1. Kathleen, can you tell us a bit about your current Amira Press releases?
MINING EVERMORE is an interracial paranormal, rather gritty. Beautiful, Black criminal attorney Tara Delacruz gets unpopular clients off while her rival, the white-bread mayor and secret immortal, Cord Smith, wants them off his streets. Somewhere along their craggy coast, a fiend buries his victims at low tide at neck level. When tide rises, they don’t drown. Their town is spooked. Cord knows someone has found an evil use for immortality and believes the lawyer may have run across him. When he’s forced to speak with her, he falls for the woman he censures. Bound to a secret conspiracy, he can’t share everything but warns her not to accept a twisted case.
WINDWARD WHISPERINGS, a contemporary romantic suspense, is called “edgy and sophisticated”
2. What inspired you to write MINING EVERMORE?
The crime came from a real life child criminal, Mary Bell, whose mother was charged with Munchausen by Proxy child abuse in the 1950s. I created evil Vincent Harris with her attributes. His cold mother, Jada, is immortal hero Cord Smith’s ex-wife. I wrote MINING EVERMORE as a Gothic. Cord, having lived a long time, is brooding. Tara, the criminal attorney who he dislikes for taking his wife’s case, is innocent and breezy.
3. What inspired you to write WINDWARD WHISPERINGS?
I wanted to write a reunion love story. Two young people are too immature to realize how in love they are, and they become separated for reasons beyond their control. Garrett Mackenzie, white, poor, and smart, lands a scholarship at Cornell which takes him across the continent from spoiled Kitzie Piermont, whose Black/French descent parents send her to USC. Kitzie loses her parents and the family fortune. Memories of how Garrett accomplished things inspired her to take care of herself, and she became practical like him. When Garrett comes back to town to save the company where she works, he is carefree. They miss each other’s natural personalities and have to find their true selves again. Garrett has to do some serious ass-kicking to uncover a crime and save Kitzie and their town.
4. You do contests with such unique ideas, what has been the response to them?
The response is great, but I put many hours making them by hand. Items in my drawings come from things used by characters in my books. I wish I could send prize packages to everyone who enters. One winner sent a photo of herself wearing Kitzie Piermont’s sunflower apron from WINDWARD WHISPERINGS. The ragtag quilt in MINING EVERMORE, made by Tara’s mother, sits in her law office.
What are you currently working on?
I am finishing edits for THE SORCERY FACTOR, a young adult novella of 24,000 words. Here is the gist of the story: Sorcerer-
My novella will be included in an Amira Press fantasy anthology, ANOTHER REALM. All of the authors on board for this charity project, organized by Publisher Yvette Lynn, are excited that donations will be directed toward inner city kids.
If you could be any one of your characters for a day, which would you choose and why?
It’s a tie. I adore Tara Delacruz, the spunky attorney in MINING EVERMORE. Tara cares way too much about her clients and tends to see them through rose colored glasses, but I like her optimism. She is a contrast with the immortal mayor, Cord Smith, who has lived so long and seen so much that he is brooding. Kitzie Piermont from WINDWARD WHISPERINGS is so brave when her parents die along with the family fortune. As the spoiled brat begins to take care of herself, she becomes a bit uptight, and I like how she finds her happy medium at the end of the story.
Do you outline when you write?
Yes, always, because I want my story to be tightly written. The dots must connect. I write an outline in three acts with the dark moment just before the conclusion. Sometimes my characters drive me into deep areas. When that happens, I take a look at my outline and revise in order to accommodate my characters’ inner motivations.
Do you or your characters write your stories?
Jordana, I thank you for this excellent question. My stories are character driven. They become so real that I sometimes dream about them. I wake up knowing them better, and that helps me decide how they solve their problems. The part of the story I write is the sticky situations I put them in. They fight their way out in my dreams.
What is your ideal writing space?
First thing after my husband leaves for his office, I head upstairs to the office. The window facing east is open for breeze. I like fresh air, bird chirping, and other natural sounds that include barking dogs. After I write for four or five hours, I go for a swim. I do twenty laps every day. Otherwise, I’d climb the walls.
How do you deal with reviews, either good or bad?
Intellectually, we know book preferences are personal, and we as authors can’t please everyone. It’s a great feeling when a reviewer or reader empathizes with my characters and understands the story message. When that happens, I am uplifted. When it doesn’t, I don’t stop writing but try to understand why they didn’t get it.
