Today, I’m happy to have J.L. Bryan, author of Jenny Pox, here with us. Please read through the interview all the way to the end because there’s a giveaway!
Amanda: Thanks so much for being here today with us Jeff!
Jeff: Thanks for having me visit, Amanda.
Amanda:Can you tell us about yourself?
Jeff: I write speculative fiction—sometimes horror, sometimes science fiction, sometimes work that's harder to categorize. I live in the suburbs of Atlanta with my wife, two dogs, and two cats. The cats are very anti-writing and like to stand on my keyboard and block my view of the screen. They'll sit down on any book or newspaper you try to read, too. I think it's part of an evil cat plot to make us into illiterate servants.
Amanda: When did you start writing?
Jeff: I was six or seven when I started writing stories. They were usually about monsters, aliens, gangsters or detectives. I wrote a lot of comic book scripts in middle school. I was collaborating online with teenage artists and writers around the country, and we actually put out a few issues of a fanzine featuring our characters. I've always enjoyed escaping into imaginary worlds.
Amanda: Who have been your greatest inspirations?
Jeff: I've had a couple of good teachers who encouraged me. My seventh grade English teacher, my creative writing teacher at UGA, and my screenwriting workshop teacher at UCLA. The UCLA teacher taught me the most about the craft of writing, since she was an experienced writer rather than an English teacher.
Amanda: Who are your favorite authors or what are your favorite books?
Jeff: Some of my favorite books would include Huckleberry Finn, It, Dune, and my lifetime favorite series is probably The Three Investigators books. I must have read a hundred of those when I was a kid.
Amanda: Can you tell us a bit about Jenny Pox?
Jeff: Jenny Pox is about a girl who's born with a supernatural condition. Anyone she touches suffers terrible blistering and sores, and will soon die if she doesn't let go. Her whole life is built around avoiding other people. She has no explanation for her power. As she grows up, her dad has to go to huge lengths to take care of her without getting hurt or killed himself. When she's eighteen, she discovers she's not the only one in town with a supernatural ability.
Amanda: Where did you get the idea for Jenny Pox?
Jeff: The idea started with the character of Jenny. Everything about her world and all the events of the story were kind of implied the moment that the character idea came to me. I don't know where the idea came from. Some books take months or years of developing in the back of my mind before I write them. This one came full-blown, all at once. It was pretty nice, actually.
Amanda: Who is your favorite character of yours so far?
Jeff: From everything? That's hard to decide. I probably appreciate good villains the most, because they really power the story and keep things moving. My favorite villain characters are Pontifex Felagro from Helix and Ashleigh Goodling from Jenny Pox.
Amanda: What's your favorite Halloween related memory?
Jeff: My wife and I went to New Orleans a few years ago, actually just a couple of months after we met. It was an amazing Halloween, one of the best places you could ever spend that holiday. Thousands and thousands of people in the most amazing costumes.
Amanda: Do you have a favorite Halloween/horror book, story, movie, or a haunted place that you've been?
Jeff: I like to catch some of the movies I watched as a kid, like the early Nightmare on Elm Street movies. What I really like to see is It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the Garfield special.
Amanda: Do you do anything special for Halloween?
Jeff: One of my friends' bands does a zombie show in Athens, which is always fun.
Amanda: What are you working on now?
Jeff: My new book is about a haunted book that brings a very nasty ghost back to life if you read it. He doesn't want you to stop reading it, either.
Amanda: Thanks so much for joining us today and for being a part of the Countdown to Halloween!
Jeff: Thanks for having me, Amanda! Happy Halloween!
Find J.L. Bryan around the web:
Website I Blog I Twitter I Facebook
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: July 24, 2009
paperback-292 pages
Summary from Goodreads:
Jenny is a quiet, small-town girl in South Carolina whose touch spreads a deadly supernatural plague. Jenny can't control her power. Her life is friendless and lonely until she meets a boy with the opposite power, a healing touch. Her love for him brings the wrath of his beautiful and immensely popular girlfriend Ashleigh, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all.Jenny must master her own deadly power in order to free Seth from Ashleigh's control. Then she must defeat Ashleigh before Ashleigh can destroy her.
~Giveaway~
Guess what? That’s right, Jeff is nice enough to offer up TWO ebooks of Jenny Pox today for a giveaway!
Rules:
- Ask a question for Jeff who will be stopping in today, or leave a meaningful comment.
- Make sure to include your email if it isn’t in your profile. You can email that to me if you prefer, but you must still leave a comment.
- This contest ends October 31, 2010, at 11:59 pm est & is international.
- 2 winners will be chosen & have 72 hrs to respond to my email or a new winner will be chosen.
