Jan Payne
Author Interview - Jan Payne
Author of Rabbit Moon
They say you can't go back home again, but Marin Sinclair, end-of-life doula, doesn't expect her life to be in danger when she answers a plea from a long-ago friend and returns to Dinetah, the Navajo Nation. Her past there--as Anglo in a Native American world--holds memories she is reluctant to confront, but what about her life then would make anyone want to kill her?
Navajo Nation Police Sergeant Justin Blue Eyes shares a connection with Marin from the past, and he has a few questions of his own when Marin disappears—such as why federal agent Cullen MacPherson is investigating the reservation’s abandoned uranium mines, and how the recent attacks on Marin are connected.
Trust has never come easy for Marin, and before she can find answers, she is forced to run—going off the grid on her own in the Lukachukai mountains with unknown killers close behind.
Author Interview - Jan Payne
Author I draw inspiration from:
William Faulkner...I read The Sound and the Fury in school and was forever hooked on Faulkner's prose and stories.
Author Interview - Jan Payne | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
Anywhere, everywhere...cars, planes, beaches, cabins, porches...I once read a book while on a long horseback trip. Motto: always carry the book you're reading!
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Kinsey Millhone (A is for Alibi by (the late) Sue Grafton). Kinsey is inventive, tough, stubborn, and skilled in all sorts of needful ways. She wouldn't be stuck anywhere for long. I imagine conversations with her and what she'd do in difficult situations for my own books. She's funny, too, and if nothing else, we'd have a good time talking until the firemen arrived or she'd climbed out the elevator roof to go for help!
Author Interview - Jan Payne | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
When my sixth-grade teacher read a story I'd written and told me I was going to be an author...
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I personally am an ebook reader...I have around 100 books in my e-library! I can take my library with me and read everywhere I go--as long as there's electricity available! I also love audiobooks--especially when on the road (which happens a lot up here in northern Minnesota!)
Hardback books always make me feel smart and seriously studious--they remind me of school--and they look so great in a bookcase! They will last forever if taken care of properly.
Paperback books, nowadays, are just so pretty--with the larger, easy to handle (and pack!) sizes and the beautiful cover designs. The good thing about them is no electrical component required--very handy when canoeing the Boundary Waters or backpack hiking the Grand Canyon...
The last book I read:
I read more than one book at a time, but the last two would be...The Color of Lightning, by Paulette Jiles (love her westerns); and Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel (love historical fiction; so sad she is gone now)
Author Interview - Jan Payne | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I use a computer for writing now, but it took time to become accustomed to doing so. I still like to brainstorm with pen and paper, and I always carry a notebook for those times inspiration strikes, or I hear an interesting conversation, but I find the speeds of typing, back-tracking, finding, and re-doing is easier on the computer. I also have a big whiteboard on the wall where I can add or subtract chapters and ideas or scenes and see the 'whole' at a glance--or see story gaps to fix.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
A tough one...but I think Jack Reacher (Die Trying, Book 2, by Lee Child) and I could be good friends. He travels light, doesn't waste a lot of time on small talk, isn't attached to or swayed by money or power, reads a lot, stands up for the right even at a cost to himself, appreciates the amazing places in the USA, and loves good food! He'd also be a great bodyguard!
Author Interview - Jan Payne | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
I always wanted to sing and dance--a la 'A Chorus Line'--and act in musicals and plays. I think I've watched 'Hamilton' five times now, and 'Evita' was also favorite--and 'Phantom of the Opera'. I learn all the songs from the CDs, and I sing along to them when I'm alone in the car!
Favorite decade in fashion history:
Oh, the 1920s and the flappers...the beginning of comfortable clothing for women!
Place I’d most like to travel:
Italy--tour all the amazing museums and live in a villa in Tuscany!
My signature drink:
My favorite drink is a take on a gin and tonic--usually without the gin--and includes lime juice, a little cherry juice, diet tonic water and a splash of Rose's grenadine...topped with maraschino cherries and sliced lime. It's good with or without the gin!
Favorite artist:
I listen to 'mood' music as I write, and my favorite group is 'Two Steps from Hell' a company formed in 2006 by two guys writing music for movie trailers. Their musical scores and albums are inspiring--full orchestras with epic music!
Number one on my bucket list:
I would love to take classes in ballroom dancing...but jazzercise is probably the closest to dancing I'll ever get.
Anything else you'd like to add:
I didn't see a category for Doctor Who...I'm a big fan. Come to think of it, I'd rather be stuck in an elevator with Dr. Who--and his sonic screwdriver!
Find more from the author:
author website: https://jandpayne.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JanDPayneAuthor
instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/jandpayne.author
About Jan Payne:
Author Interview - Jan Payne
Drawing from her own life story in the Four Corners area of the Navajo Nation, author Jan D Payne offers readers a journey into the heart of the American Southwest in a modern-day suspense series. Writing characters who navigate diverse cultural influences to explore the lines between the seen and the unseen, the modern and the traditional, the present and the past—she creates a world where the impossible becomes possible, and mythical legends may come to life.
A graduate of Shiprock High School in Shiprock, New Mexico, she also holds university and medical degrees, as well as a graduate degree in Christian Studies from Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. She attributes an early interest in writing to a wealth of family stories, including that of a great-great aunt taken captive by Comanche/Kiowa raiders in 1870's Texas.
Jan Payne is a member of Western Writers of America and Women Writing the West and she and her husband, Jon, live in the Leech Lake area of northern Minnesota with their three big dogs—Kaibab, Rudi, and Orrin.
