Coxswain Hal interviews debut author Cameron L. Jacobs!
Coxswain hal [adjusts her feather boa and tiara, plops down onto the deck, and pouts] Of course, my interviewee is late. She stood me up, I just know it.
Marnee [sits down beside her and offers to share her rum.] I’m sure she’ll be here. She’s just running behind. The ship is hard to find sometimes – there was that storm and all last night. Maybe we drifted off course.
Cap’n Hellie: We did no such thing. I would never let us drift off course [she stumbles over and falls on top of Hal as the boat pitches]
Hal: Hey! Don’t break my tiara! I have to look pretty for my interview!
Sin: [snorting and throwing back the rest of her drink] Honey, she isn’t coming. Just face it, you got stood up. Chance! Where are more drinks?
Chance: [scurrying over, her face shiny with excitement, a pitcher of something blue and frothy in her hand] Okay, I got it. The perfect drink for losers who get stood up. It’s blue, it’s sad, it’s a little bitter, but a little sweet too.
[cups are being passed around, as the pirates toast Hal’s bad luck of getting stood up by her author to interview]
Cap’n Jack: [saunters onto the deck, re-tying his swashbuckler] Uh, were you pirates looking for some author chicky with brown hair? Cause I found one.
Hal: [lurches to her feet, desperately trying to straighten both her tiara and feather boa at the same time] Cameron! There you are! Where have you…..[narrows eyes at Jack, and then looks closer at Cameron with her smudged lipstick and mussed hair]. Wait a minute. You found the ship okay?
Cameron: Sure. You were right where you said you’d be.
Hellie: [jumping up] See! I told you I wouldn’t go off course! [spins to Jack] And you! You and I have some things to discuss, mister. I told you, you can’t just kidnap our guests. It sets a bad impression [lecture fades as Hellie grabs Jack by ear and drags him below to her cabin to continue, uh, reprimanding him. Yeah, that’s what she’s doing down there]
Cameron: [blows a kiss at Jack and looks a little forlorn that he’s gone.] Okay, so who’s doing this interview? And where can I get one of those drinks? I need to rehydrate.
Hal: [scurrying around, getting a drink for Cameron, generally gushing] Oh, I’m just so glad you’re here. I have all sorts of wonderful questions for you. I just love, and I mean LOVE, your new book. [crams drink in her hand] So Cam, oh, can I call you Cam? [barely waits for amused nod before rushing on]. Okay, Cam, first question, tell us about FALSE MOVE. I just loved it, I mean really, loved it.
Hellie: [watching Hal trip over herself, leans over to Sin] Do you think she was a cheerleader in high school?
Sin: Had to be. [slight shudder] She’s not going to break out the pom-poms is she?
Hellie: God, I hope not.
Hal: Shh! Let her answer!
Cameron: [looking around with a slightly ‘what have I gotten myself into’ look] Well, FALSE MOVE is a romantic thriller of sorts. It features a woman named Naomi who is forced to take matters into her own hands. When she’s told her CIA husband stole weapons and was selling them on the black market, she doesn’t believe it. But he’s dead, and she’s the only one left to clear his name. She spends six years undercover for the British as a black-market weapons facilitator, and after sacrificing so much, she’s to the point where she can hardly bring herself to care anymore. But she’s in too deep to get out, and when she finds the weapons up for auction in Belfast, she’s sure she’s found his killer, and this whole thing will be over.
Hal: [eyes wide] Wow. So she does it? Finds the killer and avenges her husband and lives happily ever after?
Cam: Uh, no. When she gets to Belfast, it’s her husband selling the weapons.
Hal: [gasping, eyes wide]. Holy crap! He wasn’t dead!
Cam: [grinning]. Nope. So that’s where the story starts. Naomi has to figure out who to trust and what’s real and what’s not, and of course, there’s lots of hot sex, and a few good torture scenes to balance it all out.
Hal: And you’re working on the sequel now, right?
Cam: Yes, featuring Josephine, a secondary character in FALSE MOVE. At the end of the novel, she goes to prison. So WHITE LIE, Josephine’s story, starts with her being moved to Spain. The Spanish government wants her to go undercover into a terrorist group to foil a bomb attack. She’s a prodigy with explosives, after all. And there’s this hot Spanish cop she’s stuck with. And she drives him nuts. He can’t decide if he should throttle her or…
Hal: Well, this is a romantic thriller after all. We know what the hot Spanish cop does to Josephine [sassy smile]. What’s his name? The cop?
Cam: Luken Ibarra. And he looks like Clive Owen, with that dark hair and brown eyes and a sexy accent. Mmmm.
Hal: Wow, he sounds hot.
Cam: Oh, he is. Luken is very hot. [takes a drink] Hmmm, this is a little odd tasting. It almost makes me sad to drink it.
Hal: Yeah, it’s the losers’ drink. Cause we thought you stood me up.
Cam: [gasp] Never! I would never get on a pirate’s bad side!
Hal: Well, since we were so late getting started, let’s see if the rest of the crew has any questions for you. How about it pirates? Any questions for Cam before she disappears with Jack again?
Books by the Crew
26 comments:
Cam, I am soooo relieved you didn't stand up Hal. I know she was going to sulk for the next six months if you did.
Your premise to FALSE MOVE is kick-ass. How did you come up with such a kick-ass opening hook like that? And how in the hell, after putting your characters in a situation like that, make it work out in the end? Seriously, where's the trust and how do you get it back?
What's your CALL STORY? And what is a day of writing life like?
She does seem a bit easily excitable, doesn't she?
With FALSE MOVE, when I first started writing, I didn't think I'd be able to get them back together in the end. I actually didn't plan for that, because the trust issue was just so great. So the fact that they did stay together in the end came about fairly organically - I plot the thriller side very carefully, but the romance side, I usually just let the characters do their thing and see where they go. In this case, the bond was so strong they were able to get past the trust issues.
Of course, him pretending to kill his five year old and dumping five gallons of blood on a table forced Naomi to make a decision. Trust him or kill him. Once she decided to trust, it got a little easier. So that black moment worked on two levels.
You're a very dark person, has anyone ever told you that?
Oh and my call story. Well, let's see. My agent got super excited about FALSE MOVE and sent it out to tons of editors. It ended up at auction, and I spent a whole day being a nervous wreck as I waited for the offers to come in. Then I just had to pick one!
A writing day for me starts pretty early. I write best when I first wake up, so I write for a few hours in the morning. Then the afternoons are for blogs, research, errands. I also teach a few days a week, in the afternoon. Because what I write and what I teach are so similar, I can usually use research for my books in the classroom, which is handy!
Uh, yes. I've been told *g* I actually had several romance CP's who couldn't handle reading FALSE MOVE because it is so dark. And my professors at school won't let me call it a romance. For whatever reason, they think that when the hero starts threatening to execute the heroine, it's not really romantic anymore *shrug*
Nah, your professors at school probably don't want to call it a romance because they don't want to admit they like romance--and they like yours. *LOL*
But damn, that is DARK.
A romance can be dark - not all are sunshine and daisies LOL!
False Move sounds right up my alley. I can't wait to read it! I love the betrayal twist after dedicating herself for so long. That has got to be one hell of a story.
Were you thinking of a character to use for the second book when you were writing this one or did Josephine just call out for her own story?
Cam, you obviously had a great excuse for being late! :)
That's a great benefit to be able to use your research for your books in the classroom. I think many writers dream of quitting the "day job" to pursue writing full time, but your work seems to be a great fit for your writing. Do you think you will continue to teach after multiple publication success?
Hi Sabrina! You know, when I plotted out False Move, Josephine wasn't even in it. It wasn't until I started writing that she appeared. And I'd originally planned to kill her. But she just begged for her own story, so she went to jail instead of dying. It makes for an interesting start to a novel now to have the heroine in jail for crimes she committed.
And I love dark romances too - obviously!
Melissa - oh yeah! I was having a good time while you all were waiting *g*
You know, my goal, once I have a few bestsellers under my belt (haha!) is to quit my "day job", but keep teaching. Actually my day job is full time research on campus, and I teach on top of that. So I want to get rid of the research job, keep teaching part time, and then write full time. But that dream is a *long* way off.....sigh. Couldn't all writers just get a full-time salary?
Check that out! We have pictures and spaces! Kick ass...
How long do you think I should wait before untying Jack from the bed again? He think I've gone off to find whipped cream...
Yes, I finally figured out how to space this properly!
Keep him there. I'm not fully rehydrated yet. Or better yet, keep him busy while I keep drinking, then I'll untie him later :)
Things keep changing around here today. Huh.
Welcome, Cameron! So glad you could join us here on The Revenge. This does sound very dark, but it also sounds like something that would be impossible to put down. Talk about a page turner.
Will the main characters from this book carry on into the next? And is this a series or more just loosely connected books?
Welcome aboard Cam!
I adore dark fiction. The darker the better, I say. Have you always enjoyed writing about the darker side of fiction?
Hi Sin!
Like you, I love writing dark fiction. Happy scenes and epilogues are the hardest for me. When everything is falling apart and the emotion is highest is when I can jsut fall into the words and write.
Hiya Bo'sun! It isn't a series so much, as loosely connected books. Secondary characters might get their own book, but former characters won't play a huge role. Perhaps a small one, but nothing big. I like books that are connected, yet each stand alone on their own, so that's kind of what I'm going for. I have a third one in mind after this one, but I think I'll leave it at three and move on to new characters after that. But who knows what will actually happen!
Cam, it's great to see you here!
I love love love False Move. And Naomi and Kersey are the ultimate reunion story. Nothing says, so what have you been doing while we've been apart like a death threat and suspicions of treason.
:)
Hi, Cam! I love your name.
"Dark" seems an understatement for your story. I'm glad to know that the trust issues are resolved and the HEA achieved.
Are you solely committed to writing thrillers? Or are there other genres/subgenres that you dream of writing?
Hey Marn! Yeah, they do have more issues to work through than the average couple, don't they? But they work it out, and I *hope* the HEA is believable.
Thank you Janga!
You know, there are a whole range of romance sub-genres I'd love to write in. I adore Blaze categories, and would love to swap back and forth between thrillers that are SOOO dark and more sexy, funny, witty blazes. Westerns are my first love when it comes to reading, so I'd kill for the Western market to suddenly flip upside down and let me write those. Or who knows -- maybe I'll just blaze a whole new trail :)
Cam, I happen to know your talents are diverse and you are fantastic at writing sexy, funny and witty. Your fan base is likely to be as diverse as your talent. :) I'm wondering if you intend to write those lighter (as in not as dark, not light on the emotion) stories under a different pen name?
You know, I've thought about that. Esp since my agent is leaning toward marketing FALSE MOVE as a straight thriller, which generally has a significantly larger male audience than, say, Blaze does.
So I think I would either a) use a different pen name, which has it's pros and cons, or b) write category rather than single title, since category are shelved differently. Probably the latter, as you hate to build up buzz for a name, and then trash it by switching names, you know?
Sorry I had ta scurry off and abandon the ship fer a few hours. Glad ta see ya here and enjoyin' the better frothed up pink drink, in honor a' Hal's tiara... The Hello Kitty Kaboodle.
Yer book sounds fab, Cameron. Like yer name, used it fer a character who gets kidnapped by aliens to organize their library...but I digress...
I admit, this sounds almost too dark fer me, but I love most anythin' wit' an Irish connection, so sure I'll enjoy it!
Hi Chance! Glad to have you back on board, and what a perfect name for that drink!
Hmmm, aliens with a library? That sounds awesome. Excellent way to use the name *g*
And don't worry - I won't ever force you to read it :)
Had ta duck out and make a purple pumpkin at the Corning Museum of Glass...
That is a great name for a drink, ain't it?! ;)
That is very cool that your book is likely going to be marketed as a straight thriller! And when it's made into an awesome movie, any thoughts on who will play the lead roles? :) Hmm, I wonder if two actresses would have to play Naomi, before and after the plastic surgery!
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