What inspired you to become an author?
Plain and simple, I love to read. Also, I read
Twilight and honestly thought that if Stephenie Meyer could write a book, so
could I. She didn’t have any prior experience, no contacts in the business, no
author friends to help her along, no agent…etc. She just went for it, and I
found that inspiring.
The inspiration for my series was a stray cat I
adopted that looks exactly like a black panther in miniature. She appears and
disappears at will.
Do you have a specific writing style?
It’s been described as “poetic” and “lyrical” which
just means I have a big vocabulary and like to throw it around. Sometimes
that’s a plus, other times—especially with readers of urban fantasy who prefer
action over atmosphere—it’s not. But I’m finding with each successive book the
pacing gets tighter and the action gets ratcheted up, so that’s been great.
How did you come up with the title for your latest
book?
My publisher, Montlake Romance (one of the
publishing imprints of Amazon) had a Facebook poll on the Kindle Facebook page!
There were four titles, and people voted on their favorite. Rapture’s Edge won,
but the other ones were close seconds so we are using them all in the series!
Is there a message in your novel that you want
readers to grasp?
My core message is always the same: Love conquers
all. Which is why I write romance!
What is your current “work in progress” or upcoming projects?
I’m currently working on book 3 of the Night Prowler
novels, Rapture’s Edge. (Books 4-6 will be coming out in 2013 and 2014.) The
current work in progress focuses on the derailed love between a princess and
her father’s bodyguard, whom she believes killed her father. I’m finding I’m
enjoying writing much more action than I anticipated, so the heroine in this
book is an ass-kicking, leather-wearing, hard-drinking fighter with a thirst
for revenge, and there’s a group of warriors and a group of assassins hot on
her trail. Fun!
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Here’s a brief excerpt. In this scene, Demetrius,
the man Eliana believes killed her father, catches up with her after three
years:
In
one lithe, lightning-fast move, she sprang to her feet, turned and sprinted in
the opposite direction toward the open door, thinking only of escape, her blood
scorching like liquid fire in her veins and her vision narrowed to the
rectangle of light at the end of the hallway.
In
the seconds that followed, she heard just below the whine of the alarm and the
ringing in her ears the distinctive muffled pop of a semi-automatic hand gun
fitted with a silencer. Then another. A bullet whizzed past her head with a
acrid whiff of gunpowder and ricocheted off the stone wall with a piercing
twang and a puff of smoke. She feinted left, then right, desperately trying to
make herself an uncertain target, but another bullet flew past, then another,
and before she could twist away again one of them found the tender flesh of her
hip.
Eliana
crashed screaming to her knees. There was a different noise behind her now, a
horrible garbled snarling, vicious and wild, like a hungry predator tearing
into a meal, but she didn’t turn and look and didn’t give herself the option of
staying still. She struggled to her feet again, pain shooting in furious sparks
down her entire leg, and limped, one leg dragging, forward.
Just
as she reached the end of the hallway, something heavy hit her from behind.
She
staggered, but didn’t fall because she was caught.
And
held.
And
turned around by a pair of huge, strangling tight hands wrapped around her
arms.
Eliana
stared up into Demetrius’s eyes. Black and wild, they burned down at her with
the lucid incandescence of rage and she knew this was the end. She braced
herself for it, stiffening, ready for the snap of her neck or a knife through
her ribs or a gun barrel shoved into her mouth.
And
then a thought flashed through her mind, horrifying in its treacherous clarity:
I remember how you taste.
Then
the man who murdered her father leaned in close and growled, “Gotcha!”
Is there anything you find particularly challenging
in your writing?
Yes – the first draft. I absolutely hate that first
draft. It’s like pulling teeth. But once it’s out and down on paper, the
editing process begins, and that’s where the real magic happens.
Do you have to travel much to do research for your
books?
My current release, Edge of Oblivion, is set in
Rome, a city I visited on an anniversary trip with my husband. I totally fell
in love with Rome, and that’s why I decided to use it as the setting for the
book. Unfortunately I’ve never been to Paris, which is where my third book is
set, but thank God for Google.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
First off, I know it sounds trite, but you have to
believe in yourself. Getting published can be a punishing process, and if
you’re not your own cheerleader, no one else will be. Never give up. Secondly,
join a writer’s group. You need honest critiques of your work in order to grow
as a writer. Third, write what you love, not what you think the “trends” are.
Readers can tell when you’re faking it. Finally, give yourself writing goals
and deadlines. Daily, weekly and monthly, with a deadline of no more than six
months to finish an entire manuscript. After that, the work starts to get
stale, or you’re just not committed enough.
Edge of Oblivion
Night Prowler Novels, Book Two
J.T. Geissinger
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Montlake Romance
ISBN: 1612184197
ASIN: B007SX0246
Number of pages: 384
Word Count: 98,000
Morgan Montgomery is waiting to die. Branded a traitor by her tribe, the Ikati shape-shifter has no hope for mercy—until Jenna, the Ikati’s newly crowned queen and Morgan’s former ally, offers one last chance for redemption. Morgan must infiltrate the Rome headquarters of the Expurgari, the Ikati’s ancient enemy, to destroy them once and for all. The beautiful renegade has just a fortnight to complete her mission or forfeit her life. Because she does not travel alone…
Xander Luna is a trained assassin and the Ikati’s most feared enforcer, famed for his swift brutality and stony heart. Fiercely loyal, he is prepared to hate the traitor under his watch—until they come face to face. For Morgan Montgomery arouses something unexpected inside of him, something that threatens everything he believes in and the fate of the tribe itself: a love as powerful and passionate as it is forbidden.
A life-long lover of reading and a self-professed “book addict,” J.T. Geissinger didn’t realize her dream of writing a novel until a milestone birthday forced her to take stock of her goals in life. Always believing the right time to commit to putting pen to paper would magically announce itself, it took waking up one cold January morning with a shiny new zero as the second number in her age to kick start her determination.
More than a year and two unsold novels later, it was time to take stock again.
But her determination matched her initial procrastination, and she kept on writing and learning and trying to improve, trusting that if it was meant to be, it would be.
Then, during a trip to Italy in honor of their 10th wedding anniversary and the honeymoon she and her husband never took, she received an email that would change her life. It was from a literary agent, and it contained the three words every aspiring author longs to hear: “I loved it.”
The manuscript was sold to Montlake Romance who published it six months later. Hitting the Amazon bestseller lists in both the US and the UK within weeks of publication, Shadow’s Edge was book one of the Night Prowler Novels. Book two, Edge of Oblivion published October 2nd, and book three will follow in the spring of 2013. Three additional installations in the Night Prowler series are planned for the future.
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