ย Today I’m joined by J.K. Hogan, who answers some interview questions and provides some gorgeous inspiration pics of the leading men in Shadows Fall.
Blurb
A giftโor curseโgives Titus McGinty the unwanted ability to talk to ghosts. When he starts seeing the same few apparitions repeatedly, appearing with similar gruesome injuries, he begins to wonder what they want from him.
Detective Charlie Hale has a serial killer on his hands. On the loose for weeks, the Queen City Slayer has left the police nothing to go on, no forensic evidence other than what he wants found. The city is running out of time.
The crisis brings Titus and Charlie togetherโTitus stumbles upon a body and finds himself a suspect. Their budding romance is tested as they are sucked into a web of underground laboratories, restive spirits, and religious fanaticism. Theyโll have to work together to find the identity of the killer before he takes his next victimโฆTitus.
Interview
Today Iโm very lucky to be interviewing J.K. Hogan, author of Shadows Fall.
Hi J.K., thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Hey, there! IRL Iโm a pretty normal gal, wife and mother and fur-mommy. I stay at home with my son and alternate between writing and graphic design.
I started out writing m/f paranormal romanceโI have a series of three books if anyone is so inclinedโbut I started writing exclusively m/m in the last couple of years. I just have more fun doing it.
My new release, Shadows Fall, is one Iโm super excited about. Itโs my first true thriller and Iโm in love with the subgenre. This book has so many different elements, it was almost impossible to categorizeโcrime drama, police procedural, a paranormal element, a tiny bit of sci-fi, and of course, romance. Iโm always my biggest critic, but I think it will keep you on the edge of your seats!
Do you have pictures that you use for your characters? Can you share them with us?
Good question! I usually donโt start with a picture. Often I find pictures after the fact that are a good match. In the case of Titus from Shadows Fall, I did find a picture that intrigued me and I hung onto it for inspiration. That picture was of my lovely cover model Joshua Brand.
This was the original picture, and of course you can see him on my cover and all over my website. LOL.
I see Charlie as a Scott Eastwood type. Itโs not an exact match but definitely close. ๐
What kind of book would you like to write that people would see as a huge departure for you?
Actually Shadows Fall is that book for me. Itโs definitely full of mystery and suspense, which is something Iโd always wanted to write but wasnโt sure I had the chops for. All of my m/m books so far have been contemporary, so this is something new. Iโm really happy with the way it turned out.
Have you ever killed a character? Was it traumatic for you? If you havenโt killed one, would you ever consider it?
Oh yes. In my m/f paranormal series, I killed off a lot of folks. However, Iโve never killed off a main character except in one case where she โdisappearsโ and thereโs no body, so maybe she wasnโt deadโฆ.LOL
And Shadows Fall is a bit of a slasher, so there are a lot of victims there.
I donโt think I could ever kill off one of my leading men, itโs just not what I do. I donโt like to read a lot of tragedy, so Iโm not likely to write it.
Favorite location youโve ever written about?
Isle of Arran, Scotland, UK. Thatโs where I set my very first book. Itโs the island where my husbandโs maternal grandmother lived. We were lucky enough to get to visit there a few years ago, and itโs just a magical setting.
Whatโs your favorite season and favorite activity for that season?
Toss-up between Fall and Winter. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am hot natured so I hate hot weather. Since I live in the South, I get a lot of it. I love all things fall, from hayrides and bonfires, to pumpkin patches and Halloween. (can you tell Iโm a country girl?)
I love winter too and anything related to snow. I love to ski, although I havenโt been able to go since my son was born. I figured Iโd wait until he was a little bit older before I started risking my neck again.
Give me colored leaves or snow and Iโm a happy girl!
Excerpt
I always hated walking home alone at night on the deserted city streets. But I couldnโt ask my employees to do something I was scared to do myself, so Iโd taken the late shift. In the dark, the wandering dead became nothing but sliding shadows and hissing whispers. The phrase ‘jumping at shadows’ is apt, because there were things in the shadows.
Those things slithered around me, feeling much more insidious in the murky stillness of the nighttime city. Hands in my pockets, I gripped my four inch pocket knife that I always carried. Fat lot of good it would do me against mule, but there was a killer on the loose after all.
It was ill-advised, but I still blasted my music inside my headphones. I didn’t want to hear what the spirits had to say in gloam. I mostly kept my eyes glued to the sidewalk in front of meโdon’t stand out, don’t make eye contact, make yourself invisibleโbut I cast glances all around my periphery to keep aware of my surroundings.
A tall, skinny man approached, heading toward me on the opposite side of the sidewalk. He wore dark jeans and a black hoodie with the hood pulled up, casting his face in shadow. I found that odd, as it was one of those warm, humid nights the Southern springtime was famous for. His dark eyes glittered at me from the empty void where his face should be, obviously a trick of the poor lighting.
As he passed me, he clipped my shoulder, throwing me off balance. I wanted to turn around and yell, but self-preservation intervened. I could probably take him in hand-to-hand, but he could be packing for all I knew. I put my head down and kept walking.
I yelped when a spirit appeared in front of meโunlike what movies and television showed, they didnโt usually just pop up. He was a young man, probably about my age, with pale skin, black hair, and eyes so blue they seemed otherworldlyโฆ and he was gorgeous. I blinked, hoping heโd disappear. No such luck.
He turned his head towards the building beside us that was being renovated, the entrance to which was blocked off with caution tape. Stretching out his left arm, he pointed to it, and I could see bone-deep gouges in his wrist and forearm. He glanced at me again. Look.
โNot tonight, okay?โ I mumbled, trying to step around him. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared and rematerialized right in front of me. See!
โNo,โ I said, getting angry. I walked straight through him. Usually when I passed through a spirit, I just felt a slick, oily cold sliding through my bodyโbut this burned like a vat of acid had been dumped over me. I screamed and fell to my knees.
He appeared in front of me again. As I looked up at him, still reeling from the pain, it occurred to me how new he must be. When a mulo first left its body, it still maintained some measure of its humanity. It was able to take and maintain a corporeal form more easily than the older spirits, and the ability faded with each day since its passing.
He pointed again and this time, his eyes took on a pleading quality. I could practically feel his anguish.
Struggling to my feet, I brushed myself off and sighed. โFine, Iโll look. But then you need to leave me the hell alone. I ducked under the caution tape strung across the doorless entry of the run-down building. It was almost pitch black inside, but I got a vague sense of sawhorses and scaffolds. Tip-toeing for some inconceivable reason, I made my way into some kind of vestibule or foyer. I didnโt notice anything that this mulo would be so desperate for me to see, but I couldnโt really see much at all.
My foot hit something solid and I was afraid to go any further into the dark. Who knew what kind of hazards were strewn about the construction site. I dug out my iPhone and swiped it to turn on the flashlight app. A bright light shone out of the camera flash and illuminated the dusty room in front of meโand the man lying all too still on the floor.
I screamed for the second time in five minutes, stumbled back against a plastic-draped scaffolding and dropped my phone. I assumed it landed screen up, because the room was suddenly plunged back into darkness. With my skin crawling, I felt around on the floor for the hard case. Instead, I grabbed a cold leg.
โHoly God!โ I shouted, scrambling backwards and sideways until my back hit a wall. My pulse pounded and my head was spinning with the urge to pass the fuck out, either from fright or hyperventilation. My muscles were on lockdown, frozen into that gray area between fight-or-flight, but I knew I had to find my phone so I could get the hell out of there.
And the bodyโฆ Iโd have to call someone. I poked around with the toe of my shoe, carefully avoiding the area of blackness where I thought the body was. Finally I felt the phone. I dragged it across the floor with my foot until I was able to pick it up. Everything was illuminated once again. โOh thank God,โ I said.
But once there was light, I could see him again. His head was turned to face away from me, but I knew that it was the guy from outside. Obviously heโd wanted me to find his body. It was laid out like a sacrifice, arms stretched out to reveal the deep cuts on his arms. I shivered. My brain was finally catching up to the situation, and I realized it was entirely possible that the killer could still be here.
I quickly got to my feet and lurched toward the dim light pooling at the doorway. As soon as I was out of there, I pressed my back up against the cool faรงade of the building and panted to catch my breath. I see the dead all the time, but Iโd never actually seen a dead body before. I wasnโt sure what to do; the only thing I could think was call Charlie.
With shaking hands, I pulled up his number on my phoneโI may have entered it from the business card he gave me after chasing Jay out of the shop. I pressed send and he picked up on the first ring.
โHale.โ
โCh-Charlie?โ
โWhoโs this?โ
โTitus.โ My voice was shaking and I was embarrassingly close to tears. โI need help.โ
โTell me where you are and Iโll be right there.โ
I rattled off my general location, already soothed by the sound of his voice, the confidence in it. โPlease hurry,โ I said.
โStay put, Iโm on my way.โ
Buy Link
Giveaway
Rafflecopter Prize:ย an e-book copy of โShadows Fallโ
Click here or on the image to enter the Rafflecopter
About the author
J.K. Hogan has been telling stories for as long as she can remember, beginning with writing cast lists and storylines for her toys growing up. When she finally decided to put pen to paper, magic happened. She is greatly inspired by all kinds of music and often creates a โsoundtrackโ for her stories as she writes them. J.K. is hoping to one day have a little something for everyone, so sheโs branched out from m/f paranormal romance and added m/m contemporary romance. Who knows whatโs next?
J.K. resides in North Carolina, where she was born and raised. A true southern girl at heart, she lives in the country with her husband and young son, a cat, and two champion agility dogs. If she isnโt on the agility field, J.K. can often be found chasing waterfalls in the mountains with her husband, or down in front at a blues concert. In addition to writing, she enjoys training and competing in dog sports, spending time with her large southern family, camping, boating and, of course, reading! For more information, please visitwww.jkhogan.com.
Where to find the author:
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJKHogan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JK_Hogan
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jkhoganbooks/
Tumblr: http://officialjkhogan.tumblr.com/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+JKHogan/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/jkhoganbooks
ย
Tour Dates & Stops
10-Jun
11-Jun
Cate Ashwood
12-Jun
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
15-Jun
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
16-Jun
Bayou Book Junkie
17-Jun
18-Jun
Divine Magazine
19-Jun
Mikky’s World of Books
Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings
22-Jun
23-Jun
Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves
24-Jun
MM Good Book Reviews
25-Jun
Up All Night, Read All Day
26-Jun
29-Jun
30-Jun
1-Jul
Prism Book Alliance
2-Jul
Hearts on Fire
3-Jul
6-Jul
7-Jul
Leave a Reply