If you’ve been following us on Twitter, then you might have started seeing a lot of #CMC15 tweets. If you haven’t, well guess what, you’re going to see a lot the next time you visit Twitter. Literary Escapism is one of the featured bloggers for Coastal Magic Convention 2015 and we get the extreme pleasure of showcasing some of the fabulous authors you’ll get to meet if you join LE in Daytona Beach next February. Yes, I said next February…in other words, start planning your winter escape and come join LE in Florida!
For this month’s #CMC15 feature, I got to talk to the fantastic Jaime Rush, author of the Offspring and Hidden.
The Hidden: Miami, a city of decadence, sunshine, and Dragons, Angels, and Sorcerers. As humans who hold the essence of ancient gods, Crescents walk the knife’s edge between the mundane and the Hidden, a world of dark magick, deadly power, and hot passion.
The Offspring: A group of twenty-somethings live ordinary lives but possess extraordinary psychic abilities. They are the Offspring of parents involved in a mysterious experiment gone awry. Sexy…dangerous…outcasts… They are being hunted by the government and others like them. Together they must find the truth and fight an enemy out to destroy them.
Jaime also writes as RWA’s Golden Heart and RT Reviewer’s Choice award winning Tina Wainscott, and will be releasing the third novel in her new Justiss Alliance series, Wild Nights, on November 4th.
Getting sent to Decadence, a hedonistic Caribbean resort, sounds like a plum assignment—until Saxby Cole finds out he’s to investigate a heinous scheme where innocent women are being drugged and prostituted to resort guests.
When Jennessy Shaw’s boyfriend dumps her right before their vacation, she goes to Decadence alone to explore her wild side. By the end of the first night, she’s not sure she has one. Which is why it’s so shocking when she wakes in a sexier-than-sin stranger’s room with no memory of the night before.
Sax would love nothing more than to send this sweet beauty home, but no way is Jennessy bailing. Not only does she find the scheme horrendous, now it’s personal. Jennessy turns out to be a valuable partner in the investigation, but he’s more surprised to find that his confirmed bachelor self needs her in other ways, too. As they work together to unearth the dark shadows of this island paradise, will they survive to explore her hidden wild side?
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Interview
Literary Escapism: For those of my readers unfamiliar with the Hidden series, can you give us a brief look at this series and what readers can look forward to? Something we haven’t seen yet?
Jaime Rush: The Hidden is about humans who hold the essence of sorcerer gods, dragon gods, or fallen angels who walk the knife’s edge between Miami and a hidden world of magic, passion, and danger.
It starts with two digital novellas, Dragon Mine and Dragon Rising, which are intertwined stories about twin dragonshifters. The background villain plays a pivotal role in the last book of the trilogy,Angel Seduced.
The three actual books are a trilogy, really, with an overriding arc, yet each book stands alone. They take place in contemporary Miami, with, as you’d guess from the Hidden moniker, a secret society.
LE: Is there any particular legend or mythology that you came across that was the root of inspiration for you that was used more than others or was there a wide source?
JR: I really wanted to create my own mythology, since many authors have done a bang-up job using real mythologies. At the base of mine, though, is Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle. Theories abound that Atlantis is deep beneath the Triangle, the cause of all the mysteries there. I expanded on that, creating a mystical island populated by people who worshipped dragon gods, magick gods, and angels. When a confluence of events gives those gods an opportunity to become human, you can imagine the naughtiness that ensued. Which is how my humans end up with their magick. :)
LE: Can you introduce us to a few of the side characters that we’ll be meeting throughout the Hidden series?
JR: Dragon Awakened – Ruby is one of my favorite characters. She doesn’t know she has magick until the uncle who raised her is murdered in a bizarre way. Then she’s thrust into the Hidden under the tutelage of Cyn, a sinfully dark dragonshifter who shows her that she, too, is a dragon. I love how the reader is introduced to the world through her eyes.
In that, the first book of the trilogy, we meet Kade, a sorcerer, who features in Magic Possessed. When he’s tasked with executing a so-called rebel named Violet, from the unruly dragon clans, he finds the first assignment in which he willingly fails.
LE: Was there any character that didn’t make as big of an impact on the story that you thought they would? Was there a character who stayed on the page longer than you thought they would?
JR: I thought Kade’s sister, Mia, might be a future heroine, but she ended up being anxious and whiny, and then she ended up with one of Violet’s brothers!
Grayson, who appears briefly in Dragon Awakened, is a fallen angel descendant whose story intrigued me. I knew he harbored great pain and was interested in the reason.
LE: For those of my readers unfamiliar with the Offspring novels, can you give us a brief look at this series and what readers can look forward to? Something we haven’t seen yet?
JR: A group of twenty-somethings live ordinary lives but possess extraordinary psychic abilities. They are the Offspring of parents involved in a mysterious experiment gone awry. Sexy…dangerous…outcasts… They are being hunted by the government and others like them. Together they must find the truth and fight an enemy out to destroy them.
The Offspring series, which spanned six books and three novellas, and is complete, is a mix of elements from the television shows X-FILES and LOST: government conspiracies, psychic abilities, mysteries, and my characters being thrown together to figure it all out. In the later books, I created Darkness, a dark energy that allows some characters to become a dangerous, black creature.
LE: Since creating your world in A Perfect Darkness, has there been anything you’ve regretting starting or wish you had started sooner? Was there something that worked out great inA Perfect Darkness, but now you wish you had done differently?
JR: I wish I’d introduced the Darkness element right away. I was writing books that were Tweens, meaning that they were beyond normal romantic suspense because of the psychic elements, but they weren’t really paranormal in the sense of having shifters and creatures.
LE: What was your inspiration when you created your characters and the worlds they live in? How did you determine how they were going to interact with each other?
JR: I am always drawn by a situation, and then I get to figure out how they got into it and how they get out? For the Offspring, I was inspired by the X-Files, as well as the world of psychic abilities and government secrets. And as I said, throwing them all together with their very different personalities.
For the Hidden, it was the beautiful, big danger of magick and how it can corrupt. I loved that Ruby had to accept this terrible reality, and gorgeous danger, and to grow into a woman who was truly strong and not just tough on the outside. That the one man who can help her harbors a dark secret that could destroy their relationship made it all the more juicy.
LE: What are you working on? What do readers have to look forward to?
JR: For now, the Hidden and the Offspring are complete, though I do have other stories in mind for when the market changes. I am thrilled to bring back my Tina Wainscott name in two ways. I’ve been reissuing my older romantic suspense books digitally, and I’m working on a new series for Random House. When five Navy SEALs take the fall for a covert mission gone wrong, the brotherhood of bad-asses signs on at the Justiss Alliance to use their skills to exact justice for those who can’t fight back. An intro novella (Wild Hearts) and the first two books (Wild on You and Wild Ways) are out now, and the third – Wild Nights – comes out November 4th. These are available digitally. There will be three more books out in the next year or so.
LE: What was it about the fantasy genre that drew you to write in it? Was there a certain book that captured your imagination and lead you to think you could do it or did it come to you naturally?
JR: I’ve always been drawn to the paranormal, specifically psychic abilities. I’ve written three Soul Change novels, where the heroine dies and comes back in another woman’s body. I’ve explored where souls go when a person is in a coma, near death experiences, and psychic connections. The Offspring took it to another level, and the Hidden shot me way into the paranormal. I loved the world building, but it was a huge undertaking with hundreds of details to manage and figure out.
LE: What are you most looking forward to at Coastal Magic Convention 2015?
JR: I’m looking forward to connecting with readers and authors, seeing old friends and making new ones!
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Meet Jaime Rush!
Things that go bump in the night have always fascinated Jaime Rush. Sometimes those things are human; other times, not so much. Her new Hidden series reveals humans with the essence of gods who walk the knife’s edge between Miami and a magical world of passion and danger. Part dragon, angel, or sorcerer, they must fight their own kind, demons, and the lure of their darkest nature. Jaime is the author of the award-winning Offspring series and writes romantic suspense as Tina Wainscott. Altogether she has published twenty-four novels and five novellas.
Contact Info: Jaime Rush | Tina Wainscott | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | GoodReads | Amazon | Yahoo Groups
Want to purchase Jaime’s novels?
Hidden
- Dragon Mine (novella)
- Dragon Rising (novella)
- Dragon Awakened
- Magic Possessed
- Angel Seduced
Offspring
- A Perfect Darkness
- Out of the Darkness
- Touching Darkness
- Burning Darkness
- Beyond the Darkness
- The Darkness Within
- Turn to Darkness
- Darkness Becomes Her
- The End Of Darkness
Justiss Alliance (writing as Tina Wainscott)
- Wild Hearts
- Wild on You
- Wild Ways
- Wild Nights (Nov 4, 2014)
- Wild Ties (June 9, 2015)
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Contest Time!
Thank you Jaime/Tina for taking the time to stop by Literary Escapism!
Sounds like an interesting book, though I have to say it drives me crazy when “magic” is written as “magick,” lol. I’m not sure which is right, though.
Wow, these look pretty steamy.
Great giveaway!
What a fantastic interview. It is always fun to read insight into books through the author interviews. Thanks for sharing.