Q. What is the one thing you wish you
knew before you tried to get published?
KD: First of
all, I’d like to thank you for having me over at Donna’s Blog Home. It’s a
pleasure to be here and talk to you about my new, and final novel of the
Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy, Elemental Fire.
What I wish I’d known before I tried to get published was just not to get
discouraged by the long, slow process and by all the rejections along the way.
Fortunately I was stubborn and didn’t give up, but a lot of people I know do
give up before they get there, which is really too bad.
Even more
importantly, there’s also something I’m glad I didn’t know, or I might not have
had the courage to carry on when things were rough and I wondered if I’d ever
get published. I’m very glad I didn’t know just how much work I’d have to do to
promote and to make sure my books got the attention they deserved after they’re published. Even though I
didn’t know it in the beginning, getting my books published was the easy part
compared to trying to make sure those books out there every day getting some
attention and some press. Then there are readings and public appearances and
keeping all the social media balls in the air and making sure the blog always
has plenty of new and interesting content. For an introvert who would love
nothing more than to get caught up in a story and just write, what happens
after getting published is really hard work, but also essential.
Q. What to you is the best part of being
a writer and what is the part you wouldn’t mind giving up?
KD: As I said, I wouldn’t mind handing
over more of the PR that has to happen. I don’t really mind doing it, but it
takes up time I could be using to write the story, and that’s always the best
part. The best part really is getting stuck in the world I’ve created and the
adventure my characters are embarking on. I love it when I can almost feel my
characters living and breathing and moving around me. I love it when I’m
eating, breathing and sleeping the story, feeling it unfold and surprise me
with each new paragraph. There’s no other rush that compares to what I feel
when a story takes an unexpected turn that I could have never imagined when I
started to write. It’s almost better than sex.
Q. What city would you love to set a
story in but the right one hasn’t come along yet?
KD: I’m dying to set a story in Las
Vegas and the desert surrounding it. I have been ever since my first visit to
Las Vegas two years ago. At last I’m going to get my opportunity! I’ve just
been in Vegas and the Mojave Desert doing research for the sequel to The Initiation of Ms Holly, which will
hopefully be out next Spring. I’m very excited for the opportunity.
Also, I would love to write more stories
set in the Lake District. Any excuse to go there is always welcome. I’ve just
been reading Sarah Hall’s stunning historical novel, Haweswater, set in the late thirties when the village of Mardale
was flooded by the building of the dam on Haweswater. I’ve walked the fells
around that area, seen the area where the old road and the stone walls
disappear into the lake. It still gives me chills to think about. I would love
to set a story there.
Q. What books are currently on your
nightstand?
KD: At the moment I’m reading the whole Game of Thrones saga. I have all of that
on my Kindle, so all of it’s on my nightstand.
I’m also reading Nora Roberts, The
Witness, which is a paperback. There’s still nothing like the feel of a
real book!
Q: What is the best thing you have done
in the name of research?
KD: I think one of the best experiences
I had in the name of research was a descent off the Newlands Horseshoe ridge
walk on a route that took me through the ruins of the Rigghead slate quarries.
This was research for the Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy, since a lot of the story
takes place in or around quarries, slate mines, and caves. While I was on this
all-day walk, I had the chance to climb down into some of the ruined quarries
and do a bit of exploring beneath the fells. I never went deep enough to be
completely out of the sunlight, but it was quite a rush to pick my way across
the uneven footing of broken slate and the slick surfaces of rock, beneath the
constant drip, drip, drip of water from the earlier rains and the spring
run-off while my walking companions looked on from above. Fortunately my
husband had the presence of mind to take some pictures of me while I was down
there, and those pictures have always inspired me when I was writing the
trilogy. I’ve often looked back at them for a reminder of what it was like
beneath the fells. Elemental Fire has
more than a few underground scenes, and since it’s been nearly a year and a
half since I wrote Body Temperature and
Rising, book one of the trilogy, it’s great to be able to look back and
remember that day.
*****
Excerpt
Lucia moved to stand in front of him. He would have tried to cover
himself, where he knelt, but the weight of his arms was terrible. He could tell
she was looking down on him, and whatever it was that aroused him so suddenly
intensified, flashed bright and settled low in his chest into a tight knot of
fear. And yet he wanted, deeply, irrationally needed her to touch him.
Then, she did the unthinkable. She curled a finger under his chin
and lifted his face until he knew if he opened his he would die from looking up
at her face.
When she spoke, it was as though he were glass shattering, falling
into tiny pieces in the ecstasy of her voice. ‘We’ve met before, Kennet Birch.
You had not grown so tall back then. But then adolescence is unpredictable, I
hear.’ Her hand closed around his chin to a nearly painful grip. ‘Look at me,
Kennet Birch. If you have come this far, then you will look me in the eye and
tell me why you are here.’
Painfully aware of his vulnerability and his hard-on, he opened his
eyes slowly and looked up at her. For a split second it was as though he were
looking into the sun at mid-day, but before he could shade his eyes, the light
of her softened, dimmed, cooled and the face he looked upon was achingly
beautiful, young slender, pale, with lips full and pink, with hair that hung in
long golden ringlets around her shoulders and down over the robe she wore,
which seemed to be dancing flames.
Involuntarily, he moaned softly and everything in him turned molten
in the roil of fear and rage and helplessness all wrapped up in almost
unbearable lust.
She relaxed her grip on his chin, and offered him a smile that made
all of his nerve endings sing with its beauty. ‘I’ve not worn human form in a
while, but if my form is to be the last you see before you pass beyond the land
of the living, then I shall offer something that will not send you thence with
terror in your heart. That would be terribly unkind of me, would it not, Kennet
Birch?’
‘Thank you … my lady.’
She laughed softly. ‘Your lady, I am not, Kennet Birch. Nor is my
ego so delicate that whatever you call me would matter one way or another. I
will ask you again. Why have you come?’
*****
Obsessed with revenge, KENNET LUCIAN makes a deal with a demon, a
deal he comes to regret when he meets TARA STONE, head of the Elemental Coven,
and a powerful witch with a desire for revenge at least as great as his. Even
though the attraction between the two is magnetic and the lust combustive,
Kennet must betray her to accomplish his goal, which is ultimately her goal as
well; to put a final end to the demon, Deacon’s, reign of terror. But can Tara
trust the man who has wormed his way into her heart and the heart of the
Elemental Coven? Can she trust LUCIA, the demon with whom Kennet is allied, a
demon with her own agenda. The path to Deacon’s destruction is far from clear,
and the price that must be paid to be free of him forever may be too high, even
for Tara Stone.
*****
K D Grace believes Freud was right. In the end, it really IS all
about sex, well sex and love. And nobody’s happier about that than she, cuz
otherwise, what would she write about?
When she’s not writing, K D is veg gardening or walking. She walks
her stories, and she’s serious about it. She and her husband recently walked
the Coast to Coast rout across England. For her, inspiration is directly
proportionate to how quickly she wears out a pair of walking boots.
K D has erotica published with Xcite Books, Harper Collins Mischief
Books, Mammoth, Cleis Press, Black Lace, Erotic Review, Ravenous Romance,
Sweetmeats Press and others.
Links:
*****
Giveaway – two
PDF copies of the first book in the Lakeland Heatwave trilogy – Body
Temperature and Rising.
romance novels in several subgenres,
including erotica, comedy, historical, paranormal, mystery and suspense, plus a
number of short stories and non-fiction articles on writing. A freelance
editor, she’s worked for Total-E-Bound, Ai Press, and Liquid Silver Books. She
also takes private clients.
