Author Interview with author, DL Jackson. Find out about her multiple releases this month.

Shameless Summer Giveaway Hop post here.

I am honored to welcome romance author, DL Jackson to my blog today. I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoy her stories. She has three awesome releases this month, one a contemporary military romance, and the other two, science fiction romances.

DL, how long have you been writing with the hopes of publication?

DLJ: Three years before I published my first story.

What genres do you write in, and what appeals to you about those genres?

DLJ: Romance and erotic romance, Young adult and the sub-genres of science fiction, paranormal, suspense, military, Western, dystopian and horror. I like the ability to build worlds from scratch. With paranormal, and science fiction especially, I have that flexibility. I keep my stories grounded, familiar, by including what I call reference points. If it’s science fiction the reader might hear about the Terran Marines. That way I’m still giving the reader something they can relate to.

Can you tell us about your recent or upcoming releases?

DLJ: My two recent releases are with Decadent publishing and they both came out on June 1st. Those are My Boogie Woogie Bugle Guy, a 1 Night Stand story, and Rebel Souls, an erotic science fiction romance. I also have a story for the new series Decadent launched in April, called Elatia. You can find the links to buy on my site. http://authordljackson.com

What are you working on now? 

DLJ: I continue to work on the Blown Away series for Passion in Print. I have two stories that follow Detonate and Happy Trails. They are Bomb Voyage and Collateral Lives. My biggest issue is I wrote book four before I finished book three and can’t submit the finished story until I get three done and it’s halfway written. As this spring has been insane, they’ve been sitting on the backburner. I have another 1Night Stand story called, On Being Prince Charming, which is Gunny and Lissa’s story. It follows Cinderella Wore Combat Boots. I also have a story I’d like to shop to agents that I’m cleaning up. Another I’m writing for submission to Ellora’s Cave. And a few others here and there that I haven’t decided what I’m doing with them yet.

Wow, that’s a lot. Can you describe your daily writing routine?

DLJ: Yes, I get up in the morning and check my email for any incoming edits, galleys, critiques or beta reads I need to do. I down load them to take with me to work. I go to work an hour early and work on these things in my vehicle while I listen to the radio. At lunch I work on a story, whichever one has priority. When I get home, its family time, dinner, whatever. As soon as the husband passes out in his recliner, I start networking and promoting.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

DLJ: Pantser. I know the beginning and the end of a story (well most of the time I do) when I start. Everything else comes to me as I make my way through the book.

What genres do you enjoy reading?

DLJ: Everything. If it’s not nailed down, I’ll read it. Including those little inserts in the tampon boxes, the back of cereal boxes and electronics manuals. I’m hopeless. Right now, I’m reading Sun Tzu’s Art of War. I read a little of it when I was in the Army, but it’s been a while, and I had never read the whole thing.

Who is your favorite character from any of your books?

DLJ: Nathanial Miller. He’s the brother of Jocelyn Miller in Slipping the Past. I have a story about him that I have been working on for a couple years. Just about done. I’ll give you an excerpt from Hear no Evil, the work in progress.

Her soul! The fucker took her soul. Nate sat up, eyes wide open. Blood pounded through his veins and his heart slammed against his ribs like a jackhammer, driving the breath from his lungs. A trickle of moisture meandered down his spine. He swallowed, kicked the sheets away, shoved both hands into his hair and pulled his knees to his chest. No!

She didn’t kill herself. All these years, all this time he’d believed she’d committed suicide. He’d never known. Where was she now? Where did Ian put her?

He swung his legs over the bed. His innards twisted. “It was a dream.” He tried to convince himself, but he knew the truth. Why now? Ever since he’d inherited Ian’s body he’d been dreamless. The voices kept REM away and made drifting off impossible.

Tonight that all changed. What had awakened the small bit of the beast? Ian’s soul had been fragmented and destroyed, all but a small sliver that had been missed. It sat at the back of his mind and fed him dark thoughts, but never came forward, it wasn’t strong enough. It had felt like nothing more than an ugly thought.

Until now.

It reveled in the death of his mother. He felt Ian’s delight. He’d felt his hunger. Nate reached up and touched the brand that now burned. Ian’s energy felt stronger, harder to hold back. God, he was in trouble. He’d no one to talk to that wouldn’t trigger the voices and visions, an anchor to sanity.

Nate froze. Except her. He’d hadn’t heard, seen or felt anything when she’d spoken to him. Well, that wasn’t one hundred percent true. He’d felt something. He’d gotten damned hard and it had taken hours and an ice shower for it to go away. Everything about it was unnatural and if he’d learned anything lately, it was also fate.

He needed to talk. He needed to work through the dream without outside visions interfering. He needed to freaking think. Most of all, he needed to see Paxton.

She’d left her purse in the office. When Jocelyn hadn’t been looking, he’d rifled through it and had taken the opportunity to learn something about her. He should be ashamed he’d snooped, but he wasn’t. She was in trouble and needed help. But she wasn’t the only one.

Nate glanced out the window then at the clock. Three in the morning, a little early to drop by and return her handbag. He could go to her house and wait for her to wake. He sure wasn’t going back to sleep.

“I am not Ian Saefa. I am not a monster.” He eyed his reflection in a large mirror that leaned against the wall. The swelling in his face had gone down and the black and purple had faded to tan and olive. Not pretty, but better than before. Reapers did indeed heal faster than most.

He reached out and touched the mirror’s frame. He kept it to remind him of what resided inside him and what he could become. He hated looking in. It always seemed like someone else stared back, and frankly, it creeped him out. But he had his reasons. Good ones. His gaze traveled to the corner to where a note had been scrawled across the silver surface.

“Know thy enemy.”

First thing when he woke, Nate looked into it and would recite the message over and over. Evil still resided in this body and he wouldn’t allow himself to forget, nor would he become the monster Ian Saefa had been.

“Know thy enemy.” The brown eyes, so dark they looked black, bore into him. Ian. That energy had wrapped him in a stranglehold, filling his head with cold thoughts, urging him to do things he would have never considered doing before—terrifying things—gruesome things—things that made him question if he was no longer sane. “Know thy enemy. Know thy enemy.” Nate leaned in. “Fuck you, asshole.” He stepped back and flipped the mirror on its stand so he could no longer see him.

Ian might have left him a hell of a body, as he was built like an Olympic athlete and not bad looking, but he also had that whole Boogieman thing down. Yeah, Ian had worked that to perfection. It was in the eyes, the windows to the soul, and his windows weren’t any place a sane person would want look. What had looking into those eyes done to Paxton? He didn’t want to scare her. He needed her, more than she could imagine. He rubbed his face again.

Do you belong to a critique group or have critique partners? If so, what have you learned from them? How has it affected your writing?

DLJ: Yes. I’ve belonged to Critique Circle for about seven years,  long before I was published. It’s where I met my IPs, indispensable peers, Laurie Green, Arlene Webb and Barbara Elsborg. When we met, none of us were published. Now, Barbara, Arlene and myself have published novels and Laurie took a different path, going after the big fish. She’s a triple Golden Heart finalist. I’ve learned a lot from them. Just about everything I know. Plus they have been a voice of encouragement, a shoulder to cry on and ears to hear me vent. Indispensable doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about them. I have other critique buddies I’ve met through my publishers too, but the Critique Circle is my main go to place.

Where can my readers find you?

DLJ: http://authordljackson.com

Where can my readers find your books?

DLJ: Same place. I list all the links to all my publishers on my site. You just click on the cover and it takes you to where you can buy the book.

Thanks for having me, Jessica. Really excited about the double release and I can’t wait to hear what the readers think of the two stories.

Best,

D L

It’s been a pleasure to have you here today, and I look forward to your return on July 2 when we get more personal about your upcoming release, Courtesan Boot Camp. All the best!