END OF BOOK SHIT
Welcome to the End of Book Shit, where I get to say whatever I want about the book and you get to listen. ;) Not really, I imagine most people skip this part. Anyway, my fans started calling this the EOBS a couple years ago and it stuck, so if you join us in my or join one of the discussion groups, that’s what EOBS means.
So shit, I bet you’re wondering where the hell this story came from? Well, if you’re a #fan you know I started my writing career with a science fiction series called I Am Just junco. It’s a crazy ride over five books and one novella that is really one of the most original SF stories out there.
I also have a romantic suspense series called Dirty, Dark, and Deadly which chronicles the life of three assassins who grew up as part of a global shadow government called The Company.
So I guess Biker Batman (as my inner circle have been calling this book since its inception) is a mash-up of those two stories, but with a whole new world and set of characters.
I got the superhero idea when I was driving by the Centennial Airport not far from my house. There’s this building over there, kind of sitting out in the middle of nowhere, and it seriously looks like a place Batman would work. It’s got a cool Gothic feel to it, all gray stone and imposing atrium windows.
And if you drive by the Centennial Airport (which is pretty much only for private jets that service the real-life millionaires of the Denver Tech Center) at just the right moment, those corporate jets come in for a landing right over your car. This is a freeway, BTW, and I’ve seen it happen a dozen times at least and I never get tired of it. You can see faces looking out the window, that’s how close those little jets are to your car.
So I started thinking about those people inside those jets. And off to the right was that weird Gothic Batman building, so I got this idea for a psychotic corporate billionaire who is really a misunderstood superhero. You know, Batman. But not, since he’s taken. (The original idea is Thomas’ story, not Lincoln’s) And that superhero thing just kind of stuck in the back of my mind. I think this was before 321 even came out or maybe around that same time.
But I had learned my lesson first-hand about writing genres that don’t appeal to mass audiences. And a superhero romance? I just didn’t know. I pushed that shit aside quick and went back to writing that lovable Merc story.
But then I was a little bit sad about ending all these Company books (Wasted Lust is the last of them, and that released in June). I really love that story line. Especially Come Back. It’s still in my top three favorites. Wasted Lust is probably my number one at this point. Ford had that spot until I wrote the end of Wasted Lust, that’s how much I love it.
So I was a little bit sad when I was in Atlantic City for a book signing with my co-blogger, Kristi, and my assistant, Jana, and decided to pitch Biker Batman to them.
I didn’t know what Kristi would think. I pitched it to her first because Jana was snoring at the time. And she was like, “Oh, fuck yes. Write that shit.” But then I had Jana to contend with. We butt heads over plot all the time. We are so totally one hundred percent opposite when it comes to plot, I don’t even know why we are friends. I don’t even know why she likes my books. She’s so romancy and my books are so… not. :) But for sure, she keeps me from going off the rails all the time. So if you like my books, next time you see Jana, say thank you!
So when Jana woke up and I started telling her my idea, I fully expected a, No, hell no, you will not ruin your career with a superhero romance!
But she said the same thing Kristi said. Write that shit, she loved it. And if Jana loved it, maybe it wasn’t so crazy? She got a little obsessed with it, to be honest. She’d message me in the middle of the day with an idea… “I think Sheila needs more time.” “I think Sheila should be trying to manipulate Molly into getting pregnant.” I think Sheila…” She has a lot of fucking opinions about Sheila.
And really, once I got on board with the plan to write a superhero romance, I plotted out four books in record time. Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet. ;) Case, Thomas, and Atticus will shock the shit out of you.
I admit, writing a superhero romance sounded a lot easier than it actually was. For one, I’m not even a superhero comic reader. I have seen most of the movies and I have a background in the biological sciences, so I can do SF with the best of them, but superhero fans are a serious sort of bunch. So I ended up doing a lot of research on The Dark Knight and the psychology of Batman to get a handle on the Lincoln character.
And the origin story was another thing I had to contend with. I knew there was such a thing, and I knew that all superheroes have to have one. But mixing that up with a plot that was true to the romance genre was not at all easy. I did my best in this first book. I think there is a lot of both the superhero genre and the romance genre in this story of Lincoln and Molly, so I hope fans of both superhero and romantic suspense agree with me and enjoy this beginning. Each book will focus on the romantic couple and what it means to be a superhero.
Of course, it will all be fleshed out in future books. I don’t give the whole story in book one. You have to take the ride with me. If you think I left a lot of loose ends, well, you’re right. But every word is necessary for the next three books. Each one will be a standalone like Anarchy Found, and each one will release when I’m good and ready. So don’t expect my next book to be about Case, it’s not. My next book (aside from the novella about Rook & Ronin’s HEA that comes out on December 16th and the SF erotic romance called Sync, releasing late January) is a rock star book I’ve been writing in my head for almost two years called Rock. I predict that will release in March/April.
I will write the Case book when I have the plot right where I want it. So it might take all of 2016 to get through Case and Thomas and I imagine Atticus might release in early 2017 because I have the regular romancy books to write too. I have more ideas than I have time, to be honest, and I don’t want to invest all my work hours on just one story line that might not appeal to the majority of my fans.
I like writing all the books I release, but I love some more than others. This is a personal project for me, and I’m going to treat it as such and take my time with it.
So once I was totally invested in the whole superhero thing I decided I needed an artist to make the cover to stay true to the superhero genre. But since romance books have photographs for covers, I decided to go looking for an artist who can do photorealism and found Ambro Jordi. Who is simply fucking amazing. You need to and watch him draw people/animals in time-lapse (he did this for the Anarchy Found cover, so if you haven’t seen it, it’s fun. ). You cannot tell they are drawings, he’s that good.
Ambro also made the interior sketches for me. He so goddamned good, I gave him a deadline of a few days and he came back with these six images you see in the book based off random photos I found on the internet. I wanted those to be more sketchy, and just wow. I love them.
I also made s and it has a lot of stuff to look at if you’d like to learn a little more about each character and the city itself.
I’m making the trailer tonight after I upload the book, so if you check the website after release, it will be up. It’s not done yet, but I predict it will be mind-blowing. I’m getting really good at making trailers! JA Huss might make a film short in the near future, that’s how into video I am at the moment.
My son-in-law is a comic artist and he’s working on the graphic novel now. It’s slow going because I’m so damn busy, but we are hoping it will be out by the time Case’s book releases.
If you’ve been you know I just released a book called Eighteen (18) based on my life when I was eighteen. It’s an Am*zon Top Five seller at the moment (I can’t use the A-word in some stores, so I have to hide it in order to make just one mater file), so Eighteen is doing better than I ever imagined. I think it’s a good book and if you like taboo erotic romance and want to have your mind twisted up in typical JA Huss fashion, pick it up ().
Here’s my “for sure” release schedule for the next two months:
December 16th – Happily Ever After – A Day in the Life of the HEA (Rook & Ronin)
January 27-ish – Sync. A book about the character Gideon in the Junco series. It’s an erotic romance like no other. ;) And it’s a one hundred percent standalone. If you’re a Junco fan and you’re expecting her to return, she won’t. It’s only Gideon and he will be hot, there will be sex, and your mind will be blown.
If you enjoyed this book tell your friends. And if you’ve got a few minutes, please consider leaving me a review. I’d really appreciate that.
Until next time, thank you for reading, thank you for reviewing, and I’ll see you in the next book.
Julie