Young: Thank you Kim for dropping by to In The Harem. I'm sure my readers will love to learn more about you and your new release.
Kim Cormack (K.C.): Thank you for having me on your blog.
Young: Before further ado, let's plunge in to your juicy stuff. :)
K.C.: Juicy stuff? LOL!
Young: Let's start with the sexy picture of you. LOL! Joking aside, you are a beautiful woman.
K.C.: Thank You!
Young: Tell us about your Latest Book/Book about to be released?
K.C.: My latest and most current work: “Enlightenment” (published by Corvallis Press) is schudule for release on January 20th 2015. This is book two in The Children of Ankh series.
Young: Will you give us a teaser?
K.C.: Sure.
Enlightenment
(an excerpt)
She’d lost Kevin. That had always seemed impossible. Kayn Brighton started out her first days in the clan without him as just a girl in love with a boy that was gone. It was more than that…She’d lost everyone, and everything. She’d lost her identity. She was now only a version of who she had once been. A large part her emotional responses belonged to her twin. Their souls now joined as they were meant to be before the immortal mistake that had created them. The immortal mistake had foretold her future ability to be a Conduit.
She had two new clan members. Kayn understood that they had lost just as much as she had. She suspected it was part of the deal. The family never survives.
In her future lied the infamous subject called, “The Testing.” This was what the three of them were training for now. They would need to learn how to do the impossible things. They had to learn how to make the choices that left a dent in your soul and an ache in your heart. They were after all only partially immortal. They would need to learn how to see past their mortal sense of right and wrong. They would now have to learn to exist in the grand scheme. They would have to learn to die and how to stand back up when they ceased to have to will to. One day she knew she would have to find the strength to fight against him. If his memories of her were truly erased then she would mean nothing to him. Kevin belonged to Triad and she belonged to Ankh but she still couldn’t force her heart to wrap around the idea that her best friend was gone forever. She knew had to because this was not a fairytale. This was a nightmare…
Young: Kim, what other books/short stories have you written?
K.C.: Book one in the The Children of Ankh series, “Sweet Sleep.”
What would you do if you discovered that everything you’ve ever known to be your reality was a lie? What if…The things that go bump in the night, things you thought were simply a figment of your wild imagination are in fact very real? Would you live your life differently if you knew you were going to be corrected…erased from this world sometime around your sixteenth birthday? You and your twin sister were never meant to be born. There will be no place to run…No place to hide…You won’t even know they’re coming…Do you have what it takes to survive your Correction? Do you have what it takes to leave your humanity behind? If your answer is yes then hold on tight... …it’s going to be one hell of a ride!
A catch up blurp for the first book - Sweet Sleep
The Correction had come for Kayn Brighton, shortly after her sixteenth birthday. Her demise had been horrific to say the least. She’d been granted a second chance at life as a partially immortal sacrificial lamb. In the fine print of her second chance, she must join the first clan that comes for her.
Kayn would awaken to find that her family had been brutally slain during her Correction. Jenkins, a family friend, her brother Matt stepped up to care for her. Her best friend Kevin would become her first love and they would both be claimed by clan Ankh.
Kayn would find out the details of why the Correction had been sent for the Brighton twins. In the end, she would risk losing her identity to rejoin their souls.
Kevin would be taken by another clan, and her only remaining loved ones would perish.
She would never be alone. She was Ankh. Someday, she would become the Conduit.
It was time to find out what that meant.
Young: What prompted you to write this series?
K.C.: My life changed very suddenly. I was diagnosed with M.S. I know that my children, and writing have helped me see the way to the other side of each and every M.S mountain. That damn pesky mountain that keeps appearing, just when I think I've climbed it. Isn't that the story of everyone's life though? Why would you endeavor to climb all of those giant mountains, only to have another one appear? How can you keep fighting forever and still retain some semblance of sanity? I think those feelings were what caused the nightmare that started me on The Children of Ankh series.
I have been eating, sleeping, and breathing this series, since that very first sleepless night. When I awoke from the nightmare, I had a creepy song continuously playing in my head. I had to immediately write down all of the details of the dream. The song still plays sometimes in my head. The creepy lullaby. In the beginning it was upsetting, but now it's almost beautiful.
Young: When was the first book released?
K.C.: Sweet Sleep, the first in my YA Paranormal Fantasy series, The Children of Ankh, was released on August 5th 2014 (Corvallis Press.)
As her vision flickered one last time, the man was gone. It was her mother looking into her eyes.
Her mother's eyes were filled with so much love that it seemed to release her from her pain and fear as it had when she was a small child. Her mother cradled her as a baby, rocking her back and forth. She was safe now in her mother's arms. She was at peace. Mommy, her heart sang, you're here to save me.
The warmth of her mother's love enveloped her tortured soul. She looked into her mother's eyes. She touched Kayn's face and started to sing a song that she had sung to her every night when she was very small.
Sleep, sweet sleep till the morning
Just dream away and close your eyes
My love you'll be safe until the morning
Sleeping in my heart, all through the night
Although bad dreams come to scare you
My love will scare them all away
My heart
The lights flickered, the pain went away, and her mother was holding her, singing "Sleep, sweet sleep."
The beginning
K.C.: You can find the series trailers and the teaser online. If you find me somewhere out there in the vast world of social media, I would love to hear from you.
Happy Reading
Kim Cormack
Read the first few chapters as a teaser on Amazon or pop over to http://www.kimcormack.com
Young: Do you publish in e-book, print, or both?
K.C.: They are published in both eBook and print.
Young: Where can readers find your books?
K.C.: They can find them at:
amazon.com/author/kimcormack
kimcormack.blogspot.com
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22909172-sweet-sleep
Young: What do you think are the biggest challenges for the type of writing that you do?
K.C.: Sometimes it can be a challenge to stop writing for the day.
Young: How did you get started in writing?
K.C.: I used to love to write stories as a child. Then stories turned to songs. Then children’s books, and then paranormal fantasy. The usual strange progression of a writer.
Young: Where and How can readers get in touch with you?
K.C.: Readers can find me at:
http://www.amazon.com/author/kimcormack
https://twitter.com/kimcormack
https://twitter.com/childrenofankh
https://twitter.com/hotchickdiaries
https://twitter.com/hotchickblog
https://twitter.com/SweetSleep2
https://twitter.com/kimcormackweb
https://twitter.com/frostofankh
https://twitter.com/TriadTiberius
https://twitter.com/lexyofankh
https://twitter.com/greyofankh
http://twitter.com/kaynofankh
http://www.pinterest.com/childrenofankh/
http://instagram.com/kimcormack
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/authorkimcormack
https://www.facebook.com/authorkimcormack
https://www.facebook.com/TheChildrenOfAnkhSeries
https://www.facebook.com/TheHotChickDiaries
Young: So with your latest work released/or being released, what comes next? What can we expect from you in the future?
K.C.: In a few months the first book in the side series about Lexy will be released. A few months after that book three in the series. I hop around between books. I have a few completely unrelated series, I’m also writing. Every once in a while I feel like spending my day in a post-apocalyptic world. Then I work on the, “Repopulation Project.” Sometimes I drift over to write, “Bring out your Dead.” Most of the time I really try to stay on track with The Children of Ankh series.
Young: How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
K.C.: A lot, my friends see the similarities right away. The characters relationships and situations are very much my friend group. With exception to the whole murder thing, we really do try to save our murdering for Saturdays.
Young: Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?
K.C.: I usually try to write while Cameron’s (my son) in school.
Young: What is your routine once you start writing a book?
K.C.: I usually just start writing when I drop my son off at school. I set my alarm on my cell for 2:20 and start writing.
Young: What about you in general? What is it that makes you tick? Makes you you? Things you like to do and what prompted you into writing?
K.C.: I walk on the treadmill in the morning and listen to music, often that’s where I write a few scenes in my head. Sometimes, when I’m in the bathtub, I listen to music and follow the story line down a few different paths.
Young: Among your own books, have you a favourite book? Favourite Hero or Heroine?
K.C.: I’d have to say it’s a tie between Kayn and Lexy. They have completely different backgrounds. I have a side series coming out about Lexy. It’s a lot of fun writing about a darker character.
Young: Where do you see yourself in five years?
K.C.: My answers to these questions are always different. I have M.S and my priorities have shifted. I have the long range goal of dancing with my son at his wedding. He’s not even ten yet, so that might be a while. I’d love to be able to see some of the world with my children. My daughter really wants to go to Greece. I’d like to be able to help out more financially with my daughter’s college expenses. If the series keeps doing well, a few of those things may be possible.
Young: What kind of research do you when writing one of your works?
K.C.: I’m certain that someone from Google search has me on some kind of serial killer watch list by now.
Young: What does your significant other think of your writing?
K.C.: I don’t have one. I have significant others, my two kids. It’s less complicated like this. I’m on a dating hiatus. It’s not that I never will, but I’m concentrating on this series and my kids right now.
Young: Do you ever ask them for advice or ideas to go into your works?
K.C.: I ask Jenna for a lot of advice. My daughter’s nineteen and a pretty incredible writer in her own right.
I usually read a scene and say, “Too far? “That’s when she usually says, “Way too far off the deep end.” My sense of humour can sometimes go a little wrong. My daughter has my sense of humour. If Jenna says the words, “Too far.” That means I passed too far pages ago.
Young: Have you ever experienced Writer's Block? If so how did you work through it?
K.C.: I haven’t yet. I usually don’t attempt to write unless I’m in the mood.
Young: Who are some of your favourite authors to read?
K.C.: Stephen King is one of the biggies for me. I love the wacky directions he goes in. I’m always so impressed when someone shocks me or stumps me.
Young: Anything else you'd like to tell our readers?
K.C.: Hope you enjoy this series. Feel free to contact me to ask questions.
Young: Lastly do you have any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?
K.C.: Really pay close attention to the contracts that you sign. Google search everyone that answers your query. I’ve had to buy myself out of contracts in the past. I’ve had to wait out contracts (for my children’s books) Just be careful. It’s never wrong to do what you love. Remember, never take yourself too seriously. You will get good reviews and you will get some that make you frustrated. You have to learn to take constructive criticism quite early on as a writer. People have a right to their opinions. Not everyone likes the same genre. Don’t take anything personally. I know it’s difficult because you just stripped the flesh off of your bones and put it to paper. See the reasons behind other people’s way of thinking. Often it’s quite clear if you take a step back and take a good look. I always promote the hell out of the other Authors books I’ve reviewed. If I keep reading after the first chapter and I took the time to read the whole book, I liked it. Find some Author buddies to cross promote with. If you are in the trenches writing there are plenty of other Authors out there in the same position. Find them, talk to them and make a new friend.
It's so Awesome Thanks Darling ;)
Posted by: Kim Cormack | 01/01/2015 at 12:20 PM