Your name: Jax Miller
Tell us about yourself: I have a love-hate relationship with writing. I usually do it in binges.
Tell us about your latest book: Freedom’s Child is about Freedom Oliver, a woman in the Witness Protection Program who gets into too much trouble. She watches the children she put up for adoption twenty years ago grow up from afar until her daughter suddenly goes missing. Freedom escapes the US Marshals and rides a stolen motorcycle cross-country to find the daughter she only knew for two minutes and seventeen seconds. In almost every sense, it’s about a woman trying to find a purpose for her existence while battling a million demons (and being hunted by authorities and criminals).
When did you start writing? I started writing in my early twenties around 2008 because my therapist suggested it. It wasn’t something I necessarily planned on having a career in, more like ‘I’m-gonna-write-this-idea-on-a-napkin’ kind of thing.
Where do you write? I’ve only recently rented a former bank in a small town in the Irish countryside not far from my home. You can find me there in the middle of the night most of the time, but if a good enough idea comes, I’ll write wherever I am. I also write well on trains. Not sure why.
Which other authors do you admire? I’m a huge C.S. Lewis fan and I love his use of the authorial intrusion device (one I am dying to use in one of my works). More than other literary works, however, I am most inspired by film when I write. I am an avid film buff and head to the movies when I need to be inspired.
Book you wished you’d written? Mario Puzo’s or Max Allen Collin’s Road to Perdition (it should be noted I’m a comic nerd who can’t draw). I am a sucker for good gangster reads.
Greatest fictional criminal: Perhaps more villainous than criminal, there’s no other quite like Annie Wilkes from Stephen King’s Misery. Outside of literature, it’s a tossup from varying sides of the spectrum between Walter White (Breaking Bad), The Bride (Kill Bill) and Dr. Jonathan Crane a.k.a. Scarecrow (a Batman supervillain).
Greatest crime or criminal from the real world: Pablo Escobar. I just find the guy fascinating.
What scares you? I’m claustrophobic (small spaces). I include it a lot in my writing because I just find it so terrifying. Just the thought of being in a trunk or a coffin raises the heartbeat.
Are you ever disturbed by your own imagination? Constantly. That’s usually when I run with an idea. But I will consult my small circle of friends to make sure I’m not pushing the boundaries too far once in a while.
3 crime books you would recommend to EVERYONE
- John Grisham’s The Client.
- Nelson DeMille’s The Lion’s Game.
- Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River.
Do you listen to music when you write? I actually can’t write without music. You’ll always find me writing with the tunes blasting in my headphones (so forgive me if I don’t hear the phone or hear you knocking).
Are you on social media? Of course!
How can fans connect with you?
www.facebook.com/jaxmillerauthor
www.twitter.com/jaxmillerauthor
www.goodreads.com/author/show/8529097.Jax_Miller
