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.

New Name

No, I have not renamed myself. I am still J. S. Bailey. Or Jenn. Or whatever.

This blog was previously Where Daylight Fades. It shall henceforth be known as Brain Problems! (at least until I think of something else) because, well, I'm a writer, and we're all a little insane in some way or another.

By the way, edits and cover design begin for Servant next month! And there's this new subscribey-box-thing above the picture of my computer and shoes on the right-hand side of the screen so you can receive my new posts in an email.

Also, I will be SIGNING BOOKS in Indiana and Kentucky within the next few weeks, though not at the same time, because while I may be insane, I have not developed the ability to clone myself.

Brain Problems, Servant, Cool Stuff, and More!

I have been a bad blogger lately. Well, technically I've been a good blogger since I do two posts a month over at www.obeythemuse.com, but THIS blog has unfortunately been neglected for the past several months because my brain is perpetually fried.

I realized what my brain problem is, aside from being fried. Actually it has a bunch of problems. Imagine turning on your radio and having about fifteen stations blast out of it all at the same time. You've got a jumble of classical, oldies, NPR, country, R&B, and everything else assaulting your ears, and you can't make any sense out of it so you curl up into a ball and cover your ears while hoping it all goes away.

That's my brain.

It's too full of stuff. I get overwhelmed. Then, to avoid being overwhelmed by the never ending maelstrom of thoughts, I end up playing spider solitaire or going outside and burning stuff, which is really quite relaxing.

The thing is, important stuff doesn't get done when I'm out torching sticks and broken fence pieces behind the house with the gleefulness of a manic arsonist. So at times I must force myself to accomplish Important Things, which include 1.) Writing my novel, 2.) Promoting my work, 3.) Making connections on social media, 4.) Writing some more, 5.) Setting up events, and 6.) More. This does not include household stuff and exercising, which are also Important Things.

But you know what? I recently accomplished an EXTREMELY Important Thing.

I wrote another novel.

It's called Servant, and will be the first book in a series about a wimpy wannabe hero named Bobby Roland who has a run-in with a group of people who have been chosen by God to drive demons out of those who are possessed. Bobby also has gut-wrenching premonitions of tragedy that haunt him day and night. And he likes to eat bagels, but despite his addiction he's still skinny as a rail. He's also socially awkward, so he's kind of like the author who invented him. (cough cough)

What's cooler is that I am going to be a very brave person and self-publish it. I've already talked to an editor and a cover designer, so it's my hope that Servant will be released upon the unsuspecting world by the end of the year.

More updates will come. In the meantime, happy reading and all that good stuff.

Writing Tip

Writers: don't tell me a character is beautiful. Show me that they're human.

Amish Vampires in Space

(Wow--three months without a new post. I'm sorry, guys. I'M SORRY!)

So today I'm going to tell you about a book I just read: Amish Vampires in Space by Kerry Nietz.

When I first heard about Amish Vampires in Space, I was just as skeptical as the next person for reasons that should be quite obvious if you know anything about the Amish. The title and cover scream "camp." Just look at that girl's face. LOOK AT HER. And at the body lying on the floor. And at the chicken hidden on the back cover.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that AViS, as this book shall henceforth be called, was supposed to be a "serious" novel. That's right. Nobody is making fun of the Amish. Nobody is making fun of vampires. This book is played totally straight.

I couldn't contain my curiosity, so I did the logical thing and bought myself a copy.

In the distant future, different planets in the galaxy have been "terraformed" so they will be suitable for human life. Several generations ago an Amish settlement was established on a planet called Alabaster. (The Amish shun technology, but it's okay for them to travel in a spaceship as long as a non-Amish person, or "Englisher," is the one flying it.)

One Amish man named Jebediah Miller secretly monitors Alabaster's sun with some glass instruments passed to him from his father, and Jebediah makes an unpleasant discovery: Alabaster's sun is expanding. The climate is getting hotter, and crops are failing. He knows that if he doesn't do anything, everyone and everything on Alabaster will die.

So Jebediah uses a forbidden piece of technology to call for help. The whole colony is (reluctantly) rescued by a cargo spaceship that is the futuristic equivalent of a giant FedEx truck. They will be taken to another, safer planet to reestablish a colony there.

Only something bad happens once everyone is on board: cargo that was picked up from a different planet contaminates a crew member and turns him into something that can best be described as a vampire. Then he bites other people and turns THEM into vampires. And the chaos gets worse and worse.

In the end, the Amish have to decide whether or not to follow their "Ordnung's" rule of nonviolence and let themselves be slaughtered, or to forsake their law and fight back.

I only had a few issues with this book. First of all, Kerry Nietz uses a writing style that is choppier than I am used to. Also, I wish that I could have learned more about some of the characters and their backgrounds, especially crew member Singer, who acts as a liaison between the Amish and the rest of the crew. I am also curious as to why a colony would be established in a system with a sun so close to the end of its life cycle.

In all, AViS sends a good message: it's okay to break the law of tradition if lives are at stake. Get it? Vampires? Stake?

I'll stop now.

Amish Vampires in Space may be purchased here.