Interview of Author Imari Jade

Today it's my pleasure to interview author Imari Jade!

Latest Book: "Bayou Babe"
Buy Link: http://www.sugarnspicepress.com

BIO:
Imari Jade currently resides in Marrero Louisiana. Professional credits include “A Rose by any Other Name,” “Love Never Dies,” “Damnation,” “Wet” and “Unwrapped Gifts” with Midnight Showcase Fiction. “Body Heat and Oasis,” with Sugar and Spice Press, and “Death Takes a Holiday” with Carnal Desires Publishing. Imari currently writes for Midnight Showcase Fiction, Sugar and Spice Press, Carnal Desires Publishing, Moongypsy Press, Wild Horse Press, Siren-Bookstand and Eternal Press. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and EPICON.

Q: What’s the first thing you did when you received word you’d sold a book?
A: I announced it on Facebook.

Q: What part of the book is the easiest for you to write? Why?
A: For me the easiest part of the book is the beginning. Once I have the characters’ names and preliminary sketches I normally try to concoct the “cute meet.” Most of the time I open with dialogue or with one of the main characters doing something odd or frustrating that draws attention to them.

Q: Who is your favorite character in your book and why?
A: Halle Johnson’s my favorite because she’s misunderstood and even though she is accused of heinous crimes she doesn’t fall apart emotionally.

Q: If one of your books became a movie, which celebrity would you like to star as your hero? Tell us about your hero?
A: If Bayou Babe became a movie, I’d like to see Brad Pitt play the hero. Langston is a happy-go-lucky northerner who once worked as a tabloid reporter. He’s blond, handsome and has no problem expressing what he wants. He’s also a bit of a rebel and will go to the extreme to get a story. Once he gets something in his mind he’ll go to extreme to investigate and write about it.

Q: What hobby do you enjoy when you’re not writing?
A: Believe it or not, I like to watch anime. I’ve loved cartoons ever since I was a child. I have a very extensive collection that I horde from everyone. Watching anime helps me relax and I find they help me with my writing because most of them are very romantic and uncensored.

Q:What is your strongest point as a writer?
A: I think my strongest part as a writer is my ability to multi-task several manuscripts at a time. At this very moment I have just finished a new one and submitted to a publisher and I have two other ones I am working on. But I’m like that with every thing I do. If I’m cooking, I put a load of clothes in the washer and then hop on the Internet to check email.

Tell us where to find you:
Websites:
http://www.imarijade.com
http://www.imarijade.bravehost.com
Publisher’s page:
http://www.sugarnspicepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=12
Blogs:
http://www.imarijade.blogspot.com
Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000077341527&ref=ts
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/imarijade
Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/imarijade
Post a review of my books at GoodReads.com
http://www.goodreads.com

BLURB:

Tabloid writer turned photojournalist Langston Priestly drives to Louisiana to do a documentary on the bayou and the wetlands, but when he car runs out of gas on a dark road near the bayou, the last thing he expects to see is a beautiful, half-naked African American woman.
Voodoo priestess Halle Johnson’s life couldn’t get any worse…or so she thinks. The sheriff and everyone in town thinks she’s a murderess, her best friend is a nymphomaniac, the men in town assume that she’s easy since she lives alone, and now she finds a half-dead white man near her home. Common sense tells her to walk away and not get involved, but all it takes is one look at the handsome, unconscious northerner to get involved.

EXCERPT:

The sound of the drums led him away from his stalled car and down the lone dark stretch of road. The rhythm pounding a haunting and mesmerizing tune unlike anything he’d heard before. A bongo beat riveted through his body as he walked. He continued to a clump of woods that ordinarily he wouldn’t dare ventured into but his curious nature often talked his mind into doing foolish things. A big white barn appeared, sheltered beneath the limbs of old gnarled oak trees that seemed to touch the sky. The moon and billions of stars illuminated the structure.

A young black woman, dressed in white appeared and walked toward the barn. He could not see her face clearly from where he stood but she held her head high and proud like a Nubian princess. Long braided plats hung down her back and peeped from beneath a red bandana tied around her forehead. She was a delightful sight at two in the morning. Her lithe body and graceful walk reminded him of a wood nymph frolicking in a forest. The sight held him captivated and enchanted until she disappeared beyond the barn door. Langston scanned the area for a few minutes just listening to the music and waiting for someone one else to appeared. He stepped from behind the tree once satisfied no one would jump out at him. He walked over to the side of the barn and peeped inside one of the windows. There were twenty white-dressed African Americans inside. He looked around for the young woman. He had to get a good look at her. He gasped when he found her. She had stripped away some of her clothes. He sighed. She was simply lovely.

Langston’s eyes stayed glued to the young woman as she danced half-naked across the barn floor. His temperature rose several degrees when she turned and faced him. Their eyes met but not once did she acknowledge his presence or call attention to the fact that he spied on them. Nothing short of a shotgun blast could pull him from that spot anyway and he felt she knew this. Breasts like melons shook erotically with each movement she made. A snake slithered possessively around her curvaceous body. He gulped as he watched her roll her wide hips to a haunting drum beat. The people chanted, egging her on. He sighed. It made running out of gas in the middle of nowhere worth it. He stepped backwards and ran into something solid. Langston turned slowly. A behemoth of a man blocked his path. He was dressed completely in white like everyone else in the barn and carried one of the sharpest looking machetes he’d ever seen. The other man stared with a high level of contempt.

“What are you doing here stranger? This is a private event.” Skin the color of dark chocolate and his shoulders were so wide Langston could not see around them. Not in his wildest imagination could he fathom taking this man on in any kind of fight.

Langston stammered. “My car broke down.” Even at six foot, the man still towered over him. “I ran out of gas and started walking down the road. I heard the music and it lured me here.”

The man looked at him skeptically. “You’re pretty far off the highway. We don’t get many tourists out here.”

“I was trying to find a place called Madison. My boss sent me out here to do a documentary on the wetlands. I think I took a wrong turn somewhere.” He nervously ran his fingers though his short blonde hair. “I’ve been driving around for hours trying to get back to the main road.” He wondered if the behemoth bought it.

The man looked him up and down as if he tried to make up his mind whether to believe him or not. Langston had to admit that he would be a bit suspicious too if he caught someone snooping around his barn.

“Where is your car?”

Langston pointed down the dark road.

The man stepped back. “Wait here. I think I have enough gas to get you into town.”

Langston breathed a sigh of relief. The sooner he got the gas, the sooner he could find his hotel room and get some sleep. He didn’t know where he got the idea that it would be easy driving from New York to Louisiana alone.

The man walked away and Langston turned his attention back to the activity inside the barn. The dancing had stopped and some kind of ritual was about to take place. Moments later rosters and chickens were slaughtered right before his eyes. He blanched from the shock. He didn’t think he’d ever eat poultry again. He forced himself to look again. The young woman from earlier had returned completely nude this time, leading a shackled black man into the middle of the room. This is interesting. His forehead beaded with sweat and he knew it had nothing to do with the heat or the humidity. She had an ass that he would kill to touch and hips so wide they begged to be stroked. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had no right to fantasize over her like some sex starved teen. He felt ashamed. He was trespassing on private property and spying on something he had no business witnessing. The guilt quickly went away as soon as he felt his body stir. Like his mind, his cock could be talked into doing very foolish things. He glued his eyes back on the scene. The others continued to chant as she smeared both their bodies with blood. The sight appalled and intrigued him at the same time. He might have been an uptown boy from New York but he’d been around long enough to know a voodoo ritual when he saw one. He jumped at a sound behind him. The man had returned with a red plastic gas can.

“This should be enough to get you to town.” He still carried the machete and he still looked pissed.

Langston thanked him. “How far is town?”

“About a mile in the same direction you were heading.”

“What’s the town called?”
"Madison".
“Boy do I feel stupid.” He took the gas can and started to walk away. An agonizing scream pierced the night. He stopped and turned back to the window. The shackled man lay on the floor convulsing. Langston attempted to go to his aid via the barn door.

“Stop,” the man with the machete ordered. “It is forbidden to enter or interfere.”

"Something is wrong with that man. They’ve done something to him.”

“There’s nothing you can do for him. Go and tell no one what you’ve seen.”

Langston backed away and then ran away with the gas can as fast as he could.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Yes. Available and Coming Soon:
Hell and High Waters - Moongypsy Press - 5/23/2010
Pharaoh - Siren Publishing - 7/2010
In Love with a Dark Stranger - Midnight Showcase Fiction - 7/2010
Bitter Fruit - Phaze - 7/2010
Prophecy - Eternal Press - 6/2010
Something to be Thankful For - Total E-Bound - 6/10/2010
Cursed - Moongypsy Press - 6/2010
The Kiss of an Angel - Wild Horse Press - 8/2010
Bayou Babe - Sugar and Spice Press - 5/22/2010