Welcome to Fallen Angels Reviews, Jeanine Berry. It is a pleasure and honor to interview you. In the last four years, you have published a variety of books within the SF and Fantasy genre along with a YA Mystery.

How long have you been writing? What inspired you to write?

I started scribbling down stories in junior high. My English teacher asked us to write a short story. Mine was called “A stitch in time saves nine” and featured a young hero who outsmarted the villain, foiled an evil plot and saved all nine planets in our solar system. As you can see, I was an SF fan at a very young age!

I kept on writing all through high school, producing three novels which I eventually destroyed. They were my “learning experience.” After college, I started working for a newspaper and most of my writing energy went into journalism. Marriage and a family also kept me busy. Then the Internet came along, and I heard about the great opportunities in e-publishing. So I dug out a fantasy novel I’d started long ago and never forgotten, finished it and sent it off. That was my first published book, Dayspring Dawning.

I’m thrilled to say my Dayspring books have gotten a great reception from readers and reviewers alike. Dayspring Dawning was a 2003 Eppie finalist for best fantasy novel, and I learned just this week that Dayspring Destiny is a 2004 Eppie finalist for best fantasy novel.

Dayspring Dawning is the first in a series set on Earth in a dimension where Atlantis did not disappear but flourished. How did you come up with this idea?

I’ve always believed that Atlantis once existed. Who wouldn’t want to write about a great civilization where mystical powers flourished? From there, it was only a step to wondering what would have happened if history were altered and Atlantis didn’t perish in a massive disaster. So I created Atlaua on an alternate Earth and told the story of the House of Lohenrin where a select cadre of psychic adepts learn to control the forces of nature.

You have the ability to tell creatively retell a myth with such appeal that the reader would love to live there. Is there exercises you do that help or do the stories appear like an artifact?

So many readers have told me they love my world building, and asked me where my ideas come from. All I can say is that these worlds just appear in my mind. To me they are as real as any place on Earth, old familiar places that I can visit in my imagination whenever I want. I love to build things. I often dream about houses where new rooms and secret passages magically appear. So when it came time to create a school for wizards for Dayspring Dawning, I at once pictured the great House of Lohenrin by the sea and began to explore its many rooms, especially the magnificent Crystal Chamber. In my stories, I use the landscapes I love—the sea, the mountains, the desert—and my characters are often traveling somewhere!

Along with the Dayspring Series, you are a part of the Twilight Crossings team. Will you continue Sonneret and Akhilesh in the Twilight Crossings II or write something different?

I was doubly thrilled this week to learn that Twilight Crossings is a 2004 Eppie finalist for best anthology. The four of us are hard at work to make Twilight Crossings II even better! I’m working on a new and fresh story for the second anthology, and I’m very excited about it. I’ve taken an old fairy tale about a princess and a well and turned it into a story that I think is quite unusual. It’s called The Well of Forever, and it begins when Lord Demor brings his slave Caireya to the long-lost city of Maricor against her will. He wants to use her scrying talent to find the forbidden wand of Lohar—the very wand that caused a great Cataclysm that nearly destroyed the world. Caireya knows she must find and destroy the wand before Demor unleashes a great evil, but to do that, she will have to unlock the deadly secret of the Well of Forever.

I’ve had a great time writing The Well of Forever, but I haven’t given up on Sonneret and the Gateworld either. Only, I realized my next Gateworld story deserves a full-length novel and will require more time to write. But I have the story plotted out, and I’ll be starting it soon.

Will you continue the Dayspring Series? I know I would love to read more. Will you continue with Elinna story or tell a different story of Gaea?

Yes, I’m continuing the Dayspring Series. I’ve just finished the edits for The Secret Sky, my third book set in Atlaua. In The Secret Sky, I journey back to the time before Dayspring Dawning and Dayspring Destiny to tell the story of Aren Lohenrin, the founder of the House of Lohenrin. Aren is a healer in the Temple in Ruther, but when tragedy destroys his faith, he renounces the Sky Gods and calls down the S’hazon, alien gods from another dimension. As his new House of Lohenrin and the Temple battle for dominance, Aren seeks the Heart Stone that will decide the ultimate fate of Atlaua.

How is your SF erotic different from you SF and Fantasy books?

The obvious difference is that the SF erotica has that “extra sizzle” of explicit sexuality. After all, SF and fantasy is all about exploring what makes human beings tick, and sex is a big part of that. In fact, most societies are structured around how they handle the sexual drive. I enjoyed exploring this issue in Destiny Earth, my Ailunnean shapeshifter book, where I created a culture of shapeshifters who used sex to restore their energy after shifting. The Ailunneans crash land on Earth in the sequel, Alien Seduction, and the heroine, Etaoine, seeks her lovemate among the Earthlings. In the Sex Gates series, I and my co-author Darrell Bain take a look at what would happen to our world if people had the freedom to change sex at will. In that book, thousands of gates appear mysteriously on Earth one day. If you go through one, your sex is changed—and you also emerge young again and healthy. Would you be tempted? The old and the sick certainly are …

What inspired you to write a young adult mystery?

I loved The Graveyard Mystery and found the characters to be believable. Do you see yourself writing another youth book? The Graveyard Mystery was inspired by my sister. We were walking home from the park one night when we were kids (we were lucky enough to grow up in a small town), and she dared me to go into the cemetery. I passed on the dare, but the idea stayed in my mind. What would happen if a group of kids dared each other to go into the cemetery at midnight? Eventually, that seed of an idea became The Graveyard Mystery. I started the book on the day before Halloween when Jenny spots a ghostly light in the cemetery, and the fun begins.

As for writing another youth book, I love young adult fiction, so maybe one day I’ll try my hand at a YA fantasy.

Do you believe in writers block?

I’m sure it exists, as I’ve heard other writers complain about it. But so far my only problem has been finding the time to put all the ideas teeming in my head down on paper.

How would you encourage new writers?

Four years ago, at the start of the new millennium, all I had was a dream. I didn’t have a single book published. Now I have several books out and a couple more under contract. Don’t give up on your dream. Sit down and write, and most importantly, send it out to a publisher.

What authors have inspired you?

My favorite author is probably Mary Stewart and her Merlin series, which starts with The Crystal Cave. I love Merlin and his magic and his part in the struggle to create a wonderful kingdom. There are certainly echoes of that in my Dayspring series where the heroine, Elinna Serru, also has magical gifts and fights to protect and preserve her land of Atlaua.

Who is your biggest fan?

That would be my husband. He’s always encouraged me to keep writing, and is the first person to read each of my books. He’s a pretty voracious reader, so I have to work to keep him entertained.

What are your latest books that you are writing?

At the moment, I am finishing two books, The Well of Forever, a novella for Twilight Crossings II, and The Scent of Magic, an erotica SF novel that I am submitting to Extasy. After that, I have two books planned, my second Gateworld book and a pure fantasy novel tentatively titled The Thief of My Soul.

What do you think you will be writing in the next 5 years?

I love fantasy, with a touch of romance. So I expect I’ll keep on writing my stories for as long as my readers enjoy reading them!

What word of advice do you offer to struggling writers?

In today’s highly competitive writing world, you need to know the market and what publishers expect. Writers groups are an invaluable resource for getting help when you are a beginner. Especially on the Internet, most writers are more than happy to help a beginner.

Thank you for letting me interview you for Fallen Angels Review. I look forward to reading your latest books. For the latest updates on Jeanine Berry go to Jeanine Berry's Home Page

Interviewed by:
Dena Kosche