OU alum Emma Jackson is set to launch her debut novel with a book signing at Best of Books in Edmond.
The event will celebrate the release of her young adult novel “A House of Vipers.” In addition to the book signing, Jackson and one of her former OU professors, New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes, will host a Q&A session.
Barnes, in an email, described the event as a full-circle.
"Emma has come to so many of my book signings, and I always knew that someday, I'd be going to one of hers,” Barnes wrote in an email to the Daily. “I'm thrilled that I'll get the chance to interview her and help celebrate the release of ‘A House of Vipers.’"
Barnes also said that Jackson’s growth as a writer has been rewarding to witness.
“Emma is such a talented writer, and I can't describe how much it means to me, as her former professor, to see what she has achieved,” Barnes wrote. “I am so incredibly proud of her.”
Jackson, who’s been writing stories since she was 8 years old, said the event is a childhood dream.
“I spent a lot of time … writing stories as entertainment, …” Jackson said. “So I guess keeping the dream alive, I think I always was striving for that goal by writing things that I really enjoyed and writing stories that I felt like I would want to read.”
Jackson said her time at Gaylord College helped her turn her passion into a career path, and the professional writing program helped her turn her stories into something not only entertaining, but marketable.
OU alum and author Emma Jackson.
“I had a tendency to write where the story took me, rather than having a set plan,” Jackson said. “That was one of the biggest things that I took from my education and my time at Gaylord — just learning how to really hone in on what makes a story fun to read and what makes a story entertaining.”
Jackson came up with the idea for “A House of Vipers” after graduating in 2020, which — because of the COVID-19 Pandemic — she attended online in her living room.
“It was super strange, but I think it really gave me a lot of time to think about what kind of story I wanted to write next,” Jackson said. “I was in between books, and I was looking for my next idea, and I kind of knew I loved to write young adult fiction.
Set at a boarding school, the novel blends mystery and eerie adventure as it follows a close group of teen friends. Jackson said the idea was partly inspired by the Netflix series “Outer Banks.”
“I loved the found family group of characters and how much they cared about each other,” Jackson said. “I really wanted to take my own spin on that, so I thought about the idea of writing a story that I could pitch as ‘Outer Banks’ if it took place at a boarding school in the mountains instead of a beach town setting.”
The story follows Sutter and his friends as they navigate the disappearance of his brother.
“I think he is the type of person that if he gets an idea, he won’t give up on it,” Jackson said. “That’s something I can relate to. I think that’s a little piece of me that I put into his character.”
Jackson said her writing process for “A House of Vipers” was smooth compared to some of her other works.
“Every writing experience is different,” Jackson said. “With ‘A House of Vipers,’ I felt like the experience was much more in the lane of ‘the book wrote itself,’ because it was so fun to write and the characters just came to me very easily.”
Though “A House of Vipers” is currently a stand-alone novel, Jackson said she hopes to create a series.
“I would love nothing more than to keep writing about this group of characters,” Jackson said. “I really do love them, and I love the world that they’re in, so I would love nothing more than to do that.”
Jackson said that she does have an idea for another book with these characters, but whether it comes to fruition depends on how the launch of “A House of Vipers” goes, and if readers enjoy it.
The book signing starts at 6 p.m. April 28 at Best of Books. Pre-ordering or purchasing the book is required to attend the event.
This story was edited by Madisson Cameron. Andrew Higgins and Gretchen Schultz copy edited this story.
