Get to know featured author Jennifer Derrick.

Jennifer is a freelance writer and novelist. As a freelancer, she writes everything from technical manuals to articles on personal finance and European-style board games. Her interest in storytelling began when she was six and her parents gave her a typewriter for Christmas and agreed to pay her $.01 per page for any stories she churned out. Such a loose payment system naturally led to a lot of story padding. Broken Fate, her first novel, earned her $2.80 from her parents.

Jennifer lives in North Carolina and, when not writing, can often be found reading, trawling the shelves at the library, playing board games, watching sports, camping, running marathons, and playing with her dog.

Pop Culture Moments in the life of Jennifer Derrick 

Pop culture is a huge part of my life. As a writer, TV, movies, music and books give me inspiration and teach me what can be achieved in various storytelling mediums. (Of course, they also teach me what can flop like a dying fish, as well.) Here’s a collection of ten pop culture moments of my life.

The book that made me want to be a writer.

I’ll catch heck for this, but it was Gone With the Wind. I read it in fifth grade and I just couldn’t believe that someone could spin such an epic story with so much drama and romance. When I read that Margaret Mitchell wrote it while recuperating after a broken leg, I kind of hoped I’d break my leg, too. I had some kind of magical belief system going that there was a connection between broken bones and great novels.

Last TV show I binged.

I wish I could say something geeky and cool, but it was the Great British Baking Show. It’s the only reality TV I can stand. The judges are fair and there’s no backstabbing or snark from the contestants. It’s a very polite battle, made all the more polite-sounding by the British accents. The cake either rises or it doesn’t, no one eats bugs, and there’s no hair pulling.

My all-time favorite movie.

The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, the original Star Wars was awesome, but Empire combined heightened stakes, emotional involvement, and character development with the space battles and became something special. And it had Yoda.

Last album I listened to.

I don’t listen to too many entire albums these days, owing to my ever-changing musical tastes. I just can’t commit to an album. But I did listen to the soundtrack from The Kingsmen start to finish. Excellent combination of retro hits, angry music, and music legends-to-be.

First album I ever bought.

Probably the soundtrack to Grease. It was our musical in elementary school and I wanted to learn all the songs. It was years, though, before I figured out that the lyric, “and we throw away conventionality” didn’t say, “and we throw away the mentionality.” Like that was even a word.

The classic book I pretend to have read.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It’s the only book I read the Cliff’s Notes for in high school. (Apologies to my teachers.) I just could not get through it. I learned enough to get a D on the test and moved on. But I tell everyone that I read it. I figure that it counts since I passed the test.

Movie that I should have loved, but didn’t.

The Lord of the Rings. I loved the books and the whole world seemed to love the movie. It had Orlando Bloom in his prime for crying out loud! But it just fell flat for me. I kept thinking, “That’s not how I saw it in my head.” It was a huge disappointment and I still haven’t gotten over it.

Favorite TV show that was cancelled too early? Too late?

Both of these are Nathan Fillion projects for me. Firefly was cancelled way too soon. With that cast and universe? They could have churned out compelling stories for years. The one that went on too long? Castle. I loved it for seven years and then the writers just destroyed it when Castle and Beckett went through the fake separation. By the time they killed it off after season eight, it was a mercy killing.

What I’m reading now.

I try to keep one serious book and one fluff book going at a time. The serious book is The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, by Joshua Hammer. The fluff is Falling, by Jane Green.

The fictional place that I’d like to move to.

I’m still waiting for my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. But if I can’t go there, I’ll happily move to eighteenth-century Scotland to live with Jamie Fraser from Outlander.

Want more Jennifer? Click to read Four truths and a lie with Jennifer Derrick.

Giveaway

Enter to win Clean Teen Publishing Mystery Box (Intl winner would get eBook prizes)

 

Title: Avenging Fate (Threads of the Moirae #2) by Jennifer Derrick
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Publication date: September 12th 2016
Genres: Mythology, Romance, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Still reeling after killing the man she loved, Atropos turns her attention to the twin tasks of avenging his death and freeing humanity from the deadly grip of the Keres. When she sets out on a murderous mission to retrieve her shears, her only aide is her temperamental ex-boyfriend, Ares. He is fickle at best, traitorous at worst, and assistance from him may be worse than none at all.

Along the way, she allies with a group of powerful supernaturals and learns that the crimes of the gods are more twisted and far-reaching than she realized. What begins as a quest for vengeance becomes a journey through betrayal, loss, love, and hope. It ignites a war that will pit Atropos against the gods in a battle for the freedom of humanity.

Avenging Fate is the second book in The Threads of Moirae Series by Jennifer Derrick.

Click to add Avenging Fate to your Goodreads shelf.

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