Okay...fair enough. In these hard economic times 30 bucks is a lot of money for two books.
I'm curious to see how much free stuff will need to be added to the deal before somebody pulls the trigger and makes that purchase.
Here we go:
Gratia Placenti + Dirty Martini (JA Konrath hardcover) + Secret of the Bones (Teri Jacobs TPB)
to the first person who orders a hc Gratia Placenti.
Let the socio-economic test begin!
Today's special is as such:
Buy the hardcover of Gratia Placenti and receive a hardcover copy of Dirty Martini for free!
JA Konrath has a gruesome story in Gratia Placenti. Ja Konrath wrote Dirty Martini (the fourth novel in his "Jack Daniels" series). See how this game works?
The kicker with this special is that I have only the one copy of Dirty Martini, so it will go to the first person who places the order for Gratia Placenti.
I will post a comment to this blog when somebody has won the game.
So, go kill two birds with one stone and order Gratia Placenti.
Interviewed by Kimberly Colley
KC: Why did you choose to write your current series of novels from a female POV?
KC: Why did you choose to write your current series of novels from a female POV?
JK: Chicago is the second largest police force in the country (and often the murder capitol as well), and still very much an old boys network. Sexism abounds. I wanted an underdog hero, so I made my hero a woman who had to fight chauvinism as well as crime.
The fact that women buy 80% of all fiction may have played a small part too.
KC: Do you have any help with getting the details of the feminine POV right?
KC: Do you have any help with getting the details of the feminine POV right?
JK: Coincidentally, both my wife and my mom are women. So are my agent and editor. If I get anything wrong, they pounce.
KC: What kind of research do you do for each book?
KC: What kind of research do you do for each book?
JK: I'm on the Internet a lot, but that's mostly surfing porn. Don't tell the IRS, because I'm deducting my ISP bill.
As for research, I use magazines.
Okay, I'm lying... those are also porn.
But I probably do some sort of research, I bet.
KC: One of my favorite characters from the Jack Daniels series is one that I rarely get to see, though he features as the protagonist of "Suffer" -- Phineas Troutt. Will we see more of Phin in future novels?
JK: Thanks! Phin has been in Whiskey Sour, Rusty Nail, and will play a large role in Fuzzy Navel (June 2008.) He may be in later books as well, but he keeps demanding more money, and is difficult to work with.
KC: Can we expect to see more short stories about him?
JK: He's been in four so far. "Suffer" was in Ellery Queen. "Epitaph" was in the Thriller anthology edited by James Patterson. "Street Music" is available on Amazon in a 49 cent download called "Six Pack of Crime." And "Bereaved" is in the anthology These Guns for Hire edited by me. I figured since I edited the damn thing, I can stick a story in.
KC: Phin is a new slant on the anti-hero -- what prompted you to create him?
KC: Phin is a new slant on the anti-hero -- what prompted you to create him?
JK: I wanted a character who became morally ambiguous because he's dying. He's what happens when a person gives up hope.
Phin was actually the hero of my first (unsold) novel. But it's tough to sell a series when the hero is half-dead and getting worse. By book four he'd be chasing bad guys in a wheelchair with his wet nurse holding his IV and his oncologist helping him aim his Glock. Don't even get me started on catheters...
KC: In addition to your Jack Daniels police procedural mysteries, you also write a fair amount of horror, including your short story, "Symbios," which appeared in Apex's Issue 6. Even your mysteries have a generous splash of graphic horror to them, with their emphasis on serial killers. Which genre are you more drawn to?
KC: In addition to your Jack Daniels police procedural mysteries, you also write a fair amount of horror, including your short story, "Symbios," which appeared in Apex's Issue 6. Even your mysteries have a generous splash of graphic horror to them, with their emphasis on serial killers. Which genre are you more drawn to?
JK: I love horror. I enjoy writing creepy, gross, and sinister stuff, probably because fear is such a base, raw emotion. We're all afraid of death and pain. Writing should touch a nerve, and fear is a fun one to touch.
KC: Do you plan on writing a "straight" horror novel sometime in the foreseeable future? If so, can you tell us about that?
KC: Do you plan on writing a "straight" horror novel sometime in the foreseeable future? If so, can you tell us about that?
JK: I'm working on a stand alone horror novel right now, but I have to keep it hush hush. Suffice to say, it's about a possessed car that kills people.
Oh, wait. That was Carrie. And Maximum Overdrive. and From a Buick 8. What the hell kind of problem does Stephen King have with cars?
KC: In "Symbios." you detail the degeneration of a human being from an average Joe to a ruthless cannibal. In "Suffer," you examine the realm of sadistic sexual torture and murder. Why are your monsters all human?
JK: I don't believe in the supernatural, or evil as any sort of entity or force. There are bad people who do bad things, and their motivation fascinates me.
Plus it's fun to write about things I'd never do. As far as you know.
KC: What scares you?
JK: F. Paul Wilson once said to me, over drinks, that people lose a lot of body parts in my stories. I never noticed that before. Apparently, I'm subconsciously afraid of having things lopped off.
I'm also afraid of Rob Schneider. I'm afraid he'll keep making movies.
KC: Back to the real world now, your blog is arguably the most helpful site in the blogosphere for aspiring and beginning writers trying to learn the ropes. What prompted you to reach out to struggling writers?
KC: Back to the real world now, your blog is arguably the most helpful site in the blogosphere for aspiring and beginning writers trying to learn the ropes. What prompted you to reach out to struggling writers?
JK: I appreciate the kind words. No one helped me get published, so I promised myself I'd help as many other people as I can.
KC: Who are you reading right now (blogs or books)?
JK: I just finished Dark Gold by David Angsten and The Ruins by Scott Smith. Both were solid, scary reads. As for blogs, I read a ton of them. Check my blog for links (www.jakonrath.blogspot.com)
KC: When's your next novel coming out, and can you give us a sketch of the story?
KC: When's your next novel coming out, and can you give us a sketch of the story?
JK: Dirty Martini comes out in 2007. Jack is chasing an extortionist who is poisoning food around Chicagoland. My goal is to make readers look in their refrigerators and freak out, because absolutely anything---canned goods, sealed bottles, plastic packaged items, fruits and cooked food---can be tampered with.
It's ridiculously easy to kill someone using poison. Or so I've heard.
KC: What other projects do you have on the burners, and where can we find more of your short fiction?
JK: I've got lots of things I'm working on, probably. I'd tell you about them, but I have to get on the Internet right now to, um, research some things.
Thanks for the interview. But next time, I get to ask the questions...
JA Konrath is one of those pay-it-forward kind of guys I'm always talking about on the blog. His website, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, has been a beacon for upstart writers and professional authors for a long, long time. Not only that, but he's a relentless promotional machine for his own work and for the work of others in the field.
Being a good samaritan alone does not get you Featured Writer status. It turns out that JA Konrath is also a fabulous writer. He's earned a legion of fans with his trio of "Jack Daniels" thriller/mystery novels: Bloody Mary, Whisky Sour, and Rusty Nail. He's been in most horror and mystery related professional fiction magazines and recentely appeared in an anthology with some of the biggest names in the industry such as David Morrell, Tom Piccirilli, and more.
Tomorrow, we interview Mr. Konrath.
Tonight, below the cut, we present you "Suffer", a story based in his "Jack Daniels" world.
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