In 1700 century England, a women’s purpose is only served in a home. But Kitrina Harvey has no home and the only place she feels will keep the memory of her father alive, is at sea. However, when she inexplicably finds herself on the ship of the infamous female pirate captain, Charlotte de Berry, she may have counted her good fortune too soon.
While Kit may have found a family among the motley crew of outlaws, and perhaps even a special interest in a particular pirate named Gage, is she ready to be a pirate herself?
Kit must ask herself what she is willing to do to please the pirate captain, made even more complicated when she finds out that her life is much more entangled in Charlotte’s than she originally believed.
Can she kill even when she discovers that she and Charlotte share a common enemy?
Set atop the planks of the great Athena, Of Brine & Blood is a fictionalized retailing of one of history’s infamous female pirates, through the eyes of a girl coming of age among the contrasting themes of love, revenge and power. Liberally sensationalized, Of Blood and Brine, follows the twisting trail of Kitrina Harvey’s life, as she recounts Captain Charlotte de Berry’s own story of love, loss and murder.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
What inspired you
to write your current book?
I don’t know if I can pinpoint a singular source of
inspiration. But I can tell you what puts me in the mood to write.
I live a couple of miles from the beach, and the water has
always makes me feel creative. Not the ‘happy family vaca day at the beach’ water
so much, but the ‘moody’ water right before a storm, or even just the way the
water looks on cloudy day.
It’s probably no surprise that my current series is nautical
J
I akin the feeling of a moody sea, to the feeling of reading
a good book on a raining day. The ambiance casts everything in a light of more
mysterious intrigue, don’t you think? And, thus gets my imagination going.
What authors
inspire you?
Ok, I am just going to say it.
I am not particularly inspired by the classic literary
greats (Bronte, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and what have you).
*Peeks anxiously around to see if I have offended the hoard
of fellow book-lovers*
But, before you cry foul, I HAVE read most of these classics
and very much appreciate them. In
fact, I was on my high school’s literary criticism team (and went to state).
However, as I reader and writer I just connect more deeply ‘modern’
voices.
Stephanie Meyers wrote Bella Swan in a voice that could very
well be the voice in my own head, should I ever find myself irrevocably in love
with a gorgeous vampire. Bella’s feelings felt real to me, and I aspire to give
readers the same connection with the characters in my story.
And while there is not enough time in the day for me to
adequately discuss all of the authors I deeply respect, I do want to note some
that inspired my current series. I love the strong female characters Suzanne
Collins gave us in Hunger Games, and am in awe of the impeccable way J.K.
Rowling weaves the Harry Potter series together. They are brilliant!
What genre do you
write?
This is always a hard question for me to answer with just a
simple one-liner. When someone asks me, I will *subtlety* try to plant myself
between them and the exit, so they must endure the length of my explanation.
The short answer, I think, is: Historical Fiction
But! Wait! There’s more.
My current series, the Brine Series, is historical fiction
written to appeal to the modern reader. There is plenty of action, mystery and
an overlaying romance (my favorite part of the story), as well.
So, Of Brine &
Blood is a modernly written adventure story wrapped in mystery with a gooey
romance center, set in the 17th century, for young adult readers. Can
anyone tell me where that bookshelf is in Barnes and Noble?
So, your debut
novel has been released. Do you have any more stories in the works?
Yes! In fact, the second installment of the Brine Series: Of Bitter and Brine, is complete and is
running the gauntlet through my team of editors as we speak.
I am actively writing the third installment (Brine: The Beginning) and have a
detailed outline of the forth waiting in the wings.
And while I love Of
Brine and Blood, I just want to say, that the series grows in excitement
with each subsequent book.
What advice would you give to your
younger self?
‘Publish the dang book, already!’
Man. My younger self is so hard to reason with sometimes.
To be fair to her though, when I began writing Of Brine and Blood (6 years ago!) I didn’t have many aspirations –
other than satisfying daydreams – of publishing the story. I simply wanted to
write down the scenes in my head, into a story that I wanted to read. I wanted each aspect to precisely quench what I crave in a story.
But I stalled in publishing because, what if others didn’t like the characters
that I love?
So I guess the true moral of the story is, if you have passion for
something, don’t let your reservations stand in your way. If you are passionate
about what you do, others will feel that passion in your work.
How did you decide
on names for your main characters?
I began writing Of
Brine & Blood shortly before I became pregnant with my daughter. In the
beginning I didn’t have names for my characters that I loved. The names, at
that time, were placeholders.
After I got pregnant, I meticulously researched, listed,
cross-referenced and polled names for my child. I finally decided on the
perfect names: Kit (girl) and Gage (boy).
My husband liked exactly neither of these names.
So! I brought the names to life in my story, with a few amendments.
Because neither of the names were exactly ‘old-timey’ enough
for my historical fiction, Kit became short for Kitrina and Gage is actually
the last name of our leading man – William Gage. But because there were
approximately 155,846,325,845,236 Williams back then, everyone simply calls him
Gage.
Ironically, these names are spoken almost as often in our household, as our daughter’s name. So I
still feel like I won on the whole name thing.
*Disclosure* I equally love the name we eventually decided
on for our daughter J
Who does your main
character look like in your head? Who would ideally play him/her in a movie
adaptation?
I am resistant to sharing what Kit looks like to me. But I
have good reason for being so stingy with my imagery when it comes to Kit. The
other characters in the book have detailed descriptions of their appearance.
But, I could never get Kit’s appearance to come out just
right or to translate well onto paper. That’s because I didn’t want to
unintentionally pigeonhole her into a stereotype based on how she looks. So I
made the conscious decision to write her fairly description-less. I want the
readers to picture what she looks like to them. I want Kit to look like you, if that’s how you prefer to read
your stories.
So, if the story ever gets adapted into film (which would be
AWESOME), it would be interesting to see who gets cast to play her. J
Except, now that I think about it, I hope that my artistic decision
doesn’t accidently anger fans of the story, because the actor playing Kit
doesn’t ‘look right’ in the movie. Hummm…..
What were your
goals or intentions of writing this book? How well to do you think you achieved
them?
My goals of writing Of
Brine & Blood were fairly simple.
I want to entertain. I wanted to write a story that sweeps
the reader away to another place and time, and make them feel what the
characters are feeling. And then, I want the story to linger in their minds
after they finish, wondering what Kit and Gage are up to right now. At this moment.
That is what all the best stories do for me. The characters are
no longer fiction, but people I care about.
Every reader knows the value of a story that just grips them. I want my story to be like
that to others.
Of Brine and Blood
does this for me. But I want to hear what you think! Let me know if I achieved
my goal! ;)
What did you find
most useful in learning to write? What was least useful or most destructive?
I have always been a writer. I know; the cliché of all
novelists. But it’s true!
My love of writing, on the other hand, has peaked and waned
and then peaked again, over the course of my life.
My undergraduate degree is in Journalism. Which I promptly
discovered was not the type of writing I enjoy only after graduating and working as a tech writer for less than a year.
I then went on to receive a graduate degree in Sociology (which I love). But as
with tech writing, writing academic articles is not how I enjoy the craft
either.
In the end, I wouldn’t change any of my experiences, though.
My experiences have been invaluable in teaching me the mechanics of writing.
And, I am learning how to break any destructive aspects of
being too ‘technical’ when I sit down to write fiction. I love being able to
let my imagination flow! *Note to any of my current or former colleagues: I
promise that I did not let my imagination color any of my academic research
findings*
Just for fun,
what’s something unique about you?
I don’t know if this is something unique about me as a
person (or maybe it speaks volumes about my organization skills. I don’t know),
but the sequence of events probably hasn’t happened to too many people.
I have had two weddings, both to the same person, and in
less than a year.
Lemme esplain:
My first wedding, which we refer to as ‘the expensive one,’
was a wedding proper with long guest lists, flashy venues, a white dress and
cake.
After the ceremony we signed the marriage certificate and
were told to mail it in to the state. Of course! No problem. Except the next
day, my husband and I left for our honeymoon. Several weeks after we returned,
Steven (the husband) looked at me and asked if I ever mailed in the marriage certificate. Um, no? Doesn’t that fall
under ‘the husband responsibilities’? We tore the house APART, but still
couldn’t find it.
No problem, we can just request a new one. Right? Nope.
Apparently marriage certificates are time sensitive when being filed.
So, off to Vegas we went. With a group of friends as
witnesses (they did NOT buy us a second wedding gift), a musician whom we found
at a restaurant and wanted to accompany us after hearing our story (he played
‘Suspicious Minds’ as I walked down the aisle), and a new marriage certificate
(chained to my body), we got married for the second time.
I should probably end the story here, but I feel it
pertinent to include that while we did successfully file the second marriage
certificate, that does not mean that we didn’t lose that one too, at one point.
Thankfully, I was blissfully unaware of the second MIA
marriage license snafu, until after it was found by husband and friend
retracing every single step we took that day.
*Fun Fact!*
Several years later, we did find the original marriage certificate
tucked safely away in one of our suitcases. It was in an obscure pocket inside
of another pocket. You know, for safe keeping.
AUTHOR BIO:
