Q&A Interview and Giveaway with Jessa Slade

Hello everyone!  Book Monster Reviews and LITERAL ADDICTION are happy to welcome author Jessa Slade to our sites today.

Despite a grade school career aptitude test that indicated farming would be her best bet, Jessa always knew she wanted to be a writer.  Her early works include “MY POMES,” a poetry chapbook rampant with unicorns and misspellings, and a torrid teen cowboy romance which her editor-mother asked her to revise and resubmit, changing the love scene to “soul mates.”

After close to a million final draft words and nearly triple digit rejections, she sold her first novel, an urban fantasy romance, thanks to the 2007 Rose City Romance Writers’ Golden Rose writing contest.  She still pinches herself daily.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest where the potential for up to 120 days in a row of measurable precipitation keeps her at her computer (well, that and the chains).  Like many writers, she lives often in her head and appreciates interaction with people whose dialogue she doesn’t have to make up and revise for clarity.

Jessa is the creator of Urban Fantasy Romance series THE MARKED SOULS, which currently has 3 books in the series, Book #1 - "Seduced by Shadows", Book #2 - "Forged in Shadows" and Book #3 - "Vowed in Shadows" which was released back in April 2011.  The fourth book in the series, "Darkness Undone" is scheduled to release on March 6, 2012.

THE MARKES SOUL series has gotten many rave reviews from readers and other authors.  Publishers Weekly has said that ''Slade's debut presents a dark and dense supernatural conflict with high stakes. [A] rich crossover urban fantasy.''  Gena Showalter stated that ''Seduced by Shadows is wonderfully addictive!'' along with Nalini Singh's statement that "Vowed in Shadows" is ''Dark and sexy and intense.''   Let's take a look at the first 3 books in the series to see what the rave is all about…….

"Seduced by Shadows" -

When Sera Littlejohn meets a violet-eyed stranger, he reveals a supernatural battle veiled in the shadows, and Sera is tempted to the edge of madness by a dangerous desire. Ferris Archer takes Sera under his wing, now that she is a talyan-possessed by a repentant demon with hellish powers. Archer's league of warriors have never fought beside a female before, and never in all his centuries has Archer found a woman who captivates him like Sera.

With the balance shifting between good and evil, passion and possession, Sera and Archer must defy the darkness and dare to embrace a love that will mark them forever.

                                              "Forged in Shadows" -

After surviving the Irish Potato Famine, Liam Niall was possessed by a demon in search of redemption. Now, he heads the Chicago league of taylan in their fight against evil. Jilly Chan is a mentor to the local homeless youth-and warrior against the criminals who prey upon her charges. She's already half-taken by a demon, so Liam reluctantly tries to guide her into full power.

Even as the proudly independent Jilly tries to remain true to her own soul, Liam's fiercely passionate touch leaves a mark on her desirable flesh as enduring as her new demonic tattoo...

"Vowed in Shadows" -

Possession by a demon cost Jonah Walker his faith, his humanity, and his wife. Once a righteous missionary man, he endures immortality with nothing but a body built for battle and a bent for retribution. But his last devastating fight left him wounded beyond healing and his only chance to redeem his soul lies with a fallen woman.

Thrust into a wicked underworld of shadows and sin, Nim Hamlin can’t believe her wanton ways as the "Naughty Nymphette" enthralled a demon... and a damned saint. The world she knows doesn’t deserve deliverance, But Jonah's touch holds an unholy allure-–and she’s never been any good at resisting temptation.

As darkness gathers in the sweltering Chicago summer, Jonah and Nim must conquer the demons of their past to face even fiercer monsters as their passion ignites a furious power. Only their sins can save them now...

DON"T FORGET - Jessa will be chatting with us LIVE over on the LITERAL ADDICTION Website's Contact Us Page (http://www.literaladdiction.com/contact-us.php#/general/) from 8-10pm EST (7-9pm CT, 6-8pm MDT, 5-7pm PDT)

They do sound great, don't they?  Now let's get to the interview so we can learn more about the series and the great author behind it…….

Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION:  Hi Jessa!  Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to sit down and talk to us.

Jessa:  Thank you for the excuse to talk to real people for a change!

Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION: We always like to start out by getting to know you a little bit better.

Q1): Can you tell us 3 things about yourself that we can't find out on the internet, in your bio, etc?

Jessa:

Do they have to be interesting things? One of the reasons I became a writer is to dream about people way more interesting than me. Ooh, does that count as one of my things? Second thing, um… In grade school, kids used to taunt me by calling me “giraffe.” Yeah, as insults go, I thought that was pretty weak too. Third thing, if I wasn’t a writer, I think I’d want to be a theoretical physicist. Mostly because I imagine it’d be so cool having a passionate love affair with Brian Greene (only because Carl Sagan isn’t currently available).

Q2) What are some hobbies or other interests you like to do when you're not busy writing?

Jessa:  I love beading. I want to possess one of every bead in the universe, and judging by the overflow in my craft closet, I think I’m well on my way :) I guess I just like stringing things together: words or beads, doesn’t matter. I also garden. I post a lot of pictures of my flowers and fruit. Gardening is a lot like writing too: getting down and dirty, digging your fingers in, drowning slugs in beer…

Q3) When did you decide you wanted to become a writer? How long have you been writing for?

Jessa:  I’ve always written. My mom and grandmother have stories of mine (not necessarily good stories, mind you) dating back to grade school. The problem was, I won a writing contest when I was a kid and the prize was a free book. I was, like, “Free books?! I’m gonna do this forever!” Dooooomed.

Q4) Do you have any interesting writing quirks or something you must have with you to start the process?

Jessa:  I have a very elaborate prewriting and plotting process that makes some freeform writers hyperventilate. (If any plotters are reading this, you can find the basics on my website at http://tinyurl.com/jessasladeplotting. If you are a pantser, DO NOT look at it!) I find that if I don’t do my prewriting, I will write myself into a corner, and that gets ugly. Better for me to work it out ahead of time. Other than that, all I need to get started is a shiny blank Word doc :)

Q5) Who are some of your favorite authors and series?

Jessa:  This is such a cruel question! If I forget somebody I love, their books will fall off my bookshelf and crush me. But okay, I’m gonna go old school for this question because these books set me on my course to become a writer:

The Books of Isle series by Nancy Springer

FIREDANCER by Ann Maxwell and the other books in the series

The TIME MASTER trilogy by Louise Cooper

The first books are fantasies, the second are science fiction and the third are horror-esque. All of them have a real beauty of language and story that keep them on my shelves to this day. If you haven’t read them, there’s a good chance you can find them in a used book store or online. My copies are all yellowed, with spines broken -- and I am not a spine breaker! -- much beloved.

Q6) With Fantasy being such a popular genre these days, what intrigued you the most about the settings and characters in that world, and did you always that your characters would be possessed by demons?

Jessa:   I’ve always been interested in how all cultures have some interpretation of the battle between good and evil. Obviously, the struggle is deeply rooted in us. In fact, that’s the tag line for the Marked Souls series: In the war between good and evil, the battleground is the human soul.

Q7) For those who have not read the series yet, can you please explain what THE MARKED SOULS series is about?

Jessa:  My moody broody alpha male bad boys are possessed by repentant demons. For centuries, they’ve fought the powers of darkness to redeem their souls. As if that wasn’t hard enough, lately they’ve been teaming up with newly possessed female warriors. Now it’s not just their lives and souls in danger, but their hearts too. (Insert dastardly bwa-ha-ha here.)

Q8) The fourth book in the series "Darkness Undone" will be released in March of 2012. Can you tell us who will be in this book and what we can look forward to and how many books you have planned for the series?

Jessa:  The hero and heroine in this fourth book aren’t anyone we’ve met earlier in the series. Sid is a British scholar, newly arrived in Chicago to study the demon-possessed warriors and their mates. He stumbles, almost literally, upon a rogue demon-girl, and off we go! I originally imagined nine books in the series, three interlocked trilogies, so DARKNESS UNDONE is sort of the start of a new trilogy within the world as my heroes face off against a new bad guy. Whether I get to write all nine books depends on readers!

Q9) Do you have any other upcoming projects that you are working on?

Jessa:  Oh man, what ISN’T brewing in my hard drive? I have more demons, fairies, space ships, dachshunds... NOT in the same story, mind you ;) My ideas file is 15 single spaces pages, pieces of dreams, snippets of ideas, weird words that COULD become a story. All of them want to be told. I need more hours in the day! Who doesn’t, right?

Q10) What would you like to say to all the readers out there today?

Jessa:  THANK YOU FOR READING!  Yes, I’m yelling at you :) Doesn’t it seem like the world is busier than ever? It’s so hard to steal the time to read. But I truly believe that storytelling is one of the core connections in the universe, a force that holds us together, helps us make sense of ourselves, and colors our dreams of what else could be. We need storytellers -- and just as importantly, an audience. So, from my heart, thank you for reading.

Book Monster Reviews/LITERAL ADDICTION: Thank you again Jessa for sitting down to talk with us. We would love to have you join us again in March 2012 to help celebrate and promote the release of "Darkness Undone", what do you say?

Jessa:  Hellya! Thanks for letting me visit with you today.

If you would like to learn more about Jessa and THE MARKED SOULS series, you can visit her at the following sites:

Website:   http://jessaslade.wordpress.com/

Facebook:   http://www.facebook.com/#!/jessaslade

Twitter:   http://twitter.com/#!/jessaslade

Goodreads:   http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2858177.Jessa_Slade

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CONTEST:   Jessa is giving away a full set of the first Marked Souls trilogy: SEDUCED BY SHADOWS, FORGED OF SHADOWS, VOWED IN SHADOWS. (If you’ve already read the Marked Souls, let us know and Jessa will replace that trilogy with three other books from her giveaway shelf.)   You’ll also get a set of Marked Souls romance trading cards, a free-read booklet of the villain’s story “Blackbird Born,” and a music download card that includes the Seduced By Shadows theme song!

To Enter: Make sure you are a follower of the BMR Blog and then post a comment on the

interview and make sure you leave a valid email address. Any comments without an email

address will NOT be entered into drawing. You must also be a follower of the BMR blog.

Don't forget to drop by the LITERAL ADDICTION website (http://www.literaladdiction.com/) and follow the directions and links to enter their contest for an extra chance to win!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!!