Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Jeri Westerson

From an interview with Veil of Lies author Jeri Westerson at SuspenseMagazine.com:

Who would you say has been your biggest inspiration?

I had many authors inspire me over the years, but I would have to say that my first inspiration was J.R.R. Tolkein. I was always writing stories when I was a kid, since the first moment I could pick up a crayon. But in high school when I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy I was truly inspired by this enveloping sort of writing, of this world-building that took in so many of the myths and legends that I already enjoyed (having grown up in a household of rabid Anglophiles with a hunger for history). It was in high school that I wrote my first novel. Four hundred pages...in long hand! And then for many years after, I wrote Tolkein-esque fantasy novels. Just for fun. It never occurred to me to cultivate this interest into a career till much later in life. It was just a hobby, just something I did for fun.
Read the complete Q & A.

Learn more about Veil of Lies and its author at Jeri Westerson's website, her "Getting Medieval" blog, and the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir blog.

Westerson wrote about Crispin Guest's place among fictional detectives for The Rap Sheet.

The Page 69 Test: Veil of Lies.

--Marshal Zeringue