Dirty Deeds Virtual Book Tour – Interview & Giveaway with S.E. Jakes

Hey everyone!!! Thanks to Creative Deeds for having me back here for my Dirty Deeds blog tour 🙂  Dirty Deeds is the first in this spin-off series of Hell or High Water.  Dirty Deeds focuses on Cillian and Mal, two characters who’ve been in both Hell or High Water books 1 & 2 (Catch a Ghost and Long Time Gone.) Dirty Deeds # 1 captures a very specific moment in time for the Cillian (the spook) and Mal (the former SEAL in exile).

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

After you check out the interview, make sure you follow the RAFFLECOPTER link for your chance to win one of 3 gift cards valued at $10, $25 and $50! Good luck!

1) Catch a Ghost was the first book of yours that I read. I know it’s not a PNR book or series, but it does have a paranormal aspect… a tiny one anyway. Your males are definitely Alpha, which is common in PNR books. Have you ever considered writing PNR? 
You know, my favorite kind of PNR is exactly what you said, just a tiny aspect with the intuition / psychic stuff.  I’ve got a bit of that gift myself, so it’s a natural fit for me to write about.  That being said, the characters do come to me with that already in place, so I can’t really start a book saying, “I’m going to put in this PNR aspect.”  I kind of look at the guy in front of me and wait for him to share.  (this sounds crazy, I realize, but hey… 😉

2) I love an author who can make readers sympathize with a character that they were previously made to label as the ‘bad guy.’ Cillian definitely falls into that category (in Tommy’s eyes anyway.) How much of a challenge is it to accomplish that? 
Oh man, Cillian’s definitely got a split vote with the readers through the first two Hell or High Water books, right?  And I can understand that totally, because you don’t know his motives.  Even I didn’t, not until I wrote the last half of Long Time Gone (see what I mean about the way things are revealed to me?) And so it’s hard, but it’s also…realistic.  I think that’s why I get such a strong reaction about him.  He’s fleshed out—he’s not ‘just’ a villain.  And I’m so happy that it came across, even if people are threatening me that he needs to stay far away from Prophet…

3) I didn’t start reading M/M romance until late 2012. (Now I am totally hooked.) If you could give potential readers one reason to give the genre a chance, what would it be?
You know, there are so many readers I’ve talked to who’ve said the same thing – they read one and they’re hooked (and a lot of them refuse to go back to m/f romances) – I think people don’t realize how fun these books are.  Personally, I think if you read a book for the hero, then m/m is for you.

4) Along the same lines… what made you choose M/M as your writing genre?
I read a few m/m books (my firsts were Chris Owens and Lauren Baumbach’s A Bit of Rough) and I was like, “yes!”  Also, I think V and Butch should’ve been a couple.  So I wrote up a couple of proposals for Samhain (Bound by Honor and Bound for Keeps) but I sent Bound by Honor, because I felt like it had to lead the series.  And really, I had a blast with it. So I feel like I’ve really found my niche.

5) I haven’t read the Men of Honor series yet, but they are working their way up on my TBR list. I know that I am risking the wrath of several readers (and possibly characters) by asking this next question, but do you have a favorite?  
From the Men of Honor series?  Hmmm, well, look, obviously I can’t write books and characters I don’t love, so suffice to say I love them all.  That being said, Tanner really spoke to me first.  

6) I’m really looking forward to Cillian and Mal’s book. Mainly because Cillian is such a mystery. Has Cillian been destined for this since his character was created, or did he ‘talk’ you into it? 
You know, I really had NO idea Cillian and Mal were going to be anything more than secondaries—and I had no clue they were going to be together—until I was halfway through writing Long Time Gone.  And I emailed Sarah Frantz (my editor) and I was like, “You are NEVER going to believe this!”  And I was actually supposed to write a short Prophet & Tommy book and she was like, “Why not a short Mal / Cillian book?”  And somehow, it ended up as a series.  Because when Sarah and I start discussing upcoming books, we can’t help ourselves.  But I swear, the readers just got Cillian and Mal from Catch a Ghost.  There’s fan fiction written about them, and this is long before I announced anything about Dirty Deeds.  So even though I tend to think Prophet’s behind it more than the others (I think readers will understand that once they finish DD)…it was really all Sarah’s fault.  😉

7) I know that there are 4 books planned for Hell or High Water. Are there any more than 6 books planned for the Men of Honor series? 
The Men of Honor series is open ended, so I’m not done with it yet.  That being said, the proposal I handed to Jen (My Samhain editor) felt a bit different, even though it included some of my favorite MOH guys (Law, Styx & Paolo)…so we decided to do a spin-off called Phoenix Inc (that’s the name of the PI Agency Law, Styx & Paulo run)…

8) Do you have any new series or books planned or in the works? 
Yep. 😉  I’ve got 2 series with Riptide that haven’t been announced as of yet.  One of them starts in June of this year and the other (for me, anyway) starts in early 2015.  And then I have 2 secret projects I’m working on…
No wonder I’m always tired.  

Be sure to check out Dirty Deeds. Since I interviewed SE, I’ve read the book. You can check out my review here. Don’t forget the Giveaway! Follow the RAFFLECOPTER link for your chance to win one of 3 gift cards valued at $10, $25 and $50! Good luck!

Dirty Deeds:  Dirty Deeds book 1
Two seasoned operatives finally meet their match: each other.
Cillian works for the mysterious Special Branch 20: an organization that runs black ops commissioned by the British government. His specialty is deep undercover assignments with virtually no support. He’s been alone for so long that he no longer knows anything else.
Mal’s also used to being alone. Wanted in several states and even more countries, he’s not allowed in the vicinity of any of his former Navy SEAL teammates. And his current assignment is to track Cillian in order to discover the spook’s endgame. Except he’s no longer sure which one of them is getting played.
Cillian isn’t about to let the mission that’s consumed him for the past several years crumble because an outsider is poking around where he doesn’t belong. But Mal forces his way through Cillian’s defenses—and into his heart—exposing a devastating betrayal that could destroy them both.

SE Jakes writes m/m romance. She believes in happy endings and fighting for what you want in both fiction and real life.
She lives in New York with her family, and most days, she can be found happily writing (in bed). No really…

Connect with SE:

• Website: sejakes.com
• Tumblr: sejakes.tumblr.com
• Twitter: @authorsejakes
• Facebook: Facebook.com/SEJakes
• Email: authorsejakes@gmail.com
• Goodreads author page: goodreads.com/S_E_Jakes
• Goodreads author group: Ask SE Jakes