Interview with Kim Harrison, author of 'The Drafter' & 'Waylaid'
Kim Harrison, author of the New
York Times #1 best selling Hollows series, was born in Detroit and lived most her her life within an easy drive.
After gaining her bachelors in the sciences, she moved to South Carolina, where she remained until recently returning to Michigan because she missed the snow. She's currently working
on the Peri Reed Chronicles, and when not at her desk, Kim is most likely to be
found landscaping her new/old Victorian home, in the garden, or out on the
links.
For More Information
- Visit Kim Harrison’s website.
- Connect with Kim on Facebook and Twitter.
- Find out more about Kim at Goodreads.
About the Books:
Title:
The Drafter
Author: Kim Harrison
Publisher: Pocket Books
Pages: 560
Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Sci Fi/Fantasy
Author: Kim Harrison
Publisher: Pocket Books
Pages: 560
Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Sci Fi/Fantasy
Detroit 2030. Double-crossed by the person she loved and betrayed by the
covert government organization that trained her to use her body as a weapon,
Peri Reed is a renegade on the run. Don’t forgive and never forget has always
been Peri’s creed. But her day job makes it difficult: she is a drafter,
possessed of a rare, invaluable skill for altering time, yet destined to forget
both the history she changed and the history she rewrote. When Peri discovers
her name is on a list of corrupt operatives, she realizes that her own life has
been manipulated by the agency. Her memory of the previous three years erased,
she joins forces with a mysterious rogue soldier in a deadly race to piece
together the truth about her fateful final task. Her motto has always been only
to kill those who kill her first. But with nothing but intuition to guide her,
will she have to break her own rule to survive?
For More Information
- The Drafter is available at Amazon.
- Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
Title:
Waylaid
Author: Kim Harrison
Publisher: Pocket Star
Pages: 100
Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Romance
Author: Kim Harrison
Publisher: Pocket Star
Pages: 100
Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Romance
Worlds collide when Rachel Morgan
of The Hollows meets Peri Reed of The Drafter, in this exciting new short story
from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison!
For More Information
- Waylaid is available at Amazon.
- Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
Q: Welcome to The Writer's
Life! Now that your book has been
published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the
beginning? Where did you come up with
the idea to write your book?
A: My ideas form slowly, over the course of years, and most
of my series plots are developed by taking two or three of these “I wonder if”
concepts and mashing them up together. The setting is almost as important as
the characters, and I’ll often research a city and gain ideas there as well.
But what I look for most is that the ideas touch upon something that can be experienced,
be it joyful, such as finding an enduring love, or painful, as in dealing with
memory loss. The Drafter,
incidentally, deals with both.
It’s no coincidence that the main character in The Drafter is dealing with some of the
same issues as a person suffering from Alzheimer’s. I took Peri Reed’s coping
techniques and a few of her gut reactions from the same. Her unique skill
destroys her memory, and though she occasionally regains it, she is incredibly
reliant upon those she trusts. Her power is tempered by the vulnerabilities an
Alzheimer’s patient deals with every day. I wanted to say that those dealing
with memory issues are still important, still worth considering, still part of
society.
Bu-u-u-ut, you can skip right over that and still enjoy The Drafter as an sf action thriller
with a modified human twist.
Q: How hard was it to write a
book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make
the journey easier for other writers?
A: It was incredibly difficult to
divorce myself from the heartbreak of working with a protagonist who suffers
repeated memory loss. I’ve delved into writing drug addicts, emotionally abused
adults, and psychotic killers, but this one was the worst. The creative process
demands you put yourself in another person’s skin, and the emotions I had to
deal with had a tendency to linger longer than usual after I left my office.
Alzheimer’s is an ugly, selfish disease, but I’m trying to find understanding
with it through my main character, and there is a peace in living day to day
with what is before you right now.
Q: Who is your publisher and how
did you find them or did you self-publish?
A: I’m currently published
through Gallery Books, which is an imprint of Simon and Schuster. I was
fortunate enough to have been coming off the successful Hollows series with
Harper Collins when I began shopping the Peri Reed Chronicles, and I was in the
unusual situation of being able to choose who I wanted to work with.
Q: Is there anything that
surprised you about getting your first book published?
A: My first book? No. I was
utterly naive and expected that if you tried hard and never gave up that
someone would recognize you and publish your book. My view is somewhat
different now, and I realize how incredibly lucky I was back in 99 when
self-publishing wasn’t a viable option, and New York
held the keys to the published word.
Q: What other books (if any) are
you working on and when will they be published?
A: I’m currently working on the
sequel to the thriller The Drafter,
called The Operator, which is
scheduled for a November 22, 2016
release. I’m also working on the rough draft for a fourteenth volume in the
urban fantasy Hollows series which will probably come out in 2017. On my back
burner, I'm beginning to collect the ideas and elements I want to work with on
a third, utterly new volume that will have a more horror bent to it. I don't
expect that to see the light of day for several years, but I like working ahead
of my publishing schedule.
Q: What’s your favorite place to
hang out online?
A: I have quite a few outlets to remain in contact with my
readers. Signing up for my blog is probably the most sure, but I’ll answer
questions on FB as well. I’m more active on FB, but they don’t share much
anymore and getting notices is chancy. My website is a great place for
information on past and present projects.
Q: What’s your nightly ritual
before retiring for the night?
A: Seriously? I love this
question, and it’s funny you should ask. My routine takes a good fifteen
minutes as compared to my husband, who just, you know, goes to bed, usually
after me. I check the fish to be sure I fed them, otherwise they eat their
friends in the night. I take my dogs out for one last sniff under the stars.
While outside, I check my office door to make sure it’s locked, and then that
the gates are shut to keep the skunks out of the yard. A quick spin through the
kitchen to make sure nothing is left out, and then it’s upstairs where I
usually spend a good half hour turning my mind off with Su-do-ku. Otherwise, I
spend the night plotting.
Q: Finally, what message (if any)
are you trying to get across with your book?
A: I’ve given up trying to
explain what my work means. I only know what it means to me. Everyone comes
away with something different, and even that can depend upon what he or she is
dealing with. Where one reader might be exasperated with a facet of my
protagonist’s nature, another might find a kindred spirit, seeing their mother,
father, sister, or brother in her. But that is the nature of it, and I’d have
it no other way.
Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?
A: Just thank you for the chance to chat with your readers, and I hope they give my work a try. There are several novellas out right now that make it easy and without out the commitment of an entire book. Sideswiped and Waylaid.
I have quite a few outlets to remain in contact with my
readers. Signing up for my blog is probably the most sure, but I’ll answer
questions on FB as well. I’m more active on FB, but they don’t share much
anymore and getting notices is chancy. My website is a great place for
information on past and present projects.
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