Exclusive! The Eric Northman - Little CJ interview

Island exclusive! Eric Northman interviews Crazy Little CJ to learn all about Carolyn Crane and her upcoming novel, MIND GAMES!

Eric: Welcome, Crazy Little CJ. I'm so glad you made the time to be here today. For our guests who don't know, Crazy Little CJ is Carolyn Crane's childhood portrait, painted by an elderly aunt. Crazy Little CJ, I understand you have hung on Carolyn Crane's office wall for years, because her husband won't let you be in the living room because he thinks your eyes follow him everywhere. I think that is terrible.

Little CJ: Yeah. It is. And it's just Little CJ. You can drop the crazy.


Eric: Okay, let's get right to it. Little CJ, I am so in love with Carolyn Crane. You have to help me get inside her head. How can I make her love me? I had hoped that now that I am a TV star, she would think I’m special, but frankly, I feel neglected.

Little CJ : Join the club, dude.

Eric: But you know her better than anybody else. Please, Little CJ—

Little CJ: [interrupting] - Excuse me, sorry, this isn’t what I want to talk about. I’m sorry for your problems and all, but I’m here to unveil something.

Eric: Is it Carolyn Crane? Is she here? How does my hair look? Is—

Little CJ: [interrupting] - you wanna shut your fang box for a sec?

Little CJ: That’s better, TV stud. Okay, I wanted to unveil the cover of the sequel to MIND GAMES! The title is DOUBLE CROSS. It was DOUBLE TAKE but it got changed.

Eric: But MIND GAMES isn’t even out yet. Shouldn’t we be discussing MIND GAMES? I understand it’s fantastic.

Little CJ: Whatever on MIND GAMES. The book you really want to pay attention to is DOUBLE CROSS, the second in the Justine Jones: disillusionist trilogy. And I happen to have a sneak peek of the cover to show our readers today!

~ stony silence ~

Little CJ: You like?

Eric: Not really. I don’t get it. Why are you on the cover.

Little CJ: What’s wrong? I don’t look kick ass enough? Don’t you see my knife?

Eric: Yeah, I see it.

Little CJ: And? And what do you think of my sidekick?

Eric: It doesn’t make sense that Spectra would have a book with this sort of cover, especially as a followup to MIND GAMES, which is a fun, psychologically plotty, sort of sexy urban fantasy. This new cover feels more YA.

Little CJ: What are you? A publishing industry expert now? My sidekick and I fight crime through paranormal cuteness. When people see how cute we are, they think of all the children and baby animals in the world and decide not to be evil anymore.

Eric: What happened to the psychological hit squad? The neurotic vigilantes? The tortured mastermind hero? All the plot elements of MIND GAMES.

Little CJ: That's all history in the second book of the trilogy. Because, let’s be honest, after that hot tub scene in MIND GAMES, I felt like Carolyn needed to clean up her act. Or that psycho hunting cabin scene? Please. I’m trying to rehabilitate her image here.

Eric: Carolyn Crane’s image seems fine to me.

Little CJ: Yeah - to you maybe. Can you guess what my sidekick is named?

Eric: *sullenly* Vampire snack?

Little CJ: *kicks Eric in the shin* No, his name is Buttons.

Tomorrow: Eric Interviews Miss Doreen about the secrets of getting to Carolyn Crane’s heart. The Miss Doreen Interview here. More about MIND GAMES here.