1. Your novel, Seeking the Storyteller, published with Solstice. How did you discover Solstice Publishing?
Jessica: We were originally picked up by Alpha Wolf Publishing. Solstice purchased Alpha Wolf while we were waiting for our manuscript to be reviewed so we were pulled along for the ride.

Briana: Jessica literally started searching for publishers. She searched online and looked for ones that fit our genre. She busted her butt, it was crazy! I still remember her coming upstairs at 5 in the morning to tell me the book got accepted, I don’t think I’ve woken up so quickly in my life.

2. Where did your inspiration come from for this book? Was there a character that just had to be heard? Was there an event that inspired you to start writing?
Jessica: Briana and I met through a fanfiction mailing list and were a long distance couple for a long time. Part of what we did to talk to each other each day was role play with a list of characters. We called it ‘dating’.

Briana: When I finally moved up to Minnesota, about a year later our apartment was broken into. Our laptops were stolen along with some other things, and we had to start the role play all over again. That’s when the Storyteller was born and when the anime, video game, and comic book characters we had been role playing with became original characters with backstories and personalities we created..

3. Does your background (in terms of job, family, geographic location, etc.) play into your writing? What kind of research went into your
story?
Jessica: We set the book in Minnesota, which is where we live and purposely picked real life places for the plot to take place. It presents a fun challenge to account for the story happening, literally, in our own backyard.

Briana: We’re both really creative people. I went to college for Creative Writing and Jessica went into Anthropology. She’s really good at establishing characters and cultures, and I love adding details to what she comes up with. It’s really the perfect partnership.

4. Describe the genres in which you write (paranormal, contemporary, westerns, etc.) If write in more than one genre or area (poetry, non-fiction), do you have a different process when you’re writing different kinds of fiction or non-fiction?
Jessica: Storyteller is urban supernatural/fantasy. Aside from that I’m also a huge fan of horror and hope to have more stories in those genres coming out soon.

Briana: Exactly what Jessica said, though I also have a soft spot for LGBT stuff (she does, too, and it usually ends up in our works somehow). I don’t think I have a different process, really, for any different genre. No matter what I write, I always have Jessica look over it. She’s my co-author and editor all at once.

5. What is your mind set or process as you sit down to write? Do you have a playlist going? Do you need complete silence? Are you a 6 am writer or an 11 pm writer?
Jessica: I actually created a pandora station specifically for this set of stories, each song fitting one of the characters or something that will happen in the future. You can access it at this link:
http://www.pandora.com/station/746826424019063096

Briana: I need some sort of noise in the background, but it can’t be anything new. Such as, sometimes I have the T.V. on, but it has to be reruns, things I can just listen to versus wanting to sit and watch. Either that, or I listen to music. I have a random playlist on Youtube full of various video game music or anime music, I usually play that. Sometimes, we’ll have writing dates, where we go to a little restaurant and write, or we have a friend who we go visit and all three of us will write. He tends to make dinner for us (yay Nate!) and we’ll bring dessert. Writing and pie, it’s the best.

6. How do you balance writing with work and/or personal life?
Jessica: It’s balanced? I try and I’m always working on one thing or another. It helps that my personal life outside of my day job is basically writing and sewing, so I’m always working on something. It’s not really balanced, it’s more of a job of jumping back and forth.

Briana: It also helps that Jessica is part of my personal life, so we can work together to write, craft, go to conventions, and take time out to have fun. We also have a lot of the same friends so we all hang out together, whether its at a convention or just hanging out, playing video games or watching movies.

7. Do you have any other projects you’re working on?
Jessica: I’m currently working on the sequel to Seeking the Storyteller and a horror anthology… plus an original idea focusing around ideas from high school. I’m always busy!

Briana: What she said, because I have some solo projects, too, and a holiday story that’s about to be edited by Dreamspinner Press. My google docs is packed!

8. Any words of advice for aspiring writers?
Jessica: My advice will always be to just write. It’s a lot easier to fine tune and hone a story once it’s written down. So shove away your fear and self doubt and just go for it. No first draft is perfect.

Briana: What she said. You can worry about publishing and all that stuff after the writing is done. Some people have asked me about publishers and things like that, and while that’s important, nothing is more important than getting that work finished. Worry about editing, publishing, and all that later. I do recommend letting others read it, others who can give you honest criticism (so don’t send it to that “you’re super awesome all the time” friend, that friend is great, but you need the “this dialogue doesn’t make sense right here” friend). Be open to their critics.

9. Social media: Tell us where readers can find you (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, website)
(This is all in the presskit I’ve attached)
10. Book links: Tell us where to find your books!
Purchase link:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/1495985202
Etsy (which is a signed copy and free gift): https://www.etsy.com/listing/186904208/seeking-the-storyteller-a-hunters-novel?ref=shop_home_feat_1

Seeking the Storyteller

By Jessica Walsh & Briana Lawrence

I know of the Storyteller, it whispers into the man’s ear, I’ve met him. If you promise not to kill me, I’ll take you to him.

Alix Andre DeBenit and Randall Fagan are Hunters, part of a hidden network of humans who track and kill the monsters lurking in our world so everyone else can pretend they don’t exist. But when a living shadow mentions someone called the Storyteller, Alix hesitantly decides to learn more.

They say the Storyteller lives in a massive library full of books that tell every being’s life story. He can read these books, rewrite them and change anything he wants, even if it’s already happened. That’s the power Alix wants, the power to bring his murdered family back and he’s determined to make the Storyteller do it.

He just has to decide if working with the very creatures he’s supposed to kill is worth it.

Purchase Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Storyteller-Jessica-Walsh-ebook/dp/B00HCJP0PM/

Solstice Publishing: http://solsticepublishing.com/seeking-the-storyteller/

Etsy (signed copy with bonus): http://www.etsy.com/listing/186904208/seeking-the-storyteller-a-hunters-novel

Also available on Barnes & Noble and other online sites!

Excerpt:

Haven covered his ears as he heard the scream again, this time sounding even more desperate. He didn’t know what the humans were hearing, but to him it sounded like the girl was in physical pain, as if actually being attacked. Did they really hate demons so much as to let something like that continue? “Can’t you just let him calm her down so she stops screaming?”

Don’t draw attention to yourself. His dragon’s voice echoed in his mind as the blond Hunter turned a look of disgust in his direction.

“You don’t need to be concerned about them. But you can tell us what happened to Xaver.”

“She’s screaming over there and you’re going to waste time interrogating him?!” Dox’s own voice was nearing the point of hysteria. Haven could see the shadows on the edge of his cell straining, struggling to do something for him, but whatever he was trying they weren’t responding, not able to help.

Don’t.

“This is stupid. I’m not going to sit here and answer questions while she’s screaming.” Haven muttered, closing his hands into loose fists. He could feel the cold sliding down through his arms, swirling in the small space between his fingers as it spun and gained speed.

Haven! Don’t be so rash!

“Shut up.”

Alix frowned, “Who are you talking to?”

Haven!

The metal around his wrists was the first to go, cracking from the cold and sliding off his skin like thin sheets of paper. In seconds Haven was moving forward and shoving his hands hard against the two bars in front of him. At the same moment, the gathering balls of ice broke apart, the cold surging up the metal and freezing it to the core in a matter of seconds. The now weakened metal shattered like glass that danced across the floor in sparks and shards. The two Hunters were stunned and Haven used that split second to run across the floor and duck around the one with the gun. Guns took slightly longer than swords to aim and that difference was a blessing to Haven as Alix tried to recover and aim. Haven made it across the room and used a second ball of ice against the lock on the metal door, shattering it in the same way at the bars of his cell. Haven kicked it open and ducked inside as the bullets whizzed past his head, just narrowly missing.

He found the girl in the cell, curled up in the corner shaking as if she were having a seizure. Her hands were clenched around her head and she had pulled her body into the tightest ball she could make, still screaming and shaking her head back and forth, pleading with whatever she was seeing and hearing to

STOP STOP STOP PLEASE STOP.

Haven stepped toward her and knelt down, forcing his hand to not be so cold as he lightly touched her shoulder, trying to wake her up.

You stupid boy, look out!

She moved at the touch, lashing out in his direction. Her eyes never opened but her body reacted, incorporating his touch into her dream as something she didn’t want. A hand and a kick flew in his direction and Haven jumped back out of reach, watching her with wide eyes. He knew the Hunters were probably at the door watching him, aiming their weapons, ready to fire. He knew he was being stupid and would probably get himself killed, but he couldn’t believe that someone would just let her scream like this.

To think that humans claimed that his kind were the vicious ones.

Stepping forward again he grabbed Cyn and wrapped his arms around her. There was something wrong with her skin. It felt too dry, almost scaly, and Haven suddenly remembered what Dox had said earlier. The girl had a demon inside of her, one that she could lose control of if she got too worked up. As if responding to his thoughts Cyn began thrashing in his arms, her screams turning louder, the fear shifting into anger. Her voice had a rougher edge to it, an animalistic growl that sounded deadlier with each yell. Haven could feel the ground shifting through the concrete, a soft hint of a rumble brushing against the walls.

In her dreams she was calling to the roots, begging for them to rescue her from this perceived threat. Haven did the only thing he could think of. He let the cold slide through his body and into hers as he restrained her arms.

The screaming stopped and the ground stopped shaking.

For a moment Haven had the horrible thought that he’d killed her, freezing her to death with a single careless thought in an effort to stop whatever she was seeing. However, a quick look at her chest as he loosened his grip revealed her shallow breathing. She was alive, at least, but Haven had given her enough cold for her teeth to start chattering and her lips to turn a tint of blue. He’d given her too much.

Briana Lawrence (left) & Jessica Walsh (right)

Briana Lawrence –

At the age of nine, like most kids, Briana Lawrence had a dream. She wanted to be the best “WRITTER” in the whole wide world. Her fourth grade class laughed and wondered how one hoped to become a “writer” if they couldn’t even spell the word. Back then her stories were created with crayons and construction paper. As she grew older they progressed into notebooks and colored ink pens of pink, blue, and purple. When she lost her older brother, Glenn Berry, in a car accident, she stopped writing.

Dreams, however, have a funny way of coming back.

Before she realized it she was grabbing her notebook and pens again. She would write stories that ranged from high school romance to her imagination running wild with the likes of Goku, Vegeta, and the other characters of Dragonball Z. This continued throughout college where she would always end up writing about the space exploits of the pilots of Gundam Wing and other works of fan fiction. Soon she realized that she wanted to do more than that. Her head was full of ideas, full of original characters and worlds that she wanted to share with others.

Thus, she stepped into an English Major with some Women’s Studies on the side.

She graduated Iowa State University in 2006 and moved to Minneapolis with her partner. Here, she tried to get into graduate school, but things didn’t pan out the way she wanted. She ended up working retail, her dream becoming buried by Black Fridays and other busy times of year. Once again, however, that dream returned. She went from immersing herself in geeky fan fiction to actually writing about the geeky things she loved for several anime and video game review sites. However, it was her discovery of National Novel Writing Month that made her go back to creating her own characters and plots.

Now, here she is, an author in the writing world.

Jessica Walsh –

My life is a flurry of writing, art and creativity. You can usually find me reading a book, scribbling notes in a notebook for future creations, typing on a laptop with music blaring in my ears or buried in my basement watching documentaries and sitting behind a sewing machine.

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember and have boxes of old notebooks in horrible handwriting to prove it. Only recently have I stumbled back into writing and finishing my ideas.

Seeking the Storyteller is the first novel I’ve published; with my partner in crime and life, Briana Lawrence. I also write horror, fantasy, supernatural and occasionally romance pieces which I am currently shopping around through contests and publishers.

Blogs:

Jessica: http://snowtigra.blogspot.com/

Briana: http://brichibirants.wordpress.com/

Author Websites:

Jessica: http://snowtigra.wix.com/jessicawalsh

Briana: http://brichibi.wix.com/whisperedwords

Facebook:

Jessica: https://www.facebook.com/storytellerhuntersseries

Briana: https://www.facebook.com/BrianaLawrencesPenAndPaper
Your Goodreads author page?

Jessica: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7579547.Jessica_Walsh

Briana: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7055998.Briana_Lawrence
Your Twitter details?

Briana: https://twitter.com/BrichibiTweets
And any other information you wish to supply?