Ask the Author: Gary Jonas
Answered Questions (12)
Gary Jonas
Thanks for the kind words, Kimm. It seems unlikely at the moment, but let's leave the answer as maybe. There are a few roadblocks in my life that I need to crash through before I can really take a look at what to do on the writing front. I had fun writing the books--especially the Shade series--so when I can come up for air, I'll get to work on some marketing and if the sales come back, I'd certainly be open to writing more of them.
Gary Jonas
T-Rob! Great to hear from you, m'man! Haven't had to stack produce in many years. I will say that any time a Ramones song comes on my playlist, I think about how you'd know all the words no matter how deep the cut is. Hope you're doing well.
Gary Jonas
Hi Neil,
Chronology would go something like this:
Razor Dreams (Shade 7)
Vampire Midnight (Kelly 1)
Vertigo Effect (Shade 8)
Club Eternity (Shade 9)
Werewolf Samurai (Kelly 2)
Timeless Gods (Shade 10)
Subhuman Resources (Kelly 3)
Zombie Rising (Kelly 4)
Thanks much, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the series.
Best,
Gary
Chronology would go something like this:
Razor Dreams (Shade 7)
Vampire Midnight (Kelly 1)
Vertigo Effect (Shade 8)
Club Eternity (Shade 9)
Werewolf Samurai (Kelly 2)
Timeless Gods (Shade 10)
Subhuman Resources (Kelly 3)
Zombie Rising (Kelly 4)
Thanks much, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the series.
Best,
Gary
Gary Jonas
Hi Kail,
Joe Hempel does an awesome job on the audio, and he's working the rest of the Jonathan Shade books, and the Kelly Chan books, into his production schedule as he can. I believe Razor Dreams (book seven) is scheduled for production in May, so it will likely be available in June. He wants to do the books in order, which means he'll follow Shade 7 with Kelly Chan 1 (Vampire Midnight) before getting to Vertigo Effect and Club Eternity (a character introduced in Kelly Chan 1 shows up in Shade 9). I can't wait to have all the books out on Audible. If all goes well, the rest of the Shade books will be out this year. Joe is excited about doing them. Thanks for the question.
Joe Hempel does an awesome job on the audio, and he's working the rest of the Jonathan Shade books, and the Kelly Chan books, into his production schedule as he can. I believe Razor Dreams (book seven) is scheduled for production in May, so it will likely be available in June. He wants to do the books in order, which means he'll follow Shade 7 with Kelly Chan 1 (Vampire Midnight) before getting to Vertigo Effect and Club Eternity (a character introduced in Kelly Chan 1 shows up in Shade 9). I can't wait to have all the books out on Audible. If all goes well, the rest of the Shade books will be out this year. Joe is excited about doing them. Thanks for the question.
Gary Jonas
Hi Tammy--I apologize for the delay. I didn't see the question until now. I don't spend much time on Goodreads. If you haven't picked up book five from Audible, please let me know. Send me a note at gary@garyjonasbooks.com and I'll make sure you get a copy of Sunset Specters and I'll also make sure you get a copy of Wizard's Nocturne. Thanks much.
Gary Jonas
Hi Kristen,
Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying the books. The next Jonathan Shade book, Vertigo Effect, will be out this month. As for Jack Talon, I created the character then wrote the first book and turned him over to friends to play with too. So far, there are five Jack Talon books. (Night Marshal by me, High Plains Moon by Glenn R. Sixbury, This Dance These Bones by Rebecca Hodgkins, The Ghoul of Socorro by James Burk, and Night of the Monster by Gary Piserchio). Jim Burk wrote another that I need to edit so it can be published. So there will be at least one more probably this summer. Beyond that? Your guess is as good as mine. A TV producer sniffed around at the books at one point, but got distracted by a squirrel. A TV sale would have been mighty motivating. Ha! Thanks again and keep reading!
Best,
Gary
Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying the books. The next Jonathan Shade book, Vertigo Effect, will be out this month. As for Jack Talon, I created the character then wrote the first book and turned him over to friends to play with too. So far, there are five Jack Talon books. (Night Marshal by me, High Plains Moon by Glenn R. Sixbury, This Dance These Bones by Rebecca Hodgkins, The Ghoul of Socorro by James Burk, and Night of the Monster by Gary Piserchio). Jim Burk wrote another that I need to edit so it can be published. So there will be at least one more probably this summer. Beyond that? Your guess is as good as mine. A TV producer sniffed around at the books at one point, but got distracted by a squirrel. A TV sale would have been mighty motivating. Ha! Thanks again and keep reading!
Best,
Gary
Gary Jonas
I'll go with my most recent published book, Anubis Nights. I've always been fascinated by ancient Egypt. I watched Bob Brier's excellent series of lectures about the history of ancient Egypt from The Great Courses, and he mentioned a letter that King Tut's widow wrote to a Hittite king asking him to send her one of his sons to marry. That was strange because the Hittites were enemies of Egypt, and she ended her letter with the line, "I am afraid." Brier also discussed a theory about Tut being murdered. The most likely suspects were the vizier Aye, and the general of Tut's army, Horemheb. As vizier is one of the root words of wizard, and as I write fantasy, how could I possibly resist that? So I sent Jonathan Shade and Kelly Chan back to ancient Egypt. I had to do a lot more research on this novel than anything else I've ever written, and as it's the first in a time travel trilogy, I had to get most of the research for three time periods done in advance. Yes, there are scenes set in ancient Egypt, scenes in the 1870s, and scenes in the 1920s. Can you say "challenge?" I knew you could.
Gary Jonas
By writing. Seriously, there are days I don't want to write, but I sit down and write anyway. Some days I'm more inspired than others, but I'm a writer, so I write. It's a job, a career, and an adventure. The battle is practically won just by showing up.
Gary Jonas
As I type this, my current project is Sunset Specters, the fifth Jonathan Shade urban fantasy adventure. Is it still urban if the characters have been tossed into the old west? Well, the characters are modern-day city folk, so they get to deal with ghosts and gunslingers in the 1870s. Fun times.
Gary Jonas
Read, read, read, read, read. Then write, write, write. But also keep reading. Writers who don't read have no business writing. And read all over the place. Read different genres. Read literature. Read non-fiction of every kind. The more you load your mind with ammunition, the better your work will be. Also, kill the vast majority of adverbs (if you need to modify the verb, odds are you've chosen the wrong verb, and if you have to modify how something is said, your dialogue probably sucks). Speaking of dialogue, the word "said" is your friend. If people mutter, reply, pontificate, spit words, exclaim, proclaim, etc. you need to follow Bob Newhart's advice and "Stop it." Said is invisible, so the dialogue will read better. On last piece of advice: if you go down this path, write something, finish it, then move on to the next project. If you spend years polishing your words, you'll never get anything done. Nothing is perfect, and perfection is boring anyway. Make the story yours and yours alone. Your unique perspective worldview is what you have to offer the reader, so be the best you that you can be.
Gary Jonas
It keeps me sane. Well, sorta.
Gary Jonas
I don't believe in writer's block, because a writer can always write something. When I get stuck, that usually tells me I made a wrong turn somewhere. That doesn't happen often because I use a loose outline so I know where I'm going. When it does, I go back to where the book felt like it was last on course, and take it in a different direction (brainstorming first to get a basic idea of where it might lead--if I like that, I'll re-outline from there and get back to work on the writing.
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