We
are very happy to welcome SE Jakes to the Smoocher’s Voice blog today. SE
recently published the first novel in a new series, Havoc. Running Wild is available at Riptide Publishing.
***
Thanks so much
to Smoocher’s Voice for hosting me on the tour for Running
Wild: Havoc Book 1. This is the start of a brand new series, with
different heroes for each book and HEAs at the end of each book. Sean Rush and Ryker stole my heart a long
time ago, and I’m excited for you guys to meet all of them.
Jodi: Thank you, SE, for taking the time to answer
some questions for our readers. Tell us a little about yourself and how you
decided to write in the romance genre.
SE: Thanks so much
for having me here! I’ve always written,
but it wasn’t until my daughter was born with some serious medical issues that
I turned to romance—reading and writing it.
I wanted the HEA, and from there, I haven’t looked back. I had to leave my teaching job to stay home
with my daughter, and so this was a wonderful way to be with her and still be
working. I like staying home and being
inside my head—I know for people who don’t write, they think it’s odd that
writers are pretty much hermits a lot of the time. But if there’s too much noise, I can’t do my
job. And I love my job.
Jodi: You write both f/m and m/m romance books. Do
you have a preference?
SE: For
me it’s all about the characters, so there’s no preference per se, but I’m
thrilled that I’m able to give my gay and bi characters their own books rather
than simply making them subplots. I’ve
always written m/f and m/m storylines (sometimes within the same book, like in
the Sydney Croft series)…but I have to say, I’m seeing so many more cross-over
readers from both the m/f and m/m world and the m/m community has been really
fabulous to me.
Jodi: Is it difficult to incorporate romance into
the high-driven action in your plots?
SE: No
– in fact, it’s the opposite. Danger and
closeness go hand-in-hand. The higher
the level of danger, the closer people become in a short period of
time—battle-buddies, as you will. They
know how fragile life is, and when they do feel something, they’ll act on
it. However, they do pull back when it
comes to love, because feeling things and their kinds of job don’t always go
hand in hand. That’s the push/pull for
all these guys.
Jodi: Running
Wild is the first book in a new series. What was your inspiration for this
series?
SE: I’ve
actually had the opening chapters for this book written since 2003 or so. I just wasn’t ready (or should I say, Sean
Rush wasn’t ready) for me to know everything.
When that happens, I put the book away and wait until the characters get
loud again. When I started writing MC
m/f romances, Sean was like, ‘hey, what about me?!’
Jodi: What is your inspiration for Sean and Ryker?
Tell us a little about these two men.
SE: Like I said,
those characters presented themselves to me.
I don’t tend to take inspiration from real life people, because their
background isn’t Sean or Ryker’s background.
So once Sean started opening up to me, I realized how amazing these two
men are.
Jodi: The men in your books tend to be adrenaline
junkies who live, work and play hard. And, yet there is always some element of
vulnerability to them. Are your characters inspired by real-life elements or
are they complete fiction?
SE: My
characters come to me, fully formed.
Complete, named, dragging their baggage behind them. Sometimes, they don’t always tell me right
away about all their baggage. But for
whatever reason, my heroes are all lost boys of sort, abused, having been
through foster care or abandoned and untrusting—gay, bi, straight—tend to find
me. And I think the fact that they need
that adrenaline rush is about them taking control of their lives.
Jodi: What is your inspiration to focus on
military and law enforcement-type characters?
SE: I think part of
it is from my grandfather (and various other men) in my family who served. I seem to be surrounded by military people in
my life (my daughter’s nurse, for example, is a former Army nurse)…so I think the
genre and I found each other.
Jodi: What was your inspiration for the Extreme
Escapes Limited Universe?
SE: You
know, that whole Universe started in both
Free
Falling and Bound
For Keeps (which is both a Men of Honor and EE Ltd. Book)…they all worked
for EE Ltd and Prophet kept showing up, and I realized that, even though
Prophet & Tommy would be up first with an entire series, there were a lot
of other characters bucking for their stories to be told (like more Blue and
Mick, Doc, Cillian and Mal, etc)
Jodi: The men in the EE Ltd. Universe are all
wonderful characters. Why did you choose to expand the characters of Tommy and
Prophet for the Hell or High Water series?
SE: I
didn’t choose –Prophet did. That man
threatened to show up in every single book I wrote, whether he needed to be
there or not, until I wrote his story.
And I realized pretty quickly that there was no way in hell I’d be able
to fit his story into a single book. So
he’s a pretty special case for me (and Tommy too) because this is the first
series I’ve done with the same characters over many books.
Jodi: Do you have more books planned for the Men
of Honor series? Will the spinoff series, Phoenix Inc., revisit the characters
from the Men of Honor series?
SE: I
have definitely plans to continue the MOH series. And Phoenix Inc is the name of the PI Agency
that Styx / Law / Paolo (from BBH / BBL) opened, and so yes, they’ll play a
part in the books in this series, along with new heroes who have their HEA at
the end of each book.
Jodi: Is it difficult to develop the multiple
sides of the men in your books: the killer vs the lover?
SE: That’s
a great question—I never really thought about it like that, since I really just
write what they show me. I have to trust
that they will let you see all their sides, and that their good sides outweigh
the bad.
Jodi: The issue of dominance plays an important
role in your books, especially with Tommy and Prophet. Will we see that
struggle in the Havoc series?
SE: A
bit, yes, but a different kind of dominance.
In Havoc, there’s an older / younger dynamic happening. The MC guys that have introduced themselves
to me so far are all pretty self-assured and in a good place. And their significant others aren’t. So it’s definitely a bit of a taming that
needs to happen—which is different in my mind then one character trying to
change another.
Jodi: There is a lot of action and violence in the
Hell or High Water and Dirty Deeds series? Do you feel these are important plot
elements in your books?
SE: Definitely. I mean, I follow the characters on their
journey—they lead me and so most of the time, I feel like a scribe, scrambling
to keep up with them. But violence is a
big part of their lives, as does action.
It’s hard for them to sit around and not take action. Any kind of action.
Jodi: I am a big fan of your writing and love your
books and characters, but I am especially fond of Prophet and Cillian. Do you
have favorite characters or books?
SE: YAY! Thanks for saying that (I’m thrilled!) and
yeah, I’ve got some favorites, mainly because I feel like they’re actually my
muses. I hear them all the time and I
feel like, through them or because of them, I meet a lot of other characters
who might not come forward otherwise. So
it’s definitely Prophet. And Blue. And Jake, a Stephanie Tyler character. But I couldn’t write a character I didn’t
love, so they’re all pretty close to the top.
Jodi: What is your next project?
SE: I’m working on Not Fade Away, which is a (very) short
look into the Hell or High Water universe (August 2014) and If I Ever (H/H 4)…and also a novella for the Bluewater Bay series, a multi-authored project for Riptide.
***
FYI, I’m also
writing a m/f MC series under the Steph Tyler name—the first book of that
series, Vipers Run is out now as
well. And there’s a very light crossover
in that you’ll see names of MCs that are main characters in my Vipers
series—namely Vipers MC, along with the Heathens. Havoc’s friendly with Vipers, not so much
with Heathens (they seem to be everyone’s enemy at the
***
RUNNING
WILD: Havoc Book 1
Embrace the
danger…
Sean Rush is
an adrenaline junkie. That’s why he was in the Army, why he steals and races
classic muscle cars . . . and why he can’t stay away from bad boy Ryker, a
Havoc Motorcycle Club lieutenant. Fortunately, Ryker can’t seem to stay away
from Sean—he’s spent the last eight months breaking into Sean’s apartment and
stealing into his bed, leaving Sean physically satisfied but increasingly
restless.
Sean has
always avoided relationships. He likes to come and go without being controlled.
And Ryker is possibly the most controlling man he’s ever known. Still, he finds
that he wants more from Ryker than their silent nighttime encounters.
Then one of
Sean’s thefts goes bad, and Ryker’s protective instincts kick into overdrive.
He takes Sean to the Havoc compound, determined to keep him safe. But Sean’s
past threatens the safety of Havoc—and everything Ryker holds dear. Worse,
Ryker’s hiding secrets of his own. Soon it’s obvious that the adrenaline rush
can’t keep them together anymore. But maybe love can.
***
SE Jakes writes m/m romance. She believes in happy endings and fighting for what
you want in both fiction and real life. She lives in New York with her family
and most days, she can be found happily writing (in bed). No really…
You can
contact her the following ways:
She spends most of her time writing but she loves to hear from readers!
SE Jakes is
the pen-name of New York Times
Bestselling author Stephanie Tyler (and half of Sydney Croft) — please go to my
media kit to learn
more!
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Wow, great interview, Jodi! Lots of little gems in here. For one thing I didn't know all the MC guys would be the established ones. Good to know.
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