Interview with Author Jess Frankel!

Please welcome author Jess Frankel to Jemsbooks, Interview an Author. It is a pleasure to have you here, Jess. Let’s begin your interview so we can learn more about you.

1. Please tell us something about yourself.

I was born in Toronto, Canada a number of years back, moved to Japan at the age of twenty-six, and never really left. I’ve been here over half my life…and that is a long time. I married a lovely woman from Osaka and we make our home there with our two sons.

2. When did you know that you wanted to be an author?

At a very late age, really. I started writing in my late forties on a whim—a little voice in the back of my head said “Write!”—and I did, penning my first novel at the age of forty-eight. I’ve written primarily Young Adult as that is a very important time in the life of a person where the choices seem to take on a greater importance than at any other time, and I also like the possibility of exploring new worlds and meeting the new and the unusual.

3. What process do you need in order to write?

I only need some quiet time, which is why I write at night when my wife and children are asleep. It means a lot of sleep deprivation for me, but I have to do what I have to do. It’s a compulsion to write, really. I simply want to tell a good story and this is the only time I can organize my thoughts.

4. Please share your books with us and a synopsis of each.

I’ve written a number of books, but the ones I’m proudest of are Death Bytes, which is a story about resurrection in a computer form (an avatar) and it explores what consciousness consists of. There’s lots of action along with a little romance, very chaste and cute at the same time.

I’m also very proud of the Catnip trilogy in which a young transgenic researcher meets a hybrid cat-girl who’s the embodiment of his research. They face off against science gone bad and mad, and there’s plenty of action and even, yes, a little romance. (The final Catnip novel will be out in August.)

An upcoming novel, Mr. Taxi, has our hero as an interstellar cab driver who gets involved with a smuggling ring and has to fight his conscience over earning more money versus doing the right thing. The Menagerie (due out in September or October) is about a young girl who’s been kidnapped in order to serve as a nanny to a group of intergalactic critters. As an animal hater, she grows to love them and they in turn, her. No romance per se, but a lot of action and this novel gives a new twist on the old “beauty is only skin deep” trope. I’ve written a number of other novels, but those are my favorites.

5. How do you come up with ideas for your stories?

Great question! I look through news feeds, watch YouTube videos, and read the newspaper. Above all, I let my mind go free and always think “What if?”

6. What projects are you currently working on?

Right now I’m editing two novels which I hope to have ready sometime later on this year. Both are YA, both have action, and both will have a little romance…but I can’t give any details yet as they’re not finished.

7. What do you expect to accomplish in 2015?

Hopefully, finish what I started at the beginning of the year and make my presence a bit more known on Facebook and other social media sites. The competition is very tough, but really, all I’d like to do is to write a solid book that everyone can enjoy. I always tell myself that if it’s good enough, people will buy it, and while I know that life doesn’t always work that way, it’s nice to dream.

8. Please share your links and where to purchase your books.

Here are the links to Amazon.com where anyone can purchase my novels. I think that they’re reasonably priced and can be downloaded instantly.

Catnip

Catnip 2: Rise of the Transgenics

Death Bytes

Link to author’s page

9. Is there anything else you would like to share?

Just to say that I appreciate the opportunity to be interviewed and that I hope people will give my books a looksee. YA is a GREAT market, and there are a lot of books to choose from. I can only hope that they’ll give mine a chance.

Thank you, Jess, for coming today. I enjoyed learning more about you and your fascinating books. I wish you much success. I will be checking  out your links soon.

Thank you, readers, for stopping by to read about another interesting author. Please visit Jess Frankel’s links to peruse his wonderful books. If you purchase an author’s books please leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads or other purchase sites. Reviews are important to authors and lets us know what you like about our work and if we should continue to write in the same genre.

Update – 8/25/15 – Here is link to new book by Jesse Frankel:

Catnip 3: Revolution

REMEMBER: READING GIVES YOU WINGS TO FLY!

Blessings!

-Janice-