Why, Hello there!

Howdy. I'm Julie or J.E. Fletcher. You can call me whatever you want, just please don't call me Jules. My editor over at Riverdale Avenue Books thinks I should get out more. That's what this blog is all about.

 Okay, so she thinks that I should talk to people and let them know more about myself before my book is released. Alright, that's not totally it, either. This is an exercise in staying on task, not getting antsy, and possibly to keep me from melting into a puddle of ERMAGHERD I CAN HAZ BOOK PUBLISHED! (Meredith has the patience of a saint. I'm going to owe her chocolate covered potato chips from one of my royalty checks.)

I'm supposed to be telling you all about myself. Here we go- I'm a 30-something married mother with six children. Yes, you read that right. Six kids. My oldest is 19 and might be moving in to help terrorize me with her siblings. My husband and I have been together for 13 years. (He moans when I remind him.)



You might be wondering how I managed to write a book with so many children at home. Sorry, no secrets here, I just wrote when I had time.My husband tried to herd the kids and keep up with housework when I zoned out. Some days I may write thousands of words, others I might sit staring at a blank page wondering how I would ever get the scene in my head to move. Writing isn't always magic. What is magic? The support of my family and friends. Without that I may have thrown my main characters to the zombies forever.

Oh, I haven't really mentioned what my book is about. While the main plot revolves around the appearance of zombies, that's not everything. The heroine, Layne Yow, is a smartass with a weakness to sweets. She also happens to be a werewolf. She finds herself in the middle of a full blown zombie apocalypse after a run-in with a pack of vampires.

While there are romantic elements, Layne thinks her rescuer and new friend Brandon is a hottie, that's not the focus. I promise, my heroine is a strong woman. She doesn't need a man to  make her feel complete. There's a few moments where she feels weak, but we all have those.

You'll find vampires in the mix, too. The paranormal aspect of the book is important. When I began writing BloodBurn I had wondered, "What would happen to vampires and werewolves if the Zombie Apocalypse happened?"

BloodBurn is the answer to that question. I tried to portray my paranormal creatures slightly different than other books or movies had. Werewolves still shift from human to wolf, vampires still drink blood and sunlight burns them, zombies still need a headshot or significant damage to finally stop moving.

I enjoy humor and I hope that when readers get into the book they'll see that. Layne has a twisted sense of humor. She's a lot like me. You know that one person in your life (maybe it's you!) that laughs at the most inappropriate times? That's me and that's Layne.

I'll talk a bit more about the setting for BloodBurn later. Belmont is a real place and so are most other locations I write in to the story. Belmont, NY is about 70 miles South of Buffalo, NY. The story begins in this rural part of Western New York and moves to Buffalo. If you happen to know the area you might recognize some of the locations I talk about in my next post.



(BloodBurn has a tentative release of October 30, 2013. This may change. You can find out about changes on this blog or through my Facebook page located here: J.E. Fletcher on Facebook)