Valjeanne Jeffers Immortal

Ms. Jeffers has created an oddly vivid and not so far-fetched neo-Earth in Immortal. Quick paced and well-crafted, I felt a connection with her protagonists and a distilled hatred for her antagonists. The characters’ backstories fit together like the pieces of an intricate puzzle. From the absence of war to the presence of the obscenely paranormal, the frightening and beautiful; dangerous and air-tight; Immortal is filled with yins and yangs that somehow culminate into a satisfying literary balance. A wonderful read from beginning to end.

B. Sharise Moore, author of Taste

HER DREAMS ARE TERRIFYING.

In the year of our  One 3075, Tundra has been at peace for 400 years. There is no racism, poverty or war. Karla is a young Indigo woman working as a successful healer. Yet she is tormented by lucid and erotic dreams. Dreams in which she is IMMORTAL. Two men emerge from these phantasms: the first a Copper colored shape shifter and the other a demon more dead than alive. But when this creature appears in her apartment Karla realizes they share a lust that may one day consume her.

HIS WILL UNLOCK A MYSTERY.

Joseph has always dreamt of becoming an artist, warrior…and a werewolf. Now he’s dreaming of a sorceress who commands that he leave his homeland.

TOGETHER THEY WILL JOURNEY TO THE EDGE OF TIME…

To a nightmarish world of revolution and magic. But will they save Tundra or perish in its destruction?

Q. Where did you find the original impulse to write this novel?
Valjeanne: For years I devoured science fiction – I’ve spent my last five dollars on Stephen King
Novels and wandered around in libraries looking for new books. My impulse to write grew
from my desire to create my own “scifi” worlds that I could escape into.

Q Who inspired the characters of your novel?
Valjeanne: All of my characters are collages of people I’ve met and oftentimes loved in my journey –
including myself. The heroine of Immortal is based upon a young woman who befriended
me when I was ten years old.

Q. Looking at the book now, what surprises you?
Valjeanne : My own imagination surprises me! I go back and read Immortal and Immortal II
and I can believe the dialogue, the sex scenes; or that I wrote about folks shape
shifting into werewolves and demons.

Q. Many writers describe themselves as “character” or “plot” writers.
Valjeanne: Which are you? What do you find to be the hardest part of writing?
I guess if I have chose one I’d say: character driven. I work very hard to make Immortal’s
characters “real people” and by that I mean believable: folks who curse, make love,
make mistakes, lie and dream just like the rest of us. “Perfect” characters just don’t cut it with me, because real people are flawed. The hardest part of writing I’ve found is struggling to create new and different realities – in other words something fresh and not a rehash of other
writer’s work.

Q. Who has influenced you in your writing?
Valjeanne: I have many but Octavia Butler, Stephen king and Tananarive Due are probably
my strongest influences.

Q. What was the book that most influenced your life and why?
Valjeanne: Wild Seed by Octavia Butler had the strongest influence on me. In Wild Seed I
found folks that I could readily identify with written by a Black female author.
I think that’s when I really started to believe that I, a Black woman, could create
alternate worlds.

Q. What are your 2 favorite books and why?
Valjeanne: Meji by Milton Davis and Taste by B. Sharise Moore. I love the way Milton blends
African mythology and history in Meji. And Taste is a wonderfully unique mix of erotica and science fiction.

Q. What are you currently working on?
Valjeanne: I’m putting the finishing touches on Immortal II: The Time of Legend. I’m also writing Stealer of Souls which is the third novel in the Immortal series.

Click here to order Immortal on lulu

click here to read excerpt

Click here to reach Valjeanne Jeffers