J. A. (Jill) Carlton's Page

Cold Coffee Press Spotlight Interview With Author J. A. Carlton

Award Winning Author J. A. Carlton blasts through genre barriers, first with her horrifying psychological thrillers ‘Broken’ and Soul Hunter. With a penchant for epic series Jill has published ‘Wednesday’s Child’, ‘Into The Fire’ and ‘Fortune's Tide’ of her ‘Freedom Fighter Series’. ‘Nick, Of Time’, ‘Second Hand’, and ‘The Third Race’ are the first three installments of her ‘Heroes Of The Line Series’.

Jill currently lives and writes in Austin, Texas. She is a Certified Hypnotherapist, Speaker, Author and Screenwriter.

Jill’s Mission:
Entertain as many people as possible!
Inspire others to achieve their dreams!
To explore the human condition creatively!
To learn and share!

Interview:

What makes you proud to be a writer from Austin, TX? Austin has an absolutely incredible and supportive arts community. There’s an openness and appreciation for so many different mediums here.

What or who inspired you to become a writer? My mom. She’s the one who instilled a love of reading and literature in me. She’s the one who taught me to find the bliss within the pages. From there, writing I suppose was a natural progression.

When did you begin writing with the intention of becoming published? When I was twelve. Though I was in my mid thirties before I believed that what my characters had to say had validity.

Did your environment or upbringing play a major role in your writing and why? Absolutely. My mother was an English teacher who instilled in me a love of literature and the myriad worlds that could be mine if I only dared to believe and open my mind! I grew up with a family that cherished education and imaginative expansion.

Do you come up with your title (s) before or after you write the manuscript (s)? Usually the ‘logline’ holds the title. I also write screenplays, so once I have the concept, a working title comes relatively quickly.

Tell us why you write the genre (s) that you write? I like things a little spicy so work mostly with Thrillers and Supernatural themes. I tend to think of genres as ingredients in a recipe, so I love mixing and blending their elements in the hopes of creating a unique flavor to my particular story telling voice. Also, exploring human behavior in relationships is utterly fascinating and employing multiple genres gives a far more well-rounded view of a character and how they interact with the world on different levels and under different circumstances.

Tell us your most rewarding experience while in the writing process? The moment when you know your characters will prevail in spite of, AND because of whom their experiences have made them.

Tell us your most negative experience while in the writing process? The doubt. As a writer there is horrific doubt, are the characters real enough? Is the story compelling? Are the voices individual enough and the motivations true? Is everyone being true to who they are? Is the story cohesive? (I could go on... but let’s not.)

Tell us your most rewarding experience in your publishing journey? The day a client told me she was going to start a small press so that she could put my works out there in the world. She believed in me so much that she started a press geared toward getting new authors with unique voices a chance to be read.

Tell us your most negative experience in your publishing journey? Form rejections. I have a file cabinet full of them. They hurt, deeply.

What one positive piece of advice would you give to other authors? If writing is what you love, don’t ever stop. Learn from others, how to run a business, learn to network. (I don’t mean slamming the keys at the local coffee shop... meet people, join writers groups. You will suck many lemons before you find the right people to work and grow with but when you do, it’ll all be worth it.).

Who is your favorite author? The first author who made me pursue her works was Marguerite Henry.

Books Available To Purchase Now:
Broken (psychological thriller)
Fortune's Tide (Third - Freedom Fighter Series)
Into The Fire (Second - (Second - Freedom Fighter Series)
Nick, Of Time (First -Heroes Of The Line Series)
Second Hand Heroes (Second – Heroes Of The Line Series)
The Third Race (Third - Heroes Of The Line Series)
Touch Me-Nurturing Your Relationships Through Positive Touch (Stand Alone Book)
Soul Hunter (psychological thriller)
Wednesday's Child (First - Freedom Fighter Series)

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us? Yes. Please, if you love to write do it! Invest in an editor, one you can meet with face to face. Believe in your voice BUT... understand your market. Do you have a point? If so, stick with it. Do you want to be the next Rowling? Meyers? Koontz? Learn the art and structure of story then as you write consider both the market and yourself. It can be a beautiful compromise! Just understand what you want and why.

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Wednesday's Child (Freedom Fighter Book 1) by J. A. Carlton

In 2055 the U.S. is a 3,000 mile wide graveyard. Inside the country's borders, a war against the world is about to begin.

After Commander Harold Mitchell's murder, Stone Rivers, an idealistic young graduate is called in to head up Delta Squad. His first day in charge is the day he loses his second in command.

Lieutenant Jade McKay should've been given command of Delta, but instead was put in charge of investigating Mitchell's murder, the very murder she's been accused of committing. On the night she begins her investigation, a sinister branch of the government that will stop at nothing to unlock the classified secrets buried deep in her subconscious, takes her captive.

Elija Tyrell will do anything to destroy Jade, including going back through time to re-make the world they came from.

U.C. Director Antoine Pecho will do anything to get his "Pet Project" back home where she belongs, including giving her to Tyrell.

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Cold Coffee Press Book Review For Wednesday's Child
(Freedom Fighter Book 1) by J. A. Carlton

The world and the United States of America as we know it in 2015, is unrecognizable in 2055. The CIA, Homeland Security, ATF and DEA are all merged into one body now called the U.C. or Upper Command.

The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are merged into the New United Military Alliance or NUMA which is under the control of President Clayton Maxwell in 2055. History had repeated itself with mandatory DNA collection and the desire to create a perfect race. During this engineered holocaust America’s population was decimated forcing many of the remaining citizens’ into catacombs and tunnels, where they later became known as “Unders”.

Lieutenant Jade McKay is a trained assassin working between NUMA and the Unders to ‘take back the topside’. She has been implanted with a microscopic computer chip with “binary coding tendrils attached along her visual pathway” which make her memory almost photographic. Jade is able to carry out any mission as long as it doesn’t conflict with her basic principles. (Jade is not only hyper-kinetic and telepathic, she has to contend with the side effects of a hybrid drug that suppresses her neural impulses that cause nightmares.)

Upon return from an assignment to protect Darien Rivers, the man most directly responsible for helping NUMA break away from Maxwell’s control, Jade finds herself arrested and charged with the murder of her Commander, Harold Mitchell. But like all superior soldiers Jade has an enemy named Elija Tyrell who is out to destroy and even kill her. Working with the local UC branch Elija takes Jade prisoner determined to find out whether or not she can be compromised.

This adversary will stop at nothing to accomplish his goals including going back in time to change history. I like this quote from Jade, “Something’s going to happen today. I swear I’ll kill him if he keeps pushing.” The sense rushed through her veins, carried in every cell of her blood to every nerve fiber, axon and dendrite. As sure as she was breathing, something huge lay in the shadows of this little corner of the universe. “I wonder if anyone else feels it. Whatever it is, I’m not gonna like it.”

What a great read. Become mesmerized in Jades ice green eyes and her abilities as ‘Wednesday’s Child’ continues with book two of the series called ‘Into the Fire’ and book three ‘Fortune's Tide’ in the ‘Freedom Fighter Series’.

Cold Coffee Press endorses ‘Wednesday’s Child’ by J. A. Carlton as a science fiction, action, suspense, mystery thriller. We received both the print and PDF version of this book to review. The review was completed on March 19, 2015. For more information please visit Cold Coffee Press. http://www.coldcoffeepress.com

Amazon Author’s Page
Amazon Customer Reviews
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Broken by J. A. Carlton

From the outside Randy was always one of the lucky ones. Smart, athletic, successful and handsome, the middle son of the town's most prominent family.,

But deep inside, the truth lay buried in torment shared with his little brother.

Horrific abuses from the one person they trusted most to keep them safe have unleashed a sadistic predator of epic proportions.

As he moves closer to the object of his rage the only person who can stop him is the one who shares his secret.

A single moment sheathed in blood will change history, one way or the other.

Amazon Customer Reviews
Amazon Print Purchase Link
Kindle Purchase Link

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Fortune's Tide (Freedom Fighter Series book 3 ) by J. A. Carlton

The Future Has Been Determined, You're NOT in it. With their plans to re-design the human race about to be exposed to the global community, and their murderous regime coming to an end; in a last ditch effort to maintain its grip on the few remaining citizens of the United States, the U.C. has unleashed a doomsday weapon onto the populous. Once again, it's up to Jade McKay, Stone Rivers, and the rest of Delta Squad to save the nation from the psychotic ravages of a living weapon with its own agenda; and bring their country back from the brink of destruction.

Fortune's Tide is the third book in the "Freedom Fighter" trilogy. "Wednesday's Child", "Into The Fire", and "Fortune's Tide".

Amazon Print Purchase Link
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Into The Fire (Freedom Fighter Book 2) by J. A. Carlton

America is teetering on the threshold of a new dawn, but there's a storm brewing.

Jade McKay and Stone Rivers are back, along with the rest of Delta Squad.

When U.C. Director Pecho launches a nation wide attack against NUMA and its Underground allies, everything changes.

Lieutenant Commander McKay sets off on an assassin's mission to take out the man most directly responsible for the destruction of the United States.

There's just one problem. He's expecting her.

Amazon Customer Reviews
Amazon Print Purchase Link
Kindle Purchase Link

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Nick, Of Time (Heroes Of The Line Book 1) by J. A. Carlton

For untold generations descendants of the Heroes of The Line have waited to be called to war.

Today two young brothers, Nick, and Frankie Emerson will have to face more than playground bullies and their mom's creepy boyfriend.

Today Nick and Frank learn they have a destiny to lead a band of heroes on a quest to save the world of light from the destructive Living Dark and all its minions.

Amazon Customer Reviews
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Second Hand: Heroes of the Line Book 2 by J. A. Carlton

Four years ago Nick and Frankie Emerson learned they were destined to lead a band of heroes in a war against agents of The Living Dark.

Now, the Heroes are gathering.

Vestiges are rising.

Schades are assembling.

Destiny is sounding its clarion call.

And two brothers will stand side by side against impossible odds to learn what the enemy has planned for the world of light.

Amazon Print Purchase Link
Kindle Purchase Link

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Soul Hunter by J. A. Carlton

Twenty years ago, in the town of Sedalia, serial child murderer Eddy Jay was killed.

Now, on the anniversary of his death, he's back to finish what he started over forty years ago.

Justin Sanders hunts ghosts, demons, and things that go bump in the night, it's in his blood.

When the spirit of Edward Jacob Simons returns to claim 'the one that got away', the young psychic finds himself embroiled in a supernatural game of cat and mouse that started decades before he was born.

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The Third Race (Heroes of the Line Book 3) by J. A. Carlton

Nick and Frank Emerson are destined to lead a band of heroes in a war against agents of the living dark. Trapped in a world they could not have foreseen they begin to understand the role that destiny has designed for them. Working in concert, two halves of a severed soul must face the curse that shattered worlds tens of thousands of years ago and act to bring universes back into balance before they crumble. Darkness is once again stretching forth its hand to consume our worlds in fire and Chaos. The time for the return of Heroes is upon us.

Amazon Customer Reviews
Amazon Print Purchase Link
Kindle Purchase Link

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Touch Me-Nurturing Your Relationships Through Positive Touch
(Stand Alone Book) by J. A. Carlton

This beginners reference guide to massage is a wonderful way to open your relationships to new levels of trust and intimacy. The information, anatomical understanding, pictures and explained techniques are perfect for the lay person to begin cultivating deeper relationships with family, friends and even lovers. This author, unlike most massage therapists does not shy away from the idea that some of these techniques will be used in the bedroom but offers gentle reminders about respect and mutual sharing that can be applied to every aspect of the reader's life.

Kindle Purchase Link

Books Available To Purchase Now:
Broken (psychological thriller)
Fortune's Tide (Third - Freedom Fighter Series)
Into The Fire (Second - (Second - Freedom Fighter Series)
Nick, Of Time (First -Heroes Of The Line Series)
Second Hand Heroes (Second – Heroes Of The Line Series)
The Third Race (Third - Heroes Of The Line Series)
Touch Me-Nurturing Your Relationships Through Positive Touch (Stand Alone Book)
Soul Hunter (psychological thriller)
Wednesday's Child (First - Freedom Fighter Series)

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J. A. Carlton’s Website
Cold Coffee Press Author J. A. Carlton
Cold Coffee Café Author J. A. Carlton