Elysian
Fields
Sentinels of New Orleans Series
Book Three
Suzanne Johnson
Welcome
to IAB. I'm so glad you could stop in today to chat. May I offer you
a beverage?
I’ll
have a Magic Margarita, please!
Now
that we are settled in, let's get to know you better.
BK:
Looking out the nearest window, describe the scene you see.
I
see the big curve in the Mississippi River as it winds past the
French Quarter in New Orleans, and a big freighter docked on the
other side.
BK:
Tell us about your office. Is it a mess like mine, or is everything
in its place?
OMG.
It’s a disaster. I have a little pig trail through the piles of
books, papers, art supplies, books, clothes, and books. The worse my
deadlines get, the worse my housekeeping. Which isn’t great to
begin with.
BK:
What is a must-have, such as coffee or a favorite pen, that you need
to write?
I
need Diet Coke in a bottle, not a can, and (weird, I know), I don’t
really want it chilled. Room temperature holds its carbonation
better. I pretend I’m being European, but it’s really because it
stays carbonated longer.
BK:
Do you like to write in silence, or do you need music or background
noise?
If
I’m revising or copyediting, I like music, but I can’t write to
music. If I’m writing, the music’s off. I just don’t hear
background noise. I guess it’s from learning to work at a newspaper
and write in a newsroom—I can completely block out noises and
voices (but not music).
BK:
Tell us a bit about your hero/heroine, and their development.
When
the series begins (in Royal Street), the heroine, DJ, has led a
pretty sheltered life. She’s a Green Congress wizard (ritual
magic), but she received her magical training from her mentor so she
hasn’t had a lot of real-world experience. She did go to a regular
human university (humans don’t know about the other species) so she
could learn to mainstream. When Hurricane Katrina hits and New
Orleans’ levees fail, she loses most of the people and things she’s
used to define herself and her place in the world, so she has to grow
up fast. As the series has progressed (through book two, River Road,
and book three, Elysian Fields) she’s come to know herself better,
to trust her instincts more, and to assert her powers more. That
progression will continue as the series goes on.
BK:
As a writer myself, I'm always curious how other writers get through
stumbling blocks. When you find a story not flowing, or a character
trying to fight you, how do you correct it?
I
go old-school. I shut down the computer, go off in a quiet corner
with a notebook and a pen, and I start sketching out my character’s
pros and cons, his flaws and his strengths. I try out different
scenarios for the scene that’s giving me trouble and see what works
best. Usually, if a character is giving me fits it’s because I
haven’t gotten him or her fully developed in my mind or I’m
trying to force a scene that isn’t consistent with their
personalities. As soon as I’ve given it some serious thought, I go
back and force myself to write the scene. I won’t let it fester
long. Even if what I write is crappy and I know I’m going to go
back and change it, I get it on paper. That keeps a stumbling block
from becoming a writing block.
BK:
Using the letters of your first name as an acronym, describe your
book...
Hahaha.
Crap, I would have a name with a freaking Z in it. Can I change my
name to Pam? No? Okay, I’ll just cheat.
Sexy
pirates
Urban
fantasy
Zaftig
serial killer
Axe
murderer
Nonstop
Action
Necromancy
Eek!
Elves!
BK:
How did your writing journey begin?
With
Hurricane Katrina. I was living in New Orleans at the time of the
storm and went back for a couple of years of rebuilding before moving
away for family reasons. I found myself in a small town where I
didn’t know anyone, was horribly homesick for New Orleans, still
had some residual PTSD from the storm, and decided to try working it
off by writing a book, which became Royal Street. There’s a line
toward the end of the book that says something like: “Katrina took,
and she gave.” I lost a lot but wouldn’t trade my “new”
career writing fiction for anything.
BK:
Using the letters from the word, Summer, how would friends and family
describe you?
Suzanne
understands methodically measuring every ramification….I think that
means I’m pretty intense and obsessive about my work, but I’m not
sure.
BK:
What is the craziest thing you've ever written about, whether it got
published or not?
I’ve
written some wacky flash fiction shorts in the Sentinels series
world. Craziest….Probably the story of the undead pirate Jean
Lafitte in a supermarket looking for cat food (he thinks the cat is
the food so he goes to the butcher department).
BK:
Tell us one thing you've done in life, that readers would be most
surprised to know.
I
break out in hives when I’m stressed—this only began two or three
years ago. I have them now because I have a ridiculously tight
deadline coming up.
BK:
What can we expect from you in the future?
Writing
as Susannah Sandlin, the fourth book in my Penton Legacy, comes out
on June 10. The fourth Sentinels book, Pirate’s Alley, is in the
revision process and will come out next spring. I hope to have a
collection of shorts in the Sentinels world this fall.
This
or That...
Coke
or Pepsi? Coke
Night
Owl or Early Bird? Early
bird (who’s only able to find writing time late at night, making me
an early-bird-but-reluctant-night-owl).
Fantasy
or Mystery? Fantasy
Pen/Paper
or Computer? Computer
Pizza
or Burger? Burger
Rock
or Country? Both
Chocolate
or Vanilla? Vanilla
Beach
or Mountains? Mountains
Thank
you so much for having us as one of your stops today. It has been
great getting to know more about you and your book, and hope you will
come back when the next release is out (*hinthint*)
Thanks
for having me here today!
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
Date of Publication: August 13, 2013
ISBN: 978-0765333193
ASIN: B00CQY7TOI
Number of pages: 352
Word Count: approx. 102,000
Cover Artist: Cliff Nielsen
Book Trailer:
http://youtu.be/2NskZi9B0gU
Book Description:
The mer feud has been
settled, but life in South Louisiana still has more twists and turns
than the muddy Mississippi. New Orleanians are under attack from a
copycat killer mimicking the crimes of a 1918 serial murderer known
as the Axeman of New Orleans.
Thanks to a tip from the
undead pirate Jean Lafitte, DJ Jaco knows the attacks aren't
random--an unknown necromancer has resurrected the original Axeman of
New Orleans, and his ultimate target is a certain blonde wizard.
Namely, DJ. Fighting off
an undead serial killer as troubles pile up around her isn't easy.
Jake Warin's loup-garou nature is spiraling downward, enigmatic
neighbor Quince Randolph is acting weirder than ever, the Elders are
insisting on lessons in elven magic from the world's most annoying
wizard, and former partner Alex
Warin just turned up on
DJ's to-do list. Not to mention big maneuvers are afoot in the halls
of preternatural power.
Suddenly, moving to the
Beyond as Jean Lafitte's pirate wench? It could be DJ's best option.
River
Road
Sentinels of New
Orleans
Book Two
Suzanne Johnson
Suzanne Johnson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 978-0765327802
ASIN: B00842H5VI
Number of pages: 336
Word Count: approx. 92,000
Cover Artist: Cliff
Nielsen
Book Description:
Hurricane Katrina is long
gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New Orleans. New
species from the Beyond moved into Louisiana after the hurricane
destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to wizard sentinel
Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the preternaturals
peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is brewing between two
clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish, and down in the
swamp, DJ learns, there’s more stirring than angry mermen and the
threat of a were-gator.
Wizards are dying, and
something—or someone—from the Beyond is poisoning the waters of
the mighty Mississippi, threatening the humans who live and work
along the river. DJ and Alex must figure out what unearthly source is
contaminating the water and who—or what—is killing the wizards.
Is it a malcontented merman, the naughty nymph, or some other critter
altogether? After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate Jean Lafitte,
knows his way around a body or two.
It’s anything but smooth
sailing on the bayou as the Sentinels of New Orleans series
continues.
Royal
Street
Sentinels of New
Orleans
Book One
Suzanne Johnson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 978-0765327796
ASIN: B006OM459U
Number of pages: 337
Word Count: approx. 94,000
Cover Artist: Cliff
Nielsen
Book Description:
As the junior wizard
sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco's job involves a lot more
potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad
guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss and
mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the
city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the
preternatural beyond.
Then Hurricane Katrina
hammers New Orleans' fragile levees, unleashing more than just
dangerous flood waters. While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain
surged, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld
crumbled. Now the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy,
and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering soldiers sent to
help the city recover.
To make it worse, Gerald
St. Simon has gone missing, the wizards' Elders have assigned a
grenade-toting assassin as DJ's new partner, and undead pirate Jean
Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and
the killer turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty
requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty
mixed with love creates one bitter roux.
About
the Author:
On
Aug. 28, 2005, Suzanne Johnson loaded two dogs, a cat, a friend, and
her mom into a car and fled New Orleans in the hours before Hurricane
Katrina made landfall.
Four
years later, she began weaving her experiences and love for her city
into the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series, beginning
with Royal
Street
(2012), continuing with River
Road
(2012), and now with Elysian
Fields
(August 2013).
She
grew up in rural Alabama, halfway between the Bear Bryant Museum and
Elvis’ birthplace, and lived in New Orleans for fifteen years—which
means she has a highly refined sense of the absurd and an ingrained
love of SEC football and fried gator on a stick.
As
Susannah
Sandlin,
she writes the best-selling Penton Vampire Legacy paranormal romance
series and the recent standalone, Storm
Force.
Giveaway
1 $25 GC to Amazon or
equivalent to Book Depository
2 $10 GC
2 Signed books and swag
packs
