Jean Rabe on Her Newest Book

Onetime head of the RPGA, back in the 1990s, Jean Rabe now concentrates on her writing, here is info on her latest Piper Blackwell mystery

Sheriff Piper Blackwell’s first-shift dispatcher is a geek. He collects comic books, likes roleplaying games, and he’s darn good at collectible card games … he competes on pre-release night. He’s called Zeke the Geek, embracing the nickname and making the department a more colorful place. He even has a hand in solving some of the crimes, as he’s a computer nerd and uses his skills at the young sheriff’s request.

I’m a geek, and that’s why I put him in my Piper Blackwell Mysteries. I embrace my geekiness. I started playing D&D on a regular basis in college (1979 if you’re curious … I’m an old geek). I collected comic books for a lot of years, too. Collectible card games? I played for a while, but didn’t wholly embrace them; I’d rather fight dragons by rolling twenty-sided dice.

Zeke got to shine in The Dead of Summer, the Piper book I released last year. Much of the action took place at a comic shop that looks a lot like Scott Thorne’s on the inside. Scott and I go back a lot of years.

This summer, in The Dead of Jerusalem Ridge, which comes out July 15, Zeke gets to show off his dispatching skills. The night dispatcher, Teegan, who has been with the department for 15 years, gets a chapter all to herself. She’s not a geek, she’s a goth. Dresses a bit like Morticia, likes to attend conventions, dyes her hair funky shades, and she wears the kind of sandals I favor. Yeah, I’m sprinkling bits of myself in the book. Write what you know, eh?

But they’re minor characters, brightening the grimness of the mysteries and murders the department solves. They keep my fiction from getting too dark and dreary. They let me lighten the gory details. It’s a big responsibility my dispatchers have.

With great power comes … you get the idea.

I’ve been playing with ideas for the next Piper book, where my goth dispatcher will get a bigger role. But I’ve a supernatural legal thriller to tackle first, and I’ve got this outline with dinosaurs in it. I think I have too many stories to tell.

About the book: Sheriff Piper Blackwell’s three-day vacation with old Army buddies ends in tragedy. At the same time, a vile hate crime along a county road enrages her department. Their forces divided, Piper and her deputies must solve both cases before tensions boil and threaten the rural fabric of Spencer County, Indiana. Only eight months on the job, the young sheriff must weave together clues to uncover both a killer and a secret that could scar her soul.

“Piper Blackwell is a smart and capable small-town sheriff, a thoroughly modern woman who leads a colorful cast of characters in this entertaining read. Well-crafted and suspenseful, THE DEAD OF JERUSALEM RIDGE adroitly threads the needle between Cozy, Procedural, and Action-Thriller. Jean Rabe's fans⸺both old and new⸺won't want to miss this one.”

⸺ Baron R. Birtcher, multi-award winner, and LA Times Bestselling author

About the author: My home is filled with dogs and books. Lots of dogs and books. I wear worn out sandals to work every day. I'm a mystery writer living in a tiny Midwestern town that has a gas station, a Dollar General, and a marvelous pizza place with exceedingly slow service. I am always working on a new project or three. I have forty-some books published in the fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy and mystery genres. But I'm concentrating on mysteries now. In my spare time I dabble in roleplaying games and boardgames. And at every opportunity, I toss tennis balls to my cadre of dogs.

Find The Dead of Jerusalem Ridge here:

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Jerusalem-Ridge-Blackwell-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B08B4WGS4B/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=jean+rabe&qid=1593724230&sr=8-7

paperback

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Jerusalem-Ridge-Blackwell-Mysteries/dp/1732526729/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1593724230&sr=8-7

Barnes & Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dead-of-jerusalem-ridge-jean-rabe/1137176763?ean=2940163042227

Kobo

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-dead-of-jerusalem-ridge

My web page: www.jeanrabe.com

I am on Twitter at: @jeanerabe

My Amazon author page at: https://www.amazon.com/Jean-Rabe/e/B00J1QR5U2/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_1

I have a newsletter filled with tidbits about weird news items, pics of my dogs, discussions of upcoming books, reviews of things I’m reading, and writing advice. You can subscribe here: http://jeanrabe.us14.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=89364515308e8b5e7ffdf6892&id=9404531a4b

Interview With the Creators of She Said Destroy!

Five questions with the writer and artist of the upcoming trade paperback She Said Destroy!  Let us know if you want to pre-order a copy

Could you describe the plot of She Said Destroy?

The last two Goddesses are at war! The Goddess of the Sun, Brigid, has taken claim over everything the Sun touches save one space colony that houses the few remaining followers of Morrigan, the Goddess of Death. With the final invasion underway, can the faith of Morrigan’s followers hold out against Brigid’s overwhelming forces?

Readers of which series would probably like She Said Destroy?

The Wicked + The Divine, Camelot 3000, Sera and the Royal Stars, The Marked, Star Wars, Saga

What other books, graphic novels, comics have you written?

Joe: I’ve edited the Eisner nominated (Best Short Story) and Ringo Award winning anthology Mine!, the GLAAD nominated Oh S#!t It’s Kim & Kim, edited and wrote stories in the Dead Beats anthology, wrote shorts in the Everything Is Going Wrong anthology, This Nightmare Kills Fascists, Dates Volume 3, a short prose story in They Keep Killing Glenn edited by Peter and Kathleen David, as well as a number of currently unannounced projects I am editing and writing.

Liana: I started my career with a piece in Joe's Ringo winning/Eisner nominated Mine!, working my way to Black AF's Devil's Dye, and being published in the 2018 2000AD SciFi Special. I've also been working on anthology pieces for All We Ever Wanted (AWBW), Dead Beats, Everything is Going Wrong! and then doing shorts for Renegade's new GWAR book, and a ton of other fun projects! I even started writing (co-writing with Joe!)

What else would you like to say about the book?

This is a story that taps deep into our youth and the media we consumed at the time. Everything from Sailor Moon, Final Fantasy, Star Wars, The Legend of Zelda, and all the excitement and creativity it sparked at the time that carried over into adult life makes it to the pages of She Said Destroy. 

How can readers find out more about your work and upcoming projects?

Follow us on

Twitter @joecorallo & @lianakangas or Instagram @corallojoe & @lianakangas

Short Interview with the Writer of the Upcoming Finger Guns

Justin Richards is the writer of the upcoming Finger Guns series from Vault Comics. We reached out to him with some questions about the series

How would you describe Finger Guns in 1-2 sentences

- Two kids with troubled home lives who discover they can manipulate emotions with finger guns will show us why that's probably not the best thing for them to have.

If you like (comic), you would like Finger Guns.  Why?

- We Can Never Go Home, because they both truly capture what it's like to be a teenager who doesn't have a clue what to do with their lives, much less powers.

In What genre would you classify Finger Guns?

- I kinda hate to give such a "writer" answer, but Finger Guns isn't really a single genre. It's a bit of slice-of-life with highly emotional stakes and a supernatural twist. We have a lot of fun and a lot of drama. We might even dip our toes in some horror by the end?

What other work of your's would people recognize?

- This is actually my first work in comics. So thank you for coming along for the ride with us!

You say this is a "deeply personal story".  Why?

A lot of this story deals with some really heavy themes and a lot of it draws on my experience as a kid. There's a lot of myself in our two protagonists, especially Wes.

How finished is the story? Is there a chance of issues getting delayed or are all of them complete?

- I can't really go into details on where we're at in the process, but know that we're currently on schedule and we're gonna work out butts off to get this comic to you all on time!

Interview with Matthew Rosenberg, Author of Hawkeye: Freefall

The Hawkeye Freefall series from Marvel releases January 1st. The store reached out to the writer, Matthew Rosenberg for some information about the series.

1. What Is Hawkeye Free fall about? Hawkeye Freefall is about Clint Barton getting in over his head while his world starts to spin out of control. A run in with The Hood that goes bad triggers an obsession in him to take down a villain who is, frankly, a bit out of his weight class. Meanwhile a new Ronin is carving a bloody path across New York and giving Clint a bad name. 2. Who will Hawkeye Freefall appeal to? I hope everyone. It's got big superhero action, a fun character driven story, a gripping mystery, lots of humor and heart, gorgeous art, and all of the other things that people like. So basically, if you like anything, you should like Hawkeye. 3. Are all the issues ready to go? No, that's not really how Marvel (or most publishers) work. I'm writing issue #4 now, Otto is drawing issue #3. And, if I can say this without sounding egotistical, each issue is better than the previous, which is a very fun feeling. 4. Is this a stand alone or do readers need to have a good knowledge of the Marvel Universe? While we nod to a lot of past Hakweye stories and have a ton of fun guest appearances, we made this specifically so first time readers could pick it up. We never want to talk down to the long time Marvel fan or do retreads for them, but we want to make sure anyone who wants to read it gets a full story. It's a tricky balance but I'm very proud of how we handled it here. 5. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What is your background? What other books have you worked on? I'm a comic writer, born and raised in New York City. Before I wrote comics I used to tour with bands, run a record label, work in a comic shop, and all sorts of other odd jobs. Thankfully I wrote a book called We Can Never Go Home a few years ago and it got a lot of attention. From there it's been a whirlwind. I've written another indie book called 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, a bunch of Archie comics, 1 DC comic, co-written an LP with a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, and I've spent most of the last 2 years writing a ton of stuff for Marvel including Uncanny X-Men, The Punisher, New Mutants, Astonishing X-Men, Multiple Man, Kingpin, Rocket Raccoon, Secret Warriors, and Tales Of Suspense featuring Hawkeye! I currently write Annihilation Scourge, Hawkeye Freefall, and a bunch of stuff I can't talk about.