The Elemental Assassin Series by Jennifer Estep has been in my top ten best reads since I read the first book, Spider's Bite, last year. Now book four, Tangled Threads, is due out for release and I know a lot of my book friends can't wait to read it.
So I hope you enjoy this guest blog and will enter the contest for your chance to win a copy of the new release!
On a side note : Huge apologies to Jennifer and anyone else waiting for this post. It was supposed to be posted on Wednesday but I was too pre-occupied with preparing for my Easter trip!
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Greetings and salutations! I want to say thanks to Amber for having me on the blog today. Thanks, Amber!
So today, Amber suggested that I talk a little bit about writing adult urban fantasy versus young adult urban fantasy.
Now, if you’ve read any of the books in my Elemental Assassin series, you know that semi-retired assassin Gin Blanco inhabits a very dark and gritty world and that she’s not shy about doing what needs to be done to protect the people that she cares about. Basically, Gin kills first and asks questions later, and she never, ever takes prisoners. LOL.
I know most folks would think that it’s pretty jarring to go from writing such a dark, violent character to penning a young adult series, but really, I don’t approach writing my Mythos Academy series any differently than I do the Elemental Assassin series. I’m a total punster when it comes to writing, so for whatever series I’m working on, I think of an idea, come up with the major plot points, then sit down and start writing it.
Now, I do a few things different when it comes to my young adult series – especially when it comes to the big three, as I like to think of them – sex, language, and violence. I do tone down those things for my young adult books. The Mythos Academy series doesn’t have nearly the amount of bad language that the Elemental Assassin books do, the fight scenes aren’t quite as bloody and visceral, and there are no detailed sex scenes.
But my young adult books aren’t completely vanilla. I do mention things like drinking, drugs, and sex, along with having my heroine fight for her life against the various bad guys. I think teens are smarter and have to deal with a lot more issues than people realize, and I also think they want to be entertained when they read, just like the rest of us. So that’s what I try to do – just tell a good, fun, action-packed story.
That’s why both of my series feature so many of the same elements – a strong, sassy heroine, a magical world, lots of fight scenes, vicious bad guys, and a hunky hero. Those are the things I like reading about, and those are the things I like writing about – no matter what genre I’m tackling.
Hopefully, readers will like my Mythos Academy series just as much as they do the Elemental Assassin books. Fingers crossed, anyway.
What about you guys? What are some of your favorite adult and young adult urban fantasy books right now?
Jennifer writes the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series for Pocket Books. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can con¬trol 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.
Books in the series are Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, and Venom. Tangled Threads, the fourth book, will be published on April 26, while Spider’s Revenge, the fifth book, will be released in October.
Jennifer also writes the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series for Kensington. The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psychometry, or the ability to know an object’s history just by touching it. After a serious freakout with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors like Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons, and more.
The first book, Touch of Frost, will be out in August, while the second book, Kiss of Frost, will hit shelves in December.First Frost, a prequel e-short story to the series, will be out in July. Visit www.jenniferestep.com for excerpts and more.
Jennifer is very kindly giving away a copy of TANGLED THREADS to one lucky person! This giveaway is open to US/Canada only and all you have to do is answer the question below to be entered!
How To Enter
I am extremely scared of spiders! What are you scared of?
No answer = No Entry
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The contest will stay open until Friday 29th of April 2011 4pm CET and the winner will be picked by a randomizer. Entrants should check back to see if they have won. I do not hunt down winners and will pick new winners for any prizes not claimed within 7 days.
I'm very sorry I am not eligible in this contest, living in Holland. I really like your series Jennifer. And though I don't read many YA, your new series sounds like my kind of thing.
Never met one personally, but I have nightmares about snakes. You know the Harry Potter scene in the last movie? I screamed.
OMG! I'm scared of spiders too! I'm already freaking out just seeing a single spider on the wall. I have a great fear of heights too. I get really nervous.
I'm scared of snakes too! I lived in Alabama when I was a kid and I was walking in a crick (translation: creek) with one of my friends and we saw a water moccasin in a tree hissing at us. I don't think I've ever run so fast in my entire life!
Thanks for this contest.I also hate spiders but I do have an unnatural fear of crossing bridges over water. I have the fear that for some reason it'll crumble as I'm in the middle.
Tangled is a must for me - have been eagerly awaiting this installment. The YA series sounds like it will be a great one too. Thanks so much for the interview was fun!
I don't know of anything I am terrified of offhand, but I do have an aversion to frogs...
I am so afraid of spiders too. When I was little my brother used to put those big black squishy ones in my shoes. They totally make my skin crawl. Thanks for the giveaway.
Last year I had a bat in my bedroom closet which led to my attic, I couldn't sleep in my bed for a week! Love this series and looking forward to this read. tWarner419@aol.com
I'm afraid of outliving my kids. I know that's odd, it's just always seemed such an unnatural thing to me.
Love your Gin books, Jennifer. Can't wait for Tangled Threads. And I'm not afraid of spiders. I actually kind of like them, because they eat all those other creepy crawly things!
I'm scared of any thing in the reptilian family haha. My brother in-law has a three horned chameleon, gives me the creeps. I swear I saw it giving me the evil eye once!
I'm scared of spiders too. Especially these great big hairy wolf spiders we have here in Florida, they're gigantic. I don't mind snakes too much, but when I'm not sure if they're harmful to me, I get pretty freaked out as well.
I enjoyed this interview with Jennifer. I can't think of something that I am afraid of right now, but I am nervous when driving on a bridge over a body of water. I don't mind spiders.
I am scared of snakes, but that is a fairly new thing. I happened to step on one, and I was close to having a panic attack afterward. I wasn't bitten, but the thing had thrashed against my bare leg. I Googled the snake's description and it was a corn snake. The whole experience, despite ending well, was not a good one. Let's just say it is not a fantastic feeling when people belittle your fears, or laugh at certain overreactions [bitter].
I'm not afraid of much but my kiddos or family getting really ill. But big assed spiders really freak me out. Little ones I can kill but those tarantulas would make me hurt myself trying to get it away from me. Love this series and am looking forward to reading the next one.
I tell people that I'm afraid of sharks, crocodiles, and serial killers- namely anything that can hunt you and eat you. However, I am actually afraid of meeting and socializing with large groups of people I don't know or don't know well. Total nightmare. Public speaking? No problem. It's the social aspect that kills me.
Jennifer, if you do check the comments at all, thank you for this series. I have been a huge fan since the first book. Keep 'em coming!
Although I scuba dive, I'm actually rather afraid of the water. What I really dislike is surf, so if I'm at the beach, I normally won't go in the water unless it's very calm and I see a bunch of young kids in the water playing around.
Spiders...absolutely!!! I can't even watch movies with them in it. I close my eyes whenever they are due to appear in Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
What am I most afraid of? When I was little, it used to be whatever was under my bed. There were dents in the wood floor near my side of the bed where I landed when I had to get up in the night to go to the bathroom. Those monsters only have so long a reach, dontcha know.
Now I think it's likely snakes, mass quantities of snakes. One at a time seems okay, but not a bunch at once.
For me, it's always been snakes. And yet I'm fascinated by them as well. I will not watch a movie that features snakes in them however, as it freaks me out.
Spiders? I get the shivers when I think of them. The movie 'Arachnophobia' was creeepy & real life scary for me. I’m not a big fan of the household spiders, when my cat won't kill them, that tells me something. I did have a cat, Cosmo that used to pull the legs off of spiders when they dared to enter the house. LOL
Jennifer you mentioned other writers that write both adult and YA books. I have only read two authors who do that so far; Kim Harrison and Kelley Armstrong. I've loved both of their series and I didn't feel they were writing down (so to speak). I found them just as entertaining as their adult series. I'm anxious to read yours now too :-) Thanks for sharing with us.
Jennifer Estep
I'm very sorry I am not eligible in this contest, living in Holland. I really like your series Jennifer. And though I don't read many YA, your new series sounds like my kind of thing.
Never met one personally, but I have nightmares about snakes. You know the Harry Potter scene in the last movie? I screamed.