Like most writers, local author Alexi Venice loves books. She typically reads 20-30 books each year, perusing action/adventure books alongside novels from the romance genre.

In her reading experience, she noticed that there seemed to be a gap between the writings of male and female authors. On the male end of the spectrum, the action scenes were phenomenal while the romantic relationships were generally underdeveloped and didn’t have many strong female characters. The female authors, on the other hand, wrote about very complex relationships, but the overall plots didn’t have as much substance.

Venice’s goal in creating her book series was to bridge the gap between the two extremes under her gender-neutral penname, drawing in male and female readers to her literary world.

This past December, Venice, whose real name is Andra Palmer, self-published Victus, the third book of her thriller/romance series that features heroine Pepper McCallan. The novel digs into Pepper’s life as she starts out as a corporate attorney and, in this latest installment, fully transforms into a James Bond-esque counterterrorism agent. Each book in the series explores fast-paced terror plots and romantic intrigue that encompass a variety of characters, with this third book delving into the murky threat of bioterrorism.

Venice’s idea for the first book of the series, Ebola Vaccine Wars, stemmed in part from experience in her career. Venice has worked for Mayo Clinic’s legal department for the past 21 years, and in the fall of 2014 she witnessed the precautions and measures the clinic took to prepare for the possibility of an Ebola outbreak. She couldn’t help but question why no one had already developed a vaccine.

The second book, Svea’s Sins, came quickly afterwards, with Venice finishing it in just six weeks. Then came Victus. Her fourth book, Margaret River Winery, is in the editing process and will be released soon, which puts Venice at a total of four thick books written in a little over a year.

“I had something to say, and I felt like I had the skill set to say it,” Venice says of her novels. She has plans for yet another book that will be a dystopian, futuristic novel set in Australia in 2041. Writing isn’t all that Venice has been doing to make these books a reality, however. She puts a large amount of hands-on research and planning into every story.

“I try to do what Pepper does,” Venice said. “If she’s wakeboarding in Saint Martin, I’m wakeboarding in Saint Martin. If she’s sailing, I’m sailing.” Among other exciting experiences are the boxing lessons that Venice took in order to understand the combat aspect to Pepper’s life and the opportunity to learn to fly a jet called “Eclipse” that she featured in her series. She also travels all over the world to the places that she writes about, her most recent destination being Australia, part of the setting for Victus. Venice says that these experiences allow her to write more accurately and gain a better understanding of her characters.

She said writers need to have a certain amount of “intellectual curiosity” if they’re going to write about something that will require research. She picks out certain aspects of news stories or articles that she finds interesting, and then goes on to develop those ideas in the context of her books. Some of the topics that she has incorporated into her writing are drones, sarin nerve gas, and insects that are used to terrorize food sources.

While Venice currently self-publishes her novels via eBookit, she has not counted out the prospect of finding an agent or going through a publishing house. Venice has been more focused on writing and getting her stories out than on anything else, and with the success she has had through self-publishing she would like to keep writing more books instead of searching for other publication options for now.

You can get a hard copy of Venice’s books from The Local Store, Amazon, Mayo Clinic’s gift shop, and more. If you visit her website, you will find more ways to get electronic copies of the books and learn more about Venice and her works. Keep an eye out for the release of the fourth installment of her series within the next month or so.