I get asked a lot of questions about writing, reading and my books (both published and works-in-progress). I’ve been in this biz for a long time, and I even mentor other writers through workshops at my local libraries. I love answering questions! So ask away. Is there anything about Kyra’s world from the Valkyrie Bestiary series you’d like to know about? (What’s with those opji vampires anyway?) Or are you curious about an aspect of writing or publishing? (Where do authors get their ideas from?). So…
…Ask me anything!
Here’s a little bit about Kyra’s world to get you started. Kyra is half Valkyrie and half dryad. She lives in Montreal Ward in the year 2080, fifty years after a devastating war broke countries, killed billions and severed the ley-lines to bring magic rushing back into the world. She is a pest controller who specializes in wrangling class three fae creatures. She lives in Sayntanne on the west end of Montreal island which is protected from the wastelands (known as the Inbetween) by a heavy-duty magical ward. The ward was built by fae magic and is maintained by the alchemists. Kyra has a crush on Henry Mason, captain of a vigilante group known as the Guardians.
If you’ve already read Dragons Don’t Eat Meat or the other books in the Valkyrie Bestiary Series feel free to ask about future stories. As long as there are no spoilers involved, I’ll do my best to answer. Below, I’ll start with some frequently asked questions from my Facebook groups and blog. Put your questions in the comments below, and I’ll try to answer as many as possible.
Q: How many critters does Kyra take care of?
nA: In Dragons Don’t Eat Meat, Kyra has a basilisk, 2 madras, a very large bejeweled snail, 2 vampire slugs, 2 rats, bearded dragons, an eel, a pygmy kraken, an ice sprite and a cat. And a dervish who desperately wants to live with her. And now a baby dragon. There are others that aren’t mentioned, and many others that she re-homes back to the wild land known as the Inbetween. She gets help caring for them from her banshee roommate/nanny, Gita.
Q: How old is Kyra? She sounds around mid 20’s.
nA: Kyra is 78 years old at the beginning of the series. What? I know that sound crazy. But she went to live in Asgard when she was 18 and ate the famed Golden Apples. They kept her young. Now that she’s back in our world she doesn’t know if she will age any more. She looks to be about 25, but she takes a wait-and-see approach to immortality.
Q: Is the series complete?
nA: No. Currently there are three books in the series, plus one short story prequel. (See the Series Reading Order page). But books 1-3 complete the first story arc that deals with Mason’s past. I am currently planning 9 books total (with some spinoff shorts). Books 4-6 will focus on Kyra’s past and we’ll meet some of her family from Asgard.
Q: How long have you been writing?
nA: I wrote my first book of poetry when I was eight. It started like this:
nCats have fur.
nThey often purr.
nAnd it got worse after that. I’ve been writing all my life. I published my first novel in 1999. After that I focused on children’s books for many years. In 2016, I turned back to my real fictional love, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Suspense. I’ve been publishing in those genres ever since.
