Frequently Asked Questins - Jennifer Ashley

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where can I find your books?

You can find my books in most retail bookstores (independents, Borders, Barnes&Noble, Waldenbooks, Books A Million, and others). Walmart, Target, grocery stores, drug stores, and some airport stores carry my books when they're first released.

If you're looking for backlist (books older than six months), go to Borders, B&N, Booksamillion, and indies. If these stores don't have the book you are looking for on the shelves, they will order it for you for no extra charge.

My books are also available online from Amazon, B&N.com, Powells Books, Borders, Books A Million, and others. You can also order directly from Dorchester's website and Berkley's website. Most titles are also available as e-books from Fictionwise/B&N.com, Amazon Kindle, Sony, and other places e-books are sold.

2. Why do you write under so many pseudonyms?

I sold my first romance as Jennifer Ashley, then was offered contracts for more romances and a murder mystery series from two different publishers at about the same time. The publishers asked that I take two names.

However, since the mystery series and romance series had such different flavors (mysteries were dark, gritty and in first person; romances were light and humorous and in third person), it probably was a good thing.

Later I ventured into romantic erotica, mostly because I wanted to see whether I'd enjoy writing it. I decided to take another pseudonym, because I wasn't certain I'd be successful. I was able to sell books to Ellora's Cave and then Berkley, using that pseudonym, and I've now penned quite a few books as Allyson James.

Again, the books are a little different. Allyson James's style is hotter and more contemporary than the Jennifer Ashley romances.

3. Will there be more books in the Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie series?

Yes. I changed publishers, and the rest of the series will be published by Berkley starting in July 2010. The order of the books will be:

Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage (July 2010)

The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (April 2011)

The Duke Takes a Wife (Oct. 2011)

See the Mackenzies series page for more information on the series.

4. Will there be more books in the Pride Mates series?

Yes. Book Two is titled Primal Bonds and will be published by Berkley in March 2011. I will post more about it when I know more about it.

See the Shifters series page for more information on the series.

5. What is the Immortals series? and in what order should it be read?

The Immortals is a series I dreamed up long ago and pitched to Dorchester as a continuity series. It involves five Immortal warriors who long ago were called upon to protect people from the forces of death-magic (vampires, demons, and other baddies). It's been a long time since they were Called to save the world, and they've become bad boys, wiling away their time doing whatever they want. But now one of their number has gone rogue and a group of witches called the Circle of Light have to find them.

The first book, The Calling (by Jennifer Ashley) is about the oldest brother, Adrian, and the witch who needs him. This book sets up the story arc, which continues with The Darkening by Robin T. Popp and The Awakening by Joy Nash, with the grande finale, The Gathering, by Jennifer Ashley. We have werewolves, vamps, Sidhe, demons galore, and other fun stuff.

The series continued in 2008-2009 with Tain's story The Redeeming. Joy and Robin followed up with stories set in the world: The Crossing and The Haunting. The anthology, The Reckoning, has more stories set in the Immortals world, by all three authors.

The Calling -- May 2007
The Darkening -- June 2007
The Awakening -- Aug 2007
The Gathering -- Sep 2007

The Redeeming (Jennifer Ashley) -- Sept. 2008
The Crossing (Joy Nash) -- Oct. 2008
The Haunting (Robin Popp) -- Nov. 2008
The Reckoning (anthology) (Jennifer Ashley, Joy Nash and Robin Popp) -- March 2009

6. What are the books in the Penelope & Prince Charming series?

The first paranormal historical book is Penelope and Prince Charming, followed by The Mad, Bad Duke, and then a third about the Highlander, Egan MacDonald (Highlander Ever After), who appears in the first two books. A fourth story involving Egan's sister Mary and a Nvengarian baron will appear in a Regency Christmas collection. The connection in this series is that all the stories involve Nvengarians, volatile, passionate people from a tiny country in the Balkans. Each book is loosely based around a fairy tale (very loosely):

Penelope and Prince Charming -- Cinderella
The Mad, Bad Duke -- Beauty and the Beast
Highlander Ever After -- Snow White (and the Seven Highlanders)
"The Longest Night" (Mary's story) in A Christmas Ball -- Little Red Riding Hood

7. What are the books in the Pirate series?

There are three Regency Pirate romances (in publication order): The Pirate Next Door, The Pirate Hunter, and The Care and Feeding of Pirates.

8. Do I have to read the Pirate series in order?

Not necessarily. While The Pirate Next Door and The Pirate Hunter are closely linked, The Care and Feeding of Pirates is more of a stand-alone.

The hero of Care and Feeding, Christopher Raine, does not appear in the other two books, nor do any of the incidents described in it. The link is Honoria Ardmore, who appears briefly in The Pirate Hunter. I hadn't planned to write another Pirate book before I wrote Care & Feeding, but I wanted Honoria to have a happy ending!

9. What is your Regency mystery series?

The Regency mysteries are written under the pseudonym of Ashley Gardner. In it, an ex-cavalry officer, Captain Gabriel Lacey, returns to London from the Peninsular War and finds himself caught up in investigating crimes.

Captain Lacey is a romance hero that I put into a mystery world. The books are darker than the romances; I contrast the decadence of the Regency world to the poverty and the problems of the time.

The books are published by Berkley and appear in the following order:

1. The Hanover Square Affair (Dec. 2003)

2. A Regimental Murder (May 2004)

3. The Glass House (Dec. 2004)

4. The Sudbury School Murders (June 2005)

5. A Body in Berkeley Square (Dec. 2005)

6. A Covent Garden Mystery (July 2006)

10. Will there be any more Captain Lacey mysteries?

I hope so. I would like to take the series to ten books. However, my editor at Berkley left, I am writing many other things for both Berkley and Dorchester, and I haven't had time to pitch to another publisher. When that happens I will post the info. on my blog and websites.

11. Is Perils of the Heart part of a series?

At this point, Perils of the Heart is a stand-alone book. I wrote it to fulfill a one-book contract, and it is not connected to the other Pirate stories in any way. However--I do plan to someday write a story about Lord Rudolph, a secondary character in Perils.

12. How did you get published?

Hard work, persistence, and luck. I had actually given up ever being a romance writer after I sent in Perils of the Heart. It was about my seventh historical romance, and I was tired of rejections. So, I started shopping the Regency mystery series, and fortunately, interested an agent in it. He in turn interested a publisher (Berkley), who contracted me for three books.

At about the same time, the submission that I had forgotten about (Perils of the Heart) sparked interest at Dorchester, and they offered to buy it. After that, I wrote The Pirate Next Door, which Dorchester bought, offering a three-book contract. That contract became the Pirate series. And then things went from there.

So the hard work came with writing many books beforehand, the persistence was sending out queries to agents and submitting stories even when thought I didn't have the ghost of a chance. The luck was--well luck!

13. After you got published, did you sell all those manuscripts tucked away in your "drawer?"

No. Everything that's out now I wrote after I contracted Perils of the Heart and the first mystery. My first mss. were learning tools, and the writing is not strong enough, in my opinion, for publication. (There is a reason those mss. got rejected!)

One or two story ideas (particularly the ms. that finaled in the Golden Heart) might make it if I rewrote the books, but the rest will remain in the drawer. :-)

What I've learned is that getting just anything you write published is not a good idea--it should be only your very best work.

14. I want to be a writer and have my novel published. Where do I start?

There are scores of books out there to help you. A good one is Donald Maass's The Career Novelist. That will give you the basics of how to go about getting and staying published.

There are many books on craft--go to the Writer's Digest web site and browse their books. You might also want to look at magazines such as Writer's Digest, The Writer, or Poets and Writers. Browse your bookstore and library shelves for books on specific genres like romance, mysteries, horror, and fantasy.

Join a local writer's group. There you will meet people who can become critique partners, and you'll have the chance to listen to published authors and other professionals in the business speak.

To get started on a novel--just start. There is no magic formula for writing a book. The best thing to do is to read voraciously and then write what really speaks to you. Learning to write is a lot of trial and error. Some people sell the very first novel they attempt to write. Some people sell the tenth one. Each writer is different, as is each writer's path to success.

Look at my "Tips for Writers" page www.jennifersromances.com/writerstips for notes on launching your career and finding and contacting an agent.