Author J.E. Seymour
Welcome, J.E.! What can you tell us about STRESS FRACTURES?
This is the first novel I finished, way back in 1998. Many, many rewrites later, it’s finally out in print! This is a book about redemption, at its core. It’s about doing the right thing even when it means losing something you’ve worked for.
I noticed your main character, Kevin Markinson, is a former Vietnam sniper. Does he have an opportunity to utilize his sniper skills in STRESS FRACTURES?
Not in this book, but in LEAD POISONING he does.
What inspired you to start writing fiction, and how long have you been at it?
I love telling stories, and I love making up stories. I started writing fiction in high school, way back in the seventies! Started submitting in the early nineties. It took me a while to show it to people.
What genre do you prefer reading, and who is/are your favorite author(s) in that genre?
I read a lot of crime fiction. I love Lawrence Block and Elmore Leonard, but I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew.
Along that same line of questioning, have you ever read an author who has had a lasting and positive impact on your life?
Elmore Leonard’s rules for writing are something I keep in mind every time I write anything.
How many hours per day do you devote to writing?
I haven’t done much in the last few weeks, as I just finished editing my third novel, FROSTBITE. Normally I will try to squeeze in a few hours on the weekends.
Can you describe a typical day in the life of J.E Seymour?
Yikes. Up at 6:30. Feed and turnout dogs. Feed and turnout horses. Eat breakfast. Head off to work at the library. When I get home around 2pm, eat lunch, hit the social media for a bit, head out to the barn and muck stalls, ride, feed, bring in, etc, etc. Dinner around 8, bed around 9:30. This is why I do most of my writing on my days off!
If you could write from anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I thought that Amtrak proposal to write on a train would have been good, except I would probably end up watching the scenery and listening to the people around me instead of writing.
What are some of your interests or hobbies outside of writing?
I play Mounted Games on my Connemara pony. I’ve had horses all my life and have done lots of different things with them.
What’s next after STRESS FRACTURES?
FROSTBITE, the third in the Kevin Markinson series, is coming in March from Barking Rain Press. A bumbling gang of mobsters from Rhode Island get more than they bargained for when they kidnap an aging assassin. Kevin Markinson has no interest in killing anyone for anybody, but he decides to go along with them for the time being, while he figures out a way to work this out to his advantage.
Blurb for STRESS FRACTURES:
Mob “troubleshooter” Kevin Markinson returns in this thrilling prequel to Lead Poisoning. Kevin Markinson hasn’t been broken… yet. Serving as a Marine sniper in Vietnam didn’t make him snap. Working as a CIA assassin didn’t faze him. Doing time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit was hard, but he managed to keep his tough and cool façade in place.
But when his mob boss decides to break him out of prison, he begins to discover the cracks in his emotional armor as things go from bad to worse. Little fissures open larger stress fractures as first he is injured and then taken hostage by a gang of thugs—along with a troubled teenage boy.
With law enforcement closing in, can Markinson keep himself from falling completely apart long enough to protect the kid and avoid a return trip to prison?
Author BIO:
J.E. Seymour is the author of Lead Poisoning and Stress Fractures. She lives in a small town in seacoast New Hampshire. Her first novel, Lead Poisoning, was originally released in November 2010 and reissued in May 2014 by Barking Rain Press. Her second novel, Stress Fractures, was released in September of 2014, also by Barking Rain. Her third novel, Frostbite, is coming in March of 2015, from Barking Rain Press. Ms. Seymour has also had a number of short stories published in anthologies—Live Free or Die, Die, Die, Windchill, Deadfall, and Quarry, as well as Thriller UK magazine, and in numerous ezines including Spinetingler, Shots, Mouth Full of Bullets, Mysterical-E, A Twist of Noir, Beat to a Pulp, Yellow Mama and Shred of Evidence. The markets coordinator for the Short Mystery Fiction Society, Ms. Seymour is also a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
For more about the author, visit: http://jeseymour.com
J.E.,
Nice to hear more about you. I plan on starting at the beginning with Lead Poisoning and then reading the other two as well. By the way, I can fully relate on a novel being rewritten many, many times. – Jim
It was my pleasure, Jacqueline!
B.J.,
Thanks for interrogating–I mean interviewing me! I appreciate it.