Hello lovely readers. This is my stop on the Escapist Book Tours tour for Jesse Nolan Bailey’s The Jealousy Of Jalice. I am really excited because this will be my first Book Tour with Escapist Book Tours and very first author interview. I will be starting off the tour with a Q&A that I had with the author recently.
Along with my interview with Jesse you will find information about The Jealousy Of Jalice, the author, links to grab yourselves a copy of the book as well as a giveaway opportunity for a hardcover copy of The Jealousy Of Jalice. There will be more awesome content after today so make sure you follow the official tour schedule that I posted above. So many awesome reviewers!
Book Information
The Jealousy Of Jalice by Jesse Nolan Bailey
Series: A Disaster Of Dokojin #1
Genre: Dark Fantasy/Fantasy Horror
Intended Age Group: Adult
Pages: 368
Published: June 22, 2021
Publisher: Jesse Nolan Bailey (Self Published)
The land and its people are corrupted. The Sachem, chief of the Unified Tribes, is to blame. It is this conviction that drives Annilasia and Delilee to risk their lives. Afraid of the aether magic he wields, they enact a subtler scheme: kidnap his wife. In her place, Delilee will pretend to be the chieftess and spy on the Sachem.
Unaware of this plot against her husband, Jalice is whisked away by Annilasia. Pleading with her captor proves futile, and she rejects Annilasia’s delusional accusations against the chief. After all, the Sachem has brought peace to the land.
Yet a dangerous truth hides in Jalice’s past. As she and Annilasia flee through a forest of insidious threats, they must confront the evil plaguing the tribes and the events that unleashed it.
See Also:
You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Your Back • Memento • “I’ve Seen the Devil, Yeah, I Met Him Last Night”
Book Links
Amazon (ebook, 2nd edition): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085BCZDT5/
Amazon paperback/hardback 2nd edition: https://www.amazon.com/Jealousy-Jalice-Disaster- Dokojin/dp/1734361646/
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-jealousy-of-jalice-jesse-nolan-
bailey/1136544545?ean=9781734361650
Bookshop.com (indie): https://bookshop.org/books/the-jealousy-of-jalice-
9781734361650/9781734361650
Interview:
Tell me a little bit about yourself?
I’m originally from the state of Georgia, but I’ve lived in North Carolina for over 10 years now. I grew up in a conservative household, so my reading material for most of my youth was religious based fiction. Despite this limitation, I still engaged with some of the more supernatural, spooky series that genre had to offer. One of the few secular reading outlets I was permitted was anything Star Wars related, while the release of The Lord of the Rings movie series further sparked my fascination with fantasy. By the time I was in high school, I was obsessed with the fantasy genre, and it watered the already-planted seeds to someday be an author. However, I struggled to find books that featured queer protagonists, and this spurred me to create stories that mirrored the types of characters I craved to see during my youth. In recent years, the horror genre has slowly sunk its claws into my life, and it infested the debut novel I ended up writing and publishing. In my opinion, it added some flavor to what might otherwise have ended up a cliché story, so I’m thankful for it.
What do you do outside of writing?
I live a rather bland life outside of writing, which is probably why I find such enjoyment in flexing my imagination and creative muscles. Not to mention that in the past couple of years, world events put a limit on what types of activities I felt comfortable engaging with. When I’m not busy with my day job, I spend time with my partner and our dogs, go on walks, watch horror/fantasy/scifi movies and tv shows, and read.
When did you start writing and what motivated you to write The Jealousy Of Jalice?
I started writing when I was a just a kid. Recently my mom sent me some screenshots of the nonsensical plots and stories my childlike mind would conjure, usually odd pairings of Star Wars characters and whatever other obsessions I had at the time. Eventually I wrote a straight-up plagiarism of The Lord of Rings (aptly titled The Master of the Lockets), but hey, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I think it’s just part of the learning process to honing a craft. These youthful attempts will never see the light of day thankfully.
As for my far more proper and mature attempt at a unique story, The Jealousy of Jalice spawned from a need for queer rep in fantasy. Of course, for those who’ve already read it, they’ll find this initial story lacks those prominent queer characters. That’s because I found Jalice’s tale to be a more interesting initial story to tell rather than the gay characters involved with her plot. But don’t worry—the sequel introduces those gay characters and puts them at the forefront.
Who are your biggest writing influencers?
Probably Robert Jordan, Tolkien, Michael Crichton, and Patrick Rothfuss.
Tell me about the inspiration behind The Jealousy Of Jalice?
As I’ve touched upon already, this inspiration for this book came from my desire to see more queer characters as the prominent protagonists in fantasy. However, as I also have mentioned, this story evolved to center more on Jalice than her gay brother, who was originally going to be the focus of the series. At the time, I just found her story far more compelling. It started with a line of thinking along the lines of, “What if I had a Disney-type story with two gay princes instead of the typical prince and princess tale?”, which then led to “And what if the villain was actually one of the princes’ sister?”, which led to “What if the sister puts a curse or something on one of those princes?”, which finally led to “Well, her story and exploring her motivations for such a decision are far more interesting for a debut.”
As for the inspiration for Jalice herself, that came from Sansa in HBO’s Game of Thrones series. Everyone I knew hated her, because she started as this selfish, fragile character, but I actually found her arc fascinating. She was the cliché princess we’re all so familiar with, dainty and naïve, and she’s thrust into vicious circumstances that demand she adapt, but she doesn’t become this sword-wielding assassin. She takes her knowledge of the courts and uses it to survive as best she can. Although my story isn’t court-based at all, I just really liked the idea of having someone like Sansa as the main focus and to further hone in on that character arc.
Have you read anything recently that you would recommend?
Recently I’ve been diving headfirst into my newfound fascination with the horror genre. The book I’ll recommend is a blend of both dark fantasy and horror, which is The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher. It’s about a woman who is helping her uncle run a quirky side-of-the-road museum that ends up finding a hole into another world. It takes the Narnia narrative and the portal fantasy genre and adds a sinister twist to it. It had some creepy scenes, but I’ll add this author knows how to instill humor into horror, and it works perfectly in this book. So if you’re looking for a horror book that isn’t too heavy, uses humor to accentuate the moments of horror, features a woman protagonist, and is a twist on portal fantasy, you should check this one out.
Do you have any hobbies or interest outside from reading and writing?
I guess maybe board games? Love me some Mansions of Madness. Also, chess. Recently my partner taught me the game of chess, and we’ve become obsessed. Chess is one of those games that is so timely and beloved that there are hundreds of different sets, so I’m slowly going to start collecting those. So far we’ve got a Lord of the Rings set and a Harry Potter set. My eyes are set on a Jurassic Park set, and what more fun can you have with chess than a bunch of dinosaur pieces going to war with each other?
Do you write to any background noise, music, etc. or do you prefer silence?
It depends. Music can certainly help get me in the mood for a scene, but there are times where it doesn’t quite flow right with the vibe of the scene, so I turn it off and write in silence. Other times, I will have a song just play on repeat since it encapsulates a scene so well and it can help me hone in on certain elements like atmosphere and exposition.
Do you plan on writing outside the fantasy genre in the future?
If it hasn’t become obvious, horror is my new bestie. Fantasy will always be me go-to, but I think because I’ve been reading fantasy for most of my life, I’m hungry for something a bit different, something with different tropes, plot structure, endings, etc. Horror offers that, so I’m attempting to figure out how to write those types of stories. More than likely, my future stories will be a combination of those two genres.
What are your Favorite types of characters?
Well, if Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Pirates of the Caribbean are any indication, I like the dashing hero that is striving for the most noble decision for the overall good while looking absolutely dashing or stunning while doing it. Think Legolas, William Turner (yes, I may have a thing for Orlando Bloom, but that’s not important), and Queen Amidala. I’m not sure how you’d classify these types of characters. Yet, I also have a paradoxical interest in the naïve and gullible characters. Think Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones. She’s not bad per se, but she’s got a lot of growing up to do and sort of detests the violence and treachery that’s thrust upon her.
Do you write yourself in your characters?
Various aspects of all my characters contain traces of me, although this question makes me nervous to be honest. There are readers out there that sometimes associate bad decisions made by fictional characters as reflections of the author’s personal opinions or actions. Just because I can empathize with my villain’s anger issues or obsessive compulsions, or just because a character says something derogatory or judgmental, doesn’t mean I either condone or fully embrace those elements. To write interesting and fully fleshed characters, an author has to get in those character’s headspace while still writing from a place they are familiar with. Also, to make characters realistic, there has to be aspects of reality infused in the story or characters. It’s kind of like with acting: just because an actor is taking on the role of a fictional character in a play or movie doesn’t mean that actor necessarily condones that character’s actions. So yes, in a sense, my characters contain various aspects of myself, but they also act on and say things that I might never say or do.
I want to thank Jesse Nolan Bailey for taking the time to answer my questions. I love getting to know authors and their inspirations behind their writing.
About the Author
Enthralled by the magic that written stories contain, Jesse Nolan Bailey has always wanted to be an author. With his debut fantasy series, A DISASTER OF DOKOJIN, released to the masses, he can now feel validated in his growing sense of imposter syndrome. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, where he has embraced the equally-gratifying lifework of hosting a trio of spoiled cats and two mini-aussies.
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