Author Interview: Jennifer Hallmark

Need a taste of the familiar mixed with some unfamiliar? If you're like me and from the South, our guest today may have just what you're looking for. Jennifer Hallmark joins us today to chat about why she loves the South, what inspires her, and ... chickens? Read on to find out more!

Welcome Jennifer! Where do you get your inspiration for your stories?
 
Jennifer: Everyday life and deep-seated memories. Life seems to form the basics in my stories: from growing up in the South in the 70s to being a published writer and grandmother of six. My memories, both good and bad, tend to emerge in my books and I hope make them richer. And I always feel like God and I write together when I put my hands to the keyboard. 😊
 
What is it about the speculative world that draws you to write stories with supernatural elements?
 
Jennifer: There is just something about a world unlike our own that draws me. I prefer stories with deep allegory, books that speak to my soul that I often find that in speculative reads. Think The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Star Wars.

Of all your characters, which one is most like you and how?
 
Jennifer: Wow. All of my characters have parts of me, even the villains. In my novel, Smoking Flax, I really poured my struggles and lack of confidence into Reed, mirroring a lot of what I felt when I was growing up in the 70s.
 
All of your books are set in the South. What is your favorite part about the South that makes you want to include it in your stories?
 
Jennifer: The people and the settings. In the South, they go together. Go to any diner in small town Alabama and you instantly have such a variety of “good” people. And I mostly write small town or rural area settings because that is what I’ve experienced. Beautiful, flawed places with beautiful, flawed people.
 
As with all authors, sometimes life throws curve balls at us and makes things hard. How do you handle writing when life is difficult?
 
Jennifer: The last two years have been extremely difficult in my writing life for a variety of reasons. I tried to stick to my foundation to make it through: keeping my blog current even if I missed a post or two and going to writing meetings, both in person and online. Even when I couldn’t write fiction, just staying connected made all the difference.
 
What are you working on now? Can you give us a sneak peek?
 
Jennifer: I’m working on several projects (as usual for me). I’m editing the sequel to Jessie’s Hope, my debut novel. I’m editing and adding to my sequel to Smoking Flax, my Southern speculative novel. And I have a three-book medieval fantasy series (first book written) that I’m editing and adding more words.
 
Finally, what is one fact about yourself that very few already know?
 
Jennifer: That my husband and I have raised over a million chickens in our early years together. He worked a plant job and I took care of around 44,000 baby chicks, from one day old until six-weeks-old when we sold them. Farming always seems to sneak into my books, even the medieval fantasy. 😊

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Smoking Flax

BACK TO THE FUTURE meets DISNEY’S THE KID.
Almost nineteen-year-old Reed Anderson wants to belong in a world where he hasn’t always fit. Three days after graduation, he decides to ride a bus back to Louisiana and deal with the events of his thirteenth summer once and for all. Back then, he’d stood up to his abusive Pa, protecting Momma and his sister, taking control of his life. But who was the faded image of the child he saw that day?  Aunt Lula predicted his life would shift and change. Something about the space-time continuum and the fourth dimension. He tucks her words in his heart. If he survives the shift, this could be his chance to start over. But the ghost child haunts his dreams. Even though six years have passed, does he want to confront the lies he’s always believed?

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Jennifer Hallmark writes Southern fiction with a twist. Her website and newsletter focus on her books, love of the South, and favorite fiction.  She loves reading and streaming science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, or her favorite subject—time travel.
Her latest novel, Smoking Flax, was released in 2024 with Elk Lake Publishing. She creates stories with unforgettable characters—her stories are a little eerie and otherworldly, but with a hope-filled turn.