Meet the Author: S. R. Karfelt (and her books, too!)

Greetings, readers! I have a very special guest here today. Her name is Stephanie, but when she writes, we know her as S. R. Karfelt. (Believe me, I completely understand the whole alter ego thing.)

Karfelt pens novels from her home in the great State of New York. Her debut novel WARRIOR OF THE AGES released in 2013, and Book Number Two, BLANK, is now available from your favorite online retailers.

And now we'll let her have the floor.

So tell us a bit about yourself. How did you get into the business of writing? When did you first *know* you were a writer? 

Wife, Mother, High-Tech Industry Escapee, and I knew I wanted to write in first grade after my teacher read The Box Car Children out loud. Once they moved in with their grandfather – I realized it needed to be rewritten because all the fun stuff happened only when they were living on their own. After that I pretty much wanted to change every story I read, but finally settled for writing my own. 

Haha--I used to love the Box Car Children! Now I want to go back and read them again!

Anyway... 

I’ve heard that you take a hands-on approach to novel research. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done while conducting said research? 

Craziest is a matter of perspective, right? What would you say is crazier, hiking a forest alone at 3:00 a.m., skydiving, or eating insects? For me eating crickets was definitely nuts, but I really needed to experience these things in order to write about them. 

Eating insects would definitely rank high on the Crazy Scale.

BLANK is the second novel in the Warrior of the Ages series, and you have several more books planned for future release. What is the first thing you knew about this series of books? 

The idea for these books hit me when I was sick and at an engineering conference, the story just ticker-taped through my head (Times New Roman Font – 12 pt.). I couldn’t wait to start writing it down, which I did in pencil in notebooks at first. The thing that I knew for sure about these books was that I would finish writing them, I had to, and I reordered my life to do it. There are six of them by the way, it took me three years. This story owned me until I did. Weird fact: Two years after I started writing these I found a sketch pad from high school and there was a scene from these stories in them, so this one had been floating around in my head for quite some time.

Why is Kahtar from Warrior of the Ages so irresistibly sexy? 

Isn’t he? I think it is because he is the quintessential older man. He’s been around forever. The man has confidence and experience. He’s very capable and strong, but he’s also well aware of his own mistakes and short comings. For millennia he’d been soldiering onward by himself, unaware that he was in dire need of a soft place to fall.

What is BLANK about?   

Private Carole Blank was raised in foster care with no idea why she doesn’t fit into the world around her. Blank: A Shieldmaiden’s Voice is the story of a woman fighting tooth and nail for a place to belong, sentenced to the life of an assassin and denied the only thing she’s ever wanted – the heart of a man who is afraid of her.

So what exactly are the Covenant Keepers? 

Covenant Keepers are a group of people who made a covenant with ilu (God) after the fall of man, to atone. That is all I usually will say about them, because the details come out as necessary in subsequent books, but since you asked and you’re special, I’ll give you the scoop. They live in clans, mostly hidden from the rest of us, and they all follow the exact same ten laws with varying degrees of success. Perspective is a fascinating thing. It intrigues me that groups of people could follow the exact same rules with both utopian and dystopian results.

Do you have any writing quirks? 

I like to write in quiet, preferably at night, and when writing a first draft I won’t read any stories I haven’t read before – or watch movies/TV. I like to focus completely on the story and avoid outside influences.

If you were stranded on another planet, which three items would you want to have with you? 

Oxygen, shelter, and sustenance, but if those are already included, I’d like writing utensils, unlimited chocolate (for bartering purposes of course), and my electric blanket, Russell.

Have you ever tried to take over the world? 

That’s my husband’s job. I don’t want it, too much paperwork.

What is one of the most important things you’ve learned on your writing journey? 

This is what I love to do. It’s good to find your purpose.

What else would you like your readers to know?

Kahtar Constantine, Beth White, Honor Monroe, Welcome Palmer, and Carole Blank are some of the people I’d like readers to know. Trust me you won’t regret spending time with them. Love, honor, and purpose may seem like old-fashioned ideals, but when the chips are down, they’re really all human beings have.

Stephanie, thanks for dropping in! I loved the characters in WARRIOR OF THE AGES and I look forward to reading BLANK to see what they're up to.

And readers, be sure to check out the first chapter of BLANK at the following link:

http://issuu.com/blueharvestcreative/docs/blank_s_karfelt?e=5612623/7877727

And don't forget to visit S. R. Karfelt's websites:

http://www.warrioroftheages.com/

http://www.theglitterglobe.com/

And order Karfelt's books here!

http://www.amazon.com/S.-R.-Karfelt/e/B00E758B8C/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1400858044&sr=8-1

My 700th Book

No, I have not written 700 books. But wouldn't that be cool?

I'm not your typical sort of author. My books get very few sales online, so I order colossal quantities of copies directly from my publisher and sell them to people in person at book signings and author talks and things.

Yesterday at my signing in Newport, Kentucky I sold my 700th book. This does not include the handful that have sold online. It's taken me just over three years to reach this number. 700 may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but I've worked hard setting up events and promoting my work, and this number shows that my efforts are slowly but surely paying off.

Of these 700, 485 were copies of The Land Beyond the Portal and 215 were Rage's Echo. Come on, RE! Let's pick up the pace! :)

If you are a recipient of one of these 700 copies, thank you for your support. Not everyone will risk reading a book that was written by a new and relatively unheard-of author, and it means a lot knowing that you took a chance on me. God bless you all!

Portally-Portalness

Hey guys.

Remember this book?

The Land Beyond the Portal was my first published book-child. It came out in 2011. It features a young amnesiac, snow, devious villagers, a missing child, and an evil old dude named Litchfield.

A lot of readers really enjoyed their journey through the portal. So much, in fact, that they begged me to write a sequel.

Well, I never have thought of a way to continue the story of Laura (the aforementioned amnesiac) and her friends. But last week an author friend of mine suggested that I write a short story that connects to this novel in some way.

So I did. I finished the rough draft this morning. It's called "Rochelle's Pizza Run," because if you'll remember, Rochelle Peltier was practically dying for a pizza when The Land Beyond the Portal concluded. (Now you probably want one, too.)

It's a rare thing for me to complete a story that I begin, so I'm quite pleased I was able to do that with this one. It has all the literary value of a receipt from Walmart, but by golly, I finished it, and that's what matters the most.

I have no idea when it will be published. I just thought I'd let you know it exists.

Now go order a pizza. You know you want one.