Jessica Billings-- The Girl Born of Smoke

Jessica Billings is currently going to school in Michigan, but will always consider herself an Oregonian. She likes photographing
bugs and majored in biology and education at Oregon State. She is now pursuing a master's degree in environmental engineering. She learned to scuba dive when she was 14, but refuses to dive into the frigid waters of Michigan.


The Girl Born of Smoke: Aurora never asked to be a born a wizard. If she was only normal, her family would still be alive, she never would have fled her home, and there wouldn't be a war being fought in her name. And the visions...maybe those would be gone too. Instead, she's haunted by the memory of her sister and suspects she may be losing her mind.

With two opposing armies searching for her, Aurora is determined not to tell anyone her secret or use her magic. She finds this resolve tested when her best friend is mistakenly identified as the wizard and kidnapped. In her struggle to rescue him, she finds evidence the two armies may be connected, controlled by a single individual with his own agenda. With loved ones on both sides of the war, she is forced to decide who she can trust as she tries to stop the fighting. But, can she even trust her own sanity?

What will e-readers like about your book?
I have fun intertwining science with fantasy and I enjoy a good plot twist or two. I refuse to let my characters fall into "good" and "evil" roles, so readers have to decide for themselves who the good and bad guys are. Most people find that those definitions are constantly changing throughout the book.

Why did you go indie?
I liked the idea of being completely in charge of my book! I submitted query letters to a few agents, but almost all the responses simply said that in this economy, they weren't accepting any new authors. Fair enough, but I wanted to get published, so I went Indie.

Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
When I was younger, I loved Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and after I met them at a booksigning, it made me even more determined to eventually publish my own book. Nowadays, I enjoy Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, and Ursula Le Guin a lot. I am currently obsessed with the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins!

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