An Interview with author Katherine Pym

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Katherine Pym likes history, especially 17th century England, specifically London during the 1660's. The decade is is filled with human interest stories as the people adjust from one government to another, and all their changing rules and regulations.

Another era is the French Revolution, and she has written a novel about Camille Desmoulins, a popular pamphleteer and journalist.

Why did you start fiction writing and what genre(s) do you like to write?First, I'd like to thank you, Robin, for giving me this opportunity. I truly appreciate your generosity.

I don't know when I never wrote, but the main thrust was when my sister and I admitted we were intellectual snobs and could easily write a novel. It would be a historical romance set in France during the Revolution. Ours would be different, and great. How little did we know! My sister soon bailed but I continued which resulted in - years later - Desmoulins, a historical fiction based on a real person and his wife. At the time, everyone knew their devotion to each other, Desmoulins' peers, and today's historical community. It is a tragic love story.

Why this/these genre(s)? What attracts you to them?

Now, I write mostly 17th century London stories. For some reason the era/place is very close to me as if I've lived there and then, walked the tight lanes, smelled the coal smoke that covered everything. It also hops with all sorts of exciting historical events.

Generally speaking, what is the driving force behind your characters? Have any of your characters changed in dramatic way from what you imagined at the start during the writing process?

History is what drives my characters, how they respond to the events, i.e., the fire of 1666, the plague of 1665, the 2nd Anglo/Dutch war. My stories are about the common man who must live under these circumstances. Some of the stories are quite heady. So, in a way, my characters don't dramatically change, although one character was supposed to be a person who never allowed anyone close, but as the story unfolded she couldn't hide anymore. I couldn't stop her as she burst through the scenes, much more of an extrovert than previously envisioned.

What do you find the most difficult in finishing a story and approximately how long does it take for you to write a story?

It takes approximately 1 year from start to finish. Toward the end, I want to rush it, which makes for lost closures. I force myself to slow down and close out subplots along with the main plot.

Are there other types of writing you do such as non-fiction, or short fiction?

I've done an alternative historical fiction of Joshua and Magdalene (new age/woo-woo), and a young adult fantasy of how salt filled the seas. Lots of Celtic folklore in that one. It's quite fanciful and imaginative.

I also am in the midst of writing short stories that should meld into a novel of time travel, YA, if and when it finishes.

Has your writing affected you in any way and what would you recommend to someone wanting to start writing fiction?

Writing is my life. I don't know what I would do if I stopped. I love to research and find historical odds and ends which I then incorporate into the story. Like: one of my characters was shot. The physician brewed a medicine in the kitchen which, among other items, included boiling lily oil, worms, wine, and live puppies. It was a real medicine that apparently saved the life of a French king in the 16th century. It is called Oyl of Whelps. Once everything is boiled down, you make it into a salve and apply it to the wound.

These things, what people went through, how they made do, which we never see in the school history texts (only government policies and warfare, the discussion of battles), add to the dimensions of my characters and it adds to dimensions in my life. I wouldn't have it any other way.

As for someone who wants to start writing... I'd highly recommend them not to quit their day job. It's a lonely pursuit and hopefully anyone who tries to write likes themselves and can spend hours alone.

Of Carrion Feathers

Of Carrion Feathers

By Katherine Pym -- Historical, 407 pages

Cover art by Trisha FitzGerald

Blurb:

It is London 1662, and plots abound against the king.  Oliver Prior, haunted by the death of his sister when still a child, enters the world of espionage.

Beatrice Short’s goal is to go on stage, but she must work as a servant. While cleaning, she finds ciphers and invisible script. After the king’s undersecretary finds her snooping, he blackmails her into going undercover as a spy.

While Oliver and Beatrice bond to discover the backbone of insidious schemes to kill the king, they learn who runs the plots. He is a man steeped in hate, and he must be put down.

Excerpt:

Beatrice trod up stairs. At the first level she found a lit candle. With it in one hand and the dish of starch in the other, she climbed one level after the other `til she reached the top. The candlelight wavered. She was on a very dark floor with two doors shut tight.

She heard rats in the walls, and a clock ticked somewhere near. No sconces or lanthorns lit the way. Cold drafts snatched at her skirt hems, and Beatrice frowned. She’d found herself in a very dreary place.

She set the starch pot on the floor, and opened the door on the left. Ladder-stairs led to the garret. She faced the other door, and opened it to see a large chamber. The clock ticked louder, and raising the candle, she saw it on a mantelshelf. Windows were shuttered. The room was near pitch, and Beatrice was glad to have the candle. With it, she scanned more of the chamber. A long table stood against one wall. Joint stools and hard backed chairs clustered about something large in the center of the room.

Beatrice tiptoed around the chairs and stools to the large thing—a box—garnished with thick, metal handles. The nearer she got, the more it looked like a coffin sitting on joint stools. She raised the candle, and stepped closer. She dipped the candle toward the box, and mewed in fear.

It was an empty coffin. Grains covered the bottom of it with black wool draped over one side. It stretched silent in the dark chamber.

Waiting to be filled.

The First Apostle

By Katherine Pym
Historical
473 pages
Cover art by Trisha FitzGerald

Camille Desmoulins, a pamphleteer and journalist, and a man devoted to his wife, Lucile, harbors a malevolent secret. His quill carries poisoned ink. He writes with misdirected passion that leads to the destruction of lives who come in contact with his writings.

Impetuous, and filled with satirical wit, Camille runs in the same circles as Robespierre and Danton, but it is not until 1793 that he finally tires of the Terror and pleads for clemency. But will clemency save him and his loved ones from a terrible fate?

March Flight of Dreams

March 2011 Wings ePress New Releases

 March is a month of change. We all look forward to spring’s arrival. Here are the month’s arrival to Wings.

A Betrayal of Butterflies by David Toft

Paranormal

Cover art by Richard Stroud

Only one person wants Gordon Aldridge to succeed in his mission of bloody revenge, and Gordon’s ultimate survival is the last priority on that person’s agenda.

Standing Room Only by Megan Colombo

Contemporary Romance

Cover by Pat Evans

Natalie Goodman was a typical teenager, until she was in a horrific car accident that left her stunned, and in a wheelchair. Struggling to find her footing again, Natalie fights to come to terms with her injury and find a way to achieve normalcy in her life.

Jayden Hurst is a young man on the verge of trouble. As the story begins, he finds himself with community hours that need to be served and a bad boy reputation that needs to be sustained.

Natalie and Jayden meet and their journey together brings them both back from the edge of despair. With the good comes much bad though, and they’re both left wondering if it’s really worth the effort to be together.

Devil Eyes by Prudence Foster

Horror

Cover art by Scott Shamblin

At a luxury resort on a remote key off Florida’s Gulf coast, guests, staff and townspeople people are threatened by the spirits of a deranged French au pair and her Seminole lover. . . a conflict brought into focus through the eyes of a child, an albino Indian and an antique toy — a stereopticon.

Jig of Bones by Donna H Parker

Cozy Mystery

Cover by Pat Evans, original photo of violin by Neal B. Parker

Constancy always dreamed of celebrating Christmas surrounded by a large family.  She's thrilled for the opportunity to savor the holiday with her newly-found relatives in South Dakota, but a gang of fossil rustlers and the secrets of a missing shepherd may turn Constancy's long-awaited dream into nightmare.

July Heat by Billie A. Williams

Mystery/Crime

Cover art by Richard Stroud

"What you don't know can't hurt you." Truth or lies? In the smoldering heat of July, dangerous and unpredictable weather, unpredictable, dangerous, and irrational human behavior explodes Delta's small town peace and tranquility. "Can what I don't know kill me?" Judy fears it might.

Misadventure by Kev Richardson

Mainstream

Cover art by Jinger Heaston

Even the best made plans of seasoned traveller Brogan, can come unstuck in South America. Many erupt into chaos, become spine-chilling adventures.

They hadn’t counted on FARC taking hostages - he must move mountains to get help.

Peru erupts in revolution – train travel over the Altiplano – a car-chase across Paraguay – the Missiones and Iguazu.

The Calendar Clan by Lynette Hall Hampton

Romantic Suspense

Cover by Pat Evans

Returning to the family farm to nurse a broken leg, June March expects nothing more than to let her parents pamper her. Then her brother-in-law robs a bank and is killed shortly afterward. Her sister, April, is suspected of the murder and despite the fact that she is on crutches, June feels compelled to help find the real killer.

June’s schoolmate and lifelong nemesis, Wallace Striker is now sheriff of the county. June thinks she’ll find he’s the same bumbling boy he was in school. But as she works with him on the case, she not only finds him good at this job, but to her surprise, she begins to feel physically attracted to the six-foot-two handsome hunk he’s turned into.

Twins by Katherine Pym

Historical

Cover by Trisha FitzGerald

London 1661. In this era the old belief that twins cannot be sired by one man still prevails, a superstition which automatically makes the mother of Edgar and Emma Torbet an adulteress. Desperate to protect her children from their violent father she flees, finally settling in London.

Twenty years later, the twins themselves are caught up in a life of turmoil: Edgar embarks on an affair with a married woman, and is forced to strike an ominous agreement with her ailing husband, while Emma, who has been declared the bastard, is forced to marry a widowed gentleman farmer. To her horror Emma discovers he’s not only a penniless gambler, but is also having an affair with his sister-in-law.

In this melancholy tale of heartache and strife, only hope remains – hope and the search for affection.

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