Thursday, May 2, 2013

Author Spotlight: Jill Elaine Hughes

Tempted
The heroine, Melanie Evers, is a plucky young working-class woman from Akron, Ohio struggling to support herself in Chicago in the post-9-11 economy. TEMPLAND follows Melanie's journey through the temporary employment world from a college student on "just a summer job" to a 28-year-old woman with a lot of intelligence (and a heap of student loan debt to match) through multiple layoffs and a series of ever-more-wacky temp assignments, as she struggles not only to survive, but also to find romance and always remain true to the honest, working-class values instilled in her by her beloved grandfather.

In her long, solitary journey through Templand, Melanie encounters adventure and romance on her search for that always-elusive Permanent Job---which she finally gets, along with her man. TEMPLAND is a highly entertaining, wickedly funny social satire, contemporary romance, and mystery novel all rolled into one.


Find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Goodreads


DOMINO
An erotic thriller


A New Adult erotic BDSM thriller. Set in Cleveland, Ohio and the Ukraine, DOMINO is the story of a young, shy college girl's sexual awakening through art and bondage. An American version of THE STORY OF O, with elements of classic international thrillers, DOMINO can appeal to the classic erotica reader as well as New Adult fans.

Plot Summary:
21-year-old Nancy Delaney is finishing up her third year of college when her magazine-editor roommate asks her to go review an art opening in downtown Cleveland. The artist is mysterious international playboy and eccentric Peter Rostovich, and the art is like nothing innocent, virginal Nancy has ever encountered before. Multimedia artist Rostovich has created an erotic art installation all about S&M bondage — complete with a live sculpture that’s so realistic, it gets the whole exhibit shut down by the Cleveland police.

Aspiring journalist Nancy’s nose for news smells a hot story idea, which she sells to the Cleveland Plan Dealer. But as she works to get her story, she soon becomes intimately entangled with Rostovich, who finds her irresistible. Rostovich becomes Nancy’s ticket to sexual awakening, and she soon discovers she has an appetite for bondage, too.

And there’s far more to Rostovich than just his art — he’s involved in a strange, violent criminal underworld that kidnaps Nancy and spirits her halfway around the world, where she’s held prisoner and made to serve as private Dominant-for-hire somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Will the sexual powers Rostovich helped awaken in her be Nancy’s only hope for escape?

Find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads.

ZOMBIE, INCORPORATED
Twilight. With zombies.
Eighteen-year-old Katie Allred is socially awkward and unpopular at school. The only child of parents who had her right out of high school, Katie is herself about to leave the nest, even though she hardly feels ready.

Katie’s new after-school job at the Zimble Box Corporation draws her into the complex social strata of high school cliques and backstabbing friends in ways she never imagined. Katie soon discovers there’s something very strange about the “in” crowd at school---and about her employer, too. Shortly after starting her new job, the Contagion breaks out, plunging her town and the entire nation into chaos as zombie shadow forces come out into the open, ravaging the streets. Katie goes into hiding and her parents disappear, along with almost everyone else she knows.

But Katie soon discovers she has special powers that help her survive. She’s a Beacon, someone with the innate ability to help zombies produce children. It’s a power her employer — and what little remains of the U.S. government — both want to exploit for their own ends. Not only that, it runs in her family---which has a secret past Katie never knew about until now.

Enter Agent Morehouse of the FBI Special Zombie Control Unit. A reformed zombie working undercover, he suppresses his urge to eat human flesh in order to serve and save humanity. But Agent Morehouse can’t help but be attracted to a Beacon like Katie, and she to him. Even as they fight zombies the world over, they must fight their intense attraction to each other, hoping to keep Katie from suffering Agent Morehouse’s terrible zombie fate.
 
Find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Goodreads.
 
Meet the Author:
After many years of writing professionally and publishing novels under pseudonyms, Ms. Hughes self-published DOMINO and two other other New Adult novels (TEMPLAND and ZOMBIE, INCORPORATED) under her own name given the current boom in self-published New Adult fiction. In addition to her fiction and journalism pursuits, Ms. Hughes is also a playwright whose works have been staged in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Australia, and the United Kingdom, as well as high schools and colleges throughout the United States. Like her New Adult fiction, her plays also appeal to the youth and student markets.

Contact Info:
Goodreads
Facebook
Website
Amazon Author Page

Fun Radom Facts about Jill
1. I was born with a tooth (called a "natal tooth") which is an extremely rare occurence, I'm told.
 
2. I'm married to a man who I first rejected on Match.com out of hand, only to accept a date with him via another dating service a year later. I never knew this until after we were married, and he told me. (He'd been using a pseudonym on Match.com with no photo, which is why I'd rejected his request to chat there.) Talk about fate working hard to get us together! That odd occurrence certainly influences how I develop my characters' romantic relationships.
 
3. I taught myself to read when I was 3. I don't remember doing it, or exactly how I did it. But I literally cannot remember a time in my life when I wasn't reading. I started devouring adult authors like Stephen King and John Jakes by the time I was 8, though I still read children's and adult literature.
 
4. My hair is naturally curly.
 
5. I was a vegetarian for almost 15 years, until I got pregnant with my first child and started craving meat all over the place.  My first foray back into being a carnivore was a craving for White Castle. I demanded that my husband drive me to the nearest one (almost 20 miles away!) at 10 pm!
 
6. I am an exercise junkie and like to do triathlons and yoga.
 
7. My favorite foods are sashimi and muttar paneer (an Indian curry dish)
 
8. I've written almost 20 novels in the past 10 years. Some are published under pen names, and others are not yet published. I'm releasing some of them now as self-published titles to meet reader demand for New Adult fiction. (I wrote New Adult before it was an "official" genre!)
 
9. I'm a full-time freelance writer, mostly working as a journalist.
 
10. I cannot stand mashed potatoes. They make me gag.
 
11. The actor David Schwimmer once spilled a drink on me at a party.  
 
12. I always walk around the house barefoot.
 
13. When I was growing up, most of my friends were older guys. I was a big tomboy.
 
14. My hobbies include calligraphy, painting, and Renaissance faires.
 
15. I am addicted to the TV shows Breaking Bad and Downton Abbey.
 
16. I am dangerously allergic to bee stings.

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