“Lieutenant’s Love” – 2024 Version – #NowAvailable from JMS Books LLC #Gay #HistoricalFantasy

Today, March 16th, “Lieutenant’s Love” will be available again through JMS Books LLC. It’s a historical fantasy of loss, love & war first published in 2010, and my very first work released by a traditional publishing house.

Its genre is #gayromance, with tags of battle scenes, #gaymilitary, secret love, and heroism. Heat level is mild, as my focus especially in shorter works is the characterization and relationship… and keeping it a love story.

Blurb: “A heart-broken veteran weary of war. A young recruit with nothing to live for…”

Description: “Lieutenant Jarryd Alyt has given blood and soul in service to the Duke, yet suffering the loss of a beloved companion and best friend drives him near the brink of despair. Disillusioned though still loyal, when new recruit Arin arrives, Jarryd is struck by the youth’s innocence and beauty. But will the horror of war strike before Jarryd summons the courage to love again?

*****

While working with the editor after all this time, I reflected on the character descriptions, backgrounds and details I had created, from the perspective of someone who has discussed and criticized BIPOC representation issues in western society for over a decade. Stereotypes, troupes, i.e. the one dimensional stoic Native, the comedy relief or angry/saucy Black person vs. the heroic/innocent Anglo, or one who might be “evil” but rationalized. Many complainers conveniently skip over the fact: we are not and have never said someone from outside an ethnic group, culture or reality should not write about those “others”. We said accurate, informed, nuanced, multi-faceted representations of those others is the key, yet society and publishing continues to be awash in one-dimensional characterizations of BIPOC, GLBTIIQ2S, dis/abled people or other marginalized or minoritized folks used only as vehicles, props and troupes.

One thing I almost always include as an important detail of main characters whether in fantasy or contemporary settings, is someone of mixed ethnicity. This represents my reality. “Lieutenant’s Love” is no exception. BIPOC aren’t the only ones who may have mixed cultural heritages that can greatly affect their identities and lives. But there we go. This kind of thing is compartmentalized and viewed negatively in Germany and western society in my experience, writing across genres. But I am multi-faceted, too. I can compile and write research reports on critical societal patterns and history, and also tell a rocking love story. After all, my knowledge of psychology, my life experiences, travels, triumphs and failures are what I know helps me create better characters and stories that speak to real life challenges.

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** If you are interested in a review copy for your website or group, please let me know or contact JMS Books LLC directly. In the next months, a few other of my best works will also be re-released, as well as their sequels and other new novels both in fantasy and contemporary genres.

** I am also open to interviews, as it’s been several years since I worked directly in fiction writing. I’ve mostly been a technical writer, editor, documentary filmmaker, and a psychology expert and researcher on issues including intergenerational historic trauma, suicide prevention, and GLBTIIQ2S/ gender expansive support and needs, for which I received an award scholarship in recognition of my service in 2023.

Author Interview: Dana Ravyn on life, art & their new novel “The Suicide Switch”

Bio: Dana Ravyn is a transfem poet, novelist, and educator. She is the author of two novels, Fearless Heart and The Suicide Switch. Her poetry appears in numerous anthologies and literary journals and three of her recent poems are found in Varied Spirits Anthology, edited by Red Haircrow and Manuel Ricardo Garcia. When not writing, Dana works on empowering health literacy in her community in coastal Delaware, USA.

Dana’s second novel, The Suicide Switch, will be released in April. It is a suspenseful look at suicide research gone awry.

Dana is donating 100% of royalties from the purchases of The Suicide Switch e-book or paperback in 2023 to The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people. If you buy it at BookBaby (store.bookbaby.com), The Trevor Project gets a $10 donation. The Trevor Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

“Money shouldn’t be a barrier to reading! Anyone can read The Suicide Switch for free at Dana’s website, danaravyn.com and it’s available to read for free from most libraries on the Hoopla, Libby app or your ebook reader.”

Interview

Why do you write?
First, to give voice to the parts of myself that are otherwise vulnerable to the oppressive nature of society and its limiting effect on imagination. Writing allows me to escape binary and linear thinking and embrace the beauty of ambiguity and contradiction, to challenge prevailing morality and taboos. To me, writing is a sort of spiritual alchemy—the power to take an imperfect world and turn it into something precious: characters, place, events from my imagination. I am an introvert, so writing provides a creative space that is private and safe.

 

What excites you about writing?
Writing is where I can be completely free, intellectually and spiritually. I am electrified by the possibility that my writing can evoke feelings or ideas that are emotionally or spiritually meaningful to the reader.

 

What genre(s) do you write?
My primary work as a writer is to create poetry. In fiction, I strive to bend genre. In my new novel, The Suicide Switch, there is plenty of suspense and action, but I wouldn’t call it a thriller because the plot is subordinate to character and theme. And I use elements less common in the mystery/thriller genre, like flashbacks, dreams, allegory, overlapping narrative arcs. That’s not to say my novels are stodgy. If you are going to write about something as serious as suicide, it’s important to balance the mood. In The Suicide Switch, I use humor, satire, romance.

Is your identity as a trans person important to you as a writer?
While gender identity is not usually an overt element of my poetry or fiction, the lived experiences of being a writer who is transgender have profoundly affected my way of seeing the world and influence my writing, regardless of the subject. I try to draw on dimensions of my trans life that resonate with the universal in the reader to bridge divergent human identities.

In The Suicide Switch, the teen character Luc is gender nonconforming. His brief life reveals the tragic results of the marginalization and violence trans people experience daily. But it also says a lot about the pressure on gender queer people to characterize or categorize their identity. Luc’s remarkable character allows him to defy expectations. Although he pays a price for lacking heteronormative and cisgender privilege, it’s given him a degree of self-awareness and self-actualization seldom seen at his age, or even in adults.

 

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?
Everything I do is an endeavor to write because I see my life primarily as a creative exercise that is manifested in poetry, fiction, and visual art. I might write 2000 words daily for weeks, then not write for days. I always write best in the morning, often starting my day before 5 AM. I never push myself if things aren’t flowing. If I have writer’s block, I find the best thing is to change my environment, travel, or do something outside my comfort zone.

 

What strategies do you use to develop a novel?
Early on, I try not to think about plot and embrace the work conceptually. That might mean free writing or paying attention to dreams and liminal phenomena. For example, I often have lucid dreams and my hypnogogic hallucinations—the visual and auditory experiences that people have between waking and sleeping—are more intense than most.

Sometimes I start with an idea and explore it through ekphrastic methods like going to a museum and writing about art related to what I’m mulling over. For example, when thinking about the protagonist’s flashbacks of Zen training in The Suicide Switch, I spent time sitting at Ōgi Rodō’s Ceremonial Tea House at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. As things crystallize, I do tons of research. For The Suicide Switch, I went to Laos, traveled up the Mekong, and I’ve spent a lot of time in Thailand.

Once I start writing, I like to visualize plot development, characters, and timelines. For this, I use things like spreadsheets, mind maps on large sheets of paper, pasting ideas on the wall, and “getting on the floor” with pages and notes. I always have something to write on so I can capture creative “Aha” moments from dreams, music, film, and conversation. I try to let my inner spirit and subconscious do the creative work and then use those impressions.

Who are your favorite authors and why?
Foremost are poets who write fiction. Ocean Vuong, because of his brilliant poetic prose. Sylvia Plath. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld is a penetrating observer of the human condition who reveals shadows lurking behind the mundane. So many of the literary devices in fiction come from poetry. I envy Haruki Murakami for his genius of surrealism. James Baldwin’s poignancy. Virginia Woolf for the glimpse into the dark yearning of the soul, Yukio Mishima for his ability to write from the torture of his existence and his insight into themes I love, like beauty and emptiness. Toni Morrison for her skill revealing the soul of identity. Kazuo Ishiguro, for the discipline and courage to write deliciously slow stories. The Icelandic Sagas and Homer because they come first from oral tradition. Good writing has to sound good.

 

Name one thing that your readers would be surprised to know about you.
I was a researcher and educator at a medical school, where I studied tick-borne diseases.

 

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Don’t be discouraged by rejections or reviews. Remember that a rejection of your work primarily reflects its subjective value to the editor. Whether beginning or seasoned, listening to editors’ feedback is a valuable way to improve one’s craft. But remember that some enormously talented writers have often been rejected, too. While editors are tuned to good work and can be a barometer for the quality of your writing, they have their own preferences. If those are commercial value, popular trends, or avoiding uncomfortable realities, consider yourself lucky for rejection. Don’t be bothered by reviews. Getting prickly reviews means I am doing my job as a writer because writers raise uncomfortable truths. Literature is a mirror on the human soul, which is unnerving. For some, it’s easier to attack the writer, who is the proximal cause of their discomfort.

What is your measure of success as a writer?
If I am true to myself as a writer or poet, I’ve already achieved the most important success any artist can aspire to. Early on when I did one of my first poetry readings, someone from the audience told me she had tears as I read. That means more to me than winning a poetry award or being on a bestseller list. My job is to write poetry that helps readers return to the beauty and joy in their heart—not as a conveyance, but as a sort of incantation that opens the doors of liminal experience. It’s kind of daunting when you think about it that way. I can only compare it to what a Zen Master said to me when I took my Buddhist precepts, “You only have one job, to save all beings from suffering.” I’m no Boddhisatva, but hey, I have this poem I want you to read…

Coming September 23rd-A Short Story & Novella Collection by Red Haircrow

From the author of “The Agony of Joy”, winner of the  Global Ebook Awards 2013 in Best LGBT Fiction, Variance is a collection of ten short stories and novellas by Red Haircrow ranging from contemporary to fantasy, the surreal and thought-provoking to the innocently poignant.

Although some see “variance” as suggestive of disharmony, it can be the reality of achieving, understanding, expressing and conveying a variety of emotions, schools of thought, relationships, personalities, and more, without limitation, exhibiting the ranges possible within one’s being.

As a story collection, Variance displays the range of a multi-talented poet and author who has been described as having a “magnificent command of language” and “a gift for descriptive prose.”

• Publishing first at Smashwords
• Words: 66,334 (approximate)
• Language: American English
• ISBN: 9781301063123
• Price: $5.99

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contemporary Fiction

Night Shift

The Caravaggio & The Swan

The Coat: Secrets of a Hatcheck Boy

Convenience Store Romance

Fantasy

The Angel of Berlin (Urban)

A Lieutenant’s Love (Historical)

Katrdeshtr’s Redemption (Dark/Vampire)

Surrealism

We, The Dead (Visionary)

Children of Light (Ancient)

The House of Doom, Dreams and Desire (Sensual/Horror)

#Interview: Deborah Valentine, #Author of “The Knightmare”, Time-Traveling Fiction

Author Bio: Deborah Valentine is a British author, editor and screenwriter who once lived in California but far preferred the British weather and fled to London, where she has resided for many years.

She is the author of three books published by Victor Gollancz Ltd in the UK, and Bantam and Avon in the US. Unorthodox Methods was the first in the series, followed by A Collector of Photographs and the Ireland-based Fine Distinctions. A Collector of Photographs was short-listed for an Edgar Allan Poe, a Shamus, a Macavity and an Anthony Boucher award. Fine Distinctions was also short-listed for an Edgar. They featured the characters of former California sheriff Kevin Bryce and artist Katharine Craig, charting their turbulent romance amid murder and mayhem. They are soon to be available as eBooks on the Orion imprint The Murder Room.

With the publication of The Knightmare she has embarked on a new series of books with a supernatural edge. For more visit her website http://www.deborahvalentine.co.uk/ or The Knightmare Facebook page. She is a Goodreads author.

Description: “France, 1209: A Knight Templar riding through an eerie forest is suddenly attacked by an assassin as a man and woman watch from a distant hillside. When his death seems certain, the woman takes up a sword…

Present, Formula 1 race, Magny Cours: Observed by the very same couple, Conor Westfield, a career-obsessed Scottish driver, is in a horrible racing accident. Miraculously, he survives what seemed to be certain death.

As he is recovering from his injuries Conor’s childhood nightmare recurs, a strange jumble of terrifying images that feel more like memories than dreams. Can it be mere coincidence that the very next morning he is informed a mysterious woman with whom he had very brief affair has died and left him as her heir? But this was no ordinary woman and no ordinary affair.

Dogged by a niggling feeling of déjà vu, Conor travels to Amsterdam to identify the body. At her home he finds an illuminated book that transports him back in time, to a woman he left behind and a life lived in the shadow of a tragedy that cries out across 800 years for resolution.

Weaving history with the present, fact with fantasy, The Knightmare is a story of angels and alchemy, betrayal and sacrifice, and truly extraordinary love.”

Available for purchase at Amazon.

INTERVIEW

About the Author

What genre(s) do you write? Why do you write the stories that you write?
The first three books were crime fiction but each story was slightly different. Unorthodox Methods was more straight-forward, A Collector of Photographs very noir and Fine Distinctions a thriller. The Knightmare is historical time travel with a supernatural twist. Though I sometimes call it a fantasy that risks being misleading as the term comes with a set of expectations the book doesn’t fit. Most of what I write from now on is going to have a supernatural twist because it’s great fun and also because the supernatural gives good dramatic insight into the human psyche. But I’m a great believer in cross-genre because life is rather cross-genre.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I must have been about 12. I had a fantastic English teacher, Miss Coulter, who, I kid you not, had to have been about 80. A teacher of such great age wouldn’t be allowed these days, but I was in private school then and anything went. She was the best. She looked like Miss Marple! I was in the library one day and she said, “Deborah, you should be a librarian, you spend so much time here.” And my immediate thought was: let someone else take care of MY books. It was the first inkling of what was to come. I suppose after that writing was just the natural course (with a bit of a push by fate here and there).

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Read (naturally). Study history. Go to outdoor markets — antiques, food, books, bric a brac and plain old every day junk. Give me an outdoor market and I’m in seventh heaven. I like objects (and people) with a bit of history behind them! A bit soiled by life. I also like spending time with animals.

Where do you hang out online? Website URL, author groups, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc?
Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads, The London Book Fair Group and I have a website (www.deborahvalentine.co.uk), which I’m ashamed to say, is in desperate need of updating! I’m still wary of tweeting — God only knows what I’d tweet off the cuff and regret later.

What books are currently on your nightstand?
Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up The Bodies, all set for its second reading. Speculum Duorum (or A Mirror of Two Men) by Giraldus Cambrensis. The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England by Joseph Strutt — a very interesting study of the codes of chivalry. And Terry Pratchett’s Thief of Time. A rather mixed bag…

Do you remember the first novel you read?
I don’t remember the very first novel; I started reading very, very young. But I remember the first book I fell madly in love with. Like a lot of young girls, it was Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.

What would you like readers to know about you the individual?
I was once asked to describe myself in 140 characters and this was my answer: “Battered by life, but reasonably cheerful about it. A typical Gemini, running two courses at the same time. Obsessive about writing.” I think that pretty much sums me up.

Who are your favorite authors and why?
Neil Gaiman, I love the fantastical turn of his imagination. Andrew Miller, so elegant in his prose! Hilary Mantel, I love the way she makes history come alive. Carlos Ruis Zafon, fantastical and elegant. The Brontës because, well, because they are the Brontës. Dark, mysterious and in an enclosed world that seduces you in. David Mitchell for the scope of his imagination.

Where are you from originally?
I was born in California but I hated the weather (no, not joking) and fled to Britain as soon as I could. I am a British citizen.

Your Writing Process

Why do you write?
Because I’m not fit for anything else. I was definitely created ‘fit for purpose’.

What excites you about writing?
Everything. Sentence construction, finding just the right word. The characters, seeing them go off and do their own thing, being surprised by someone that is (supposedly) your own creation. I don’t outline — I know the first line, I know the last — so each approach to the computer holds a sense of anticipation, of discovery. I love the editing process, finding things in the story you hadn’t realised were there but were lurking in your subconscious. Every day is an adventure. Every day is a risk.

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?
It’s 9 to 5 (or so). Like an office job, but a lot more fun. And really, with writing you never stop. Every holiday, everything you see and do, everything you read feeds into being a writer so you’re never off-duty.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Read voraciously. Write obsessively. Learn all you can about the business of writing and what it means to be a professional. Leave your ego behind and develop a thick skin and a very strong sense of humour. And if you don’t love it, if you don’t feel that unless you write you can’t breathe, don’t bother.

What would you consider is your favorite part of a book to write? The beginning, the middle or the ending?
Pressed for an answer, I think my very favourite part is editing the full draft. I love going over and over it again, the whole process of revision and refinement.

Do you listen to music or have another form of inspiration when you are writing?
Music is essential! I feed off it, it keeps me focused. Usually it’s some kind of medieval chant. Each book has its own playlist, so I do vary it to a degree. I listen to Ludovico Einaudi sometimes or Nitin Sawhney. But I listen to the same CD all day, day after day. It would drive a sane person mad. I’m sure the cat must get annoyed. That’s another thing I need — an animal to hand, a connection with a creature that is instinctual and doesn’t require words.

Most people envision an author’s life as being really glamorous. What’s the most unglamorous thing that you’ve done in the past week?
Laid on the sofa with a packet of frozen peas on my knee. I’ve had surgery on it recently with more coming in the future. I’m supposed to do this three times a day. You feel like an idiot. I try to use the time productively by reading, but there’s no getting round the fact you’ve got your leg hoisted up compromising your modesty and a melting lump of veg on your swollen discoloured flesh. Not attractive.

Do you prefer writing series books over non series or does it matter?
Series. The first three used the same main characters. The series that is starting with The Knightmare is more a group of interconnected stories with characters dipping in and out. For example, ‘Who Is Huggermugger Jones?’ is the next book and we will follow the next segment of Conor and Mercedes’ complex entanglement but we will also be introducing the character of Whit Rhys Barry and seeing things from his point of view. In a lot of ways, it’s his book. He will also be a part of the book following it, The Cruel Humour of Women, where it’s unlikely we see Conor and Mercedes much, if at all. They will come back in another book elsewhere. I aim to create a whole world where each character has its day within a broader social environment.

What would you like readers to know about you the writer?
That I truly want to entertain them and also give them something to think about, something they can relate to, no matter how fantastical the story may be. An alternate world to live in from time to time.

What is the best and worst writing advice you have ever received?
The best: just keep writing. The worst: just write anything to get it on the page. No. Think about what you put down.

Do you track work count or write a certain number of hours per day?
I do write a certain number of hours per day, but I find there are some days I get a lot down on the page and others I don’t. That’s not a worry. The time you spend thinking, letting the well fill up so to speak, is time well spent. Without it you wouldn’t have the big bonanza days.

Have you ever had one of those profound “AH-HA!” moments while you were writing?  Would you be willing to share it?
Halfway through the first draft of Unorthodox Methods I thought “AH-HA!”, yes indeed, this is what I do. I am home.

What was the most uplifting moment you’ve experienced during your writing career?
I think seeing the reviews for Unorthodox Methods. It was the first thing I’d ever written, so I was notably concerned. But the reviewers said such nice things I felt it justified everything I’d gone through to get into print. It WAS uplifting. The Edgar nominations for A Collector of Photographs and Fine Distinctions were also very nice.

Your Books

Your book is about to be sent into the reader world, what is one word that describes how you feel?
Good.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
I’ve had four published, another that was never intended for publication, and yet another that was commissioned but due to oddball circumstances beyond my control was never published, so six altogether. Fine Distinctions used to be my favourite until The Knightmare. Now The Knightmare is my definite favourite. There is a huge chunk of my soul in that book. I also have two books in the first draft stage.

When a new book comes out, are you nervous about how readers will react to it?
You do want people to like it, you do want them to be entertained. But you also have to realise not everyone is going to love you — and that’s okay. C’est la vie.

What can we look forward to in the upcoming months?
I’m hoping to finish the sequel to The Knightmare, Who Is Huggermugger Jones?, and after that a ghost story called The Cruel Humour of Women. We may be looking at more than a few months, though!

Of all the books you have written, which would you consider your easiest to write? The hardest to write? The most fun to write?
I don’t know that I would consider any of them easy… but perhaps A Matter of Luck, the one I never intended for publication was the least stressful. It was an experiment in comedy that just kind of flowed out. The hardest would be A Collector of Photographs, because I had to spend a lot of time in the head of one terribly unpleasant character. The Knightmare was the most fun because I really let my imagination rip and the whole story was so close to my heart — it was GREAT fun!

What kind of research do you do for your books? Do you enjoy the research process?
When it comes to the history sections, I do a lot of factual research reading. I also visit museums, both history and art. I get a lot of inspiration by looking at art. I visit locations. And yes, I really enjoy the research process and playing with ideas.

Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I make a lot of notes while researching and write down snippets of dialogue, or thoughts and descriptions that come to me, but I don’t outline. If I knew everything ahead of time, I wouldn’t bother writing it. Writing should always carry with it a sense of discovery. Or perhaps I’m just too scatty to plan!

If your book is available in print, how does it feel to hold a book that has your name on the cover?  What is your favorite cover of all your paperbacks?
It’s lovely to hold a book you’ve written in your hand, but weirdly I find I feel like it doesn’t belong to me anymore, that somehow I’ve let it go. There’s a strange sense of distance that comes with it. My favourite cover for the paperbacks is the Bantam version of A Collector of Photographs, it’s very noir and captures the essence of the story. A very good representation, I feel.

Is there something special you do to celebrate when one of your books is released?
Crack open a bottle with friends. Not very imaginative perhaps, but great fun.

Your Characters

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
I don’t know that anyone comes up with characters totally from the imagination. Someone always inspires them, but by the time they have their life on the page they are totally unrecognisable. They’ve taken on a life of their own, separate from whoever inspired them. I also think the writer is like a petri dish, that if you isolate certain of your own character traits, someone else entirely grows out of it. Many, perhaps most, of my characters crawl out of a hidden corner of my psyche.

Is it hard coming up with names for your characters?
It can take a certain amount of research. I like the names to mean something, if only to me, to keep me on track of a character trait or simply an important association. Occasionally a character will name itself!

Have any of your characters ever haunted your dreams or woken you up during the night demanding attention?
Oh, yes. Many times. I think the most dramatic was the day I had to kill the Knight Templar in The Knightmare. It’s a book with idea of reincarnation at its centre, so of course he had to die in medieval times. But when the day I had to do it actually arrived, I woke up at 4am quite upset. It was going to be a horrible death. I didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to confront it. I had to ring a friend to get me settled down before I could get on with it to any sensible degree. Fortunately, I had the wit to wait until a more reasonable hour to ring him or perhaps our friendship would have died a death as well!

Which of your stories would make a great movie?  Who’d play the lead roles?
The Knightmare would make a great movie but very expensive. I’ve actually written a screenplay for it that has received very good feedback but, oh, the expense! There has been talk of A Collector Photographs being made into a film and that may yet come to something. I don’t like speculating on actors to play them though. I’ve noticed in films that sometimes an actor you’d think perfect for a role, doesn’t turn out to be; while someone you’d never consider stretches themselves to do a remarkable job. There was a read-through for the screenplay of A Collector of Photographs and someone who I’d never have thought of in a million years did such wonderful things with one of the roles it was difficult to imagine anyone else doing it.

Do you make a conscious decision to write a certain type of character with a certain occupation, or do the characters decide for themselves what they want to be?
Well, sometimes story-wise you need someone to have a particular occupation, but I find the characters themselves decide exactly who they’re going to be and what flaws or plus points they’re going to have. It’s out of your hands.

What in your opinion makes good chemistry between your leading characters?
Sharp dialogue, conflict and humour.

Is there a character from one of your books that resonates deeply with you?
Conor in The Knightmare. It took several drafts in before I realised how much we had in common! More the unattractive than the attractive qualities as well!

Random Questions

Name one website you visit every single day.
The BBC every day except Sunday. Sunday is a non-computer day.

Where do you get your daily dose of news?
The BBC online and ITV’s London Tonight.

Interview: Kat Micari, Author of “Penumbra”

Kat Micari is an author and artist living in the northeast of the United States with her husband, son, and two cats. She enjoys reading a clever turn of phrase, walking in nature, and dancing to the music of the universe. Above all, she loves creating and encouraging others to create.

Description: “Fed up with the dirty city and a disenchanting life as a fashion model, Beauty’s world is at least safe. But the illusion of safety shatters the night that she frees herself from her self-imposed fears only to be thrust into the magical underbelly of the city, where forces that want to save humanity and evil beings that want to feed off humanity’s despair fight for balance and power.

Forced from both the comforts and the trappings of her old life, now hunted by a cadre of sinister, rat-faced business men, Beauty’s only hope is to join with a strange magical ally. Together, with the help of fae creatures in unlikely guises, they must seek out an enchanted, improbable artifact that can heal the city before evil tips the balance, once and for all.

This powerful coming-of-age fairy tale follows the path of a young heroine who chooses to take fate into her own hands for the first time in her life, and of the consequences that her choice has on the magical beings of the city. ”

• Available at Smashwords.
• Published: April 10, 2013
• Words: 12,522 (approximate)
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9781301418626

INTERVIEW

What genre(s) do you write? Why do you write the stories that you write?
I write science fiction and fantasy primarily, but one of the joys of being an indie author is not being trapped by specific labels.  The stories that I write tend to feature women who have strong convictions and inner strength, even if they don’t realize it at the beginning.  I also write poetry and music that can be cutting but allows me to tell my version of Truth.  And I write because I have to.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I was very young when I started writing.  It was always on my list of things I wanted to be when I grew up.  I wrote my first play and novel by the time I was done with 8th grade, and I had a wonderful 9th grade English teacher who read and edited all my angsty, violent short stories.

Who or what was your inspiration for writing?
I have always had very eclectic tastes in authors.  I grew up on L.M. Montgomery and Laura Ingalls Wilder and Lynne Reid Banks.  My older brother worked in the public library so would bring me home all kinds of books that were going to be thrown away or put in the used book sale – so I read Orwell’s Animal Farm in 6th grade, tackled my first Shakespeare plays around the same time, and was obsessed with the Star Wars novels in high school.  I began reading more fantasy and sci fi in high school, alongside historical fiction, and while in graduate school, I became a fan of Julie Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and Deena Metzger’s poems and stories.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Creating works of art and handicrafts, making music, spending time with my son and my husband, being out in nature, cooking and baking – I like to keep myself busy.

Where do you hang out online? Website URL, author groups, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc?
Author Blog: http://katmicari.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kat.micari?ref=ts&fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/katmicari
Tumblr: http://katmicari.tumblr.com/
I am also on Goodreads and Library Thing, but I haven’t done much with them yet.  You’re welcome to come and find me there, if you’d like.

What books are currently on your nightstand?
I recently finished the ARC for Madeliene Claire Franklin’s The Heirophant which is excellent!  And I’m not just saying that because she’s a friend.  And I’m currently working my way through Thomas Jefferson’s Memoirs on my Kindle.  I’m reading this VERY slowly as it’s a four part collection of his letters as well, and I break up the reading with other works.  Right now, it’s the letters that he’s writing from Paris leading up to the revolution, and he’s communicating with several of the framers of the constitution.  And it’s just fascinating to get a first-hand account about the development of the Bill of Rights and the foundation of the United States, especially with the political climate we’re currently in.  I got that book (and many books) off of Project Gutenberg, and I hope to someday be able to donate a lot of money to them.

Do you remember the first novel you read?
Offhand, no, but it was very likely an American Girl novel.  My grandfather’s best friends would get each of us children a bag of books for Christmas every year, so I had entire collections of the American Girl books, and it was through them that I was introduced to many great books, including gorgeous picture books, early classics, etc.

What would you like readers to know about you the individual?
I think the most revolutionary thing you can do as an American is to question everything, eat real food and be as healthy of body and mind as can be, and avoid the consumer-mob mentality as much as possible.  Creation over consumption.  That being said, buy my book!  No, seriously, I wish that everyone would find their purpose in life and then find the courage to follow that purpose, even if it means living outside of societal norms.

Where are you from originally?  Family?
I am from upstate NY, which means that I feel very strongly the turn of each season.  My husband and I spent four years in southern CA, which we enjoyed, but we moved back to the northeast because we missed our family and a real fall and winter.

Is there anything unique about your upbringing that you’d like to share with readers?
I was fortunate to have parents that encouraged me to think for myself.  My father taught me the fine art of debate.  My mother taught us to stand up for ourselves.  This helped me eventually overcome issues from bullying in 5th to 8th grade.

Your Writing Process

Why do you write?
I write because I must.

What excites you about writing?
I love asking “what if” and “why”, and writing allows me to fully explore these questions.

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?
For the past couple of years, it’s been carving out bits of time here and there.  I only had the goal of writing 100 words per day (about 20 minutes) and often didn’t even make that goal.  But starting next week, after we settle in from our move, I should be able to dedicate at least an hour a day solely to writing.

As I have several creative pots on the stove, in addition to caring for a two year old, my work days will involve sneaking in social networking, advertising, responding to emails, and blogging during the day while my son plays.  As he gets older and activities hold his attention longer, I hope to be able to set up my drawing/painting/sketching alongside his art projects and we can create together.

I will write or edit during his nap time (1 to 1 ½ hours), and when my husband is home to split caregiving or in the evenings after my son is asleep, I will be writing or painting or making music or working on freelance creative work.  We are going to try to go on one family outing a week, preferably out in nature to restore our overworked selves.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Write.  Just do it.  Don’t make excuses.  Don’t keep putting it off.  If you have the burning desire in you to create, shut out everything else.  I have to sometimes talk myself into beginning – I say I’m too tired, or I want to just sit and relax, but once I begin to create, the time melts away and there is such immense satisfaction.  If you have a story burning within you, let it out.  Life’s too short to keep putting off your dreams.

Is there any other genre you have considered writing in?
I love historical fiction, and while getting my BA in history, I took an independent study and began a novel on Mary, Queen of Scots.  I never went further with it because I realized there are two or three other novels out there on her and worried that I had nothing new to bring to it, but the research and notes are all saved.

Do you listen to music or have another form of inspiration when you are writing?
I do have a writing playlist.  It is an eclectic mix of classical, New Age, jazz, electronica/trance, and movie scores.  I don’t like anything with words.  I used to create a specific playlist for each new work I was writing, but I realized that I was using the creation of the playlist as a way to block myself from actually writing, so I stopped.

Most people envision an author’s life as being really glamorous. What’s the most unglamorous thing that you’ve done in the past week?
Changing poopy diapers?  Packing to move?  Leaving my day job?  Okay, that last one was super satisfying, even if it wasn’t glamorous.

How long does it take you to finish a book from start to submission?
I haven’t been able to time myself, so I don’t know!

Do you prefer writing series books over non series or does it matter?
So far, I’ve only been working on one-offs, or books that might loosely be part of the same series.  But I love to read series, so if the opportunity comes for a storyline that takes place over many books, then I will explore it!

Do you track work count or write a certain number of hours per day?
I try not to as it would get way too depressing!  I do check my word count when I’ve finished a round of writing, just to satisfy my own curiosity.  I just snatch my moments when and where I can.

Your Books

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
Penumbra is my first completed work of any length.  So I guess that makes it my favorite at the moment?

When a new book comes out, are you nervous about how readers will react to it?
Of course!  Any time someone puts something they created out in the world, whether a work of fiction or a painting or a meal they’ve spent hours making, there’s that fear about what the response will be.

What can we look forward to in the upcoming months?
I will be releasing a free short story entitled “The Cephalopod Maid” in the next few weeks, and an illustrated collection of political and social poetry by the end of July.

What kind of research do you do for your books? Do you enjoy the research process?
It’s tailored depending on the story.  For example, “The Cephalopod Maid” draws on some Luvcraftian references, so my research involved reading some of his works and doing online research into that world, as well as finding visual images of various squid and octopi.  Penumbra had very little research as it was set in modern times and the creatures are my own imagining.

Do deadlines help or hinder your muse?
Loose deadlines help, but I really just try to schedule each week. I find a daily to-do list INCREDIBLY helpful, but realize that I tend to assign too much for myself to accomplish in one day.  So I try to remain flexible.

Do you outline your books or just start writing?
Again, this depends on the story – the length of story, the depth that I am creating a new world or using reality, etc.  I keep a working outline with important details (the name of an artifact, character descriptions) but I keep it flexible, and I know I’m going to be making changes as the story goes.  Generally, I try to outline the major plot points and then let the characters decide how they’re going to get there.

What was your first published work and when was it published?
Penumbra is my first and only thus far, and it was published this past April.

Your Characters

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
My characters are from my imagination, but my imagination is fed by my experiences in life.  I adore people-watching, but I do it because I find it fascinating and interesting, not because I’m deliberately filing things away for later use.  But I’m sure some of the character traits I notice spill over.

Is it hard coming up with names for your characters?
Not generally, no.

Have any of your characters ever haunted your dreams or woken you up during the night demanding attention?
I’ve had insomnia due to characters and scenes playing out in my subconscious in a kind of lucid dreaming state, but I don’t know that I’ve ever woken up because of them.

Which of your stories would make a great movie?  Who’d play the lead roles?
The pacing of Penumbra lends itself well to a visual medium.  I’m talking with my husband about eventually turning it into a graphic novel or webcomic, and I think it could make a great film as well.  And I’d want relative unknowns to play the leads.

Do you make a conscious decision to write a certain type of character with a certain occupation, or do the characters decide for themselves what they want to be?
The characters decide for themselves, generally.  Usually a plot is born out of my characters, which includes their occupation.  I don’t ever start out with a generic person thrown into a situation.  To me, the story is about the characters, so they have to live for me before I know where the plot is going.

What in your opinion makes good chemistry between your leading characters?
Dialogue.  It always comes down to dialogue.  In the editing process, I do at least one line edit where I take each sentence and examine how it stands on its own.  With dialogue, I scrutinize it even more closely, looking at whether it’s something that particular character would actually say and how it plays against the other character.  The difficult thing in Penumbra is that one of my main characters hardly talks at all!

Random Questions

Name one website you visit every single day.
I read the Foglio’s Girl Genius every time it updates.  It is my addiction.  The story, the artwork, and the characters are all amazing. It has a great mix of comedy and drama.  I’ve been hooked 2005.  Other than that, I try to alternate where I spend my time online so I’m not spending too much time on the internet instead of being active with my family or creating.

Where do you get your daily dose of news?
If I’m looking for updates on my own, I go to NPR.  I will click on links via Facebook and Tumblr to other news sources, if an article interests or outrages me.  And I’ve learned to try to avoid the comments sections of any article because they always suck me in and leave me with a headache.  I’ve learned that in order to write and create, I sometimes need to shield myself from the media.  I stay aware but try not to get sucked into the sensationalism of the media.