Welcome to my website G. Jillian Stone. I’m honored to have you on as guest. Thanks for inviting me, Mason.

Why don’t you share with us the very exciting news you recently received. On March 25^, early in the morning, I was getting ready to go to the dentist to have a temporary crown done. I answered the phone on the way out the door. It was the contest director of the RWA^® calling to say THE YARD MAN had finaled in the Romantic Suspense category of Golden Heart.^®

Who did you tell first? Haha! Besides my son, who heard the screaming when I set down the phone from the other room, I immediately e-mailed my crit partner, a.c. Mason, of course.

Where did you go immediate after? The dentist, of course. Life goes on, even though your brain is buzzing with happiness. Not an altogether bad way to sit in the dentist’s chair.

How did you decide to enter the contest? And what category to enter? Once again, haha! It was my crit partner, a.c. Mason, who convinced me to enter the Golden Heart. I didn’t want to enter.  First of all, even though THE YARD MAN had finaled in several contests last year, in the fall months the ms had been getting it’s butt kicked in the romance category and I wasn’t feeling all that confident. Around the time of the Golden Heart entry deadlines, I decided to try entering the RS category. I knew I had written a romantic suspense story but the historical setting had always thrown me when entering contests.

Are you planning to attend the award ceremony? Going to Nashville, baby!

What is the manuscript about?

Set in late Victorian London, THE YARD MAN is the first in a series of romantic suspense novels featuring a clever and wickedly sexy Scotland Yard detective, a love story and a suspense/thriller subplot.

Here’s the blurb:

Zeno Augustus Kennedy is part stoic gentleman, part adventurous Scotland Yard agent. Brilliant, troubled, and wildly uninhibited in bed, he is an enigma of the first order. Having lost his mistress, killed in a horrific blast perpetrated by Fenian dynamiters, Zeno has struggled for years to forgive himself for not preventing the bomb attack. Just as the memory of his explosive past begins to ease, the young widow Cassandra St. Cloud moves in next door.

After six months of marriage and nearly three years of mourning, Cassandra is more than ready to purge off her widow’s weeds and begin life anew. An artist by temperament as well as training, she is not only eager to paint again but entertains the idea of a romantic escapade, something discreet but rather daring. Having an amorous and famous detective for a neighbor proves to be more than tempting, especially when her affaire with Mr. Kennedy catapults them both into a perilous adventure.

Where did you get your inspiration for the story? I was knee deep in another historical romance novel, which was rapidly turning into a trilogy. After writing over 300,000 words with no end in sight, I was feeling a bit drained and overwhelmed. I needed a break from the ms. Having read and enjoyed Amanda Quick’s mystery/suspense, romance novels, I began thinking about something set in the late Victorian period. I didn’t want to do yet another variation on Sherlock Holmes, so I opted for Scotland Yard detectives (often portrayed in novels and film as bungling inspectors). I thought why not create a special branch of elite detectives and hook them up with feisty heroines?

Is it true that The Yard Men Series has two branches? Yeah, there is Special Branch and Secret Branch.

Tell me the unique attributes of each branch and the tone of the novels. The first novel, is romantic suspense and involves Special Branch detective, Zeno Kennedy. In that story, I introduce several other detectives, including Phaeton Black, an eccentric, somewhat troubled character who I instantly knew I wanted to develop into the dark hero of his own story. Since Phaeton is an occult detective I needed to create a new division of Scotland Yard called Secret Branch. These stories are darker and more erotic in tone and incorporate both suspense and paranormal elements.

Are there more Yard Men in the wings? And what branch do they work for and why?  Oh yes. I have another RS story called THE CARNAL SINS OF RAPHAEL, which involves Detective Rafe Lewis and an industrial tycoon’s daughter on the run from a crazed, maniacal killer who hates the new machine age and is determined to see anyone involved in modernization obliterated. What I love about this suspense tale is I have them on the run from the beginning to the very end of the story.

THE MISS EDUCATION OF DOCTOR EXTER is a story I am also excited to write. Reader’s first meet Doctor Exeter in Phaeton Black’s story, when he and Phaeton team up to solve the vampire murders (amongst other crimes). In THE MISS EDCUATION OF DOCTOR EXETER he solves a series of occult murders that come to involve his ward, Mia, (now fully grown up) who has begun to shapeshift into a Leopardess. As the dark mystery unfolds, Mia helps Doctor Exeter expose a strange, brilliant inventor bent on revenge. Together they defeat a small army of undead creatures and uncover a plot to eliminate every member of the British Royal Society. In the process, they also fall into a very heated, sexually charged romance.

Share with me your research techniques? How much do you do? As you know, I do a lot of research on the front end of every story. As I begin the writing process, I research details as I need them. I am a big believer in sprinkling in lots of authentic period details, which helps ground the characters as well as the reader into the world/time frame.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? Very early on, I think I wanted to be a screenwriter or filmmaker. I went to art school and eventually fell into working as an advertising creative. I continued to take film school courses and ended up involved in a film production company (documentary projects, music videos and TV commercials). Finally, I figured out I was more than likely a storyteller and began to write down my stories. For the past year and a half, I have been working very hard at learning the finer points of fiction writing.

At what point do you feel you shifted your focus to your literary career? When Tony, my partner of ten years died of cancer, I went through a very important shift in priorities. I thought––no one knows how long they have on the planet. If you have stories to tell and you’d better get them told.

Who inspires you? People who are passionate about what they do.

What are you especially grateful for when it comes to your writing? I am grateful for all the support and encouragement I have received along the way. My crit group and wonderful crit partner (of course). I also want to recognize the creative risk-taker in me. It is not easy forging your own path in fiction writing, but I think it is critical to developing your voice as a writer.

Tell me something I don’t know about you? I have so many dark secrets I’m not sure which one to tell.

I like doing a speed round for others to get to know you. I’m going to list a few things and I want you to name your favorite.

Superhero? Doctor Who

Hero? Edward Sissorhands, Jack  Sparrow––Heathcliff. Obviously, I gravitate towards the eccentric, darker types.

Time Period? 1880––1910.

Historical Novel? SEA OF POPPIES, is a current favorite. The novel is set in British Raj India. Part of the research I am doing for my next historical novel.

Historical Film? A Room With A View (such a feel good movie) or Wuthering Heights, the BBC version with Tom Hardy. Yes, I know you love him too!

Thank you. That was great fun.

Is there something you’ve always wanted to be asked about a special talent, a pet, so on that you’d like to share with us. I have a horse named Bronson who I have owned since he was three years old. He has won many blue ribbons and buckles for me. He is smart and brave with an attitude––truly a hero.

What’s next for you? Two historicals in the works. One set in British Raj India at the turn of the century, tentatively titled FOREVER AND A DAY and another set during WWII Scotland called THE SHEEP INSPECTOR. Both are mainstream novels with romantic elements.

I wish you all the success G. Jillian Stone. Thank you for sharing with us your exciting experience as a 2010 Golden Heart Finalist for the Yard Man in the Romantic Suspense category.

Thank you, Mason, for the interview and all your support over the last year. You have truly

been a huge part of all this excitement and I would not be celebrating the Golden Heart final if you had not talked me into entering.

G. Jillian Stone can be found at the following places:

Website: http://gjillianstone.com
Blog: Mondays at http://ahistoryofromance.wordpress.com

Mason
a.c.Mason
Darkness ♀♂ Desires
www.acmason.com

Wow. Mason, are you going to write on your own blog?

Oh my, I think, I might just do that. Lol. All jokes aside I enjoy showcasing some fellow writers I know and the work they are doing.

As the title suggests I’m going to strip down my writing process to the bare flesh.

Idea: a realization of a possible way of doing something or of something to be done

Example: NIGHT REINS. Ancient immortals fighting to keep us safe from Vampires. The immortal race lives one image out in the open and a secret society.

Issue: a source of conflict, misgiving, or emotional distress

Example: DEAD AND ADORED. I don’t like Zombies. I’m stunned at my own prejudice against beings that have done nothing to me. It’s not their fault they want to eat people. What kind of world could I create where Zobies are “ok”. What kind of zombie would be a hero of sorts.

Once I have something in my head it ferments or masticates in my brain.

Ferment: to cause, develop, or evolve something, or be developed or evolved 

Masticate: pulverize food inside the mouth, using the teeth and jaws

I prefer to say masticate, which is a Masonism, my brain chews over the idea/issue until scenes and dialogue start to take place. My characters take form in my mind and I have them rehearse the scenes playing them out a number of ways before I write. I think my camera operator background and floor directing experience help. Is this a wide-angle scene or a close up? I play out way more material in my mind then I’ll ever need for the book. Often I add in scenes after feedback from a first read from a critique partner as what they point tells me they need more of the contents in my head. I know information the reader will never know but I draw on the content and context to add the layers to the story.

Oh, I should note that usually I have multiple plots going on at once because I was blessed with three muses, affectionately known as Dark, Darker and So-Not-Funny. Darker has a really disturbed sense of humor. Warning my next comment may disturb some people. Read at own risk.

Example: DEAD AND ADORED. Vaihan doesn’t like eating human brains because they taste like cheap pâté. Plus he doesn’t much enjoy the texture.

I do a lot of planning in my head before I put one word to paper. I write synopsis or scene outlines. Those are my road map. I’m still working on the planning part of writing not happening so much in my head.

That’s the velvet rope tour of how my writing process works. I hope you enjoyed.

Mason

Another wonderful week is underway.

Susan Hanniford Crowley over at Nights of Passion asked me if I would write something about the birth of my creatures, the Aequitas for Halloween. I said, “Umm, okay, what would you like to know.”

Tell us about the development of your beings for the book Aequitas?
How you came up with the history or mythology?
How much is based on real mythology?
How much did you add or created to make your world?

There they were the questions to which Susan wanted me to perform the autopsy of my being the aequitas with. This is where, I role up my sleeve and pull on my none-latex gloves. I pause for a moment, is this were the magic of the world I created for the reader is pulled back and they get a glimpse into the neurotic writer’s brain? Probably, but I’m willing to go there, just for you, the reader.

Auria was the first image that formed in my mind. I was seeing through the eyes of my hero, Etienne and this gorgeous female dressed in white leather yet internally dark strolled toward him. He is sucked deep into her. But what mortal male wouldn’t be?

I had no idea, what she was when I saw her strutting forward but she intrigued Etienne and me. What was the duplicity we saw in her? Then, I asked myself what hasn’t been done? We have hybrids of creatures coming out of the woodwork lately. Half werewolves and vamp, shifters in all types of mixes so what would be fresh?

Here is where my critique partner G. Jillian Stone would say, Mason goes esoteric. I’m thinking hard as I go on my morning jog trying to figure what hasn’t been done? Think, Mason. And Voila!! The idea came to me, part angel and demon creatures. Great how on God’s green earth am I going to make this believable. Why would anyone create such a mix of beings? It hasn’t been done probably because you need a reason? Like an angel and demon fall in love and make babies. Lol. Often the most logical reason. But that would take a lot of back-story to have an entire society of them. Something with equal part good and evil in them, always fighting to stabilize the good side, inside them. Then I thought what if humanoids where host to equal part powerful angel soul and demon. Oh… now there is something for me to consider and I did.

More jogging followed. And yet some more. Why because I had this unique idea but now I had to build a word that need these creatures. Then as if from the back of my mind, all those Roman Catholic Sunday school teachings came back to me about the war in heaven. Strange things come out of war, as we have all learned over the ages. I wasn’t the first to use the battle in God’s kingdom but I was going out of the usual box. I was going to do angels and demons fighting over humans but with a twisted spine. This is just not how my derangement works. What if the war didn’t end? Maybe they need peacekeepers? But what would these peacekeepers be doing? What would angels be needing to be keep an eye on about? This is the harder part because really anyone could believe demons where up to no good but what about angels? Not such an easy sale right?  A very small but powerful light bulb went on. Us, it’s always about living beings and the forces of good or evil messing around with our freewill. Sure angels use their influence for good but what if that messed with universal fairness? Oh, you see where I’m going with this, don’t you? If you don’t keep reading. If we truly have freewill, even someone out to help us for the forces of good is manipulating, our ability to use the sacred gift given to us by God. Right? As far as I know freewill is something God gave us? That’s what I learned in Sunday school, Catholic school, from many a priests and the bible.
 
Maybe, I think this way, because even when someone is manipulating me for my own good, I feel betrayed. I really don’t like it. I’m weird. I don’t care if all turns out for the better mistakes are mine to make and I won’t let anyone take that from me. Yes, I’m a tad pig headed. Psst, don’t tell anyone. Shsh.
 
Okay, so now I got the reasons to backup why an elite force of supernatural being were created and what their job was but I didn’t have a name for them. At the route of their job was policing the forces of light and dark.

Mason, has a thing for languages, Latin and Greek mostly plus French and English the two I write, speak and read. Latin relates to my Catholic background. It seemed fitting to look for a word in Latin. I looked up the Latin word for justice and came up with:

aequitas equitas : justice, fairness, equity

I liked the first word a lot. And I christened my creations the Aequitas.

What are the Aequitas?

They are humanoids who:
Travel through realms and planets.
They are immortal.
They can fly with angel’s wings that come out of their back, they can learn to harness inner peace, and work on the side of what is just.
They can communicate telepathically.
They exchange blood to share their most sacred gift a part of their soul.
They have demon strength, cunningness, and speed.
Their eyes turn black when using demon attributes.
They can collect and release souls.
They are a race of slaves, born into servitude.

Where would the story start? I have a think for drama so I don’t like to start too early. I often start the story to late and get, asked to back up. I prefer you learn information as the plot advances. Since I suspect my readers are humans, I thought a good place to ground them given a lot of weird stuff happens from page one was Earth in modern day. A nice city park. I could have tossed you another curve ball, but I’m already knees deep in way out there stuff.

I find the best way for me to write fresh is to read the mythology and move away from what people know about those ideas. Otherwise, I’m making a poor imitation of a classic tale.

Once I figured out who, what, where, when and WHY. The reason I capitalized why is because everything that happens has to have a why. I’m asking you, the reader to pay attention to information that might seem insignificant at the time but is part of the greater puzzle. I suspect if you picked up my book, you know, its a paranormal thriller and you looking for a tense ride with some passion along the way.

 Thanks Susan for allowing me to share my creatures with your readers.

 Aequitas I: Betrayal by a.c.Mason

The Aequitas, part angel and demon, have kept the balance between the forces of good and evil — until now.

When Etienne Grant is kidnapped and transformed into an Aequitas, marriage to Auria is the only thing that will save his soul.

Auria is a beautiful but efficient Aequitas, a General who wants nothing to do with love. A former lover has plans to prevent any hope of happiness with her new husband, and after murdering his own best friend and forcing Auria to join his rebellion, the balance between good and evil spirals out of control.

Can Etienne’s tenderness melt Auria’s cold heart and heal the pain of their secret pasts? Their very survival depends on it.

 

A taste:

A female form approached, clad in white clothing that accented her brown skin.

The endless depths of her black onyx gaze mesmerized him, seemed to hold him captive. His surroundings faded.

Eyes he’d seen before, but where and when?

He tried to blink but could not. A euphoric daze came over him as the dark abyss of her eyes pulled him in further.

Her small fingers shoved his chest, and he soared into the air.

Oh no!

As his body slammed to the ground, he gasped. His lungs clutched for air. How could such a petite feminine creature overpower him?

A seraphic beauty or a demon?

She leapt, rising in the dark of night, steel heels gleaming. Crap! Yet he didn’t move, spellbound by the fluidity of her movements, and then braced for impact.

Landing feet first, she knocked the wind from his lungs. They screamed for air. Impossible. The heels should have gone through him.

Emotionless, she stood on his chest, yet her body didn’t weigh on him. His attempts to shift, fruitless. He remained pinned.

She bent down. Her heels ground into his skin, scraping his chest until she knelt, knees pressed to his collarbone.

“Err,” he protested, teeth gritted in anguish as his flesh bled beneath her slicing heels. “Err.”

The slight twinkle in her eyes as she pressed her forearm to his throat held him in a trance, the movement of branches crawled. Everything around him seemed to slow. The only sounds came from his pounding heart and rapid breath.

Why didn’t she finish the job? She’d clearly proven she could dispose of him with ease.

Face close to his, she made contact with his cheek and stroked her thumb on his flesh.

He shook his head, reached up and grabbed her small wrists, restraining her, but she twisted her arms free. Lips curved upward to one side, she rose and stepped off his chest.

She toyed with him. If her intent wasn’t to kill him, what on God’s green earth was it?

“Do I have your attention?”

***

I’m hard at work on the next book in the trilogy AEQUITAS II PUNISHMENT.

Mason
a.c.Mason
Darkness ♀♂ Desires
www.acmason.com