Today I have the pleasure of speaking with author K.A. M'Lady. Thanks for being here today and welcome to FAR!

To start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thanks Tammy for having me here at FAR. Hmmm. Let’s see, a little about me – well, I’ve always wanted to be a writer, ever since I was a little girl. My friends and I would write stories and cut out images from catalogs and create whole families and their entire lives to go along with them. As I grew up those stories turned to poems and later to songs when the normalities of life came along and I wanted to be a rock star like most teenagers. Somehow I’ve managed to study Police Science, Business, Insurance, and eventually found my way back to my writing. It’s almost like coming full circle and your spirit remembers what it was like to breathe. Only every breath holds magic.

A Walk in the Black Forest was your first full length accepted novel. Can you tell us more about it?

A Walk in the Black Forest is a historical time travel set in the 11th century – a year after the battle of Hastings. It is a story about two people from different times who, against all circumstances learn what it truly means to love. It is rife with mystery, murder, a whole lot of mayhem and of course just enough sex to scorch a castle. Lol. But in the end I think it is for the two main characters, Gabriel and Damon, The Dragon of Blackmoor, finding out that to trust your heart and let love in can change the world for anyone in any time.

A Walk in the Black Forest

She studies the past. He fights for an uncertain future. A mysterious sword unites them through history. Need and desire kindles the flames of growing desire. But darkness and death lay waiting in the shadows. Can love survive time and treachery?


"Tell me to go Gabriella and I shall," he whispered against the nape of her neck.

Her dragon was filled with hunger; desire filled his words as they gruffly, yet softly swirled around her in the darkness of her room. She knew she should tell him to go, but somehow, she could not.

"Stay," she whispered. Her entreaty filled the entranced silence of the room, and sealed their fates.

How did you celebrate the release of A Walk in the Black Forest?

I’m very blessed to have such a wonderful family and great friends - my husband threw me a party; he invited all of my family and friends over and ordered a cake and everything. He even had our kids making up cheese and veggie dishes. It was the most endearing gift ever.

How do you keep your ideas fresh and imaginative?

Sometimes I see things and ideas just pop into my head – for example I drive down the same road every day and there is a plain white house with this brilliant red front door. Just the door standing out against everything – and eventually a story just unfolded. Out of came Through the Red Door Starkly which will be included in one of the upcoming Anthologies with eXtasy Books – Sanguinary Seductions.

I’ve always loved stories and tend to see things a bit differently I guess. Like the red door; I want to know what’s on the other side of it. Or what could be on the other side? If I were to open it where would I want it to take me? Then of course there are the stories that hold the grain of truth – like my upcoming release Rational Animals with eXtasy Books. It is in the Rune Series and is on the Stone Mannaz – which with some research I learned is about werewolves. Sometimes, it’s all a matter of interpretation. The wolves sparked more research and I ended up in Yellowstone, which is where the story takes place. The fun thing is taking the truth of each story and twisting it just enough to make a person wonder – what if?

Who has influenced you the most in terms of developing your personal writing?

Eey, gads – that’s a tough one. Everyone! When I was a kid I was a sponge. Reading was my escape from a bad childhood (like most). I went through that Wardrobe and never wanted to come back. Tolkien, Poe, Shakespeare, VC Andrews, Ann Rice (the detail), Longfellow, Laurell K. Hamilton (I love her work!) There are too many to list. Everything I read inspires me to write.

What is the one thing you've always wanted to do but never had the courage / opportunity to try?

Ooh, I don’t know, sing in public. I don’t think I’d ever do that. Ever. Maybe if I wanted to torture people. And beer and karaoke in my basement with my friends doesn’t count because they were just as bad as me. My husband sings – and he’s amazing. I could never do that.

To Tell Of Darkness is the first book in your Realm series. Can you tell us more about it and the series?

Where do I start with Rihker? Pixie with Attitude sums it – mildly. It is about a half-breed hunter discovering the two sides of her powers. A Vampire Knight forever seeking – something, from the remnants of his past. A cast of delectable Other World misfits taken in against her will; amidst the encroaching Darkness and the whispers of a war. Murders, ex-boyfriends, Ogres with Zen. Deciding between the Light and the Darkness has never been more difficult or delicious. Because in Glen Hills, sometimes, even the monsters are afraid of the Darkness.


Some creatures are born into an existence where the lines of life and death, right and wrong are experienced only in shades of black and white. Existences where life is as easy as a mother's love or a father's warm embrace. They live in relative safety behind their familiar walls with the warmth and comfort of hearth and home on some clean street in a rural community; where love is always present and the violence of crime and man's depravity can't touch them; aplace where evil and all the dark creatures that go bump in the night are just fairy tales told on stormy evenings to frighten young children in their dreams.

But have you ever wondered what happens when the lines bleed and the creatures bump back? Ever wondered who is there in the dead of night when the monster is the closet is real, and he's come with a hunger? Worried that he knows your name?

My name is Rihker Tennai. In the Other World, they call me Justice -- and this is my Realm…

With the Realm series, do you have a pre-planned idea of where it will end, or does it change as you go along?

Rihker seems to have total control when I write. When she has something to say about a scene it’s going to be that way. So I guess she gets to decide when the story ends. I was working on a whole different story when she decided to have her first story written and the rest had to wait. She’s like a force of nature. So I hope she has a whole lot to say – she’s fun to write. Total attitude, take no prisoners, pull no punches. She’s kind of cool.

Is it hard for you to balance your life as a writer? How do you manage it?

Well, I currently work full time so my family is very generous. I write every day on my lunch hour, at night, on the weekends – pretty much whenever I can sneak it in. But it’s a balance. Sometimes there is mom time, wife time and writer time – I guess it’s just a matter of which hat to put on and take off and when to just chill.

You have 3 wishes, what are they?

For my family to be happy and healthy. To write full time. And….World Peace.

Could you tell us what your currently working on?

I’m working on a Historical Time Travel Fantasy about a Scottish Laird and the gypsy who loved him, cursed him, and then threw herself to her death from his castle wall. He then spends his days trapped in the mirrors of times past and can only be set free by the love of a surviving member of her clan. The only problem - there’s only one left and her existence is just a Rumor.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

The second book in the Realm series will be forthcoming shortly from Mojocastle – Realm Book II Shadow Slave.

In Glen Hills the grave dirt’s been sifted, the dead have risen and are hungry for flesh. For Bounty Hunter, Rihker Tennai it’s back to the grind for this slave to her trade -- for we’re all a slave to something. But when these newly risen go wandering and Necromancer’s go missing it’s up to Rihker to find out why.

When she seeks out the help of her Vampire boyfriend and finds him entertaining Death, even she has trouble keeping her Darkness under control. But Death has an ulterior motive, and her dreams become filled with troubled shadows calling out to her in the night. Does the Wanderling hold the answers? Or can she find them in the Land of Light?

Suffering is Darkness’ pleasure and pain its Shadow Slave.

I also have put together a book of poetry titled Ramshackle Castle – Bent Poetry & Other Altered Verse. For those would like a lighter side and a bit of verse I’ve a lovely bit of limericks, odes, and poetry put together that gives voice to some of the creatures throughout the land of fairytales who have never been given the opportunity to tell their side of the story. From one of the Ugly Step-sisters, to your average Bridge Troll, to the poor wee Giant of the Bean Stalk; as well as a few of times classic poems gone completely awry. If you have always loved poetry or would like to be a lover of poetry or would just like to lighten your load then these are the fairy poems for you

Ramshackle Castle
Bent Poetry
&
Other Altered Verse

Come, walk the night road
through your memory of
childhood fairy tales,
limericks, ghostly apparitions
and the lingering breath of
classic poetry gone awry.
At the Castle,
magick and mayhem
are a lyrical delight
spun with fairy dust.
It may at times be
dark, dusty and a bit bent
but every word is a
glamorous enchantment.

Thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions today!

Thank you so much Tammy for having me here at FAR today. I look forward to visiting with you again. For other story information, Realm images and character bios please feel free to stop by my website website or drop me a line mladyfair12@yahoo.com

Interviewed by: Tammy