K. Williams will be awarding a grand
prize of a paperback of OP-DEC: Operation
Deceit (US only) to one randomly drawn winner and a digital copy of the
book to 10 randomly drawn winners. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your
chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there,
too.
Bio:
Bio:
Born
in Saratoga Springs, New York, K.Williams embarked on a now twenty year
career in writing. After a childhood, which consisted of voracious reading and
hours of film watching, it was a natural progression to study and produce art.
K
attended Morrisville
State College, majoring in the Biological Sciences, and then continued with
English and Historical studies at the University at Albany, home of the New
York State Writer’s Institute, gaining her Bachelor’s Degree. While
attending UA, K interned with the 13th
Moon Feminist Literary Magazine, bridging her interests in social movements
and art. At the same time, K’s first book project, Blue Honor, was
underway. Blue Honor originated as a creative final project and independent
study, regarding the civil war, which places fictional characters into a
non-fictional realm, to display the social realities of the time. Topics include
gender limitations, racial disparities, and the trauma of war. Now, Blue is
both a full-length novel and an adapted spec. To see some of her favorite
causes, click here.
Following
Blue, K worked on the screen spec 8 Days in Ireland and also the spec for the
first incarnation of The Trailokya Trilogy, then called Faith Fallen. After
publishing Blue, K produced her second novel OP-DEC:Operation Deceit, to rave
reviews by Kirkus Indie, NY Indie and Midwest Book Review.
Currently,
K has completed the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program for Film Studies
and Screenwriting at Empire State College (SUNY), and is the 2013-2014 recipient
of the Foner Fellowship in Arts and Social Justice. K continues to
write and is preparing to release her new series The Trailokya Trilogy, a work
that deals with topics in Domestic Violence and crosses the controversial
waters of organized religion and secularism. A sequel to OP-DEC is in the
research phase, while the adaptation is being shopped to interested film
companies.
Excerpts
of these and more writings can be found here.
Welcome, K. Please
tell us about your current release.
OP-DEC is my second
historical novel and stands out as my favorite in my catalog thus far (I have
six books (three yet unpublished but written, including the sequel to OP)). Most spy thrillers take place in
either modern times or the iconic 1950s, post war. Instead, I wanted to show
the harrowing exploits of a class of military personnel who have the biggest
impact on how operations turn out – the intelligence class. The game of secrets
is necessary and important part of any conflict, and it quite possibly is the
reason that the German forces were unsuccessful in sustaining their domination
of Europe. They didn’t value intelligence as much as the Allied forces and
research shows a structure mired in suspicion that could have benefitted from
greater trust. Thankfully, that did not come to pass.
What inspired you to
write this book?
My
love of the time period has been a long one. I have memories of watching
documentaries with my father. Being awed that my grandfather had served in the
Merchant Marine (lying to join) and heartbroken that he lost a brother during
the course of the war. There is something about the generation that pulled us
through the conflict and liberated Europe that seems absent from subsequent
generations and whatever that is, it is inspiring. I wish I could put my finger
on it exactly. That respect and interest culminated in a very comical, bizarre
and auspicious dream one night that gave rise to the narrative.
Excerpt from OP-DEC:
“Carsten
stood with his pistol pressed to the temple of her attacker’s head. The
expression on his face rivaled her father’s usual mien. He spoke in measured
German and the man backed up. Carsten’s gaze flicked to her and he murmured
gentle assurances. The hate was clear in his eyes, but his concern had taken
away its energy.
Claire’s attacker put
his hands up and lowered onto his knees before Carsten’s pistol. Claire pushed
along the wall wanting to be as far from the horrible man as possible. Carsten
reached his hand out to her, keeping his gun and eyes on the man who’d sought to
violate her. Carsten pulled her to him, and she buried her face against his
shoulder.
“Hauptmann,” Kohl’s
voice called, trying to deescalate the situation.
He stood over the
only other surviving perpetrator, who knelt with his hands clasped behind his
head and sniveling.
Carsten spoke again.
Then his gun reported. Multiple times.
They stood for several
moments in the silence that followed. Claire wept quietly against Carsten’s
shoulder not looking at the scene. She knew he’d shot the remaining men.
Soon, other soldiers
and passerby crowded the entrance.
“You cause me so much
trouble, Fräulein,” Carsten’s voice came.
The soldiers coming
into the alley looked confused by the three dead soldiers at the feet of the
suited men. Kohl stepped forward, attempting to explain, holding his hands up
and his pistol dangling from his thumb harmless. It did little good. The
gathered soldiers dragged them back to the command tents at the port to answer
for the crime.”
What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m polishing up OP-GHO: Operation Ghost, which will be
the sequel to OP-DEC. I will be
releasing the first installment of a trilogy I finished early last year in
April: The Trailokya Trilogy, Book 1: The
Shadow Soul. After that—maybe a sequel to Blue Honor, my first novel,
perhaps something else historical or maybe I will continue with the fantasy
world of my trilogy. I haven’t yet decided.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Reflecting
back I think it was the moment that a professor of mine said: “If you
write—then you are a writer. That is all it takes to be a writer. So write. The
other stuff will come.” Or some such mix of those words. Professor Jill
Hanifan, University at Albany English Professor…she was an inspiration. One of
my poems that I shared with her while I was secretary of the graduate program
there (well after graduation from the English Bachelor program), she said it
reminded her of Charlotte Bronte. Professor Hanifan is a poet, and that was a
lofty compliment!
Do you write
full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than
write and how do you find time to write?
I
write full time and I work another job full time. I know! I write when the mood
takes me or not (this could be into the wee hours of the morning when I have to
be up early for work the next day). If my mood is sour, I haven’t been
writing—life happens. I support my art by working as a secretary for a college.
It provides me time to focus on other things so the work can ruminate, listen
and experience so that I’m not quarantined from life and have things to write
about later. If I were able to write full time, I am afraid that being a
recluse would be the norm. I’m a total introvert and love being so for most
hours of the day (with my dog). Cutting off completely however, that might turn
out to be more of a nightmare than a dream come true. That said, I do prefer
more time alone than with others (unless they’re dogs).
What would you say is
your interesting writing quirk?
Post
it notes. Scrap paper plotting. Lying down to go to bed and popping back up to
write a note on a scrap of paper in the dark and finding it legible in the
morning. Or—maybe it’s that my dreams churn out some pretty amazing story
lines.
As a child, what did
you want to be when you grew up?
An
actor, probably. I wanted to pretend to be someone else and go on adventures. I
didn’t really want to be anyone other than myself, so maybe all that pretend
play was just me really wanting to go on those epic adventures I saw in the
movies, or read in my books. I was comfortable with who I was—I just wanted to
do interesting things, exciting things.
Anything additional
you want to share with the readers?
Thank
you for taking the time to read about me and my work. I hope that you’ve
enjoyed my answers and will seek to learn more. Thank you to Lisa Haselton for
the opportunity to share.
Links:
Thank you, K! Happy
writing.
6 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
What'd be the author's dream cast if the book were made into a movie?
Thanks for having me today! I look forward to your readers comments and questions.
Congratulations on your latest release.What was that moment like when you held your first published book, or any of them / I am sure it is just as phenomenal !
I cried, Deanne. I really cried. I had struggled a long time to try and find a home for my first book (Blue Honor) and I was lucky to find CreateSpace who would put it out for a small fee. It was up to me to find an editor and proofer and designer. That was a really tough project, from the years I put in, the rejections, the near miss with Penguin Books...Then, things just rolled like kismet...the timing was right. I was able to get it into shape, an event came along to provide the horse photo on the cover, and then they shipped my first proof and I cried. The struggle was over and my work was real. A real book.
Thank you for asking this! This makes me all warm and fuzzy thinking about it. How surreal! How 'finally!' it felt.
I was in better control of myself when OP-DEC was completed. But, now, what makes me weepy, is to hear someone read the words aloud, like for an audio book. That is just...That is really something. I can hardly believe that the words are mine.
Thank you to Lisa for the hosting. Congrats to the winners and big thanks to Goddess Fish for everything!
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