Author Saturday Spotlight: Kim Fielding ~ #Interview #Giveaway

Happy Saturday everyone! It's that special time of the week where we get to gush over another incredible author! This week the amazing, fabulous, talented Kim Fielding is here and we are going to talk, and see her work, and do a giveaway. It's going to be wonderful. Grab a drink and join us.

Brute leads a lonely life in a world where magic is commonplace. He is seven and a half feet of ugly, and of disreputable descent. No one, including Brute, expects him to be more than a laborer. But heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and when he is maimed while rescuing a prince, Brute’s life changes abruptly. He is summoned to serve at the palace in Tellomer as a guard for a single prisoner. It sounds easy but turns out to be the challenge of his life.

Rumors say the prisoner, Gray Leynham, is a witch and a traitor. What is certain is that he has spent years in misery: blind, chained, and rendered nearly mute by an extreme stutter. And he dreams of people’s deaths—dreams that come true.

As Brute becomes accustomed to palace life and gets to know Gray, he discovers his own worth, first as a friend and a man and then as a lover. But Brute also learns heroes sometimes face difficult choices and that doing what is right can bring danger of its own.

A brutal war left Volos Perun with physical and emotional scars and with a reputation as a hero. Now he’s a soldier stationed at the palace, desiring Prince Berhanu while receiving only loathing in return. But when Berhanu foolishly refuses the king’s request to let Volos accompany him on a peace mission to the neighboring country, Berhanu is kidnapped and brutalized. Now Volos must risk his life as he works to save Berhanu and help his country avoid another devastating war.

A drifter since his teens, Jimmy Dorsett has no home and no hope. What he does have is a duffel bag, a lot of stories, and a junker car. Then one cold desert night he picks up a hitchhiker and ends up with something more: a letter from a dying man to the son he hasn’t seen in years.

On a quest to deliver the letter, Jimmy travels to Rattlesnake, a small town nestled in the foothills of the California Sierras. The centerpiece of the town is the Rattlesnake Inn, where the bartender is handsome former cowboy Shane Little. Sparks fly, and when Jimmy’s car gives up the ghost, Shane gets him a job as handyman at the inn.

Both within the community of Rattlesnake and in Shane’s arms, Jimmy finds an unaccustomed peace. But it can’t be a lasting thing. The open road continues to call, and surely Shane—a strong, proud man with a painful past and a difficult present—deserves better than a lying vagabond who can’t stay put for long.

Praesidium is the most prosperous city-state in the world, due not only to its location at the mouth of a great bay, but also to its strict laws, stringently enforced. Ordinary criminals become bond-slaves, but the Wizard places traitors in Stasis, a dreamless frozen state.

Ennek is the Chief's younger son. He has grown up without much of a purpose, a man who cannot fulfill his true desires and who skates on the edge of the law. But he is also haunted by the plight of one man, a prisoner for whom Stasis appears to be a truly horrible fate. If Ennek is to save that prisoner, he must explore Praesidium's deepest secrets as well as his own.

Interview

Thank you so much, Kim, for being here today and for agreeing to this Spanish Inquisition. I trust you’ve signed the waiver promising me your soul for the duration of the questioning period? Good good. We can now begin.

I’m very happy to be here. And I’m not sure my soul’s worth all that much anyway—I am a licensed attorney, after all.

You’re a professor by day… intriguing…. Can you tell us what subject you teach and why you chose this as the subject to shape young minds?

I teach criminal justice. As I admitted already, I’m a lawyer, but I also have psychology degrees, and CJ marries these things nicely. It’s a broad field, too, so I can study lots of interesting things. My research areas are hate crime, juvenile justice, and jury decision making. Plus I get to do cool things. This summer I toured our new coroner’s office and watched an autopsy. My students are great, and I really like to think that by teaching them, I’m helping make the world a better place.

Royalties from your books: Stasis, Flux, and Equipoise go to the charity Doctors Without Borders. Why did you choose this charity and what does it mean to you?

I really admire the way Doctors Without Borders volunteers operate regardless of politics, often risking their lives to save other people. And what right is more necessary to people than health care? Another thing I really like about this particular charity is that they spend almost all their money on program expenses—actually helping people—instead of administration and fundraising. They have a very high score on Charity Navigator.

One thing I don’t have a degree in is medicine! And my life circumstances mean I really can’t jet around the world to help out. So I do my part by donating to them. With my readers’ help, I’m able to make pretty decent donations. Last year I gave $3000, and with several releases out this year—including Flux—I’m hoping I can top that.

Flux is your new release. It’s book 2 in your Ennek Trilogy… CONGRATS! In your own words, like you are telling someone about these fabulous books, what is Flux and this trilogy about?

Well, it’s about a wizard and the man he rescues from slavery and a terrible punishment. And there are pirates! And evil wizards! And merpeople! And lots of magic. And Ennek and Miner have all kinds of exciting adventures including, in Flux, evildoers, near-drownings, an earthquake, shipwrecks, capture, and bad food. While they’re experiencing all this excitement, they’re also exploring new love.

On another level, though, the trilogy is about power of all kinds: personal, magical, governmental. Where does it come from? What does it mean to possess it or lack it? What are the dangers of possessing too much? And how  do any of us—personally or as a society—reach the right balance between safety and freedom? That last question is one of the biggest dilemmas facing criminal justice, so you can see where my academic background comes in. But there are no merpeople in criminal justice.

You have the ability to write anywhere but do you prefer music or the outside elements for sound?

Definitely natural elements—singing birds, whispering wind, or my favorite, pounding surf. I do most of my writing at my kitchen table, and when the weather allows it I open the patio door so I can listen to the mockingbirds and hummers. Unfortunately, I often also end up listening to my Noisy Neighbor. He likes to blast music really loud. I don’t actually mind his playlist too much, but I find it really distracting. I suppose I should be thankful, though, because on day he was listening to “Ode to Billie Joe,” which gave me the plot bunny for my novel Love Can’t Conquer. Still, I’m tempted to blast some of my playlist back at him. Bosnian punk, maybe?

Out of all your series’ which would you love to see become a TV show and why?

I’d love it if my Ennek series became movies. In fact, I’ve already cast the leads, although we’d have to travel back in time to get them. A young Rufus Sewell is Ennek, and a young Paul Bettany is Miner.

Now, for TV I’d choose my Bones series, which stars a hipster architect werewolf and his, um, rustic neighbor. I’ve cast that one too, but only Chris, who will be played by a slightly younger Christian Kane. I haven’t decided who’s Dylan. They could have all sorts of wacky and thrilling adventures. Plus they have an interesting circle of friends: an artist, a Scandinavian water spirit, Bigfoot, a dream unicorn….

Do you attend any conventions or conferences? If so which ones and do you have a favorite?

I love attending cons! GayRomLit is one of my favorites, but unfortunately I can’t make it this year. I’m also going to have to miss Gay Romance Northwest, which is always terrific. I attended RT earlier this year. That was fun, if a little overwhelming! And in just a few days, I’ll be at my first Yaoicon (in San Francisco). I hope to hang out with some old friends and meet new ones.

How do you juggle the EDJ, writing, and mom-ing? I’m sure many writers would love to know your secrets.

I wish I had some amazing secrets to share. Like where to buy Hermione’s time-turner, because I want one so bad. The truth is, I’m good at multitasking and I find lots of ways to do it. For example, I do much of my “reading” as audiobooks while I take my daily walks. I’ve given a lot of things up. I don’t watch TV at all—ever—with the exception of Game of Thrones. I go to the movies maybe twice a year. I make to-do lists and stick to them. I try not to waste time. And I have a really supportive family, which helps a lot.

Other than that, my only big key to success at writing is, well, writing. I try to do it daily and hit a particular word count. I don’t let myself go back to edit and fiddle with things until after the first draft is complete. And I only allow myself to write one project at a time.

Also, I don’t sleep much!

What are you currently working on and what do you have on the docket?

I’m about halfway through writing a light contemporary with the working title Big City Ways. But I have so much else on the way soon! Aside from Flux, I’ll have three other novels release in the next 5 months: Running Blind (co-authored with Venona Keyes), Equipoise (the final book in the Ennek trilogy), and Love Is Heartless (book #2 in the Love Can’t series). Plus! The fifth Gothika anthology, Contact, comes out next month. I’ll have a novella in that one. Aliens! I’ll have two short stories in December. One is a holiday story (Slavic gods in Hawaii? Why not!), and the other is in a terrific anthology called Once Upon a Time in the Weird West. I have new audiobooks on the way too, narrated by K.C. Kelly, Joel Leslie, and Nick J. Russo.

I’m exhausted just looking at that previous paragraph.

How can readers follow your career? Twitter, FB, Website etc…

Twitter: @KFieldingWrites

Facebook: http://facebook.com/KFieldingWrites

Website/blog: http://kfieldingwrites.com

Email: kim@kfieldingwrites.com

I love hearing from readers!

FAST FIRE QUESTION:

The forest or the ocean? Ocean!

Paperback book or ereader? Both.

Dogs or cats? Also both.

Reading or audiobooks? And… both. :)

Favorite color? Cobalt blue

Favorite holiday? Halloween

Favorite day of the week? Friday

Left handed or right handed? Right

Okay, Kim, you are now officially released from my clutches. Thank you so very much.

Thank you! I’ve enjoyed your clutches very much!

Giveaway

Kim is gifting an ebook copy of Stasis AND the Audiobook Guarded!

Simply fill out the rafflecopter below!

Contest will end on September 16th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway