Q&A with #fantasy Author Jeffe Kennedy (& C*ntest)

Today, I’m pleased to welcome author Jeffe Kennedy to Preternatura to talk about ROGUE’S PAWN, the first book in her new Covenant of Thorns contemporary fantasy romance series. A resident of Santa Fe, N.M., Jeffe has two Maine coon cats and a border collie, which automatically wins points with me. You can read more about her at her website.

ABOUT ROGUE’S PAWN: This is no fairy tale...Haunted by nightmares of a black dog, sick to death of my mind-numbing career and heart-numbing fiance, I impulsively walked out of my life--and fell into Faerie. Terrified, fascinated, I discover I possess a power I can't control: my wishes come true. After an all-too-real attack by the animal from my dreams, I wake to find myself the captive of the seductive and ruthless fae lord Rogue. In return for my rescue, he demands an extravagant price--my firstborn child, which he intends to sire himself...With no hope of escaping this world, I must learn to harness my magic and build a new life despite the perils--including my own inexplicable and debilitating desire for Rogue. I swear I will never submit to his demands, no matter what erotic torment he subjects me to...

Now, let’s hear from Jeffe—welcome!

Give us the “elevator pitch” for your book.

A neuroscientist accidentally falls into Faerie and discovers that she’s a sorceress there. Everything she wishes comes true – whether she wants it to or not.

What was the hardest scene to write?

There’s a sequence where my heroine is sent to be trained to manage her out-of-control magic. She calls it Sadistic Boot Camp for Recalcitrant Sorceresses, but it’s no laughing matter. They basically use torture and brainwashing methods to break her. I originally skipped this sequence and had her simply refer back to it, but my mean & nasty/incredibly insightful editor MADE me write it. It was intensely painful to live through that with my heroine and I thought that readers would hate me for writing it. But, in the end, my editor was right—the book is much better for having that sequence.

What’s on your nightstand or top of your TBR pile?

Right now I’m reading The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. It’s very interesting to get a dancer and choreographer’s take on creativity. Up next is Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan, because it was recommended to me by a reviewer who loved Rogue’s Pawn.

Favorite book when you were a child.

Fairy tales, mainly, though I read everything under the sun. When I read Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey, I discovered a whole new world of reading. It was like a fairy tale, but amplified into an entire world. Plus: flying telepathic dragons!

Book you've faked reading (Moby Dick is leading the votes on this question!): 

It’s annoyed me for a long time that people pretend to have read books just to sound fancier. But I never did read Moby Dick. I’ve tried several times to read Great Expectations, but I just can’t get through it. 

Book you're an evangelist for: 

I think all writers should read Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy and then read Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett. They have so much to say about the joy and trauma of trying to have a writing career and about friendships between writers.

Book that changed your life:

Dragonsong falls into that category. Also Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler. I didn’t know before I read it that you could have a book just about real people doing ordinary things.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Favorite book about books or writing:

If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

Thanks, Jeffe!

Since there's no giveaway associated with this blog tour, I'll offer two commenters a copy of my new digital holiday story, CHRISTMAS IN DOGTOWN. It's a sweet paranormal with a heavy dose of my beloved Louisiana. Just tell me: is there a book that changed your life? For me, as silly as it sounds, it was probably my first published book, Royal Street, because it made me fall in love with writing again and sent my life in a whole new direction! Just leave a comment to be entered for a copy of CHRISTMAS IN DOGTOWN (click on the title to read more about it). One extra entry for blog follow, one for Twitter follow, one for friending me on Facebook, and a fifth for tweeting or sharing the contest on FB. Woof!