Author Interview: Jean-Paul Whitehall

I’m welcoming yet another new-to-me author, Jean-Paul Whitehall, to the blog today. I read the excerpt (included below) and was hooked. As a parent of teens, I’m always happy to uncover new books I can share with them. The best part about this collection is that the proceeds go to charity.

Interview

Welcome! Let’s get right to it. What led you to write in your genre?

Kaje Harper and Sammy Goode, who moderate the Goodreads YA LGBT Books group with so much warmth and brilliance. I joined the group in early 2017, and in March, two “prompt pics” inspired the first two stories, then two more in April and the last one in May. So without these two marvelous women, and Raevyn McCann and BJ Toth at NineStar Press, this book wouldn’t be out and about in the world.

Credit where credit is due, eh? It’s wonderful to find a supportive group of fellow writers. How do you choose names for your characters?

Hmmm. “Choose” implies a conscious consideration of alternatives, followed by a selection. Sometimes that happens. For one fantasy I needed nine African-based names, so I Googled, went through the names for ones with the meanings that worked for the story, and used those. More often, the main character names are simply “there” when I start writing, and as I go along, either there’s no pause at all for the next name, or there’s just:  type, type, type, pause, uh, okay, [name pops up], type, type, type.

I can relate to that method. Choose a favorite line or short passage from any of your work. What do you like about it? [See below after the interview for this brilliant excerpt.]

As for what I like about it: my ego says the words are both clever and funny. I can but hope readers agree.

I certainly agree. My kids have complained that YA often talks down to them, but this passage doesn’t do any such thing. It’s fantastic.

Okay, time for word sprints!

Plotter or pantser?

Absolute pantser!

What was the last thing you read?

The most recent YA: Tamora Pierce’s “Tempests and Slaughters (The Numair Chronicles 1)

What’s a charity/cause you support?

PeformOUTKC.org (a local youth LGBT+ organization)

Thank you for taking time out to chat here, and feel free to come back any time to tell us about new releases!

Excerpt

I don’t know whether the words I wrote…adapted…were brilliant parody, moderately amusing, or pretty damn stupid. I had fun figuring them out.

One version for the Meyers: father and oldest son, who did the deeds, and the mother who watched for a while and walked away. I regretted the two could not experience anything like the Four did, but: (a) there was no way to get them alone, and (b) I might have lost my temper and damaged them well beyond the limitations set by Raven Himself. This would have to do. I checked the first one.

The quality of bird shit is not strained.
It droppeth as a horrendous rain from bird butts
Upon the Meyers beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth birds who give and Meyers who take.
Bird shit’s the mightiest of them all. It becomes
The family Meyer best upon their heads.
Bird shit’s a punishment from God himself.
And birds’ power doth then show likest God’s
When bird shit seasons justice.

A modified version for the “reverend” who preached the hate and the pewed listeners who approved.

The quality of bird shit is not strained.
It droppeth as a horrendous rain from bird butts
Upon the pastor beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth birds who give and pastor who takes.
Bird shit’s the mightiest of them all. It becomes
The congregation best upon their heads.
Bird shit’s a punishment from God himself.
And birds’ power doth then show likest God’s
When bird shit seasons justice.

But brilliant Shakespearean borrowing is pointless if no one reads it…or knows about it. Anonymous night-time delivery took care of the Meyers and the preacher. They were probably puzzled by the punctures in the thick stock I used for the envelope and the paper with the laser-printed message. When you send mail by owl—Thank you, Ms. Rowling!—it’s a risk you take with clasping claws or beak.

. . .

A final word.

Please remember…if a bird shits on you, don’t get angry. Pause. Think about what you did to deserve it. And mend your ways.

Birds are, as you now know, instruments of justice.

About the Book

Title: The Raven Prince and Other Stories

Date: December 18, 2017

Length: 54,700 words

Publisher: NineStar Press

Categories: Collection/anthology, coming out, family, fantasy, gay, kidnapping, lesbian, romance, shifter, sports, YA

Content Note: Depictions of bullying, homophobia, graphic violence and threats of/threatened abuse.

Goodreads

Additional Info: 100% of the author’s royalties will be donated to a local LGBT youth organization.

Synopsis

Our Lady of the Axe: In a Regency England where magic used to be real, Eleanor, her dear friend Diana, and three young girls are kidnapped. It will take all of Eleanor’s strength and courage, plus a magical axe and cleavage (not that kind) to set them free, and foil the man behind the kidnapping.

Edging: Will a mistake about meaning make a mess for Tommy and Vince? Or maybe lead to something more?

The Plan That Didn’t Gang Aft Agley: Jack’s plans have a tendency to go way agley. He hopes his special plan for Billy at football practice is the one that won’t.

Family Be Damned: Look for the two Br’er Rabbit moments. One: She wasn’t unhappy Tommy got paid to take her to the eighth grade dance. She even slipped him $25 to agree. Two: Her mom made her older brother take her to the dance. The $50 she paid him was just a sisterly bonus.

The Raven Prince: Sixteen-year-old Mike hopes he can blend in at his new school. Except he’s short, slender, goth-looking with the shiny black hair, black eyes and thick lashes, wears an elegant suit and tie, and drives a Mercedes convertible. He’s also gay, a raven shifter in a human school and eventually he has to be the Raven Prince.

Standing up to the bullies who rule the school—Preacher’s Son, Banker’s Son, Sheriff’s Son, Principal’s Daughter—isn’t blending in. When the Four can’t get to Mike, they go after him through his best friend, Johnny, the devoutly straight wrestling star who doesn’t care about the gay thing. If Johnny is hurt, will it take the Raven Prince to get justice? Raven justice?

100% of the author’s royalties will be donated to a local LGBT youth organization.

Purchase Links

NineStar Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK

About the Author

Jean-Paul is, as they say, older than dirt. The stories in The Raven Prince collection are the first YA he’s written, although he’s been reading YA since well before it was well-known genre. He’s been a Tamora Pierce addict pretty much as long as she’s been writing. He has some YA stories in progress, like “Prospero’s Zipper” and “The Day After” but has no idea when another collection might be ready. He lives in the Midwest with his rescue dogs—the elderly Peke (Max), and Australian Shepherd mix (Lucky Dog)—and the recent addition of a younger Rottweiler mix (Rocky).