Final Week with kaye kelly

Welcome back to Author Showcase. 

I just want to take a minute to say thank you to all my readers for stopping by and giving me ear as I shout out the latest releases of authors who work hard to bring you some entertainment through reading.

We are back for a final week with author Kaye Kelly from NZ.

AS: Kaye I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed visiting with you this month and learning more about your work and taking in all the wonderful and encouraging advice. I’ve had a great month and I thank you so much for taking the time out to be here on Author Showcase.

KK: It has been a great month. I really appreciate this opportunity, Alexia, thanks so much to you and all your readers.

AS: This week we are going to talk about your latest book but first, I’ve noticed all your books are set way back in time.
KK: Yes. I enjoy writing historical pieces. All my published novels to date have been historical with backgrounds in the 1860s, 1870s.  Then with The Body Snatcher, a giant leap forward to the late 1940s.

AS: What prompted the giant leap?
KK:  Two things, mainly. The first was a reader suggesting I write a book with a Marlborough background as my first three books have West Coast backgrounds. The second was knowing there were still people living in Havelock (the town Rossville in The Body Snatcher is based on) who were around in 1947/48. As all the characters in earlier books lived years before I was even a suggestion of a twinkle in my father’s eye, all my research was done through books, local historians and museums, the thought of being able to talk to these people – real LIVE people – to be able hear their versions and snippets of what went on at that time was too temptingly delicious to resist.

AS:  In last week’s interview you mentioned that your character from BS was your favorite. Tell us about him and how he comes across this body. Tell us a little about this book.
KK: Brian got into my head in a way that no other character has ever done before. It was as if he was directing the story; telling me what to say, I couldn’t bring him into line, and despite me worrying that he was leading me up the garden path, to my mind, the story absolutely flowed. How did Brian come across the body? The local Rossville kids often used to find coins in the mudflats at low tide that had dropped out of pockets when people had been fishing off the wharf. One day Brian finds two half crowns – a veritable fortune – but he also finds a body that the coins probably belonged to. By the time the local cop comes on the scene the body’s disappeared and because Brian’s a bit of a larrikin and is known to stretch the truth at times, nobody believes him. Brian determines to find out what happened to the body, but in doing so ends up in all sorts of situations that everyone, apart from him, seems to find hilarious.

AS: What is special about this book to you and how long did it take you to write BS?
KK: What’s so special to me about this book is that words flowed all the way through. Brian got into my head and led me by the nose … excuse all the body parts. It took around three months to write The Body Snatcher, but months and months of polishing. Then I laid Brian to rest. Forgot about him until last year when he suddenly demanded to be let out of the computer file I’d so rudely locked him in.

AS: We talked earlier about some of your wips. What can we expect to see from Kaye Kelly in the near future?
KK: I’m not sure what I’ll be working on next. I have a middle grade trilogy that’s demanding my attention, a YA fantasy that’s also vying for attention. Then there’s a contemporary comedy trying to nudge these books aside. As well as thinking seriously of reworking and republishing Mecca’s Gold, the first book in my historical trilogy.

AS: Kaye where can we buy your books and how can we get in touch with you?
KK: Cross the River to Home, A Secret Mind, and The Body Snatcher can be found at: http://Amazon.com  Amazon.uk Amazon.au Amazon.ca Links at http://www.kayekelly.co.nz 
I would love to hear from readers and writers. Contact me at kayekelly@snap.net.nz – if there’s any way I can help, I promise to do so.

AS: In closing out this month, what final piece of advice do you have for our readers?
KK: My advice for the last week would be; no matter how frantically busy you are, always make time to help another writer. I can pretty well guarantee that somewhere down the line, you’ll be finding your favours returned a hundred fold.

AS:  Well, Kaye thanks again for stopping by this month.  We will definitely look forward to seeing more of your works out in the near future. I hope a revival of Mecca's Gold will  be one of those works. 
 
KK: Alexia, I have really enjoyed my chats with you this month.  Thank you so much for this opportunity to enjoy your hospitality and chat with you and your readers!

AS:  Take Care Kaye.  Find Kaye on Twitter and Facebook.  Pick up her latest works at Amazon.
Next month, Author Showcase will be hosting author Jan Romes; author of witty and zany characters.  Please join us on there February 1st.