Interview with Jeff LaFerney!

Hello my lovelies and welcome to the first interview of February here on The Lindsay Show! Joining me today is the fantabulous Jeff LaFerney :) Grab your coffee or tea and let's get started!

Interview

Thank you so much for stopping by, Jeff! When did you know you wanted to be a writer? 

I’m a school teacher. I just write for fun. Writing’s a hobby. I work hard at it to produce the best material I can, but I won’t consider myself a writer until I’m making a living at it.

Oh that's awesome that you're a teacher! I have a great respect for teachers :) What has been the most difficult part about being a writer? 

Patience. I’m really not a particularly impatient person, but I have to be good at whatever I do, and looking at sales numbers or waiting for the release dates and such make me more impatient than usual.

I feel exactly the same way! Who are your favorite authors? 

I really like Harlan Coben, Robert B. Parker, John Grisham, Michael Crichton, Jeffery Deaver, James Patterson and many others. I love John Irving’s books. I like David Gemmell’s fantasy books too.

Those are some great authors :) What authors inspire you? 

 I like characteristics of all the authors I listed above, but the authors who inspire me are the ones who come out of nowhere to produce a best-seller.

I envy those people's ability haha. Do you like to plan your scenes out or do you just wing it? 

I wing my plan. I always have an end in mind, and I always have the story pretty straight in my head, but sometimes getting there is a surprise.

Hahahaha I love how you put that!! What type of books do you like to read? 

I love mysteries and suspense novels best, but my favorite books usually seem to be more literary. I like to get lost in a good fantasy adventure too.

I'm always up for a good fantasy adventure ;) What do you like to do in your free time? 

What free time? I work full time, have a family, and write. When I actually have some time with no responsibilities, I like to read and I like to watch sports. I’ll exercise, and I do lots of things with my family.

LOL! I keep asking that question hoping someone has a secret to having free time but of course no one does ;) Where is your favorite place to vacation? 

I’ve been on a couple of Caribbean cruises that I loved. I like to go places with hiking, rock climbing, waterfalls, and such too.

I'm dying to go on a cruise but have never had the chance. What’s your best Valentine’s day story? 

I proposed to my wife on Valentine’s Day, and 26 years of marriage later, we’re still going strong.

Aww that's wonderful! Congratulations :) Why did you choose to write mysteries? 

 I love reading them, first of all, but I liked the challenge of leaving clues and misdirection. It’s been fun working out the intricacies of a mystery plot.

I have a bit of a mystery to my book and you're right, it's so much fun leaving clues and trying to find ways to hint at the killer but not give it away. What has been the most fun about working on your books? 

I like to have minor characters with quirky personalities and write them into fun scenes with humorous moments and dialogue.

Ooo I love when authors do that! Now I'm really intrigued. What has been the hardest scene for you to write? 

For Bulletproof, I had to start the novel with a brain surgery scene. I would research and read words I didn’t know, so I’d look them up and they were defined by words I didn’t know. I did loads of searching and reading to accomplish a realistic scene. For Skeleton Key, I needed to have a train wreck but discovered that train malfunctions are next to impossible, so I had to have an “expert” mess with the brakes. I figured that scene out too, and if you knew how non-mechanical I am, you’d be amazed at how it turned out.

Oh wow, that would be a very difficult scene to start your book off with and now I'm even more intrigued. Do you have any favorite characters? 

Again, I like a lot of my minor characters simply because I love creating their unique personalities. I have a lady in my newest book called The Jumper who’s a hoot. But in reality, I like Tanner Thomas most because of his personality. I also like Jasper, my midget attorney for his comic relief.

Tell us more about Clay and Tanner Thomas, please. 

Clay is Tanner’s father. They both had injuries to the medulla oblongata (a part of the brain) through strangulation at birth. They both are able to take in and control messages to their brains that others cannot. The end result is they have various mind-control abilities that they think shouldn’t be used selfishly. Instead they use their gifts to help others and solve crimes. Clay has many personal struggles in the books while Tanner is a happy-go-lucky superstar athlete and a great son to his terrific father. They have a great relationship.


Alright, you win. I'm hooked now haha. Bulletproof is the third in the series. Tell us about the previous two books please. 

Loving the Rain is a suspense. A rival from Clay’s past tries to hurt Clay and his family. Throughout this book, Clay and Tanner learn to deal with their abilities while Clay struggles with marriage issues and Tanner competes on the sports field. They have to stop an evil criminal before he hurts the entire family. In Skeleton Key, Clay and Tanner solve a seven-year-old murder mystery to help a woman and her son. The murder victim is a ghost who Clay can hear, and the ghost believes he died of a heart attack. The coroner believes he died in a train wreck. All the suspects think they killed him. It makes for an interesting mystery, especially since the ghost is the antagonist in this book, and he’s not very cooperative.


Since Bulletproof is the third in the series, are readers able to start at this book, or should they read the previous books first?

Each book happens one year in the Thomases’ lives after the previous book, but all of them can be read alone. There is a definite beginning and ending, and readers are caught up in each book with any vital information from the previous books.


Hear that lovelies? You don't have to read the others if you want to start with this one :) Will there be more books in this series and if so, what can we expect? 

I’m planning on writing two books in a time-traveler series before returning to Clay and Tanner, but I have an idea brewing right now. Jasper, my midget attorney, is seeking help to find what has happened to his cousin. Tanner has a vision of a murder and tries to keep it from happening. When it happens anyway, Tanner is determined to find the murderer and figure out the story of Jasper’s cousin. I’m thinking he’ll be the primary character with Clay helping this time around.


I'm always happy to hear when authors have lots of books planned! Tell us more about the mind control aspects of Clay and Tanner. Are there any other supernatural elements? 

Clay can control and read minds, but only if he’s making eye-contact. He also can move objects with his mind (telekinesis) and occasionally receives extra-sensory messages. He also can learn the history of objects that he touches, and he can hear ghosts. Tanner can control minds without eye-contact (including groups of people). He sometimes sees into the future (precognition) and is clairvoyant. He can hypnotize people and occasionally experiences retrocognition where he learns information from the past. Their improve and learn of new abilities as the books progress. Both Skeleton Key and Bulletproof have ghosts as main characters, so there is an element of paranormal in the books too.


Wow. If I wasn't already dying to read this book, I would be now. Love how that sounds! What's next for you? 

 I just finished The Jumper a few weeks ago. I’m working hard at editing it and will soon get the design work done. It is the story of a time-traveling/teleporter (a jumper) who is matched with a teen-aged girl who has gained possession of the Staff of Moses. People want the staff and three angels are manipulating circumstances to rearrange the politics of the Middle East. The jumper protects the girl as she is prepared for the final encounter with the King of Jordan. I think it has a unique presentation of the time traveling genre and it’s got a lot of action and suspense to go along with it.


You do realize you just made my TBR pile grow right? Damn you lol. Well, we are out of time unfortunately. Anything else you want your readers to know?

 I already hit on the fact that my books are stand-alone books. I believe that Bulletproof is the best story of the three, but it’s sold the least. I think people feel they have to read the other two before they get to it, but they don’t. Anyone can start with any of the books, and they’ll have a singular reading experience that has an end in each book…and no cliffhangers.



Thank you so much for joining me today on The Lindsay Show!! Lovelies, go check out Jeff's books because they sound damn good!

Bulletproof...Buy it Now!

After a devastating injury to his father, Clay Thomas is abandoned by two of the people closest to him while being pursued by the local police chief for crimes he didn’t commit. He is determined to find the culprit of a series of local robberies while fulfilling a promise to a ghost to solve his eleven-year-old murder. Clay and his son, Tanner, incorporate their unique mind-control abilities to solve the crimes, restoring broken relationships in the process. Bulletproof is the third exciting stand-alone installment in the Clay and Tanner Thomas mystery/suspense series.

Buy it Now:

• Amazon
• World Castle Publishing
• Barnes and Noble

Meet Jeff!

Jeff LaFerney has been a language arts teacher and coach for more than twenty years. He earned his English and teaching degrees from the University of Michigan-Flint and his master's degree in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University. He and Jennifer, his wife of twenty-five years, live in Davison, Michigan. Torey and Teryn are their two children. Loving the Rain is his first novel in the Clay and Tanner Thomas series. The second, Skeleton Key, and the third, Bulletproof, are paranormal mysteries, set in the Flint area. When Jeff sets a goal, he achieves it; when he has a friendship, he cherishes it; and when he imagines, he writes about it. He loves competing at sports, connecting to good books, and creating words that make people laugh.

Connect with Jeff

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