 Jana DeLeon talks mysterious Bayous Posted by Suzanne Ferrell Feb 3 2012, 12:46 am
Welcome, Jana. Please pull up a stool. I believe Paolo has a pitcher of mojitos for us today. Suz: Jana, since you’re from Southern Louisiana, can you tell us what it was like growing up there? Jana: When I was living it, it seemed completely normal. It wasn’t until I moved away that I realized how unique Louisiana culture is and that my childhood was vastly different than most. My parents owned a camp (think really unfancy lakehouse) on a bayou that you could only get to by boat. We ran shrimping barges in the winter, usually during a front which was the best time to catch shrimp, and had three commercial deep freezes at our house full of shrimp, crab and fish. It was very common for us to eat shrimp in some form three or more times a week. Suz: Did you spend a lot of time in the bayous? Jana: We spent a lot of weekends and weeks during the summer at the camp. Fishing, shrimping, crabbing – whatever was in season. I also spent a lot of time in a hammock on the end of the pier reading books. (The pictures below are similar to the fishing camps where we stayed. Suz: Were there any mysteries in the bayous where you grew up?And is that why you’ve placed your mysteries in that setting? Jana: Louisiana, in general, is full of lore because of the diverse backgrounds of the residents. All the myths and legends make it a great setting for my Intrigues because I wanted them to have that gothic feel. None of my Intrigues are based on local rumor, but my first single title, RUMBLE ON THE BAYOU, is based on drug runners who use the Gulf of Mexico to transport product. Suz: Can you give our readers a glimpse into the premise for The Lost Girls of Johnson Bayou? Jana: Ginny Bergeron was only six when she wandered out of the swamp the night the LeBlanc School for Girls burned to the ground, killing everyone inside. She has no memory of anything before waking up in the hospital. But at night, the burned remains of the house seem to call to her, beckoning her into the swamp to uncover her past. Paul Stanton believes Ginny’s lost memories may be the key to finding his sister, who he was separated from as a child in the foster care system, but it’s soon clear that someone doesn’t want Ginny to remember. Suz: Thi Jana: Absolutely! I intend to set books in the bayous of Louisiana until I run out of ideas.
Suz: What’s next for you? Jana: I have a new related series releasing back-to-back months at the end of this year called the Mystere Parish series. All the books are set in the fictional Mystere Parish and center around mysteries that include the lore and myths of Mystere Parish. For my single title humor fans, I’m also working on the first book in a new humorous mystery series that I’ll be releasing myself, hopefully in spring.
So readers, is there anyplace you’ve been that scared you? Did you sit around the campfire and tell scary stories? Was there a myth or story growing up that everyone you knew told that scared you? Jana will be giving away autographed copies of The Lost Girls of Johnson’s Bayou to two lucky commentors. TweetPosted in Bayous, harlequin intrigue, Jana DeLeon, Romantic suspense, Suzanne Ferrell Comments76 thoughts on “Jana DeLeon talks mysterious Bayous” |
  
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I’ve never been anywhere that really scared me, but I remember when we went to Thailand for a wedding and we passed some old ladies on the street who looked like they were performing spells or exorcisms.
Jane, looks like you’ve got the SCARY rooster for the day!
Hmmm…aren’t roosters a vital ingredient in Louisiana voodoo spell?
Congrats Jane – Keep an eye on that wily beast.
Have fun with him
Helen
That’s interesting, Jane! I wish I could have seen that. Did you get pictures?
Hey Jane!
Exorcisims in Thailand, huh? Sounds both creepy and cool!
We didn’t take any pictures. We tried to walk by as fast as we could.
Welcome, Jana. Great interview, Suz. Jana, I loved the glimpses of growing up in Louisiana. What a unique childhood! And I also love the photo of you with that lovely dog. What breed is he? A collie? What’s his name? He obviously appreciates great literature!
Bogey is a Sheltie. He’s almost seven and “man pretty.” He’s also my spoiled baby.
Anna, I drove over the Bayou ONCE. Given my pention for getting nervous on bridges, the idea that there were gators down there made me keep moving!
Scary place? Elementary school!
LOL Minna! School can be a very scary place. My day job is probably the scariest place I go.
Fresh shrimp three days a week – sounds like heaven to me
What an amazing childhood, Jana, and so perfect for an Intrigue author.
Can’t say I’ve really been anyplace scary – but as a longtime girl scout, I’ve sat around many a campfire listening to scary stories.
Donna, I used to love slumber parties. I was also the ringleader of the horror stories.
I really miss shrimp three times a week. I love shrimp and my mom is the best shrimp fryer in the world!
LOL, Jana! Why doen’t it surprise me that you were the horror story ring leader?
Hey Donna!
So does shrimp three days a week beat out Maryland crab?
i’m prefer run away from the scared place because i’m coward ;(
i’d heard so much scared story, i will later, have to go back to work ;(
Running may very well be the smart move, given the situation.
Eli,
I’m with Jana. Going to something scary isn’t always the smart thing to do and there’s nothing cowardly in recognizing that!
I don’t think I have ever been anywhere that really scared me. The only campfires I have sat around included my parents. I’m thinking back to earlier days. We are not a family that tells scary stories. Stories yes – just not scary ones.
My family didn’t do scary stories, either. They were mostly into telling funny stories about each other. But I love a good scary story. I love creepy movies (although finding a good one is rare).
Mary,
My family in general didn’t tell scary stories, but my older brother and some of his friends thought it was great fun to scare me and my little sister! Funny thing was, sometimes they scared themselves more. hehehe
Jana
I have to agee sounds like a great place to grow up and all that seafood I love shrimps although we call them prawns here in Australia, it is a place I would love to visit I have seen places on TV shows and in movies over the years and it really feels like it has a big past.
I don’t think I have ever been to a scary place although I have been on a few guide camps and ghost stories were all the rage around the fire at night and then when I was in high school we went on a trip up to the country and fly screens fell of the windows and there were all sorts of strange noises but I really think that a lot of it was some of the other girls LOL.
The books sound fantastic I need to look for them and thanks Suz for inviting Jana along today
Have Fun
Helen
Helen – you’re in my sister country.
People from Louisiana think Australia is similar. My books do very well in sales over there, so I guess the feeling is mutual. I would love, love, love to visit there one day, but I really want a month, at least, to take it all in.
Jana
We would love to have you visit and I am not sure even a month would cover a lot of our country LOL depends on what you want to see so many great places to visit and if I am lucky maybe one day I will get to see it all.
I am sure there are lots of scary things in the outback miles of land with nothing but trees and snakes
Have Fun
Helen
Hey Helen!
No scary stories about the outback?
Knowing some of the things my friends and I used to do at sleep overs, I’d bet those were girls making the screens fall down, too!
My mother and her sisters would talk about things that happened when they were growing up in a holler in WV. I don’t know if they intended to scare but I was very impressionable. Superstition ruled and between my grandmother and mother I think I cut my teeth on folklore.
Hi Dianna – yes, in the small towns in remote places (like bayou towns and WV) superstition reigns. There’s tons of stories that come from those places. Fascinating stuff!
Hey Dianna,
In my parents hometown there are lots of hollers in and out of the mountains. Now there wasn’t a scary folklore about those, but there was a place called, “Devil’s Ridge” we warned to stay away from. One year one of my uncles was out racoon hunting at night up on “Devil’s Ridge” with his friends and their hunting dogs. My uncle fell and broke his leg. No one could get him out until morning. Wonder if it was possessed or haunted??
Scary stuff, eh? Well… let’s see. Mum used to talk about the horrible, scary Thunder Box at the bottom of their yard. Now, for those who don’t know Aussie slang, a Thunder Box is an outdoor toilet and in some parts of our country, they are still in use. My poor Mum had to go right to back of the quarter acre lot of land to go to the toilet in the middle of the night; or else hang on or use the commode. The site of it is still there we hear; as most are when they have been moved inside the houses from the early 1950′s.
One place that scared me when I was young – and still does – is under my parent’s house. I now that sounds stupid, but it does. Dad is a bit of a hoarder and he collects all kinds of tools, ladders, fishing gear and – well – junk and just stores it under the house where he seems to know where it all is, but we don’t. And when I’m asked to go under there, I flatly refuse to unless I’m armed with a torch and have enclosed shoes on because under there are mice and rats…. blech!… and spiders… I just hate spiders.
Otherwise, I make sure there’s not a single place in my house where I can’t go… I have to be able to get into every spot if something goes wrong, if there’s a leak, if I have change a light bulb, turn off a tap, clean out a drain… I must be able to do it without a fear in my heart… so the first thing I did around my place was look into the dark areas and get rid of all the eggs and crap that laid eggs… this included spiders, lizards and cockroaches. I laid out traps, killed them off and put out mothballs in certain rooms so that they don’t come back.
Otherwise I’m superstitious as hell. I refuse to open an umbrella inside, walk under a ladder or let a black cat walk in front of me… and black bird feathers? Don’t get me started on the different styles and colours of those damned things! Crows cawing at different times of the day mean different things to a pagan… and that just gets me thinking. And Kookaburras laughing means rain. If they laugh for 30 seconds, it doesn’t mean much; but more than a minute, well, watch out! There’s going to be rain in the next few days and it’ll stick around for a while. If you see on on the fence and it laughs too, you’ll in a pickle… the rain’s coming in a storm! My late-Grandma taught me all I know about Kookaburras; as she was from the Darling Downs of Queensland; they relied on bush tactics for weather reading.
Mozette – I am not superstitious at all (my lucky number is 13) but I love all the old stories and superstitions. It’s both interesting and comforting to know that no matter how much land, ocean and culture separates you, people are still basically the same.
Hey Mozette!
Having had a grandmother who preferred the outhouse when I was growing up, I have unfortunately, had my own experiences with those and they are scary at night!
The only book of yours that I have read is Bayou Bodyguard but that one kept me awake.
Do I need to go back and read The Secret of Cypriere Bayou before getting into this new series? Don’t know why I missed it?????
I LOVE shrimp!!! and fortunately I live along the Texas coast and shrimp is abundant. The only camping I did as a child was Girl Scout camp and we did sit around the campfire and tell scary stories but probably nothing as scary as some of the stories coming out of the bayou.
I’ll be looking forward to your new series.
Hi Ellen – No, you don’t need to go back and read SECRET. The current book is a standalone, so no prior knowledge required and the books releasing at the end of the year are a whole new series. Just look for the first one in October.
Hey Ellen!
You don’t need to read The Secret of Cypriere Bayou but I think you’ll really like it! I know I did. That book was the first one we had Jana visit us with here in the Lair!
These are definitely going on my book shopping list this weekend! I know nothing about Louisiana, and I really enjoy it when the setting of the book is almost like another character.
And I will read it with the lights on.
I ‘m a big coward, everything scares me, but I’ve got a craving to go see The Lady in Black with Daniel Radcliffe. It’s because of all that historical Gothic atmosphere, I know it is. My daughters just laughed and told me if I was going to pay good money to cover my eyes most of the movie, maybe I should just rent it.
Gillian – very perceptive of you; I do use setting as a character. That’s a major part of my books, and I think, one of the reasons readers enjoy them.
I am soooooo going to see The Lady in Black this weekend. The previews look awesome and I am just itching for a GOOD horror movie. I haven’t seen a good one in forever. Seen plenty of bad ones though.
Maybe you should wait for rental if you’re not going to watch. LOL
Hey Gillian!
I’m with your daughters on how to watch The Lady In Black. I’ll wait for it to come out and watch it in my house with the lights on and the doors locked!!
My older brother used to say that the boogey man lived in teh basement and when we were down there he’d run upstairs, close the door and turn out the lights.
Sandy – I hope you paid him back later in life.
Hey Sandy G!
Was your brother a friend of mine?!?
sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the new books i have read everything you have wrote and wait with baited breath for the next thrill ride story
Thanks so much, Shawna! You’ve made my day. Trust me when I say, I’m writing as fast as I can.
Hey Shawna!
You’re just going to love The Lost Girls of Johnson’s Bayou. I garantee it! (Can I make that sound like that old Cajun chef?)
lived in Louisiana with my father for a while and had an aunt that would tell stories about ghosts who lived in the bayou”s we had great fun with those stories and would tell them to anyone who would listen.
Oh, I love a good bayou ghost story! I am about to work on a proposal for my next Intrigues and am thinking about what concept I want to incorporate into these. I love ghosts, and curses.
Hey Gail!
When we lived in Florida, the spanish moss would hang low on the trees and my son used to tell his friends they were witches that came alive at night. Of course, this is the same kid who convinced his friends I was a vampire!!
Welcome back to the Lair, Jana! And Happy Friday, everyone! I think the boys are serving some special concoctions at the bar to celebrate the start of the weekend. And look, they’ve brought out the chocolate fountain, too. Woo hoo!
Jana, I was oohing and ahhing over your adorable doggy and feeling all cozy, but then got instant chills when I read the plot of your latest book. {{{shivers!}}} I can’t wait to read that one. And I love your covers, too. So haunting. They really capture the eerieness of the bayou, but there’s a beauty to them, as well. Very nice! And very unique for Intrigue. Congratulations!
Hi Kate! Bogey is so cute, and he is well aware of it. LOL
I love this cover. The art department really got it right as that is exactly how I imagined the school to look. I’ve been really fortunate with covers from all my publishers.
Hey Kate!
Thanks for tweeting about Jana’s visit today. I was a little late getting started today. (Must be the writing I’m getting done these days!) And chocolate fountain? WHEN did we get one of those in the Lair?
Jamaica. *LOL* GORGEOUS place, but frightening in the way things operated. I never felt comfortable there (and we were only there 8 hours), but the people felt “shady” in their behavior toward the tourists. Everything they did felt it was done under the table so they could make a few extra dollars, everything cost something, they seemed adept at the art of the hussle. I didn’t care for it. I’m sure if you hang out there and understand the culture more, you’re fine, but I felt very much like the idiot yokel who could be mugged and dumped somewhere.
My apologies to anyone who is from Jamaica or loves it there. I’m sure 8 hours isn’t enough to really understand, but it was certainly long enough to leave the impression. *LOL*
Hellion, I have had friends who went there tell me almost anything is available by street vendors or just some guy on the corner. I’ve never been, but I’d love to. The beaches are simply beautiful.
Hey Hellion!
I’ve never been to Jamaica, either, but I’m not sure I’d like the constant hussle, either. Now wading in the water, drinking fruity drinks…that wouldn’t be too scary!
Yeah, they say you’re fine if you stick to the resort areas. I was off a cruise ship and they kept us pretty contained, but believe me the hussle was still there. *LOL* But yes, the most gorgeous place I’ve ever visited, I just wouldn’t go again.
Now Grand Cayman, gorgeous and safe-feeling!
Okay, so here’s my scary place.
When I was growing up we had a basement, that didn’t scare me too much. BUT when we would visit my grandparents I was sometimes sent out to the root cellar to get a jar of beans or peaches or corn for dinner. It was under the barn and you entered from outside. It was dark, damp, smelled like musty earth and there were creepy/crawling things, like snakes and spiders. POISONOUS copperhead and stuff.
Let’s just say I’m glad my brother never got the idea to lock me in there! I don’t think I would’ve ever survived it!!
Suz – that place WAS scary. You weren’t imagining it. I don’t like any place with snakes or spiders.
Jana, welcome back! I tend to avoid the spooky/scary in my reading and viewing, but I do like atmospheric settings and plot tension, and this book sounds great.
Thanks, Nancy! I love creep factor. I think you either love it or it’s just not your thing.
Back when our children were in jr & sr high, I
used to help chaperone band trips. To me
that was a “scary” time, being responsible
for someone else’s children. On one of the
trips to California, one of my DEAREST friends
and a group of students colluded in a plan
to help me get over my fear of roller coasters.
I was talked into going on the ride to support
a student who also was scared. I kept my eyes
tightly closed for the length of the ride and
have never again gone near such a terror-
filled ride! As I left the platform, they all were
waiting for me and cheering for me! My man-
tra continues to be: NEVER AGAIN !!!
Pat C.
LOL Pat! I am a thrill-seeker by nature. In fact, I used to race motocross. I love roller coasters. I’m the fool in the front or back with my arms up.
Jana:
What a great interview! I am so looking forward to reading this book – I loved SECRETS OF CYPRIERE BAYOU….and it definitely had my creep-o-meter rising!
I’ve never been one for visiting scary places….I prefer to leave them in the books I love to read!
Addison
Hi Addison! I remember you saying I spooked you on Secret. That’s a great compliment, BTW.
I hope you get back down here to visit soon!
Many years ago we took a cruise and a side trip in Haitti was up a mountain by horseback (I don’t ride) to visit a fort called the Citadel. We were up in the clouds and there were a lot of drop offs on the way up and down. My horse fell and I thought for sure I was going over the side.
Yikes! That is major scary! I’m so glad you were all right. But I bet Haiti was fascinating.
Jana, I forgot the most important thing I
meant to say: I’ve read one of your bayou
books and enjoyed it! (I believe it was The
Secret of Cypriere Bayou) This city ” girl” will
continue to visit the bayous through you.
I’m looking forward to reading The Lost Girls
of Johnson Bayou!
Pat C.
Thanks, Pat! I hope you enjoy it!
Welcome, Jana! Your book sounds terrific! I’ve only been to southern Louisiana once but I found it fascinating. I always enjoy books that are set in that area.
I grew up on a lake, three doors down from a dilapidated three-story turn of the century resort hotel. Add to that a father who was a terrific storyteller specializing in the spooky and we were scared spitless many times. Of course, we always came back for more!
Hi pj! That would have been a cool place to explore! I’ve stayed at a haunted hotel a couple of times when doing research, well, and just for the fun of it.
Can’t think of any place that was scary but I try not to go up tall buildings and high bridges. I am afraid of heights and that freaks me out-like the visit up the Eiffel Tower and the San Francisco Bridge.
Joye – I am not scared of high places, per se, but if I stand near the edge and look down, I get a bit of vertigo.
Great to have you with us today, Jana! Love the premise for your new release *g*
I can’t remember any scary stories but I may have just blocked them from my memory because I’m a wimp
Beth – you know, I have never been scared. Not by anything creepy, anyway. I think I love horror movies because I’m hoping someday I’ll be scared.
Congrats on your new release, sounds great.
I can’t say I have ever been anywhere that really scared me that I can remember, but I don’t get scared very easy.
Me either, Virginia! I love creepy movies, though.
Hi Jana! Welcome to the lair!
I have to say this is a weird “woo woo” coincidence for me because I was in a conversation (for research) with a guy last last week, and he was telling me about his visits to southern LA, and the “camps” that are down there. I’d never heard of this, or of the culture that exists surrounding these camps.
He described camps from little shacks on stilts, all the way to one he’s been in that was 18,000 square feet and more luxurious than any house he’s ever visited. He was talking about the people and how much he enjoyed them, and I was so intrigued by those stories. (No pun with your line intended. ;0) )
I wasn’t asking questions about LA, but questions for MY book brought it up because he was mentioning how isolated some of the little communities were in that part of the state, and how it wasn’t uncommon for folks to never go beyond the next little town where they had to go for supplies and groceries. I love all different kinds of people, and it made me want to visit–just to experience that part of the country and know those people.
I’m absolutely getting this series. I would for the setting, if for no other reason, but your stories sound wonderful.
Suz, thanks for bringing Jana to the lair to talk about these books!
Hi Cassandra! When they’re fancy, my family refers to them as “lake houses.” LOL Camps are usually pretty rugged mostly because it’s cost prohibitive to insure them with all the hurricanes. So people don’t put a lot of money into them as it could all get taken away in a storm.
It is definitely an interesting place and a unique culture. Sounds like your friend got to see a lot of it.