Joanna Bourne: Interview! Contest!

Joanna Bourne writes excellent books. You don't have to take my word for it--check out just about any review of The Spymaster's Lady. And then read it yourself, if you haven't already. You'll thank me.

Jo's new book, My Lord and Spymaster, is officially coming out on Monday, though the sneaky booksellers have been filling the shelves with it early. To celebrate the fantabulous release, I roped Jo into an exclusive (somewhat wacky) interview, and we're giving away a Signed Copy! Check the end of this post for contest details. First, the interview:

Susan: Congratulations on the wonderful reception of The Spymaster's Lady, and the release of My Lord and Spymaster! I can't wait to get my hands on it.

JO: Thank you so much.

Susan: Now, the interrogation. Annique, the heroine of TSL, was a strong, crafty--but somewhat naïve--French spy. Tell us about Jess, the heroine of MLS.

JO: Jess is a slum-born Cockney. Guts, luck and brains got her out of the grim rookeries of London and a life of crime.

Now she's headed back to those mean streets. They're more dangerous than ever. She left unfinished business behind her, and dangerous enemies, and chunks of her soul.

Guess she still needs the guts, luck and brains.

If Annique is juggling the fate of nations, Jessamyn is fighting on a different, more intimate, scale. She has to save her father, and the man she's falling in love with. Maybe that soul, too.

Susan: The rumor is (and I am totally making this up) that you love to write about spies because you were, in fact, a spy. True/False? (or if you answer, will they send someone to wipe my computer after?)

JO: Oh, good heavens, no. You would have to see me. I'm this dumpy, little round woman with glasses.

I am perfectly willing to pretend to be a spy, though, if that lends authenticity to the series.

Jess is a master merchant. I'm not actually a merchant.
(Jo tries to assume the mien and demeanor of commercial genius.)

Susan: Over at the Compuserve Books & Writers Forum you're renowned--some might say worshipped--for your detailed posts about the craft and mechanics of writing, featuring Myrtle the Vampire. Any chance Myrtle could come out and play for a minute? (question for Myrtle: illustrate the difference between show and tell with an example)

JO: Worship like with incense and chanting, or worship as in turning me upside down like Ganesh?
Ah well.

TELL:

Myrtle pretended to be a spy, a sensual Mata Hari, a vamp, instead of a vampire.

She'd hope Bond would think she was interested in death rays, instead of corpuscles. Maybe he'd lock his secrets up safe and bare his neck.

Bad choice for him, if he did.

SHOW:

"Tell me about the MS-27." Myrtle unhooked the back of her dress and let it slither to the ground. Then she did some slithering herself, approaching. "You know you want to."

"I think not." Bond considered her cleavage. He was shaken, but not stirred. "Shall we discuss the weather instead? I'm British."

She licked his sternocleidomastoid. Yum. Yum. "Have you ever made love to a dead woman?"

"Not that I know of."

Susan: Perfect!! Seriously, thank you for the massive hours you must have spent over the years teaching and mentoring other writers. Who do you consider your mentors?

JO: Diana Gabaldon is endlessly helpful and supportive to everybody at Books and Writers. Darlene Marshall and Pam Patchet are beautiful comedic voices. I've learned a lot from them.

Susan: I know you've been at this crazy writing business for a while now. What has your journey to publication been like?

JO: When I was six, my mother took all five of us kids and drove through Mexico in an old woody-sided stationwagon. It had a bullet hole in the side (but that's another story), and was not entirely reliable in the radiator and oil pan departments. One time, we drove off and left my little sister behind at the border crossing. Once, we got stopped by what was either a zealous community watch organization or bandits, and I got amoebic dysentery.

Oh. Flat tires. Lots and lots of flat tires.

That's what my journey to publication has been like.

Susan: {recovering from belly-laugh} Hokay. Serious Face. Is your approach to the writing any different now that your books are on the shelves? How?

JO: The major difference is that now I have deadlines. That appalls me and fills me with dismay. I do not think deadlines make me write any faster. They just make me miserable.

I also have book reviews. The bad ones confound and devastate me. Or puzzle me. The good ones always feel like they must be about somebody else's book.

Susan: Any final bits of advice for aspiring writers?

JO: Write what you love. Love it so much you don't care whether you get published or not. Listen carefully to advice. Ignore most all of that advice.

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Ah, Jo, you rock. Thank you again.

The CONTEST: Add a comment to this post, including your name somewhere. You have until MONDAY JULY 1st! Monday morning whenever I get into work, I'll do a random drawing and select one winner. The winner will receive a Jo-signed copy of My Lord and Spymaster. Ready? GO!