An Interview with Jennifer Estep

The Reading Cafe is happy to have Jennifer Estep with us today.

We did a feature on Jennifer’s YA series..Mythos Academy in June. But with her latest release of Widow’s Web from her wonderful Elemental Assassin series, we are fortunate to have her come talk to us today.

Let’s meet Jennifer.

 

 

TRC: Jennifer, we at the Reading Café would like to thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. 

TRC:  Please tell us about yourself

Jennifer: Thanks for hosting me on the site. I appreciate it.

My name is Jennifer Estep, and I’m a New York Times bestselling author. I write the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books and the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series for Kensington. I’m also the author of the Bigtime paranormal romance series.

TRC: When and how did you first become interested in writing? 

Jennifer:  I’ve always loved to read, and my mom used to take me to the library every week when I was a kid, which is how I fell in love with books and reading in the first place. So I think all that slowly lead to an interest in writing. One day after reading a book that was just okay, I had the thought that I think a lot of authors do: Why, I could write something better than that.

So I sat down one summer during college and wrote my first book. It wasn’t very good, but I’d been bitten by the writing bug, and I’ve been writing ever since.

TRC: What was your first book ever published?

Jennifer: My first published book was Karma Girl, which is the first book in my Bigtime paranormal romance series that focuses on superheroes and ubervillains. Karma Girl was first published in 2007, and the e-book is available, along with e-books for the other titles in my Bigtime series – Hot Mama, Jinx, and A Karma Girl Christmas (an e-story).

TRC: How did you come up with the idea for Mythos Academy?  What made you decide to venture into YA?

Jennifer: I’ve always been interested in mythology and all the stories of the gods, goddesses, warriors, creatures, and more battling each other and going on these epic adventures. I had been wanting to try writing a YA book for a while, and one day I just thought what if I wrote a YA book that featured mythology. That sort of became the idea for the Mythos Academy series.

TRC: DARK FROST was the most recent book of this series. What are your plans and how many books do you see for Mythos Academy? 

Jennifer: Dark Frost was published in June. Right now, I’m under contract for at least six books in the series. At this point, I’m not sure if that will let me finish out the main story arc or if there will be a few more books in the series after that. Crimson Frost, the fourth book in the series, is tentatively scheduled to be published in January 2013.

 

TRC: Elemental Assassin is considered Urban Fantasy, and is an adult book.  Tell us how you came up with the idea.  How many books do you plan for this series.

Jennifer: I’ve always liked reading about assassin characters, especially in fantasy books. It just seems like there are so many stories you can tell with assassins and that they can be everything from crazy to cold to calculating. One day, I thought it would be cool to write my own assassin character with my own magic and world building, so that’s what I did, and that was sort of the start of the Elemental Assassin series.

As of right now, I’m under contract for at least ten books in the series. At this point, I’m not sure how many total books will be in the series, and I may write a few more books in the series beyond these ten.

TRC: WIDOW’S WEB is the 7^th book in the Elemental Assassin series, and is due to be released in August.  Tell us a little about it.

Jennifer: Widow’s Web focuses on the backstory of Owen Grayson, who is the love interest for my heroine, Gin Blanco, aka the assassin the Spider. In Widow’s Web, someone from Owen’s past comes to town, and Gin has to figure out if this person is a threat to Owen or not. Also, Gin learns that Owen has a connection to one of the underworld figures in Ashland. So the book features a lot of Owen’s past and how that impacts Gin, Owen, and their relationship.

LINKS TO ORDER:
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Paper Books
B&N Nook and Paper Books
The Book Depository

TRC: Will you ever go back to your Bigtime paranormal romance series?

Jennifer: Last year, I e-published A Karma Girl Christmas, a 14,000-word e-short story in the Bigtime series. I hope to write and e-publish more books and stories in the series. We’ll see how it goes.

TRC: Having written different genres..Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, as well as YA & Adult fiction, which do you prefer?

Jennifer: There are things I like about all of them. I like the grittiness of urban fantasy; the romance in paranormal romance; and being able to tell more of a coming-of-age story in a YA.

TRC: What do you have planned for future books or series?  Are you working on any different series?

Jennifer: Right now, I’m pretty busy writing the Elemental Assassin and Mythos Academy series, but I do have some ideas for a new urban fantasy or maybe a YA series that I’d like to explore when I get time. We’ll see how it goes.

TRC: Who is your Muse?

Jennifer: I would say my characters are my muse. I want to go on more adventures with them and see what happens next. That’s part of what keeps me writing. Happy reading, everyone!

LIGHTNING ROUND:

FAVORITE FOOD:  Cheese fries

FAVORITE DESSERT: Strawberry cheesecake ice cream

RED OR WHITE ROSES: Red roses

FAVORITE AUTHOR: I couldn’t pick just one. Some of my favorite authors are Robin McKinley, Lisa Kleypas, Ian Fleming, Robert Parker, and Donald Westlake, just to name a few.

FAVORITE BOOK:  One of my favorite books is Beauty by Robin McKinley. It’s a lovely retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale.

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING:  Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas

LAST MOVIE YOU SAW:  The Avengers

Thank you, Jennifer for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish you all the best and good luck with Widow’s Web.  We look forward to your next release, and having you come back to visit us again.

If you would like to know more about Jennifer, please visit any of the links below:

Website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/
Facebook:
Twitter:
Goodreads:

Jennifer has graciously offered to give one member of The Reading Café a chance to win a copy of her newest Elemental Assassin book..”Widow’s Web”.   

1.  You must be a member at The Reading Cafe. If you are not a member, please register using the Log-In at the top of the page, or by using one of our social log-ins.

2.  If you are using a social log-in e.g. Twitter, please leave your email address along with your comment.

3.  Please post a comment on the interview post and say hello to Jennifer.

4.  Giveaway open U.S. Only

5.  Contests runs from August 23th – 26th.