New interview with suspense author Jonathan Ross

I have a new interview today with suspense author Jonathan Ross. We’re chatting about Scent of Death which is due to release June 15.

Jonathan visited last summer when we chatted about The Jumbee’s Daughter.

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews.

Thanks very much Lisa; it’s good to be back.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in the Mojave Desert, St. Thomas, and Cocoa Beach. I remember the Mojave Desert because it literally began where my back yard ended and was full of fascinating stuff to check out, from horned toads to tumble weeds. The burning sand and barren distances of the desert stuck in my mind and helped set the tone for Scent of Death. After graduating from Carnegie-Mellon University, I joined the Navy, crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and lived three years in Spain. I am presently working as a naval architect designing a floating renewable energy plant for a Caribbean island. Besides writing, I love to ballroom dance, play the fiddle, and travel. My wife and I live in Arnold, MD.

Please tell us about your newest release.

In Scent of Death, James Goodwin uses his olfactory equivalent of perfect pitch to sniff out people’s emotions, from love to malice. He earns a handy living by uncovering corporate cheats, but he’s growing bored. When billionaire Garth Cotton asks him to cook up the world’s first love potion, James first smells a grand challenge, and accepts. But once on the high seas in Cotton’s mega-yacht, James smells treachery. He sniffs out secrets that land him and Cotton’s dazzling assistant, Samantha Heartgrave, on a timeline to death. To save himself and Samantha, James must exercise his gift of smell in ways he never dreamed possible.

What inspired you to write this book?

My inspiration came from a question that popped into my head one day: “What if a person could smell evil?” I expanded the question to include all emotions, and wondered what a person would do with this gift. How would they learn to connect smells with emotions when they were growing up? Would such a gift help them untangle the emotions of puberty and dating? Would they use their sense of smell to start their own business? What sort of adventures and dangers could result from having this gift?

What’s the next writing project?

My next project is a dive into the adventures and mishaps of folks on fictional St. Mark, the smallest of the US Virgin Islands. Ex-pats, descendents of pirates and slaves, and a smattering of the rich and famous live off the grid, lighting their homes with kerosene lanterns, catching rain for their drinking water, and oblivious to TV, Internet, and Wi-Fi. Charter boat captain Richard Drake finds himself at the center of island events, including unbidden visitors, unwanted developers, unwelcome storms, and unintended consequences. His blue-eyed, tanned charm is tempered with courage forged as a combat Marine, and he reminds many of his island friends of that English pirate, John Coxon, who founded the little colony after a profitable career plundering the Spanish Maine. This will be a series, and I am now writing the first book, Paradise and the New Girl.

What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book? (or the biggest challenge with this book)

My biggest challenge is always to find time for research, writing, and rewriting. I would like to dedicate each morning to writing. Sometimes I can do that, but there are so many obligations, like deadlines in my job as a naval architect.

If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?

All of my novels require detailed research, starting from the beginning when I only have the initial idea, and continuing as my thoughts come together into the narrative. Thank goodness for the Internet, where I can find almost anything I need if I can just come up with the right key words. Besides the Internet, I order books on specialty subjects, such as How to Build a Virgin Islands Sloop (Geoffrey Brooks) for my upcoming novel, Paradise and the New Girl.

What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.

I am lucky because I have a wonderful home office with an ergonomic chair, a wide-screen computer, decorative pictures on the walls, and lots of files and shelves for storage. It’s spacious, yet feels homey and cozy, so even though it’s where I do my naval architecture work, it’s also perfect for being creative and writing.

What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?

My favorite author these days is Bernard Cornwell, who wrote the Richard Sharpe series. I love his tales of military adventure in the early 1800s. Cornwell has a great eye for the sweep and the detail of battle. He has a gift for making the past come alive, whether it’s about the hardship of the soldier in the field, or the terror of hand-to-hand fighting with sword and bayonet. I also love reading Western novels by Louis L’Amour, and again much of the draw is the detail he weaves into his stories about how people lived in the American West.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?

Yes: remember to have fun when you read and write; enjoy the journey.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Amazon

Thank you for coming back to Reviews and Interviews!

Thank you so much, Lisa!

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Interview with thriller author Jonathan Ross

Today’s special guest is mystery author Jonathan Ross. He’s chatting with me about his new thriller/suspense novel, The Jumbee’s Daughter.

Welcome, Jonathan. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in St. Thomas US Virgin Islands, the Mojave Desert California, and Cocoa Beach Florida. I remember adventurous summers in St. Thomas, exploring the wild bays and mountains of my stepfather's estate, which became the setting of The Jumbee’s Daughter. I served in the Navy and am now a practicing naval architect living with my wife in Maryland. I have brewed Guinness stout in Dublin, crossed the Pacific in a World War II submarine, danced Sevillanas in Spain, ate with chopsticks in Taiwan, and explored a prehistoric cave in France. I speak fluent Spanish and enough French to order a nice meal and find directions.

Please tell us about your current release.

Viewpoint character Anika Hegner comes from a long line of Danish colonists on the island St. Thomas. She is pure Dane, except for a drop of Jumbee blood, straight from the Dark Continent. Since childhood, she has delighted in shape shifting to a black cat and scaring the unwary. She’s a young woman now and often seeks the peacefulness of her family’s abandoned estate on the wild south side of the island. But her peace is shattered when she finds a taciturn Army veteran trespassing. He claims to be working for the police to trap drug smugglers, but she is not so sure. Back in town she meets a handsome Latino who is a dream to dance with during the tropical evenings. He says he has come to the island to open a new business, though is vague about his line of work. She discovers that both men are engaged in a deadly contest, winner take all. Scary things begin to happen on the estate, especially at night. A final confrontation is days away. Anika chooses to help one man succeed. She prays that she has chosen well, for the decision is one of life or death – his and hers.

What inspired you to write this book?

I have always wanted to have St. Thomas as the setting for one of my novels. I got the chance when I had a vision of a lonely black cat sitting on the runway at the St. Thomas airport, viewing all the passengers leaving a plane that had just landed. In the story this turned out to be Anika.  

Excerpt from The Jumbee’s Daughter:

Mike Stiles shook hands with his best friend on the planet. They stood inside a stifling room in the St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, airport, piled high with boxes, some wooden and some cardboard, all marked “urgent.” A single light burned in a ceiling socket. Stiles swatted a mosquito.

Walters gave him a once over and seemed to draw his own conclusions. It had been nearly a year since they’d served together in Afghanistan, where they’d lost the third man of their trio to an enemy sniper. Walters looked Stiles in the eye.

“Thanks for coming down; like I said on the phone, I really need you.”

Stiles shifted his weight, uncomfortable at the compliment. “Well, it seems I’m having trouble fitting into civilian life. I figured helping you out would be good therapy.”

Walters gave Stiles another look and said, “Most people have trouble when the return home. The truth is, combat fucks with your head, no matter how tough you are. Happened to me, happened to most people I keep in touch with. But we gotta move on. It gets better if you try; if you don’t try, it eats your lunch.”

“Roger that. Can’t just sit around looking at the wall like a fucking Zombie.”

“It’s ‘Jumbee’ down here, Mike.”

“What?”

“On the island they’re called ‘Jumbees.’ They’re spirits of the dead and they are mean motherfuckers. All the islanders believe in them. The folks here even shut their windows at night to keep the Jumbees out. I used to work here before I joined the Army, and the guys I met told me stories. I’m starting to believe there’s some truth to all of it. Anyway, you’ve got to treat Jumbees with respect when you talk with the locals.”

“Always trust the locals.”

“Except in the sandbox.”

“Hoo-ah.”

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m writing Scent, a thriller/suspense novel in which the viewpoint character, James Goodwin, uses his olfactory equivalent of perfect pitch to sniff out people’s emotions, from love to malice. He earns a handy living by uncovering corporate cheats, but he’s growing bored. When billionaire Garth Cotton asks him to cook up the world’s first love potion, James smells a grand challenge, and accepts. But once on the high seas in Cotton’s mega-yacht, James smells treachery. He sniffs out secrets that land him and Cotton’s dazzling assistant, Samantha Heartgrave, on a timeline to death. To save himself and Samantha, James must exercise his gift of smell in ways he never dreamed possible.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

When I was in the fifth grade, the class was too noisy and our teacher threatened to make us all write a paragraph that described how to button our shirt with one hand. I thought this would be wonderfully fun, and from then on realized I had a passion for writing.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I obey the first rule of aspiring writers: “don’t quit your day job.” I find time to write by promising myself a dozen or so hours each week, and then simply putting off all other work, hobbies, and chores during that special time. I write creatively in the morning when I’m fresh and do my research in the afternoon. Other than writing, I spend my time on my day job, learning ballroom dancing, and fiddling.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

My writing quirk is how I come up with story ideas, which is always a vision that pops into my mind: a submarine covered with jungle vines for Death in a Carolina Swamp, a man who can smell evil in Scent, and a lonely black cat who is also a beautiful woman in The Jumbee’s Daughter.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to design miniature submarines to explore the ocean. So in a way I got my wish, because I served in a submarine and bathyscaphe, and now I get to design ships.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Yes, for other aspiring writers: write because you love to, and treasure your readers.

Links:

Website | Facebook