Who’s Thrilling You Now? The New Guns of the Thriller Genre; an Author Panel

August 4, 2009

by Jonathan Maberry

A couple of years ago a bunch of hot new thriller writers broke onto the scene with novels that won awards, made best-seller lists, and established these authors as serious players. Fast-forward to today. How is the reality being a published author different from the promise? I spoke with a few of these New Guns about their life in the writing game.

JONATHAN MABERRY: You’ve passed the ‘First Novel’ milestone now and have written other novels. What’s changed between the night before that first book release and now?

J.T. ELLISON: Nerves. Without a doubt. I was so scared before my debut – excited, but scared. I knew things were going to change drastically as soon as the book hit the shelves. I was desperately afraid of speaking in public, so I ended up worrying more about that than the performance of the book. Now, I worry about the logical things I can’t control – placement, reviews, if readers will enjoy it, will that TV spot I did get bumped for bigger news, did I sound stupid on the radio – instead of the illogical fears.

BRETT BATTLES: There’s nothing like your first release. You’re on a high for several months prior to your pub date, eagerly awaiting the day you can walk into a bookstore and see your novel on the shelves. As the day approaches, you check your ranking on Amazon, at first once a day, then twice, then when there is less than a week left, you’re probably checking multiple times each 24 hour period. You hang on every email you get about your book, wondering what new news there is. And when the day comes, you realize that you are something you’ve never been before. A published novelist. When your second comes out, you’re still excited, but the territory you’re crossing is no longer unknown. You start comparing what happened with your first release to what’s happening with your second. You start to worry about whether your sales will go up or go down. The unbridled excitement you experienced with your debut is tempered now by your growing knowledge of the publishing world, and a more discerning eye toward business. This only increases with each release. Don’t get me wrong. You don’t become jaded (though some do), and you are still excited and overwhelmed by the fact that your work is out there for the world to see. It’s just with experience comes knowledge, and you use that knowledge to start looking long term.

JASON PINTER: Once the euphoria of having your first book published wears off, you realize just how much work goes into not only continuing to publish, but trying to maintain a career doing it. I still get those same shivers at every milestone with every book (when I see the first cover concept, when I get galleys, when I hold the finished book in my hands for the very first time), but now you always have to be looking ahead to the next book, the next idea, and how to get more readers to dig your work.

ROBERT GREGORY BROWNE: There was a certain giddiness I felt the first time out that has all but disappeared. I look forward to a release now, sure, but with a slight emotional detachment that wasn’t there with that first novel. Back then I was a novice, a newbie, so everything was shiny and bright and exciting. Now that I’ve settled into this new rhythm of write-edit-release, I find myself getting much more excited about the next book than the books currently in the stores.

KEN ISAACSON: I guess the biggest change is that there’s now a standard against which my work will be measured. I wrote SILENT COUNSEL, my first, in a vacuum. I could have finished it, done nothing with it, and no one would have been the wiser. I know how lucky I was to have had it published, and now it’s only natural that my next book will be compared to that yardstick. Had SC completely flopped, that would have absolutely stung, but there would be nowhere to go but up (unless just slinking away in shame was an option). But I was extremely fortunate in that the book has met with a respectable amount of success, so I definitely feel the pressure to produce. That’s a big change for me—having to impress someone besides my mother.

MABERRY: Ever writer I know hits a moment when they realize that the writing game isn’t at all how they imagined it. Talk about your moments of realizations.

ELLISON: It was in 2008, right as my second novel was released. I was writing the fourth book in the series, editing the third book, and promoting the second, all at the same time. I had a week that was the perfect storm. I was on travel, on deadline, edits being mailed to me while I was out on tour, putting aside the work in progress to tackle revisions in the hotel before I went to speak. No one prepares you for the level of intensity that confluence of events brings. When you’ve lived and breathed a debut for however many years before you get published, and suddenly you’re under contract for several books and you have to put the pedal to the metal, it can be a shock. But who would change it? Not me. I thrive on pressure, so this is nirvana.

BATTLES: Not sure I’ve ever had that moment. So far it’s everything I imagined and more. Of course, I didn’t put a lot of expectations into it at first. I just thought what would happen would happen. If anything is a little different, I think it’s the way publishing has been forced to change (and continues to change) in recent year. Sometimes I would be nice to have been a writer back in the days when all a writer had to worry about was writing his or her next book. But that’s not our reality, so that’s fine with me. I have no problem rolling with it.

PINTER: This is a little different for me because I worked in publishing for over five years before I left to write full time. I’ve worked with a lot of authors, and have seen many, many different roads to publication. For me, it’s realizing just how much authors have to do beyond the writing of the books. Between corresponding with readers, traveling for conferences and signings, maintaining all sorts of social networking sites and contributing to two blogs, it’s quite time-consuming. Every writer I know hits a moment when they realize that the writing game isn’t at all how they imagined it. Talk about your moments of realizations.

BROWNE: I think that most new writers have dreams of hitting The List, even though we know the odds against it are strong. But then reality sets in and we realize that it takes a number of factors, and sometimes a number of books, to get there. And because that first book was written over a long period of time and we had all the time in the world to get it right, we can sometimes be blindsided by the stark reality that this is a job and you have deadlines and you can no longer write at a leisurely pace. So you have to learn to get it right, right now. Suddenly The List is no longer all that important. You just need to write a great book in a very short period of time and not let anything else distract you.

ISAACSON: Book of Revelations, Ch. 1, v. 1: The book does not write itself. This stuff is work. As much fun as it is (at times), unless you actually go to the computer and bang on that keyboard, it’s going to be a long, long time before that book is done. Book of Revelations, Ch. 1, v. 2: The book does not sell itself; neither shall anyone else but you. Write the book, turn it over to the agent or publisher, and move on to the next project. Oh, that’s not what happens? There is a lot more—here’s that word again—work to do. Promotion, promotion, promotion.

I find myself thinking of it in terms that Stephen Covey talks about in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” where he describes the importance of finding the proper balance between production and production capability (the “P/PC balance”)—doing something (production) vs. working on your ability to do something (production capability). Covey gives the example of running a car—you need to find the right balance between driving and proper maintenance. Spend too much time driving and not enough time maintaining, and the car will fail. Spend too much time with it in the shop, and the car won’t be available to drive.

In the writing game, I think it’s the same. The struggle is to find the right balance between writing and promoting. Spend too much time writing, and not enough promoting, you’ll produce great books, but no one will know about them (and no one will read them). Spend too much time promoting and not enough writing, everyone will know about you, but there won’t be anything for them to read. Find the right P/PC balance!

MABERRY: Celebrity comes in all wattages. What was your first celebrity moment? What is celebrity like months or years in?

ELLISON: I don’t think of it as celebrity, more like notoriety. It’s hard to avoid when you write in a small but exceptionally literate town like I do. I’ve been blessed with excellent publicists, who have gotten me on air and in print, and as a result people do recognize me. But it’s always at the most inopportune moments – at the salon after a grooming session, or rushing into Publix for something to make for dinner. I am a rather informal person, and it never fails that someone recognizes me when I have no makeup, gym shorts and a ponytail going on. But hey, that’s life.

BATTLES: Author celebrity is not like movie star celebrity, or political star celebrity, or sports star celebrity. First, with the exception of a few top level authors, most people don’t know our names. And even with the top level authors, most people don’t know what an author looks like. With the exception of Stephen King and perhaps one or two others, most authors can walk down the street without being recognized. So, for most of us, celebrity is only a sometimes thing, and those sometime things are a very small percentage of our years. They come at fan conferences or at book signings and festivals. To a certain extent it’s fun, but on a deeper level when a fan approaches you and is obviously very nervous to talk to you, it’s kind of surprising. I mean, I’m still me. I’m still the guy who spent many a party a little shy to talk to the cute girl across the room. I go shopping, I wash my own clothes, I cook my own meals. But to be nervous to talk to me? And then I remember just a few years ago when I went to my first Thrillerfest, and there was the great Lee Child. I was SO nervous to talk to him, I’m not even sure I ever introduced myself then. Which just goes to show me that Lee was probably thinking the same things I’m thinking now when that happens with my fans. One of the best moments, though, I will say was at a conference signing when this guy walked up with my book to get signed, stuck out his hand to shake, and said, “Mr. Battles, you are one bad ass writer.” That was priceless.

PINTER: Celebrity is a very relative word. Not many authors get ‘recognized’ the way movie stars, musicians, or even some hobos do. My first ‘wow’ moments came from my first fan letter, when I realized that not only were my books now being read by the public, but that somebody not only enjoyed my book, but took the time to write me a letter about it. The second was the time I was in line at my local bookstore, and I noticed the guy in front of me holding a copy of THE MARK waiting to pay for it. That was unbelievably cool.

BROWNE: I almost laugh at the thought of being a celebrity. But I guess we are celebrities in certain circles. The first time I actually felt that way was at a conference, when a bookseller approached a writer friend and me at a conference and wanted to have her photo taken with us. She was extremely nervous and I couldn’t quite understand why. I’m still not sure. The only kind of celebrity I’m interested in is the kind that kicks in when a reader is in the bookstore or library or grocery store and gets excited about a book with my name on it, the same as I did when I was a kid roaming the stacks at the library.

ISAACSON: Celebrity wattage, huh? No “dimmest bulb in the box” cracks, please! The first “celebrity moment” I can remember was just a soft glow. It was at the BEA in 2007, a few weeks before SILENT COUNSEL was released. I’d spent a number of months getting my website up and running, and establishing a presence on the web, and I thought I’d done a decent job. I was walking down an aisle in the Javits Center, gawking at all of the free stuff the publishers were handing out, and a complete stranger stopped me and said, “Hey, you’re Ken Isaacson. I’ve seen you online. Is your book out yet?” I thought, “OK. This is cool.”

More recently, I find it extremely rewarding to be part of what I’ve come to know as a close knit community of writers and readers. I go to as many conferences as I can, like Bouchercon, Left Coast Crime, and CrimeFest, and it’s great to get there and feel so at home with people who have become “old friends.”

MABERRY: Talk about your current book.

ELLISON: My latest title, JUDAS KISS (the third installment in the Taylor Jackson series) was a first in many respects for me. It was my first non-serial killer book, the first that I did a more-than-cursory preparatory synopsis, and the first that had elements from an actual case. And strangely enough, a whole subplot that wasn’t based on a real case made it into the local news when a middle-age man was arrested for running a teenage sex club. Life truly does imitate art. I so enjoyed writing this book – I put my very black and white character into a gray area, and let her fight her way through. It helped me grow as a writer.

BATTLES: Here’s what it says on the cover flap [of SHADOW OF BETRAYAL]. It pretty much covers what the new one is about. “The meeting place was carefully chosen: an abandoned church in rural Ireland just after dark. For Jonathan Quinn—a freelance operative and professional “cleaner”—the job was only to observe. If his cleanup skills were needed, it would mean things had gone horribly wrong. But an assassin hidden in a tree assured just that. And suddenly Quinn had four dead bodies to dispose of and one astounding clue—to a mystery that is about to spin wildly out of control.

Three jobs, no questions. That was the deal Quinn had struck with his client at the Office. Unfortunately for him, Ireland was just the first. Now Quinn, along with his colleague and girlfriend—the lethal Orlando—has a new assignment touched off by the killings in Ireland. Their quarry is a U.N. aide worker named Marion Dupuis who has suddenly disappeared from her assignment in war-torn Africa. When Quinn finally catches a glimpse of her, she quickly flees, frantic and scared. And not alone.

For Quinn the assignment has now changed. Find Marion Dupuis, and the child she is protecting, and keep them from harm. If it were only that easy. Soon Quinn and Orlando find themselves in a bunker in the California hills, where Quinn will unearth a horrifying plot that is about to reach stage critical for a gathering of world leaders—and an act of terror more cunning, and more insidious, than anyone can guess.

PINTER: My latest book is THE FURY, the fourth book in my Henry Parker series, which will be released on October 1st. I conceived of this book at the first in a two-part series, that concludes with the publication of THE DARKNESS on December 1st. In THE FURY, Henry Parker is devastated to find that he has a long lost brother, but that the brother was savagely murdered. Henry is forced to not only come to terms with a thirty-year old family secret, but the truth about his brother’s short life and brutal death. And what he finds is only the beginning of something far more sinister.

BROWNE: My latest book, which was released on June 30th, is a thriller about hypnosis and reincarnation and one of the most unique serial killers you’re likely to encounter. It’s called KILL HER AGAIN, and stars a disgraced FBI agent who’s battling visions she can’t explain as she investigates the disappearance of a four year-old girl. And like all of my books, just when you think you know where it’s going, I pull the rug out from under you. So watch out.

ISAACSON: SILENT COUNSEL asks you to suppose something unimaginable: What if your child were killed in a hit-and-run? And the one person who knew the driver’s identity—his lawyer—couldn’t tell you his name because the court held it was privileged information?

The book examines how two concepts that we like to think are one and the same—law and justice—often diverge. With disturbing results. As a mother, how would you deal with your unspeakable rage at a legal system that places a legal technicality above the search for your son’s killer? And as a lawyer, how would you deal with your ethical obligation to remain silent, when you know in your heart that the right thing to do is to help the mother find justice?

It was a real kick to see that shortly after SILENT COUNSEL’s release, it spent an entire month on Amazon’s list of Bestselling Legal Thrillers with only two titles ahead of it—John Grisham’s THE APPEAL and Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

MABERRY: Tell us about your next book.

ELLISON: THE COLD ROOM releases February 23, 2010. I haven’t quite figured out how to pitch this one, so I’ll use my publisher’s tag line – He can only truly love her once her heart stops. Yes, I’ve stumbled into the ultimate forbidden territory with this book – necrophilia. My villain is a classical music-loving artist with a secret housed deep in his basement. It was by far the most difficult book I’ve ever written – structurally, because it’s heavy on the police procedure, and emotionally – because the villain scared the crap out of me and invaded my dreams. My research was fascinating and disturbing, and it took me a few months to recover from the whole writing process.

BATTLES: I’m just finishing up the next Quinn adventure, due out next summer. Right now we’re calling it THE SILENCED, but that’s not official yet. This one will be Quinn’s most personal yet, pushing him in ways he never expected to be pushed. We’ll finally get a look at what Quinn’s life was before he became a cleaner, and how that affects his life now. And as always there’s going to be plenty of action.

PINTER: My next book is THE DARKNESS, which will be out in December. Here Henry finds that his brother’s murder is the tip of a much bigger iceberg. And when this book ends, Henry’s world will have changed forever. These two books were inspired by James Ellroy’s brilliant L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. I wanted to write a story that, like Ellroy’s, would seem on the surface like an isolated incident (i.e. the Nite Owl massacre), but in fact was the cover for a much bigger story.

BROWNE: The next one will be in stores in July of 2010. It’s called DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN and is the story of a Hispanic-American reporter who’s investigating the slaughter of a house full of nuns down in Juarez, Mexico, near the Texas border. He soon finds himself caught up in a world of drug smuggling and death cults and realizes this may be the last story he ever gets a chance to tell…

ISAACSON: What if it were legal to gamble on the time someone else is going to die? It is, if you invest in a life insurance product called a viatical. In a viatical settlement—designed to provide the terminally ill with much needed cash—an investor purchases someone else’s existing life insurance policy, paying that person a lump sum and taking over the premium payments. When that other person dies, the investor receives the death benefit. But the transaction’s a gamble, because if the investor misjudges how long that person will live, he could end up paying those premiums for a lot longer than anticipated.

In DEATH BENEFIT, when the sister of a Newark, New Jersey law firm client dies in her sleep of carbon monoxide poisoning, third year law student Elliot Lerner is asked to determine whether anyone could be held responsible in a wrongful death lawsuit. As he looks into the circumstances surrounding the death, he learns about viatical settlements. And he learns that if the investor’s gamble looks like it’s not going to pay off as planned because the cost of ongoing premium payments is exceeding expectations, there’s only one way to eliminate that cost. DEATH BENEFIT is the beginning of a series in which we’ll be able to follow Elliot’s career as he graduates from law school, becomes a young lawyer, and hopefully flourishes in the legal profession.

Thanks to our panel!

JT ELLISON
Website: www.jtellison.com
Blog: The Tao of JT and Murderati (Tao is soon to be housed on my website but for the moment it’s JT’s Blog and on Fridays, find JT on www.murderati.com
Twitter – @Thrillerchick
Facebook JT Ellison http://www.facebook.com/JTEllison
JT Ellison photo by Chris Blanz

BRETT BATTLES
Website: http://www.brettbattles.com
Blog: http://bbattles.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brett.battles
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/brettbattles
Photo credit for the author photo Moses Sparks

JASON PINTER
My official website: http://www.jasonpinter.com
The Man in Black blog: http://jasonpinter.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jason.pinter
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jasonpinter
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jasonpinter

ROBERT GREGORY BROWNE
Website: http://www.robertgregorybrowne.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-Gregory-Browne/67597906429
Blog: Murderati
Connect with Rob on Twitter: @rgregorybrowne

KEN ISAACSON
Website: www.KenIsaacson.com
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ken.isaacson

Shadows Fall N Friends Interviews Me about... well... everything.

Hi J.T. and welcome to SHADOWS FALL N FRIENDS. When did you start scribbling? Tell us a bit about your writing history.

I’ve been a writer my whole life. I started young, with picture book stories, little shorts with handmade felt hard covers that I illustrated and carried around proudly. I dabbled in poetry, read anything my parents would let me (which was pretty much everything) and dreamed of being famous one day. Then came my first introduction to the harsh world of publishing.

I won a contest when I was in the third grade – a poetry assignment for the local newspaper. I was studying slavery at the time, and wrote this poem from a slave’s point of view. My grandmother on my Dad’s side was a journalistic type; she wrote a column in the newspaper, did some short romances, that kind of stuff. My parents sent her the poem. She sent it to TRUE CONFESSIONS magazine. I promptly received a very nice REJECTION LETTER. I was eight. I understood why they didn’t want my poem about slavery – really, what’s romantic about that?

Fast forward to college, senior year, and a professor who told me I’d never get published. That probably offhand comment by a frustrated artist killed my creative spirit. I stopped writing, took a job in politics, went to graduate school to learn how to run political campaigns. Met my husband, so I guess I need to thank her at the same time. It’s one of those things, the road not taken, which baffles me. I can’t imagine doing it any other way, but what if she had been encouraging, thought I should go ahead with my MFA? Would I still be here?

Fast forward to 2003. I’m living in Tennessee, am in between jobs, and have some time on my hands while I recover from back surgery. I’m reading John Sandford’s Prey series front to back. I have a wild hair. I’m going to write a book.

What inspired you to write this book?

In 2006, I saw an article from a North Carolina newspaper about a young pregnant mother named Michelle Young who was found murdered by her sister. Her death was unspeakably violent, and her child had been alone in the house for days with her mother’s corpse. The media reported a number of salient details, including the bloody footprints the child had left through the house. I watched the case, hoping there would be a resolution. Unfortunately, Michelle Young’s murder still isn’t solved. Her husband is the prime suspect.

Her story became the opening of JUDAS KISS.

The crime stories that seem to capture our interest as a society are the ones that take place where we feel the safest, which is inside our own homes. That’s where the majority of homicides take place. And we all know how much the media loves a good suburban murder, especially in my fictional Nashville. In the novel, there’s a sense of the fantastic surrounding this case, an “it could have happened to me” mentality couple with the media frenzy – satellite trucks parks on quiet streets, reporters camped on the lawns, every moment chronicled. It doesn’t happen that way in the Section 8 housing. The drug and vendetta killings don’t make the news very much. So in a sense, I’m capitalizing on what does capture our attention.

What kind of work routine did you use?

I’m a night owl, so I rise late in the morning, do the business side (answer email, read Murderati, Twitter, etc.) From 12-4 I write. I shoot for at least 1,000 words a day. It takes me six months to write a book – one month for research, four for writing, and one for editing. In a perfect world, I’d be writing a solid eight months out of the year, and researching and edited in the other four. Unfortunately, it never works that way, because the books go through their process at the house, and need touring, promotion, etc. It’s a juggling act, but an awful lot of fun.

What was the biggest challenge you encountered completing this book?

Actually, I had a lot of trouble because it was the first book I’d ever had more than a bare bones outline for. I had an in-depth 13 page synopsis, and it threw me for a loop because I’m a pantser – I write by the seat of my pants. My feeling is if I’m surprised, the reader will be too. I also think that despite my difficulties having a script to follow, the book is my best effort, the most solid of all my stories. I’m working on the sixth book in the series now, and I’m outlining that one, simply because I have the time and I’d like to see if I’m still anti-outline. I can always throw it out if it becomes too confining.

What was the greatest reward?

The starred Publisher’s Weekly review, hands down. I was shocked, and thrilled.

Why did you choose this particular title for your work?

It’s a literal title – the kiss of betrayal. I named it two years before I wrote it – sometimes a book knows its name from the start. In contrast, my fourth, THE COLD ROOM, is on its third title. I also must, must, must have a title before I can start writing. I can’t work without one.

What advice would you give to writers trying to get published?

Write every day. Read. Write every day. Read. Write every day. Read. Read. Read some more.

And follow your heart. You always hear write what you know. Well, I knew less than nothing about being a cop, but I’m passionate about forensics and behavioral analysis. I wanted to write something I’d enjoy reading, and knew I’d love doing the research. And I get to hang around with a bunch of cops now, so it was all worth it.

What book would you tell them is a must to read and why?

Stephen King’s ON WRITING and Elizabeth George’s WRITE AWAY. King’s book changed the way I thought about my writing. I read it while I was writing JUDAS KISS, and it shows, I think. The George book I read back at the very beginning. It’s a hugely detailed “Process,” and I highly recommend it for writers doing standalone, because it teaches how to world-build. And Christopher Vogler’s THE WRITER’S JOURNEY, which covers the mythic structure of fiction.

Who is your favorite author and why?

I’m a huge, huge fan of so many writers, it’s hard to pinpoint just one. I take different things from different authors and different styles. That said, in crime fiction, John Connolly is one of the most talented writers alive. John Sandford and Lee Child are brilliant series writers, Diana Gabaldon writes my favorite historical time-travel romances. I also love Nabokov, Austen, Rand and Rowling.

What book are you reading right now?

Jeff Abbott’s COLLISION. Mr. Abbott is another one of my favourites – the smart reader’s thriller writer. He’s fantastic.

What advice would you give to a debut novelist to survive in today’s publishing world?

Patience is a virtue, and perseverance is key. Be a good teammate, and MEET YOUR DEADLINES. I can’t emphasize that enough. When your book goes on submission, start the next one. Write thank you notes, and be sure that any kindness you receive, you pay forward. Karma is hard at work in the publishing industry. I have more tips on my website, JTEllison.com.

Thanks for having me!

My pleasure. Thanks for dropping by and all the best with the new book.

New Interview with Author Magazine

Take a listen here. Jeff Ayers interviews me on pretty much every topic imaginable.

Virtual Sitdown with J.T. Ellison (PopSyndicate)

02/17/2009
by Angela Wilson

Taylor Jackson is back in print - and this time the Nashville lieutenant is dodging in-house politics while matching wits with a highly-skilled killer. This latest case takes fans on a wild ride - one that they continue to rave about on their blogs and book buying sites. Today, the talented creator of the Jackson series, J.T. Ellison, drops by to chat about the latest in the series with Book Addict Editor Angela Wilson.

Tell us about your latest Taylor Jackson novel, Judas Kiss.

Judas Kiss is a bit of a departure for me, it’s not a serial killer novel like the first two Taylor Jackson books. The plot centers on a single murder - a young, pregnant suburban mother named Corinne Wolff, bludgeoned to death in her home in an upper middle class Nashville neighborhood. The crime stories that seem to capture our interest as a society are the ones that take place where we feel the safest, and the majority of homicides take place in our homes. And we all know how much the media loves a good suburban murder, especially in my fictional Nashville. There’s a sense of the fantastic surrounding the case, an “it could have happened to me” mentality couple with the media frenzy – satellite trucks parks on quiet streets, reporters camped on the lawns, every moment chronicled. It doesn’t happen that way in the Section 8 housing. The drug and vendetta killings don’t make the news very much. So in a sense, I’m capitalizing on what does capture our attention. 

And in another departure, this book was right from the heart. Twisted as I am, my imagination usually guides the stories. I made an exception for Judas Kiss. The murder of Corinne Wolf was based on a real case. In 2006, I saw an article from a North Carolina newspaper about a young pregnant mother named Michelle Young found murdered by her sister. Her death was violent, and her child had been alone in the house with her mother’s corpse. The media reported a number of salient details, including the bloody footprints the child had left through the house. I watched the case, hoping there would be a resolution. Unfortunately, Michelle Young’s murder still isn’t solved. Her husband is the prime suspect. That became the opening of Judas Kiss, but the rest of the story is an utter fabrication.

The leading cause of death for pregnant women is homicide. It breaks my heart, and I wanted to share that with my readers.

You have received critical acclaim for the Jackson novels and were named Best Mystery/Thriller Writer of 2008 by Nashville Scene. Tell us, is this a tough standard to live up to?

Certainly. The honor of being singled out as the best of anything is overwhelming. As an author, my foremost goal is to improve my craft, to make each book better, stronger and sleeker than the last. I’m constantly evolving as a writer, learning more about the craft, working to find efficiencies in my writing. Hopefully this constant worrying will allow me to keep getting better. And maybe I’ll be a best of again someday.

You worked in D.C. at the White House and Department of Commerce before you moved into marketing and financial analysis in the private sector. What did you take from your experiences in D.C. that works into your novels? Does it help with scenarios? Character development?

Working in D.C., especially in politics, is a Ph.D. course in human nature. I haven’t written a political thriller yet, but I certainly have one buzzing around in my head. To be honest, I left Washington and politics because I was much too idealistic. Fiction allows me to live in the world I wish existed, rather than the rancorous realities of Washington’s elite. But for the writing, my adopted hometown of Nashville has been much more influential. I moved here over ten years ago and have been seduced by the dichotomies – class wars, serious crime, the beauty of the city and the strong southern style that permeates every molecule of air here. It’s a great town, one I’m proud to write about.

How did a woman who worked D.C. and marketing end up researching forensics and crime?

I’ve asked myself that question before. I attribute it to the early days dating my husband, and our quiet date nights at home, studying for our graduate school classes, with our favorite shows Profiler and Millennium playing in the background. They sparked an interest in law enforcement that I didn’t know existed, and it grew from there. If I were ten years younger, I would have gone to the FBI to work, without a doubt. The cultural phenomenon that is forensics would have reached me sooner, and I would have been drawn in before my career path was set in a different direction.

What fascinates you about forensics and crime?

I love to figure out what motivates people to do things. I studied psychology, actually thought about a path in psychiatry for a brief moment (the whole med school cadaver thing was too much for my delicate constitution to handle.) Then I got caught up in the thrill of politics and veered away from that path. Finding it again through writing has been one of my greatest joys. I like to listen to people, to see what’s behind the words, the façade. Everyone has a secret, a shame, a motivation for their public persona. The same goes for a criminal. How do they decide that taking the easy way out is their purpose in life? What catalyst drives their break from good to evil? Where in their psyche does it say that cheating and stealing and murdering is good, and right? When do they proceed to choose that path? Choices… for me it’s all about the choices people make.

In your research with law enforcement agencies, what was a key point you discovered that you never realized - and probably never would have if you weren’t sitting with the officers, listening to their war stories?

That it takes a very specific personality type to make it as a cop, especially a homicide detective. The horror and depravity that they see every day . . .  anything I write pales against the realities they live with day to day. There is endless capacity for evil in people. It’s such an honor to write their stories, and I strive to make the non-law enforcement world understand the people who keep them safe.

Is there one case that ever creeped you out so much, you couldn’t even think of writing about something similar?

Sure. I fictionalized a local rapist in my first novel, before he was caught. Not bright. I actually almost did a true crime book on him, because he’s fascinating, but got too scared to do it. I didn’t want my name attached to his in perpetuity. No thanks. And my new book, Edge of Black, has a scene that I wrote on a Thursday that freaked me out so much that I couldn’t even open the manuscript until the following Monday. But I figure if I’m scaring myself, I’m scaring my reader, and that’s what it’s all about.

How did your move to Nashville impact your writing?

It was my personal catalyst. I can honestly say I don’t know if I would be a writer if I hadn’t. I’ve always loved to write, but had a professor in college discourage me, so I went the politics route. When we moved, my expertise was in presidential politics and aerospace marketing, neither of which is to be found in abundance in Nashville. So in a fit of desperation spawned by boredom so deep my brain was turning to mush, I took a job at a vet’s office. I thought it would be fun to work the front desk, greeting the people and their animals… well, the vet decided I should be a tech instead. After three days looking at the back ends of the fluffy creatures I so love, I decided it wasn’t for me. But just as I made the decision to quit, I clumsily picked up a large golden retriever and ruptured a disk in my back. It needed surgical repair, and I was down for the count recovering for a year. I read for pleasure, something I hadn’t done in many years. Crime fiction became my favorite, and I discovered John Sandford. The light bulb went on midway through the Prey series – I want to write a book. And the rest is history.

I see in your bio that you are owned by a poorly trained cat. I know my cats are extremely helpful with writing. They like to leave hairball gifts on my keyboard, or claw my legs until I let them have the nice, comfy office chair. How does your cat aid your writing time?

Hmmm… I’ve just realized that instead of Sandford, I should be crediting my cat with getting me writing. Jade was a rescue, a 5-week-old abandoned kitten with a cold. They were going to put her down; they can’t keep sick cats around. I took one look at her, fell in love, and said do what it takes to get her healthy. The vet who made her better? Yep, that’s the one I worked for.

Jade also knows how to sit quietly and listen when I need to read my work aloud, and she’s especially helpful when I have a particularly sticky scene that isn’t working. Talking it out helps me coalesce my thoughts, and she’s very patient. Though she does tend to fight with my laptop for lap space, and manages to sit on each page of my manuscripts.

What does your husband think of all the blood, guts and forensic research you do for your novels? Does he sleep with one eye open?

He tells everyone that if he dies suspiciously, I should be the first suspect. In all seriousness, he’s been brilliant. He puts up with a lot – me getting excited about my research, doing ride-alongs that take me into harm’s way. He doesn’t blink when I come home from the bookstore with armloads of research books. I’m working on a book now that involves Wicca and vampirism, so he’s been very patient while I explore these new worlds (ie: tell him spells over dinner.) He listens when I need to vent, reads my work, travels with me, and is an all-around fabulous guy. I honestly couldn’t do it without him. 

Who are you reading?

I’ve looked right and left – to my right is The Fugitive Poets: Modern Southern Poetry in Perspective, by William Pratt, an anthology and treatment of the fascinating southern group known as The Fugitives, and Cause of Death: A Writer’s Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine. To the left is Deadly Doses: A Writer’s Guide to Poisons, and The Masque of the Black Tulip, by Lauren Willig. I’m also reading (for the millionth time) Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I find that her stories transport me and help me focus on my own work. They’re comfort reads. And I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer. Brilliant book. My book club is reading The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan, so I need to sandwich that in this week too. I do usually have four or five books going at once, all in different spots in the house. Oh, and I’ve been reading Anthem, by Ayn Rand, on my iPhone, testing out that technology.  It just doesn’t replace the feel, the tangible sense that paper gives, but it’s okay.

Where can we find you on the Web?

My website is www.JTEllison.com. On the Author’s Spot page, there are links to my blog, Murderati.com, my Facebook and MySpace pages, RedRoom and Publisher’s Marketplace. My News page has all the latest info, and of course you can Google me - that will give you infinite places to look.

Thanks so much for having me, Angela! This has been wonderful!

An Interview With Lit Magic

(Ginna Foster) Last week, Lacey G. and I were doing some good old fashioned brainstorming. We were trying to distill what makes the Evening with an Author series unique. We came up with the below list:

1) It features local Nashville authors
2) It provides a behind-the-scene / non-scripted look at authors and their books
3) It's about promoting "smart conversation" between the attendees and authors
4) It's about building community / forging connections between book lovers in the greater Nashville area

We then took it one step farther by asking how LitMagic fit into the mix. It was clear that LitMagic was the perfect venue to do Q&As with upcoming authors. We see Q&As as teasers of sorts because they let you get into the mind of an author. As such, we sent the below questions to J.T. Ellison, author of Judas Kiss, J.T. who replied by email. J.T. will be the featured author on Thursday, January 22nd (6-7pm at Martha's at the Planation; see Swift Book Promotions for more details). I cannot wait to hear more from her in person. Look forward to seeing you there.

--Ginna F.

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Explain your path to becoming a writer. Why/how did you select mystery/thriller genre?

I started writing full-time in 2004. I’ve written all my life, the requisite awful poetry and shorts, even got my degree in creative writing. But I was wholly discouraged by a college professor and gave it up. There was a thirteen year gap in my creativity, and I’m grateful to have the muse back.

The Taylor Jackson series began when I was recovering from back surgery, and had a long slog through rehab. I was reading a lot during that time, anything I could get my hands on. I came across John Sandford’s PREY series at the library, and got hooked. The unique setting – Minneapolis/St. Paul –
his main character – half cop, half rock star Lucas Davenport – sparked an idea. What about a female Lucas Davenport, set in another unique location, Nashville? If he can do it, so can I. Ahh, hubris. But his influence is definitely the reason I took the leap back into writing. Taylor Jackson was born on I-40, as I was driving downtown to rehab. She popped into my head fully formed and started talking in that low, smoky drawl. I was hooked.

Explain how Judas Kiss fits in with your other books?

Up to now, all my titles have been serial killer thrillers, with the killer as a point of view character. Which also which means the books are “how-done-its,” instead of mysteries, which are “who-done-its.” JUDAS KISS is actually a departure for me, because it has more mystery elements that the previous books. The story revolves around a single murder of a young pregnant mother in Hillwood. But it’s all the same characters, and it’s still a thrill ride.

Did you know you were writing a series when you started?

Yes. I knew Taylor was a franchise character from the beginning. She fascinates me. I strive not to reveal too much about her in each book, letting her grow over the course of the series rather than over the course of the book. I also set the books seasonally instead of yearly, so that inhibits her growth even more. I wanted to be sure that she remains iconic.

When you sit down to work on a new book, do you have the ending already figured out like John Irving? Or, do you have a general idea of plot and its drivers and then see where it goes?

I’m a pantser, which means I write by the seat of my pants. I don’t want to know all the details of a story, because if I’m surprised, the reader is surprised too. I have a general idea of what’s happening. I always know who the villain is, and their motivation. Every story grows from there.

How did you decide to make Nashville a main "character" in your book? Why not your hometown of DC? What fun facts have you learned about Nashville as a result of your research? Why should every Nashvillian read your series and in particular Judas Kiss? 

Everyone writes books set in D.C., or L.A., or New York. I wanted to do something different. So that was my first thought. But I’ve fallen in love with Nashville, its dichotomies, the culture and the class structure. We have real, big city problems, yet the rest of the world only sees us as Music City, honkytonks and southern food. We are so much more than that, and I wanted to show the rest of the world the Nashville I see.

The books are as realistic a portrayal of Nashville as I can make them. Readers will recognize the settings; the crime scenes may be someplace they drive past every day. I think it’s fun to have a series set in your backyard. I know it’s fun for me to write them, to skulk around town looking for the ideal crime scene. Nashville is chock full of nooks and crannies that are the perfect settings for murder.

What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?

I’m a big Ayn Rand fan, and a big Plato fan. I think my favorite must be Rand’s slim volume ANTHEM, which is a parable for Plato’s Allegory of the Cave – humanity is shackled in a dark room and only shown interpretations of what reality is. One man (Socrates) breaks out of the Cave and sees reality for the first time: the blue of the sky, a real chair, a real piece of grass, and returns to tell humanity that they are being lied to. Of course, they can’t handle that truth and murder him. ANTHEM takes this timeless story and creates love out of hate, beauty out of ugliness, and freedom out of horrendous captivity. It’s beautifully written and inspiring.

What piece of advice helped you out the most as a writer?

I have a sign on the door to my office that reads: There are no rules except those you create, page by page. Stuart Woods said that to me in an email, and it freed me as a writer. I’d been so constrained by the “proper” usage of words and sentence construction that my writing was stilted. Once I quit following the rules, things improved dramatically. And John Connolly, author of the Charlie Parker series, some of my all-time favorite books, once told me that all good books find a home. That kept me in the game to get published.