Interview with Kimberly Wilkerson

Author of

Kingdom of Grace

Please tell me a little about your current work in progress.

I sporadically post to my blog between juggling a busy lifestyle. The second book/follow up to Kingdom of Grace is coming out by the end of 2022, where you will learn how the 2^nd Kingdom is doing and follow up on Grace’s new prospects.

Where did you get the idea for this book or series?

It happened while I was rediscovering my spiritual nature

Do you write in more than one genre?

Yes, however I have only published one book under Children’s/YA

Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.

I’m not afraid to present things to children or young adults that they see anyway, so we can have open and age appropriate conversations about them.

Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?

I write on what I have experienced, seen, and/or avoided based on those things. My soul is in all my writing.

What else would be helpful for readers to know about you?

Regardless of how little I have made writing, I donate a percentage of royalties back into the community programs.

Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?

I have to give that some thought. I don’t buy or read books based on them being best sellers or on celebrity lists, so I don’t know whether or not my favorites are considered “underrated”. I just like what I like.

Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why?

I recommend Kingdom of Grace so that you can get excited for the next book that will be out shortly.

Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?

The decision to stop all pain medications and attempt to come off of disability after multiple surgeries that limited me for many years was the best thing that could have happened to push me into my writing. It was my first step back into society and working towards goals that I continue to create and achieve.

What question do you wish you would get asked more often?

What comes next? I think I have asked it quite a bit BUT I don’t know that I would always like the answer (especially if there isn’t one) so I’m happy with how things have gone so far.

Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it?

I do have a catch-phrase however, I am trying not to use it because it contains a curse word and that does not help my “children’s author” image (not to mention my own reflection that I want to see) but I am human and therefore flawed. LOL

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Thanks to Kimberly for participating.

I spent Saturday getting the paperback for Truth in Flames uploaded. Click on the picture to check it out.

Truth in Flames is the 5th book in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series. The novels provide a resounding response writ large in blood and fire to the question of how magic and dragons might have influenced the America War for Independence. This flintlock fantasy series blends the exciting history of the revolution with the exhilarating action and adventure of fantasy, which includes dragons, mythical beasts, and the power of mysterious magic. The memorable characters and their individual and collective struggles in the fight for liberty form the core of the narrative around a theme of persistent hope in the face of ruthless power. 

Tomahawks and Dragon Fire is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of action-adventure fiction: "You've got your chocolate in my peanut butter. No. You've got your peanut butter in my chocolate." There's a reason the delicious treat is tied for the number one favorite candy in both the U.S. and Canada. Two great tastes that go together. It's the same with the series.

There are many reasons you'll love Tomahawks and Dragon Fire--and it doesn't cause cavities.

 Truth in Flames is up for pre-order. It will be available for download in a week. I recommend ordering your copy now.

Here's a little excerpt from the book -- used with the author's permission, of course. The formatting got messed up when I pasted it in here. It's a conversation between Rip and Antonio: 

Rip said, “We’re after gunpowder. Unless the British are going to welcome us in and hand it over, I don’t expect you’ll have time to make inquiries for a señorita, who may not even be on the island.”

“I expect she’s been pining away for me these few years. Probably wasted away to a mere shadow of herself with grieving and waiting for my return.”

“So you think she has forgotten the pearl necklace you stole from her?”

“Captain, you wound me. She gave it to me. Or she would have if she had been there when I went to her room to find her.”

“Her only item of any monetary value.”

“I couldn’t have her leaving it. I knew she would want to bring it. I took it so she wouldn’t have to go back for it.”

“And so she lost it.”

“And it got us out of that sticky situation with the lieutenant who wanted to have a look at our cargo and papers. His sweetheart may wear those pearls now.”

“He probably sold them. He didn’t seem the type to have a sweetheart.”

“We sailed away as free and easy as legal merchants. You have Catalina to thank for that.”

“We best not find her then. She may want payment for the pearls.”

Antonio scowled. “A pretty young thing like Catalina is never without resources. Some fancy captain or governor’s lackey will be supporting her in style.”

“While she wastes away awaiting your return?”

“Inside, Captain. She’ll be wasting away on the inside..."

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Did you notice how the conversation above is quick, interesting, and builds some anticipation and tension for Antonio's encounter with Catalina? I mention those things because I've been watching The English via vidangel. I had heard good things about the show, but I'm 4 episodes in and trying to find a reason to keep watching. The dialog--and there's a lot of it--is long, slow, dull, and mostly pointless. Cue Roberta Flack, because it's killing me slowly with dialog--and slow shots of nothing happening. The 4th episode had me weighing the benefits of throwing myself into a woodchipper during the flashbacks and music playing over some dialog, which probably revealed a fact that will become important later--except it didn't reveal it to the audience. 

The conversation is too slow, and there's too much silence between words and exchanges. However, the use of the pop, pop, pop, pop, pop of the gatling gun in the distance was highly effective. It hammered the horror of the slaughter into the mind of the audience far more powerfully than any graphic display could have.

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Finally, Sons of Liberty. I'm glad I found the 3 one and a half hour episodes. I did like it. I give it three and a half flintlocks out of 5. What I'm about to say will make me sound completely enamored of my own work and unable to say anything good about potentially competing works. So let me reiterate, I did like it--just not as much as I had hoped. I think the main problem was that it tried to cover too much ground in too little time. The final episode covered Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and the Declaration of Independence. It took five books in my series to get from Bunker Hill to the Declaration of Independence. Of course, I covered a whole lot of other ground as well. Now here's the part that makes me seem terrible. During the Bunker Hill and the Declaration of Independence portions of the episode, I couldn't keep from thinking that I did them so much better in my books. I imagine time, budgetary constraints, and the difficulties involved in getting the story to film account for many of the shortcomings. Still, I did do it better. Check out Threading the Rude Eye for my account of Bunker Hill.

Clash of Scouts

 

I won't give a full after action report from the game I played a couple weeks ago. The photos below convey the gist of the skirmish in which three mounted Nahorn scouts met six Kru dog faces on foot. The Kru's objective was to get someone on the high ground to observe the Nahorn outpost and return off their own board edge with the information. The Nahorn objective was to prevent the Kru from returning with intelligence that the outpost was inadequately defended.

In similar scenarios I've played, the Kru always split up and every dog face fends for himself--leaving them to face the riders alone. This time, the Kru leader kept his warriors together. However, the line formation he used was vulnerable at each end, which is where the horse scouts targeted their attacks. The Nahorn men waited for the Kru to clear the rough and brushy ground before striking. The mounted spearman above took out two Kru in one pass--slaying them both.

One of the dog faces did get to the high ground and howled the intelligence back to the leader, who almost escaped with it. The Kru captain couldn't outrun the horses, and, on 4th and goal, a Nahorn blade put him down permanently only inches shy of the end zone.

Two riders were pulled from their mounts, but they survived. The dismounted riders chased the last dog face into the brush and treated him to multiple rounds of that popular game "Spear point, axe head, who's got the wound." The Kru refused to go down easily. He succeeded in catching wound after wound until he finally lost consciousness

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I'm on chapter 20 of the final edit of Truth in Flames. I would promise that it will be available in ebook this week, but the cover may take me a little longer because my artist is away on a cruise. Of course, the paperback will take an additional week to format. In fact, the paperback may not go up until January.