I am honored to have Kathy visiting the Paper to Pen today, Well Kathy let’s get started:

Tell us something about you

 

Kathye Quick has been writing since the sister’s of St. Casmir’s School in Shenandoah, PA gave her a #2 pencil, ruled paper and taught her what vowels and consonants were.   Now she is the author of twelve books with a lot more stories still stuck inside her head.  She has been an editor for a regional non-fiction publishing house, a newspaper columnist and pays the bills until she gets a Pulitzer as Deputy Clerk of the Board for Somerset County where she writes press releases, speeches and the boring minutes of every meeting. 

 

Kathye writes contemporary and career romances for Avalon Books, romantic comedy and historicals for Wings ePress, historical romance for the Wild Rose Press and urban fantasy as P.K. Eden with writing partner Patt Mihailoff.   .

 

While Kathye writes fiction, the book of her heart, a non-fiction book entitled Hi Mom, How Are Things in Heaven, a personal account of coping with grief through humor, is just about done.  She hopes to have it in print sometime early 2011.

 

In her other life she works for county government and is a happy “empty nester” with three grown boys spread all over the county and a husband, Don usually in the living room watching TV at night.

 

Come visit at www.kathyequick.com

Facebook - http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home

www.twitter.com/kathyeq

 

 

 

Tell us something about books

 

I am thrilled to share with you all my first book from The Wild Rose Press – CYNTHIA AND CONSTANTINE.   C&C, as I and the editor dubbed it from the beginning, is part of my Beyond Camelot, Brother Knights series.  But as I said in the title of this post, this series is not your mother’s Camelot.

 

I have always loved the adventure and story lore of Camelot.  When I was a very little girl, and I know I’m dating myself now, there was a black and white television program on called “Tales of Sir Lancelot.”  I watched it religiously.  I wish I could find it now on DVD or something as a matter of fact.  I chose to write a story from the Arthurian time because it became so much a part of me. 

 

But I also knew the Arthur Legend was done a thousand times and decided that the lesser knights should have stories also.   I’ve been asked if I made up my hero Sir Constantine. Well, the answer to that is yes and no.

 

My research showed that according the Arthurian Legend, though he was the supposed half-brother of King Arthur, Sir Constantine was one of the lesser Knights of the Round Table. His father was Sir Cador, the King of Cornwall.

 Along with Sir Baudwin (my Sir Braeden), Arthur entrusted him with the joint-regency of Britain when he left to wage war against Emperor Lucius of Rome. Constantine was therefore in a position to receive the throne when Arthur died without an heir. Constantine was, by legend, given the crown by Arthur as Arthur lay dying. Constantine tried to persuade Sir Bors, Sir Ector, Sir Balmore and other companions to remain in England after the battle with Lancelot and keep up the Order of the Round Table but was unable (In my story, he was successful in this).

 

As king Constantine faced many problems with the kingdom including problems with the two rebellious sons of Mordred. When Mordred’s sons took refuge in churches in Winchester and London, Constantine pursued them and, disguised as a bishop, killed them both.  In the Sequel to C&C, Mordred’s sons play a pivotal role in the plot.  But it is Sir Braeden coming to the rescues of his lady, Jane who vanquishes them in a church.  (BRAEDEN AND JANE is my current WIP for the Wild Rose Press)

 

So while my hero, Sir Constantine, did indeed rule over Camelot after Arthur, his doing so in my novel, CYNTHIA AND CONSTANTINE was not all that much a departure from the myth

 

 

It still seems strange to me to consider myself multi-published, but I am so blessed.  I write for a few houses.

 

For Avalon I write contemporary and romantic comedies.   My first book was actually considered a Career Romance (that line has since been rolled into the Contemporary Romance Line) entitled BLUE DIAMOND.  It was followed by JESSIE’S WEDDING, STEALING APRIL’S HEART, FALLING FOR YOU and ‘TIS THE SEASON. 

 

‘TIS THE SEASON is a holiday romance in which Santa quits the family business.  It was a HOLT (Honoring Outstanding Literary Talent) Medallion finalist. 

 

The first book in my GRANDMOTHER’S RINGS series for Avalon was just released.  The three-book contemporary romance series follows the Archer Family siblings in their quest to find their soul mates after being given their Grandmother’s Rings by their mother.  I used the birthstones from my family as inspiration.  AMETHYST is out now, followed by SAPPHIRE in December 2009 and lastly, CITRINE in early 2010.

 

I also write romantic comedies and historical romance for Wings ePress.  Those titles are ONE RAINY NIGHT, my first book, and DAUGHTERS OF THE MOON, my favorite book an ancient Greek Historical.

 

Oh and I also write Urban fantasies as P.K. Eden with my wonderful writing partner Patt Mihailoff.  Together we penned FIREBRAND, a book based on the fall of the Garden of Eden.  FIREBRAND has won two Reviewer’s Choice Awards and many 5-star ratings.    In giving us a Review’s Pick from Affair de Coeur, the reviewer said that FIREBRAND was “a story worthy of the Hobbit series and Harry Potter.”  Patt and I were blown away with the compliment.

 

Patt and I are both lovers of sci-fi/fantasy and had a great time with this book.  You can visit P. K. Eden at www.pkeden.com.  Come on over and read the mythology of the book as well as see the trailer.

 

 

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

 

 

Believe it or not, the original concept for Cynthia and Constantine sprung up during a season of American Idol.  I work for county government and once a month 7 of us get together to have lunch.  We call it the Lusty Ladies Lunch Group.  We keep in touch via email.

 

During this particular season, Bo Bice and Constantine Maroulis were competing.  Two of the Lusties choose these guys as their favorites.  While we didn’t agree on who should win that season, we did all agree that they had ‘romance book cover’ hair; the kind of hair Knights in Shinning Armor had in days of yore. 

 

Well one thing lead to another and we began to serialize a story about them.  We named our hero Constantine and his lady was Cynthia, one of the Lusties.  We gave Sir Constantine a brother, Sir Braeden and his lady is named Jane, another Lustie. 

 

The story just evolved on a weekly basis with email scenes going back and forth until I had 100 pages. 

 

We thought that was the end of the adventure until I decided to flesh out Constantine and Cynthia’s story and turn it into a 55,000-word book.  I was fortunate enough to have the Wild Rose Press express interest in the novel and then publish it.

 

And yes, you’ll either love this or hate this, but the antagonist of the story is named after one of the American Idol Judges.  I’m sure you can guess which.

 

 

As a writer and published author how do you feel about e-publishing

 

 

CYNTHIA AND CONSTANTINE is both a digital book and a Print on Demand Book, so it fits perfectly into a virtual book tour setting, as well as traditional book signing.  The Internet and eBooks are exploding into a new era of publishing and a virtual book tour takes advantage of the technology available.

 

Bloggers and eBook Readers are fiercely loyal to the boundless regions of the internet and all it has to offer.  You can be in your pj’s at night or after work and reach thousands of people with similar interest who, before the wireless era, would not know about you or the story you were so anxious to tell.

 

There are print purists and ebook purists, and in between there are people like me who like both.  EPublishing/POD offers readers a choice to buy the book in the format they like.

 

 

 

 Please give us a list of all of your books currently available.

 

Because my first two books were published digitally, they are still available  from Wings ePress both as eBooks and as POD.  ONE RAINY NIGHT is a contemporary romance and DAUGHTERS OF THE MOON is a Greek Historical.

 

From Avalon, I am very excited that the GRANDMOTHER’S RINGS SERIES is just being released.  AMETHYST was out in September 200 and SAPPHIRE will be out in December.  I just got my author’s copies for SAPPHIRE and I love the cover  The final book in the sereies, CITRINE will be out in August 2010.

 

I believe the other Avalon books, BLUE DIAMOND.  It was followed by JESSIE’S WEDDING, STEALING APRIL’S HEART, FALLING FOR YOU and ‘TIS THE SEASON (a Holiday romance) are all still available.

 

 

How did you go about getting published?

 

I call myself a ten-year overnight success.  Once you get that first book ‘call’ it seems that everything happens so fast.  The books that were sitting in the bottom drawer of your desk are suddenly interesting again and the editors want to see them.  A few updates and the books I couldn’t sell to my mother J are now published an on the shelves.  Go figure!!

 

My first book was published in 1999.  It was called ONE RAINY NIGHT and was about a hero and heroine who met during a Hurricane.   I got a few rejection letters from the New York houses like Harlequin and Silhouette, but I believed in the story and kept submitting it around. 

 

Then Hurricane Floyd hit the east coast.  The foundation of my house collapsed and I lost just about everything I owned up to four feet on the first floor. 

 

But I also got a call from an eBook publisher – Starlight Writers – who said they wanted to publish my book.  I think that call helped me through the next eight months of rebuilding.

 

Starlight Writers does not exist any longer, but the book was then placed with Wings ePress. In fact I still get some small royalty checks for ONE RAINY NIGHT because it is an eBook and Print on Demand.     I will be forever grateful for that call.  It helped me through some pretty dismal times.

 

But if I thought my first book would have been so prophetic, I would have written about a lottery winner instead of a Hurricane.

 

 

OK –I’ve taken up enough of your time .  Come see me at www.kathyequick.com.  You can descriptions of all my books there plus the trailer for C&C.

Well Kathy thanks for sharing and hope to have you back at the Pen to Paper soon

Walk in harmony,

Melinda

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