Check out this author spotlight for Deborah Jarvis!
You can find all her links furthest down the page, and don’t forget to check out her books!
1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!
My name is Deborah Jarvis, and I am an English teacher and adjunct professor of literature and writing. I have been writing all of my life, but in 2020, I decided to get serious with the novels that I had been sitting on, and got to work editing my first novel over the course of the spring/summer of that year while teaching from home. My friend Sophia Kelley Shultz is another writer, and we have been editing for each other as we work our way through the novels we love.
2. To get to know you just a little bit better, I’d like to ask you some this or that questions. Answer 5 of these and explain why you chose this or that, or maybe an entirely different alternative!
Cat or dog? Both. I have cats and greyhounds that I live with and adore.
Tea or coffee? Coffee, definitely. I never have really liked tea.
Library or museums? Museums. I like the sense of history that comes off of really old items.
Plotter or pantser? Pantser! The story finds me rather than the other way around, and I let it take the wheel with minimal guidance.
Standalone or series? Series. I never get finished with my characters in one fell swoop.
3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?Â
I like a number of types of stories, but the ones that have a little mystery in them always suck me in. I’m partial to odd ones too, so Jonathan Carroll or Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child are always favorites.
4. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!
I write fantasy, and I tend to branch out among Urban, Isekai, and Paranormal (cough) romance. The later is blessedly subtle, but the romance vein is still present. My current projects include The Ivory Queen, set to go to IngramSpark later this week, and one paranormal romance set in Colorado, and an urban fantasy that I am very excited about!
5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it! Â Â
The Crystal Pawn is a portal fantasy where a woman from our world, Deirdre Hawes, meets her real father and is invited to go with him back to his world to help his people call on the dragons for assistance in an upcoming invasion, something only a female of his line can do. His legitimate daughter had been murdered, and he had recently been made aware of Deirdre’s existence. She agrees to go and things seem to be going well until she reaches the capital of the country, and discovers the breach between her father’s people who are shapechangers and the mostly human population of the kingdom. She is advised by the court magician that it might be better for her to find the dragons on her own rather than wait on the rather dubious methods the kingdom is employing. On her way to visit a member of the nobility, the caravan she is traveling with is attacked, and she finds herself in the position of having to make the choice to strike out on her own along with a few other trusted individuals.
6. What real-life inspiration do you draw from, and what are your primary fictional sources of inspiration (books, authors, films, music, etc.)? Name a few!
I love anything by Peter S. Beagle and Robert Holdstock, and Walter Wangerin Jr.’s Book of the Dun Cow. The Last Unicorn was an inspiration for being drawn into writing. Real-life inspirations include Assyrian art, Greyhounds, and LARPing. Films like Legend, Ladyhawke, and Labyrinth were my go-tos when I was a teenager, and as for music, I am partial to Snow Patrol, Elbow, Genesis/Peter Gabriel, and Keane among others.
7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!
When I get home from school, I will write. Grading is draining, and if I write first then grade, I get what I need and can give the kids what they need without stressing over it. In the summer, I tend to work in the afternoons and evenings more as my morning brain does not process as well.
8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to becoming an author, what would it be?
Do it earlier and trust yourself!
9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!
