Update: Winner!! Congrats to Lisa F! Lisa, you’ve won THE CONQUEROR!
I talked about this author and her book on Monday, and now I”m super thrilled that the very talented Kris Kennedy is joining me today for some author interview fun. Thanks for answering my questions, Kris!
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and the genre (or genres) that you write.
Hi Cynthia! I’m excited to be here today, chatting with you all! Hi everyone. 🙂
Let’s see . . career-wise, I started out as psychotherapist, specializing in work with highly chaotic, suicidal and para-suicidal women. It was incredibly rewarding work, but not ‘following my bliss,’ and I knew it.
Then, as I was working my way through the local library about 9 years ago (or thereabouts), I kept coming upon these ‘silly’ historical romance books. I’d turn away—no, not those books! Not those covers! You’re above all that. Look away!
But, alas, I looked. I picked up. I read. I was . . . captured. The night I finished my first historical romance, I was up until 3 a.m., writing. And I haven’t stopped.
I write medieval romances right now, based in England and Ireland, although I do have a few half-finished beasties that may one day see the light of day. A Georgian or 2, a could Revolutionary War era stories, as well as a few contemps.
2. Describe your current release in 15 words or less.
Damn you. 15 words? Or LESS??
Let’s see . . . How’s this?
A reluctant hero, a desperate heroine, & a passion that could destroy a kingdom.
Not 100% accurate, but close ‘nuff. 😉
3. Definitely close enough! Okay, now use as many words as you’d like to describe your story.
Ha! I was trying to go with my first responses, so I didn’t read the questions ahead. Therefore, this question was a big relief. 🙂
THE CONQUEROR
England, 1152: After seventeen years of civil war, things are about to change.
Reluctant hero Griffyn ‘Pagan’ Sauvage is single-minded in pursuit of his mission: overthrow England. He disavows everything related to a destiny, as he’s rejected everything related to his brutal father. He veers from his quest only once, to rescue a brave woman from a midnight abduction.
Guinevere de l’Ami is equally focused, with an earldom to protect. But Griffyn awakens emotions that will make her risk everything for a single night of unforgettable passion.
Their explosive reunion, a year later, follows betrayal and a bloody invasion. Now revenge, the lure of buried treasure, and a deadly enemy closing in threaten a love that could unite a kingdom, or being it crashing to the ground.
129 words. How’s that?
😉
4. Which character do you like better from THE CONQUEROR—the hero or the heroine? Why?
Ah, well, we do love our heroes, don’t we?
I love the heroine, because she is someone who has made real mistakes, not the ‘pretty’ kind, where she ‘thinks’ she did something wrong, but really, there’s no blame to be had. Guinevere has made real mistakes, and others have paid.
It’s up to the reader to decide if Gwyn is making even more mistakes over the course of the story.
In part, it’s sort-of the question: Is it better (or worse) to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, or the right thing for the wrong reasons?
I won’t give any more away. But this is reminding me, I need to get my Reader Discussion Questions up on the website!
Now, all that being said . . .I love Griffyn. I totally love him. I think he’s chocolate icing. His tortured-ness, his honorable nature that’s getting all twisted up. I love his sense of humor, his fractured confidence, his body—I mean. His brain. I love his mind.
🙂
5. What is the most challenging part of being a writer?
Hmm . . that’s a good question. And a tough one, which is the reason it’s good.
I think for me, it’s confidence. I don’t know if I’m good enough. And it’s such a subjective world, that for many readers, I won’t be good enough. Won’t float their boat.
Somehow, you have to remain confident enough to go on, get better, persevere.
You know what? That’s true for all of us, everywhere, no matter what we do. If we know it’s important or right in our gut, we just have to keep doing it.
6. In a fight, who would win…Dracula or the wolf-man? What? This question seems odd? Please, folks are dying to know this answer.
Totally, Dracula. Because he’s always true to himself. Sure, he has to avoid daylight and all, but he’s still a vampire when he’s in his coffin, or his basement watching DVDs, or whatever.
Wolfman is torn on a fundamental level, and so will always be weaker.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
😉
7. What’s your favorite scary movie? Come on, spill. No explanations—just name it. Let everyone else guess why.
OMG, let me tell you, when I was a kid, Poltergeist scared the bejeezus out of me. Totally.
My grandparents got my brother& me each a TV for our bedrooms (I won’t even go into what a bad idea I now think that was—this was back in the day, late 70’s, when TVs were not so ubiquitous, the shows were more innocent, & there was only white static playing in the middle of the night.)
Anyhow, you know how those old B&W TVs, how the screen would sorta glow after you turned out the lights in the room? The tubes or something . . .
Well, the glowing TV screen almost made my heart stop beating.
I’d squeeze my eyes shut, flip off my bedroom light, run and LEAP onto my bed. I’d pull the covers up, eyes shut. A few minutes later, I’d peek up. As soon as the glow was gone, I was fine.
Quite a spectacle, for about 5 years there. And no one knew. I’m just realizing that now. My mom and grandparents had no idea how petrified I was every night between 9-15 y.o. LOL
Aw, now see, Kris, you were supposed to let folks guess! But we’ll let you slide this time….
8. Tell me the one thing you wish you’d known about being a writer, um, before you became a writer.
As far as the craft of writing, I wish I knew the ‘less-is-more’ approach, to almost everything.
As far as the act of it . . . let’s see . . . I wish I’d worked out a lot more, so I could now rely on that fitness to get me through the HOURS and HOURS of sitting on my tush. LOL
9. What is your writing schedule like?
Ha! Very funny. ‘Schedule,’ she says.
It’s been so all over the map this winter and spring. I was on a deadline, and was revising an entire manuscript from the bones up. I was writing all the time, almost non-stop, aside from the mom-ing.
That one is an Irish medieval (excerpt here, if you’re interested in hot, funny Irish heroes <g>, and I sent it off to my editor the last day of March. A few days later, we went to Germany for a month. I’ll just say that I didn’t get much writing done there.
We got back about a week ago, & it’s been all about the release of THE CONQUEROR and promoting it.
But, I have some good ideas, and really want to get back to writing.
Generally, I get the bulk of writing time a couple days a week, when my son is at daycare. And I ask for some weekend time too, when hubby is home, and I usually get it.
Kindergarten starts this fall, though, although only half-day. Still, it’ll be an every day thing, so that will be good.
10. Tell me anything you’d like to tell me.
I’d like to say a big thank-you for the chance to come and visit! I’d also love to ask your readers a question.
If you could go into any book, which would it be & why? Like time-travel, only it’s book-travel. 🙂 Would you go and travel back in time, and experience life in an historical? Forward? Or would you go into a book with an altered, fantasical version of ‘now’? Like Cindy’s awesome books.
Thanks for visiting with us, Kris! And for those of you in blog land…I’ll select one commenter to win a hot-off-the-presses (so to speak) copy of THE CONQUEROR!
