SPECIAL GUEST – CHARLIE KENMORE

I have a very special guest today – Charlie Kenmore who is going to give you a bit about himself and a little bit about his latest release.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

How did you get started writing?

CK: I’ve been writing on and off since I was a child. In the fifth grade, I started reading the old Warren Publication horror magazines Eerie and Creepy. They impressed me. I wrote a twenty page story about a subterranean society that collected humans for its zoo. The teacher thought it was a bit dark for a fifth grader, but my classmates liked it. I’ve been writing on and off ever since.

What inspires you the most?

CK: Dissatisfaction with my day job.

Are you lucky enough to write full time or do you have another job?

CK: I’m supposed to have another job. However, since I got laid off a couple of years ago from an in-house position, I’ve had more time than I intended for writing.

What genre/s do you write in?

CK: I write fantasy, science fiction and erotica (frequently tied to fantasy or science fiction). I have also written several screenplays including dramas, comedic shorts, and surprise, thriller-fantasy-horror.

What’s another genre you’d love to try writing?

CK: International conspiracy and intrigue.

What do your friends and family think about your writing?

CK: D. Alexx  Miller (a/k/a  “Alexx Momcat”), my very significant other, and my oldest niece  (the others are too young-so there is still hope) like it. No one else  reads it.  My darker and naughtier alter ego, Ken Charles‘s erotica, however, has been well received in the past.

What’s the biggest misconception about being a writer?

CK: That it is easy, and that anyone can write. It is common knowledge that my significant other, “Alexx Momcat”, is a paranormal romance fanatic. A couple of years ago, while brainstorming on birthday gift ideas, I had an idea (note the lack of descriptive adjective before the word “idea”). Why don’t I just write her a paranormal romance? How hard can it be? With a little over three months to go, I figured that I had plenty of time. I barely finished Book One in time for her birthday. Well, I got the paranormal part down. To my credit, there are romantic elements. However, to date, no one has accused me of writing a paranormal romance.

What do you love and hate most about writing?

CK: I enjoy storytelling. I love creating new characters and playing puppetmaster as I move them around.  I hate revisions. The Muse is supposed to give it to me straight the first time.

What are you currently working on and what’s coming up for you?

CK: I am working on a couple of projects. The first is about a human female detective set on a far off planet. She discovers a prospective non-human client’s head in an alley behind a strip joint, and immediately becomes a target. She has to get off world quickly, and figure out who the head belonged to, and why she would have been hired.

The second project is an erotic novel about a mid-twenties young man whose parents died in an auto accident when he was a young child. He was raised by his very rich grandmother because it was the proper thing to do, but there was no affection. Essentially, he was raised by the household staff. The day he turned eighteen, he left and never looked back. Grandmother dies leaving him everything. He returns to claim his inheritance. With money no longer an issue, he has plenty of time to discover the kinkier side of his sexuality.

What experiences have you had working with your publisher/s?

CK: Originally, I placed all of my eggs in one basket. Earth Angel and all of the erotica was under contract to a start-up publisher. Earth Angel was supposed to be out in e-book by the end of June, 2010. The erotica was supposed to follow in August and September. The company’s debut got pushed back to November. A week before Earth Angel was due out, the company folded.

I was editing for another start-up publisher. The publisher said she wanted Earth Angel, and sent me a contract. Then she told me she was revising the contract. So I waited for a month, then asked what was going on. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted the book. So I sent it to an acquisition editor who had previously expressed interest. She offered me the contract from Damnation Books.

It was tight, and there were a few bumps along the way, but Damnation Books got Earth Angel out on schedule.  For example, I love the cover. However, I was sent a “final” cover that supposedly I had agreed to, before I had seen any drafts. There was one significant problem with the first “final” agreed cover. We straightened that out.

I have placed some of the erotica including “The Mercies of Cinderella” with Naughty Nights Press. We haven’t started any editing yet. Hopefully, everything will flow smoothly.

 

Some fun questions…

Do you write to music and if so, to what?

CK: I prefer to write without any background sounds. However, I frequently write to the complaints of my eighteen year old cat.

Do you have a ritual with writing?

CK: I top off my iced tea, and keep a snack handy. For longer sessions, dark chocolate is preferred. I place one or more dictionaries and/or thesauruses within arm’s reach, aaaaaaand, I’m off.

Who is your favorite character you’ve written and why?

CK: I am partial to my TechnoWitch, since she has integrated her magic with technology. I’m a bit of a Luddite. If I could make machines work magically, we’d get along much better.

What’s something you can’t live without for writing?

CK: My dictionaries. The shadings and connotations of a word are often just as important as its most common meaning. At the start of Earth Angel, I used the words “deaving thunder” instead of “deafening thunder” over my editor’s concerns. While “deaving” means “deafening”, it also means “stupefying with noise”. That was what I wanted to convey.

Favorite color and does it suit your personality and why?

CK: Green. I always loved the woods.  Though not a fanatic, I try to recycle. Then, of course, there were the green skies over the steel mills on the south side of Chicago in my youth. No, it’s probably just the woods.

If you had to use a food or drink to entice your love, what would it be and how would you use it?

CK: Chocolate and champagne mimosas with large, juicy strawberries. These select delicacies do the work for me.

What’s your favorite seduction song?

CK: Not In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.  After that, I’m not sure. However, I just wrote a great scene inspired by  “Save a Horse, Ride A Cowboy” by Big and Rich (and I don’t listen to country music).

 What would you consider to be the most romantic place on earth and why?

CK: Most anywhere that the eighteen year old cat can’t announce that it is breakfast time at sunrise.

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 EARTH ANGEL

By CHARLIE KENMORE 

charliekenmore@gmail.com

http://charliekenmore.blogspot.com/

Blurb:

There are seven parallel worlds known as the Seven Realms which are separated by a Veil. Six are inhabited by all manner of entities, some natural, some not. That may not be the case for much longer. The first portion of the High Sidhe Prophecy of the Sevens has been fulfilled. The Anarch, who is one with the Veil, has escaped. If she chooses, she can part or drop the Veil or she can lift the Veil in its entirety. The Seven Realms will converge. The laws of physics and magic will collide head on. Unless she is stopped, there will be nothing left.

Queen Amura has called for an assembly of the signatories to the High Sidhe’s Second Accords, a multi-realm peace treaty to consider how to deal with the threat of the Anarch. An Earthside TechnoWitch and other dark forces also are seeking to control the Anarch. Prince Dzhok (Jack) , High Sidhe Ambassador Salash (Jack’s oldest friend and lover), and Valkyrie Brunhilde set out to find and befriend the Anarch before all is lost.

Purchase Links:

http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615724840  (you have to register-free)

http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Angel-ebook/dp/B005KMQAA2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315450669&sr=1-1

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-earthangel-599934-140.html

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I am a 52 year old professional from St. Louis, Missouri with one very significant other (A.K.A. “Alexx Momcat”), two grown kids, and two cats.  I enjoy collecting books, art and cooking.  But with my double and triple stacked bookshelves sagging, I look forward to the new era of e-publishing.  An avid garage sale hunter, I am still searching for an oil painting by Edouard Leon Cortes (or anything from the Drip and Drool School like Pollack or Rothko that can be sold so I can buy my Cortes).

Thanks for joining me today!  What a wonderful idea for a book.

Kisses   xxx

Cassandre