Author Jenn Lyons Interview and Amazon Gift Card Contest

BBB: If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it? JL: Geek Girl. No, wait: Face In A Book. (Honestly, I’m surprised any of my school teachers even knew what I looked like.)
BBB: Would you rather have a cat or dog? Why?
JL: Ooooh, I love both! Right now I’m really longing for a dog, but I’ll have to wait until I have a yard with a fence. I do have some sweet cats. My newest is a local rescue named Athena, who likes to sit on my desk and watch me type. I think she’s checking to make sure I’m doing it right. Either that or she finds watching my fingers move hilariously entertaining.
BBB: What specific thing have you done that impressed yourself.
JL: Finishing this book! And then the next one. And the one after that. Honestly, every time I finish a book (I’m currently in the middle of my fifth) it’s a lovely rush. A little girl voice inside of me screams ‘I did it!’ and then my soul does the snoopy dance. I’m addicted.
BBB: If you had the opportunity to live one year of your life over again, which year would you choose?
JL: That’s so difficult to answer. I won’t deny I’ve gone through some incredible hardships, yet I’ve found in my life that sometimes the greatest pleasures and accomplishments rose from those periods of misery. If I could go back and give myself some advice? Hmm…it would be to buy google when that stock first went public.
BBB: Please tell us more about  Blood Chimera and the storyline that drives it.
JL:  Blood Chimera is about a K&R expert named Jackson Pastor who is sent to Los Angeles to help a nightclub owner ransom his kidnapped wife. Of course, it ends up not being quite so simple, since Jackson finds himself in the center of a gang war that includes monster hunters, crime lords, corrupt police, centuries-old vampire clans, and a very eccentric, dangerous wizard who works with the FBI. Adding to the chaos, Jackson has only just discovered that he isn’t human himself, so he has to deal with all these opposing forces while trying to come to grips with his own identity. (It’s not easy being a hero when you are also a monster.)
BBB: How many more books will there be in the Blood Chimera series?
JL: As many as I can write. Every other series I have in progress has a definitive beginning and end planned out, but the Blood Chimera series is meant to be open-ended and on-going in the vein of a noir mystery series.
BBB: What sets the Blood Chimera series apart from other books in the same genre?
JL: I suspect my own leanings towards speculative fiction have probably given the books a slightly different cant than a lot of urban fantasies or paranormal mysteries. I couldn’t just use the stock tropes. It’s not in me. At one point my editor asked me point blank, “Are there any real vampires in your book?” And I laughed and said, “You mean, like the sort who can’t enter churches, can’t bear the sight of crosses, and are allergic to garlic? No, none at all.” Truthfully, I think she was more than a little surprised to realize I’d broken down everything going on in terms of quantum physics, thermodynamics, and genetics. I’m not saying the beings in my books are realistic per se, but the explanation for how their powers work is more Clarke’s Law than necromancy.
BBB: What types of characters / creatures can readers expect in your world?
JL: The characters are nicely flawed, I think, and many of them, even the villains, ultimately have very good justifications for their actions (which does not in any way lessen the body count.)
Of course, a great many of them also qualify as monsters, who self-identify as grendels. Some of those grendels are in fact secret race – parasitic and fugitive – who has been hiding amongst humanity for as long as humanity has existed. By modern times, most humans have convinced themselves these creatures are just legends, and even if they did believe, they’d probably get their facts wrong because the grendels have encouraged so much misinformation. If there’s one thing I would want readers to expect, it’s the idea that the narration about the monsters, the labels that apply to them – that’s a vampire, that’s a werewolf, that’s an angel – are completely unreliable. The characters don’t always have their facts straight.
These monsters have a very plastic nature, so one group might view themselves as vampires, while another group might reject that name entirely because they have a different ethnic and social origin. There’s a Russian gang based out of Hollywood that would encourage you not to call them werewolves, for example. Two of the major groups at work in the book are a family of European vampires and a community of Mexica shape shifters living in the Southland. Same race. Very different ethnic identities. And they hate each other. Because it’s difficult to let go of a grudge when it involves the word ‘genocide.’
BBB: If you could meet an author from history, who would you meet and why?
JL: The inventor of science fiction – Mary Shelley. I would very much love to have a cup of tea with her.
BBB: What’s the funniest prank ever played on you?
JL: You know, I don’t think I’m really the kind of person most people feel comfortable playing pranks on. Perhaps it’s my Scottish temper. Or the crack team of snipers. Or the ninjas. Probably the ninjas.
BBB: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
JL: Every time I encounter bad drivers, I joke about wanting telekinesis so I could deposit their cars upside down by the side of the road. On the less violent side, there’s a character in my book who can teleport, and I have often thought that would be a lovely power to have. No commute at all! As someone who’s lived in Los Angeles for most of my life, that’s a very seductive idea.
BBB: Tell us something nobody knows about you.
JL: I spoke fluent French by the age of four – and have since forgotten how to say everything except ‘shut your mouth.’ THAT phrase has stuck with me all my life. Make of that what you will.
BBB: Of all of the Gilligan’s Island characters, I am most like (and tell us why):
JL: I really don’t think I’ve known you for long enough to say which character you are like. Oh! Right. You meant me. I’d have to say the Professor. Because who doesn’t love a pedant? (Don’t answer that.)
BBB: What’s coming up for you for the rest of 2014 and into 2015??
JL: I’m happy to say the sequel to this book, Blood Sin, is expected to be released before the end of the year. I also have another book on track for a winter release: Making Shiva, which is the sequel to my science-fiction space opera Marduk’s. After that? 2015 will see the next Blood Chimera book and the sequel to my fantasy book, The Culling Fields.
Yes, I suppose I do write a lot.
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About Jenn Lyons

Author Bio:

Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, three cats and a lot of opinions on anything from Sumerian creation myths to the correct way to make a martini. At various points in her life, she has wanted to be an archaeologist, anthropologist, architect, diamond cutter, fashion illustrator, graphic designer, or Batman. Turning from such obvious trades, she is now a video game producer by day, and spends her evenings writing science fiction and fantasy. When not writing, she can be found debating the Oxford comma and Joss Whedon’s oeuvre at various local coffee shops.

11 Quick Things About Jenn
Favorite Food? Bastilla
Favorite Color? Crimson
Favorite Movie or TV Show of all Time? Firefly
Favorite Drink? Coffee
Favorite Book? …you mean, pick just one? I really don’t know that I could do that
Favorite Season? Autumn
Favorite Online Hangout? Tumblr
Favorite Animal? Owl
Favorite Band or Musician? KMFDM
Mode of Travel? (Trains, Planes or Automobiles) Trains
Favorite Vacation Destination? Forests
Connect with Jenn
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Prize: A $25.00 Amazon Gift Card

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