Rose Montague is an author I met last fall at an online group party when all the Pandamoon Publishing authors were announced. Although she is under contract with another publisher many of my fellow Pandas adopted her as a kindred spirit. Her urban fantasy novel, Jade, debuted late last fall and I posted a review for a few weeks later.

Rose says her goal in writing Jade was to have fun writing a book that is fun to read. It is all of that, exciting, action-packed with a lot of humor and mystery. There are many surprises and just a little bit of romance. In Jade, the title character is a mutt in the supernatural world, a mixture of various supernatural creatures with various abilities. How she became that way is part of the mystery and a lot of the fun.

Jade is part of a series that will continue with two of the other main characters from the book, Jane and Jill. The target date for publication of Jane is late summer 2014.

“I have been very pleased with the reviews of Jade and the book has been enjoyed by both fans of the urban fantasy genre as well as readers of fiction that enjoy a fast paced, fun read. Jade is suitable for older teens and adults and I would rate it PG-13.”

I asked Rose for an interview and she graciously consented.

EW: Imagine for a moment that you’re a famous, bestselling author. They’re making a movie out of your last book. What do you do next to top that you’re already achieved?

RM: I imagine this all the time. Honestly, Jade and my WIP, Jane would both make terrific movies. It has everything that makes a movie successful. Tons of action, humor, mystery, and just a touch of romance all combine to make this a blockbuster. Let's not stop with just one movie. I want three and while we are making it, let's do this thing where we make the last one in two parts making people squirm in anticipation for that last movie. And 3-D, got to have it. Maybe one of these days.

EW: How much research do you do before starting a novel? Does the research help develop the plot or do you use it to all background details?

RM: Most research I do involves the settings in my story. I like to be as accurate as possible about this type of thing as it involves readers that are familiar with the areas involved. I have had a lot of help from some of my friends, specifically in Guildford, UK and Germany on two of the settings I have used so far in my first two books.

EW: Let’s talk about when you were a kid. In school were you a troublemaker, an instigator or the teacher’s pet? Explain.

RM: And all three. I enjoyed learning about things that I was interested in from teachers that were interested in the students and that enjoyed teaching. For teachers that were going through the motions, that is what I did as well. For teachers that made the subject exciting and were excited about it as well, those I learned from and participated in. For these I was probably the teacher's pet. For those that obviously hated teaching kids, I was rebellious, inattentive, and did not complete my work assignments on a regular basis. For this reason my grades tended to be great in some classes and not so much in others.

EW: Every writer has that one story that clicked, inspiring him or her to pursue writing as a career. What was the story and what was there about it that made it influential?

RM: For me this was the case with the Ilona Andrews writing team. They had a free installment series going on at the time on their website called Clean Sweep. (They are now on the second book in this free series if you want to check it out). They were doing this in installments, writing about 1,000 words at a time and I was going crazy waiting on the next installment. It was just a fun story and that is what I wanted with mine. I used this as a model for my writing and got some of my Facebook friends to read my installments as I completed them. Their fun and encouragement was contagious and I was convinced I could do it. It was really nice when they started begging for the next installment. Got to love that.

EW: Where do you see yourself at this moment in your life had you never decided to write a book?

RM: Writing a book and having it published was a lifelong dream come true for me. It was a void in my life that never went away and it would go several decades before that dream was realized. I can tell you how happy I was when a publisher accepted my book and what it felt like to actually hold that book in my hands. That is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I can't imagine my life now without this part of it.

I'd like to thank Rose for spending some time with us today and let you know that you can visit Rose Montague online and become a friend, follower and fan as I have at:

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000712227923

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/RoseMontague

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7393094.Rose_Montague

And this is where you can find Rose's debut novel Jade:

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Jade-Rose-Montague-ebook/dp/B00GKRO8SM

Eternal Press:

http://eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781629290911

Booksamillion:

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Jade/Rose-Montague/Q593188343?id=5956566966194

B&N:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jade-rose-montague/1117563646?ean=9781629290928

Jackson Paul Baer, Author of Literary Suspense and Father

Jackson Paul Baer is an author of literary suspense whose most recent release, The Earth Bleeds Red launched late last October from Pandamoon publishing and is available in both eBook and paperback from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online book sites. Originally from Woodstock, Ga (north of Atlanta) he’s a huge Braves and Georgia Tech fan. However, he lived in Oregon for the over five years and only recently moved back to North Georgia. Over the past twelve years he had been all over the country. He loves the Trailblazers as well as Oregon State, where he will soon graduate with a B.A. in English in June 2014. He has been married for eleven years and has four beautiful children, ages 4-9.

He graduated from a Bible college in 2003; that’s where he met his wife. He spent seven years as a youth & teaching pastor, but has not been a pastor for the past three years now. “I’m not very religious though you will find spiritual themes within my writing due to it being such a large part of the majority of my life. My characters, much like myself, struggle with faith, doubt, and love as a part of their everyday lives.” The Earth Bleeds Red is by no means a Christian novel, however, with language you’d find in real life, as well as situations not suited for a church service.

Jackson’s favorite author is Joyce Carol Oates and he also loves Junot Diaz and Sherman Alexie, among many others. “Their novels have influenced me the most and I’d like to think my writing style resembles their amazing books. Them by Joyce Carol Oates is the best book I’ve ever read. If you’ve never read it, stop what you’re doing right now and read it. Seriously, do it now.”

Jackson’s latest book is The Earth Bleeds Red:

Scott Miller has everything he’s ever hoped for. He has a successful marriage to Jessie, a stunningly beautiful, creative woman. His seventeen-year-old daughter, Ashley, is both gorgeous and intelligent, and has just been accepted to the University of Notre Dame, where Scott received his PhD. He has a comforting home in the woods, and a fulfilling career as a college professor at Oregon State University in Corvallis. He’s blissful, and at peace, until it all comes shattering down.

Ashley is kidnapped. The scene of the abduction is horrific and bloody, and the police are convinced she couldn’t have survived. They accuse her boyfriend, Brandon, of Ashley’s murder. He declares his innocence, and claims that a masked man who entered his house and overwhelmed them both took Ashley. No one believes Brandon.

Then the bodies of three other missing girls are discovered, all bearing the mark of a known serial killer the FBI has been hunting for years. Evidence mounts. As Special Agent James Duncan tracks the Hail Mary Killer, Scott and Jessie try to move on with their lives. But they can’t shake the feeling that Ashley may still be alive, and that the time for saving their only daughter is quickly running out.

In the best tradition of literature and suspense, Jackson Paul Baer has weaved a heartfelt tale of one family’s struggle to survive after a despicable evil wrenches them apart.

Jackson is current working on a literary psychological thriller titled The Lights Will Never Fade.

He gave me the chance to ask a few questions and learn more about his fascinating life and his writing:

Q: How much research do you do before starting a novel? Does the research help develop the plot or do you use it for all background details?

A: I researched a lot for The Earth Bleeds Red. I went and took pictures in the city of Corvallis, or that I pictured as I was writing the book. I wanted my writing to accurately reflect the city. I also had to do a good deal of research with regards to police procedure, crime scenes, what happens to a person after death etc… With my write-in-progress, I emailed people who live in the town I set the book in to verify the types of trees, flowers, close rivers, and other things like that.

Q: Creative people tend to be spontaneous. In particular, most people think that writers are at least a little crazy. Tell us the most unusual thing you have done in your real life that doesn’t directly relate to writing.

A: I’m a fairly spontaneous person. I travel a lot, playing cards, and have been known to take a road trip on a whim. I don’t do this as much anymore as I’ve gotten older and my kids have gotten bigger, but I’ve driven ten hours before, only an hour or so after deciding to go.

Q: Every writer has that one story that clicked, inspiring him or her to pursue writing as a career. What was the story and what was there about it that made it influential?

A: The story line in “Them,” by Joyce Carol Oates has to be one of the biggest influences on me as a writer. The characters were so flawed and imperfect. I actually heard her speak at Oregon State and after that, I went out and bought that novel. I read it and fell in love with her writing.

Q: Creativity comes in many ways – for example, painting, photography, sculpture, music and theater. What other things do you do or have you done that are examples of using your imagination or other artistic talents?

A: I’ve actually written a handful of songs and even recorded four or five of them several years back. It was more for fun than trying to make a career out of it, but I do enjoy music. I play guitar and bass and songwriting is really where I got my start in writing.

Q: When writing I’m sure you hit snags where characters aren’t behaving or the plot just isn’t working. When that happens to me I play video solitaire. What do you do?

A: I usually take a break and read. I think that any good writer is an avid reader, as time allows. With work, school, and a family, my time for reading has been limited. I am almost done with school and will be able to devote regular time to reading and writing again. I miss them dearly.

Q: There is usually someone in a writer’s past that is to credit or to blame. In your life, who was that, when and what happened?

A: I had a professor at Oregon State who spoke to me. He was real and down to earth. To be honest, it started at the community college I went to prior, but this professor’s class was the first actual writing class that I took. I began to write short stories for the class and realized how much I loved creating this world that wouldn’t otherwise exist.

Check out Jackson Paul Baer online at:

http://jacksonpaulbaer.com

www.facebook.com/JacksonPaulBaer

https://twitter.com/JacksonPaulBaer

And Jackson's Previous writing:

Review of Winter Soldier

Last evening my son invited me to see a movie. It's been a while since I went to a cinema. I think the last time was also with my son to see Man Of Steel. It's been so long I don't recall. I've been working on other projects and really can't afford it anymore. So, it was a rare treat.

The previews of coming attractions are at least as interesting as the feature. Isn't it funny how the importance of the trailers have evolved over the years. Maybe you don't notice it as much if you go to the movies frequently. But someone like me who goes infrequently picks up on things that have changed. What impresses me most is how many movies are in production with dark, supernatural themes. Even the comedies tend toward the darker side of humor. Culturally that is intriguing, I suppose. Not quire what I make of it, though.

The latest addition to Marvel Entertainment's ere expanding and complicated universe is another backstory for one of the Avengers. We've had follow up stories on Thor and Ironman. It's Captain America's time to shine. This movie has a different theme, though. It questions a lot of things about its own fabricated reality and in the process it makes the audience, at least those who are paying any attention, to question what's going on in the world around us - trading freedom for security. It was handled in a not so in your face way, but one that provoked thought without preaching. And it leaves the audience to dwell on the matter, not really resolving it.

There is a flavor of realism brought into the fantasy as from the outset we see a more human and relatable side of the superhero. In the previous story lines involving Captain America we saw his origins and how out of place he felt in the craziness of the modern world that evolved since his time fighting the Nazi's. But the clandestine Hydra that was the more sinister side of an evil Fascist power appears to have changed its approach and has somehow survived.

A Shield ship has been captured and the terrorist pirates have taken hostages. Captain and The Black Widow lead a team to rescue the hostages. Yet, there is another, more covert mission within the mission, one that is on a need to know basis and Captain America doesn't need to know - yet. There are all the necessary twists and turns, as at first we don't know what has been going on in the background and as it is revealed the trusted friends come together and fight to save the world against past enemies and at least one friend.

Marvel does a good job keeping a thread of continuity going between its various movies and The Winter Soldier extends the franchise, laying the foundation for Avengers 2 due to release around this time next year. In a way, this too is realistic. You see, one of the more subtle messages in the plot line is that wars never truly end and the causes for which many young people fight and sacrifice life and limb are never truly resolved.

The action is exactly what we have come to expect with the suspense played out against a seemingly impossible mission with a deadline. Think of the threat as a combination of NSA linked to killer drones on steroids. How can anyone succeed against something like that? Go see for yourself.

Entertaining movie well worth seeing, especially if you're a fan of the Marvel universe. I'm not sure I'd give it a 5 star rating but as stories go this one was a vast improvement over the first Captain America movie. I'd give it 3.75 stars, overall.

What is Impossible Anymore?

I recall that when I was a little guy my Mom had a whole lot of sayings that were largely rooted in her childhood. Some were about impossibilities and skepticism. One expressed the absurdity of men being on the moon. And then, the summer I was thirteen years old, she had to stop using that one.

Today is my mother's birthday. She'd have been 97 today. A lot of things changed in her lifetime, and a lot more since. I'm not sure things are better or worse - or even if I'd call it progress. It occurs to me that everything is according to balance, taking some bad with some good as we advance through time if not in the acquisition of wisdom. What I came to realize on July 20, 1969, was that what's impossible in the here and now may not always be so in the future. A lot of that has to do with setting goals and being determined to achieve them.

I'm pretty sure John F. Kennedy knew that. When he set the ambitious national goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely he had to know it was possible. He had expert advisors after all. Was it a stretch? Certainly it was. No one had ever done anything like it before. In theory it was possible. Working out the details was an expensive undertaking that pushed technology further in the span of one decade than ever before. Any number of things that are common place in our daily lives today came from those advancements - non-stick cooking surfaces, dehydrated foods and the microprocessor come immediately to mind.

Kennedy would be 97 on his birthday this year as well. I recall he and my mother shared the same birth year. They were certainly born under different circumstances, worlds apart in a way, and yet the America they shared was a land of lofty ambitions, golden opportunities and a bunch of innovative dreamers.

I guess I'm thinking about all this because I decided to watch a movie yesterday called Gravity. In case you lived under the same rock I have been for the past few months and missed it. it won a lot of awards for it cinematic achievement. It's about a disaster in orbit. It has a lot of the undercurrent themes about technology pushing the boundaries of reason, humans at the edge of their ability to cope and mankind's penchant to self-destruct.

There is an accident in space. Apparently a spy satelite malfunctioned and a missile was sent to destroy it. But in space things like that can produce a pinball reaction on a cosmic scale. The debris started taking out other satellites, knocking out communications with the world and also destroying the means of returning home...and everyone else aboard a shuttle except for two astronauts.

What impressed me the most about the movie was how realistic things looked. It was easy to escape reality and feel immersed in the situation, sharing the struggle with Sandra Bullock. Afterward I wondered what can be imagined that somehow we can't create at least in a movie if not in real life?

With the advent of the personal computer, which came from the investment in the technology to put men on the moon in the 1960's, and the Internet, which came from the need for a communications network that could survive a nuclear war, we now have the ability to publish and distribute the products of our imaginations in ways no one would have believed possible only twenty or so years ago. If you can dream it and express it, then why can't be become a reality - at least on the real or virtual pages of a book?

Billions of people produce millions of artists inspired to capture and express their visions, sharing them with the rest of the world. Any of the billions who might care to see, hear, feel the dreams of those of us inspired to create, has instant access to art in its various forms. What a wonderful time to be alive as an artist. And yet, each of us still struggles as artists apparently must in order to sense and respond to what it is about the universe that makes us different.