Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Interview with Aletta Thorne, author of The Chef and The Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins


Now available on Evernight Publishing is the paranormal romance The Chef and The Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins by Aletta Thorne.


The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule to talk about her new book.


When did you become interested in storytelling?

I honestly can’t remember. I started writing stories as a little girl. Then, when I was in my teens and undergrad college, I switched over to writing poems and feature journalism, and wrote in both those genres for years. About five years ago, I started thinking about writing book-length fiction. 
What was your first book/story published? 

I published poems from the time I was in my early twenties—and I sold stories about food and music to newspapers then, too. Then I taught and cooked. The Chef and the Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins is my first grownup romance. Only took me forty years to get there!

What inspired you to write The Chef and the Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins?

I like ghosts! My house has been investigated for them, and we have two. And my husband and I have experienced ghosts in places we’ve traveled. The woman who did the investigation in our house, Linda Zimmerman (who writes on the subject), says that ghosts know when they have friends among the living. The Chef and The Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins just takes that thought to the next level!

What character in The Chef and The Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins is the most/least like you, and in what ways? 

Alma, the protagonist, is a chef—and I was one too, back in the 80’s, when the book is set. She’s a lot gutsier than I was then, and a lot tougher. She has some of my insecurities, but not about what she looks like, which was something I struggled with back then. Which, of course, was silly. I looked fine.

What is your favorite part in The Chef And The Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins?

I like the funny parts, and there are lots of them. There’s a lot of kitchen humor: raccoons in the bread order, a wire scrubber hidden in my main character’s bra! I like the ending a lot. There are a lot of twists at the end of the book, and knitting everything together was very satisfying to me as I wrote the last couple of chapters. 

What was the hardest part to write?

I hadn’t written adult romance before—I have a bunch of YA out under another name—and while I loved the freedom to write sex scenes, I am grateful for my anatomy-specific editor! (Managed to shock my husband with that part of the book when it was all done, I did!)

What would your ideal career be, if you couldn't be an author?

I loved teaching, but I aged out of that. I daydream sometimes of building a writer’s colony for women, sort of like Hedgebrook, where I spent a little time when I was writing my first YA book. I’d have to be very wealthy to do that. (Buy my book!)

Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing? 

How do you NOT read your reviews? I’ve been lucky to not have any really mean ones so far.

What well-known writers do you admire most?

There’s a British author of historical fiction named Sarah Waters, and she is a goddess. Although I’m working a somewhat different end of the street, I also really respect Stephen King. He is incredibly prolific, does good works in his community, and has written a really terrific book about writing. He has said that if you find yourself thinking about a book you’re writing when you wake up at night, that’s a great sign. He is SO right!

Do you have any other books/stories in the works? 

I’m working on a ghost story set in a tiny house with an older heroine—just at the very beginning of it.




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About the Author
 

Aletta Thorne believes in ghosts. In her non-writing life, she is a choral singer, a poet, a sometimes DJ, and a writer about things non-supernatural. But she’s happiest in front of a glowing screen, giving voice to whoever it is that got her two cats all riled up at three AM. Yes, her house is the oldest one on her street. And of course, it’s quite seriously haunted (scared the ghost investigator who came to check it out). She is named after a little girl in her family who died in the late nineteenth century, at the age of two. The Chef and the Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins is her first romance.

Follow the author on Facebook or on a her blog.

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