1–What is the title of your latest release? STINGS AND STONES 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Stings and Stones is a collection of 10 stories set in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy world. The stories are told from the point of view of Gin Blanco, my assassin heroine the Spider, and several fan-favorite secondary characters like Finnegan Lane. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Most of my Elemental Assassin books are set in my fictional southern city of Ashland. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely! I would love to go to my fictional Pork Pit barbecue restaurant and have Gin cook for me. Plus, Gin could handle any villains who barge into the restaurant, as they so often do in my books. LOL. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Assassin. Elemental. Protective. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Just how much I enjoy writing stories from the secondary character’s points of view and seeing how they view Gin and all the other characters in my Elemental Assassin world. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait…
To celebrate Jennifer Estep’s new “Gargoyle Queen” book CONQUER THE KINGDOM, we here at Fresh Fiction thought it would be a fun way for readers to get to know her characters better (from her many many fab books) to play a little game we call “The Character Most Likely”. I love this because it satisfies my romance nerd self. If you’re new to her Gargoyle Queen series – It’s a mix of magic, adventure, and romance. The result often combines chaos and eroticism in a satisfying way. Jennifer is free to select her answers from any of her paranormal series. Most likely to figure out a way to use an enemy’s strength against him? ANSWER: Vesper Quill from ONLY BAD OPTIONS. Vesper is an inventor/engineer who works in the research and development lab for a large corporation, so she is always dreaming up ways to make brewmakers, blasters, and other objects better, faster, and stronger. Sooner or later, she would figure out how to turn her enemy’s strength into a weakness. Most likely to prefer using strategy or magic rather than swords or other instruments of battle? ANSWER: Reiko Yamato from CONQUER THE KINGDOM. Reiko is a spy at…
Times are stressful right now. Parents and teachers are learning how to implement distance learning, going to the grocery store feels like a live version of Pac-Man, and we’re all desperately hunting for toilet paper. Nerves are frayed as everyone fears that even the slightest cough could mean a dangerous virus has entered their home. Quarantines are the norm. Who would have thought this is what 2020 had in store for us? Now, more than ever, is time to stop, take deep breaths, and read some good books that take us all away to other places right now. Urban fantasy and fantasy are two of my favorite genres and fortunately, there are some phenomenal new books out there right now to dive into. Here are a few of my recent favorites: The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs is one of my go-to series when things seem depressing as Mercy Thompson Hauptman is one of the best kick-butt, loyal, and compassionate characters out there. SMOKE BITTEN is the latest in the series and things are definitely in a chaotic state in the Tri-Counties. Mercy’s mate and Alpha wolf, Adam Hauptman, has been emotionally distant, a rarity for a werewolf. There’s…
The truth won’t set me free—but it will probably get me killed … As Gin Blanco, aka the assassin the Spider, I’m used to having a target on my back. But ever since I started investigating the secret society known as the Circle, that target seems bigger than ever. Still, I’m trying to relax and enjoy the events leading up to my friends’ wedding when I learn that an old enemy has returned to Ashland. And that’s the just beginning of my latest nightmare. Soon, I have Circle goons watching my every move, but I have no choice but to continue searching for a key piece of evidence against the evil group. The deeper I dig, the more horrifying secrets I uncover, and the more dangerous things become for me and my friends. Just when I think I finally have a handle on things, a shocking revelation shatters my heart and leaves me with an ugly realization—that betrayal is the sharpest sting of all … Booksellers and librarians can order print books through IngramSpark. Excerpt “I didn’t think our date night would end up here.” I looked over at Owen Grayson, my significant other. “I thought you were looking forward…
Get to Know Jennifer Estep, Readers & ‘ritas 2019 Luncheon Guest of Honor Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author, prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. She is the author of the following series: THE CROWN OF SHARDS SERIES The books focus on Everleigh Blair, a member of the royal family who is distantly in line for the throne of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. But when the unthinkable happens, Evie finds herself fighting for her life—both inside and outside the gladiator arena. THE ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN SERIES The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy battling bad guys and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals—Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone. THE MYTHOS ACADEMY SPINOFF SERIES The books focus on Rory Forseti, a 17-year- old Spartan girl who attends the Colorado branch of Mythos Academy. Rory’s parents were Reapers, which makes her the most hated girl at…
Welcome back to Fresh Fiction! Can you catch us all up to speed with the Crown of Shards series and a little bit about PROTECT THE PRINCE? Thanks for hosting me. I appreciate it. 🙂 PROTECT THE PRINCE picks up a few months after the events of KILL THE QUEEN, book #1 in my Crown of Shards epic fantasy series. Everleigh “Evie” Blair might be the new gladiator queen of Bellona, but her problems are far from over, something she realizes when someone tries to assassinate her in her own throne room. Magic, political intrigue, a steady stream of assassination attempts, oh and a will they-won’t they romance… PROTECT THE PRINCE has it all! In fantasy series, I’m always impressed by the amount of worldbuilding that goes into, well, everything! Was there anything in particular that inspired the “realm” in Crown of Shards? Thanks! I appreciate that. When I was first coming up with the series, I knew that I wanted to write about gladiators, so I decided to use Roman and other mythologies for some of the place and character names. For example, Bellona, my gladiator kingdom, is named after a Roman war goddess. I thought the Roman mythology…
Jennifer Estep Summer Days Summer Nights
Senior Reviewer Debbie Wiley I don’t remember the first fantasy novel I ever read but I do remember the first one I fell in love with. JRR Tolkien’s THE HOBBIT captivated me like no other book had, taking me on a long and winding quest where creatures of legend lived and breathed. Since that long-ago time in 8th grade, I’ve soared on the backs of dragons with Anne McCaffrey, attended wizarding school with Harry Potter and JK Rowling, and gone on a quest with a talking cat with Tad Williams. Diving into other worlds is one of the biggest allures of fantasy novels. Marshall Ryan Maresca has done a marvelous job at world building, crafting four series set in the same world. THE THORN OF DENTONHILL, the first book in the Maradaine series, caught my attention initially and features a mage student at the local university who has a secret life as a crime fighter against a major crime boss. The Madalaine Constabulary series now has three books in it, including the most recent one, A PARLIAMENT OF BODIES. Not only is the Madalaine Constabulary series my favorite of the four, but A PARLIAMENT OF BODIES is my favorite book out…
Dear Readers: Magic, mayhem, and an assassin who never gives up—these things and more can be found in WINTER’S WEB, the latest novella in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. The Elemental Assassin series focuses on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy killing people and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals—Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone. In WINTER’S WEB, Gin and her friends volunteer to help out at a renaissance faire. Everyone is determined to relax and have a good time—until Gin notices something slightly off about the larger-than-life characters. Some folks might be dressed up as gallant knights, but their swords are very, very real—and so are their dark and deadly intentions toward Gin and her friends. Read an excerpt of WINTER’S WEB: https://www.jenniferestep.com/books/winters-web/ If you enjoy WINTER’S WEB, I hope that you’ll check out the other novellas and books in the series. I hope that everyone has as much fun reading Gin’s adventures as I do writing them. Happy reading! 😊 New…
Dear Readers: I started reading epic fantasy in high school, and I quickly devoured every single epic fantasy book that I could get my hands on. In fact, the very first (unpublished) book that I ever wrote back in college was an epic fantasy. That’s why I’m so thrilled to finally be writing my own epic fantasy series. KILL THE QUEEN is book #1 in my Crown of Shards series. KILL THE QUEEN focuses on Everleigh Blair, a royal who is distantly in line for the throne of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. But when the unthinkable happens, Evie finds herself fighting for her life—both inside and outside the gladiator arena. So the book is sort of like Gladiator meets Game of Thrones with a kick-butt heroine. If you are looking for a fantasy book with a strong heroine, plus lots of action, adventure, magic, and a healthy dose of romance, then you should check out KILL THE QUEEN. You can read the first chapter of KILL THE QUEEN on my website I hope that everyone enjoys getting to know Evie and all the other characters in KILL THE QUEEN. Happy reading! 🙂 New York Times bestselling author…