Today on Paws 4 Thought we continue our occasional series of author interviews with local St. Louis author, Kathy Brown.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, Kathy.
I’m very much a homebody who loves to cook, read, knit, and—my latest hobby—draw. Starting in the fourth grade, I wanted to write fiction but got sidetracked in all the ways creative people lose the plot. I’ve been a manuscript editor, a full-time parent, medical researcher, and massage therapist. I got back to writing in 2004, with a workshop for beginners at Washington
University.
When did you first start writing?
When I was ten, I was captivated by a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. Somehow that was when I realized that every story has a maker, and I could be a maker, too. I immediately wrote a knock-off Sherlockian story, which was greeted with wide critical acclaim (by my teacher). That was it, really. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had ruined me for honest work. But I left it for a long
time, deciding in the way thirteen-year-old girls did (in the 1960s) that I had nothing to say. But the storytelling urge was always in me. One of my employee benefits from Washington University Medical School was free tuition to the main campus night school classes. So, I signed up for an eight-week writing workshop in 2004. There I met the people who would form my longstanding writer’s support group! I continued with all the writing classes the night school offered.
Who are your favorite authors?
I’ve been reading widely for a long time. My first love is mysteries, but also fantasy. I have degree was in English, so I’m a total book nerd. Longtime favorite authors include Alexander Dumas, Charles Dickens, Jane Austin, Dylan Thomas, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Dorothy L. Sayers, Rex Stout (all the Golden-Age detective fiction writers, really), and Neil
Gaiman. My latest enthusiasms are Ruth Emrys, Matt Ruff, and Susanna Clarke.
What inspires you to write?
One inspiration is a curious mind; I always want to know more about how things (and people) work. The “why” of it all. Those thoughts seem to spiral off into plots. Another is a problem-solving impulse. A story is actually a device for eliciting particular reactions in the reader or even society. The mechanics of that process are fascinating. But mostly, I need to write for my own
equilibrium. I process feelings and experiences, and as I’m now an older person, realize that storytelling is a great way to have a “do over” for your life events. You can, through imagination, “live” as a totally different person. Writing is the reader experience of a great book, amplified!
You have a new short story out. Can you tell us a little bit about it and how we can read it?
The new story is exclusive to my newsletter subscribers through the end of the year. It is some backstory for the main character of my Sean Joye Investigations series. Sean, a veteran of the Irish Civil War, immigrates to St. Louis in 1923 and immediately lands in trouble. “The Angel’s Share” is the story of that trouble. He’s been vaguely alluding to this difficulty through three books; now, at last, the deets.
What attracts you to writing historical fantasy?
Good question! It would certainly be easier to write contemporary fiction. I’ve always liked reading historical fiction, biographies, and history. The ways that life in the past were similar or different than our own era are illuminating, I think. Often, I don’t even
understand my contemporaries’ actions or attitudes; maybe I was just born in the wrong era. (Or I’m a time traveler, wink, wink.)
If you could travel to any historical period when and where would you like to visit?
Speaking of time travel…In general—very big picture view—although terrible things go on in our own era, in terms of
disease, human rights, and technology, etc., we live in good times. A brief research visit to the 1920s would be great. And I’d love to meet my parents as young people in the 1940s, if that wouldn’t do something horrible to the space-time continuum.
Here at Paws 4 Thought we love meeting our author’s pets. Do you have any furry, feathery or scaly
writing companions? (Feel free to add pictures!)
Sorry, no pets here. The human companions have terrible allergies. [[ I’m sorry, DMK]]
I have a sister cat, Pugsley (black and white), and a grand cat, Artemis (gray). I enjoy visiting them!
[[Aww, they’re adorable DMK]]
Ever met a ghost?
Sadly, no. I’m not at all psychically gifted. Pretty down to earth, actually. Maybe that’s why I feel free to totally make up lies, I mean stories, about the supernatural.
How can readers connect with you?
Readers can reach me via my website, kathylbrown.com. I’m also on Facebook, @kbKathylbrown, and Instagram, @kathylbrownwrites. My newsletter subscription form is on my website, or they can just email me at brown.kathy.L@gmail.com and I’ll fill out the form. I sometimes have a book booth at local conventions and speak at panels. I’ll be doing panels July 14-16,
2023 at Imaginarium in Louisville, KY, USA, and have a book booth September 29-October 1, 2023 at Archon in Collinsville, IL, USA. [[I’ll of course see you at Archon! DMK]]
Imadjinn Award-winning author Kathy L. Brown lives in St. Louis, Missouri, USA and writes speculative fiction with a historical twist. Her hometown and its history inspire her fiction. When she’s not thinking about how haunted everything is, she enjoys hiking, crafts, and cooking for her family. As a new college graduate, Kathy landed a job as a book editor, an ideal pairing of reading all day and being super-picky about small details. Those skills served her well in a subsequent (and better-paying) career as a medical researcher. Her flagship book series is The Sean Joye Investigations, atmospheric supernatural noir stories set in the St. Louis area. The Resurrectionist and Water of Life and The Big Cinch are currently available. Kathy spent the pandemic lockdown polishing and publishing a steampunk-tinged fantasy (with romance and wolf shifter fights!), Wolfhearted, available in e-book, paperback, and audiobook. Follow her social media platforms: Instagram at kathylbrownwrites, and Facebook at kbKathylbrown. The Storytelling Blog lives kathylbrown.com.
Please visit Kathy on Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.
Paws4Thought 