Interview Roulette: Kelly Jensen

Welcome this week’s player, Kelly Jensen!

If you were forced at gunpoint to sing Karaoke, what song would you choose?

I’m going to begin my answer with a story which should serve as a warning. My family LOVES playing Guitar Hero. Even after everyone else packed their dusty guitars away, we kept playing. Daughter on bass, me on guitar and Hubs on vocals. I sang once. After I mutilated “Beat It” by Michael Jackson (I really thought there were more words, and another chorus, like maybe before the actual one?), I was asked to never sing again. I kinda took that to heart.

I do actually love to sing, and I sing in the car all the time. Daughter hates it. But as a fifteen-year-old, she’s pretty much obligated to hate everything I do at this point. So, if I had to choose a song, at gunpoint, would I reprise “Beat It” and hopefully disturb my abductor so much they quietly left the building? Nope. I’d sing “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith because that’s the song Hubs and I danced to at our wedding. We always sing it when it comes on in the car (whether Daughter is scowling or not), I know all the words, and I just kinda love it. I don’t think I could ruin a song like that. (Maybe.)

Which of your characters should run for US President?

None of them. Seriously. My guys are ridiculous. They’re barely making sense of their own lives and you want one of them to run the country? Wait, they couldn’t do a worse job than… Okay, hmm. You know, I’m tempted to nominate Jake’s sister, Willa. She GETS THINGS DONE. But I have other plans for her. So… maybe Marc? He’s the most capable guy I know and not afraid of a challenge. He’s also able to admit when he’s made a mistake.

What is the most useless or frivolous thing you’ve ever bought?

You want me to choose just one? Okay, how about this octopus tea infuser. It’s ridiculously hard to use because the opening where you load the tea is too small for a spoon. You literally have to stuff tea leaves in there with a finger. I love it, though. It’s orange. And it has tentacles.

If you could instantly learn another language, which would you choose and why?

Japanese so I could read manga in its original language.

What’s something you—or one of your characters—got in trouble for while in school?

Skipping class(es).

  • In first grade, I had most of the staff out looking for me and my friend when we got so involved in our game of make believe that we didn’t hear the bell. It took them so long to find us that parents and the authorities had been notified. We were in a narrow alleyway behind the cafeteria pretending we were escaping from a castle.
  • In fourth grade I was hauled out of a tree house, back over the fence and straight to the headmaster’s office. The back of my legs stung for days.
  • The song “Manic Monday” by the Bangles always conjures the image of me and Karen in her dad’s convertible (top down) driving down to Great Falls National Park on a perfect spring day, instead of, you know, going to school. Jumping off the rocks into the river was much more fun.
  • Likewise, any day with good light would find me on the hill behind the art room painting rather than learning about the U.S. presidents.
  • Senior year of high school I had to write a letter to my history teacher apologizing for my many absences and listing the reasons why he should let me graduate.
  • College—when I got my first boyfriend, I missed so many classes in one subject, I had to retake it the next semester.

I could go on, but I think you’re getting the idea. 😉

Which of your characters is going to Vegas with you and why?

Henry. He can probably count cards. He counts everything else.

What is your favorite insect?

Cicadas. The sound of them always makes me think of hot and lazy afternoons, and long summer evenings.

Book blurb:

Counting Down (Counting #2)

It’s been a week since a Christmas Eve blizzard changed the course of Marcus Winnamore’s life. Plan A is now Plan B, and the first item on his new agenda is taking Henry Auttenberg on a date. They’ve been invited to a New Year’s Eve party, and Marc is counting down the hours until midnight… until he can kiss Henry in front of his colleagues and friends.

Things don’t quite work out to plan. Finding the elevator out of service, Marc and Henry check the stairs, only to choose the wrong door, and become locked in the basement. Close quarters once again make for close conversation, and as they explore every avenue of escape, they also explore the deepening attraction between them. For Marc, this isn’t an experiment. Will he still feel that way when he has to admit to someone other than Henry that he’s gay?

 

Book buy links:

Amazon | Amazon UK | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Dreamspinner Press

 

Author bio:

If aliens ever do land on Earth, Kelly will not be prepared, despite having read over a hundred stories of the apocalypse. Still, she will pack her precious books into a box and carry them with her as she strives to survive. It’s what bibliophiles do.

Kelly is the author of a number of novels, novellas and short stories, including the Chaos Station series, co-written with Jenn Burke. Some of what she writes is speculative in nature, but mostly it’s just about a guy losing his socks and/or burning dinner. Because life isn’t all conquering aliens and mountain peaks. Sometimes finding a happy ever after is all the adventure we need.

 

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