCIPLINED.

NM: What are your marketing strategies?

JJ: You know, I’m terrible at marketing. I’m the last person to ask. I’m reading lots of books to try and teach myself what the heck I’m supposed to be doing. Mostly I try to hang out with people, chat, be my goofy self. I haven’t found blog tours and huge giveaways to be very effective for me, so I’m sticking with smaller stuff now. Plus, no money for giveaways. Unemployed, student loans, two kids, and not much in royalties. So, even though I want to do giveaways, and I love my readers to pieces, I just can’t even afford to mail stuff right now. Sorry readers. LOL.

NM: How many years have you been writing? How did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

JJ: I’ve been writing and reading since I was a child. I knew I wanted to be a writer for real, when I was in elementary school, but was too afraid to try until I was an adult.

NM: How do you come up with your story ideas?

JJ: I think from things that I read. History and random links online. National Geographic magazine and Discovery and Time and Entertainment Weekly and ….well, if something catches my eye and I read it, it’s probably going to get stored in my subconscious and come out later in narrative.

NM: What is the most important thing you want people to know about you and your work?

JJ: That when I put it out there, it was the best I could do. And that if I have the chance, I might go back and try to make it even better in the future. That I love writing, and genuinely want people to have fun reading my work. That I can’t help my geeky references, and I do, in fact, giggle like a fool sometimes when writing.

NM: Please tell me where you live, what your family’s like (including pets), and what you do for a living if you work outside of writing.

JJ: I live outside Cleveland with my high school sweetheart, our two Tiny Divas, a rescue cat we call Mr. Beau, The Wonder Cat! (Cause he’s so awesome he needs a title) and our thirteen year old black lab Joey. (Or Jo-jo bean. Or Beans. Or Jo-jo. Or Josephine! When she’s been bad.)

I’m currently looking for a job because writing isn’t cutting it…so if anyone needs a dental assistant, I did that for twelve years. I’m good at it. Or if you need some kind of word-smithing giggly but focused sort of person, contact me! I need to get some income going. Man, it’s really hard to find a job right now.

NM: Anything else you want to tell people about yourself or your work?

JJ: Chocolate. Zombies. Nerd. Dr. Who. Greek mythology. Sexy. Funny. Love.

Jennifer James loves bad jokes, zombies, Joss Whedon, shifter romance, erotica, urban fantasy, grasshoppers, and the opportunity to publish independently or traditionally. She insists on her jokes being dirty, drinks spiked, and tattoos placed in intriguing, muscular places you can only find when the clothes come off. ROCK HARD & WET is published by Unbuttoned Press. Other books by Jennifer are available through Decadent Publishing and Etopia Press.

Buy ROCK HARD & WET at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

All Romance Ebooks

Visit Jennifer's author site at http://www.authorjenniferjames.com

Keep up with Jennifer at:

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JenniferJames34

Facetook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferJames.Author

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6444267.Jennifer_James

Pininterest: http://www.pinterest.com/authorjenniferj/