Author expects more in series

T. Lynn Ocean came ashore in unconventional fashion.

The traditional trajectory in genre book publishing is to prove one's self in paperback before earning the reward and prestige of a hardcover release. But prestige does not always translate into increased book sales, nor does it guarantee an author an expanded audience.

The Myrtle Beach resident's first book in her Jersey Barnes mystery series, "Southern Fatality," was introduced in hardcover by St. Martin's Press last year. Her second, by the publisher's imprint Minotaur, is in mass-market paperback. And she's delighted at the prospect.

"They started me out backwards," says Ocean, whose second Barnes foray, "Southern Poison," is due out in September. "What I am most pleased about in my short writing career is that I'm finally out in mass-market paperback. Everything else to date has been in hardcover. But my goal is to entertain. Bottom line, it's why I write. And you build up a readership base much more quickly in softcover, mainly due to the economics of book buying.

"Hopefully, even more people will read 'Southern Fatality' now that it's being re-released in paperback."

Barnes is a former Marine turned security operative who only wants to retire from her dangerous game. But events won't let her. Making this tough-but-vulnerable heroine a distinctive character was Job One for Ocean, though her protagonist didn't even start out as female.

"Initially, I wrote the first book from a first-person male point of view," she says. "But my subconscious mind and my character literally woke me up in the middle of the night to declare, 'Hey! I'm a girl!' And I'm thinking, you couldn't have told me this sooner?

"So I went back, rewrote the manuscript, and the character of Jersey Barnes was born. I realized it was a much stronger book for it. I wanted to have a character who was tough, military-trained. But I also wanted her to be an ordinary woman with the same romantic and family issues."

To that end, Ocean did a number of interviews, the most pivotal of which was with Tamie Nixon, a one-time Marine ("They're never really 'former' Marines," says Ocean).

"Tamie looks like she walked off the cover of Vogue. She's gorgeous. And she works now as a commercial boat captain. I wanted to create a heroine who was tough, smart-mouthed and witty. Tamie contributed a lot to the character of Jersey Barnes."

Barnes also reflects her creator in at least one respect.

"She probably reflects my alter-ego, the woman who daydreams about what she'd like to be and do if she had the ability."

"Southern Poison" is Ocean's fourth book overall (her first, "Fool Me Once," was published in July 2005). In this latest outing, Barnes confronts a nefarious — and original — scheme, a terrorist plot to sterilize women and control populations by smuggling tainted cosmetics into the beauty industry pipeline.

"It's always hard to come up with something that hasn't been done before," says Ocean, a fan of Robert Parker and Janet Evanovich, "but I don't think this plot element has, at least not directly. In reality, the cosmetics industry is hugely unregulated. There are so many chemicals and additives. You have to put your trust in the manufacturer. I considered this a thought- provoking idea."

Ocean, who moonlights on occasion as a certified firearms safety instructor, recently completed the manuscript for her third Barnes adventure, tentatively titled "Southern Peril." She expects more books in the series.

Meanwhile, the author is working on a stand-alone novel set in the wine industry.

"I feel quite confident there will be more Jersey Barnes novels than these three. I haven't signed on as yet, but I'm told St. Martin's wants them. I don't know if I'll ever have a good handle on the industry and how its works, but I do know I have a whole lot of other stories in me and I love what I'm doing."

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.