BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR KATE GEORGE

Today we have something a little different for Book Club Friday. Author Lois Winston is interviewing award winning writer, Kate George. Kate is the author of Moonlighting in Vermont and California Schemin’ (due out March 1, 2011.) She lives in Vermont with dogs, kids, and currently, snow. You can read more about Kate at www.kategeorge.com. Her books are available at www.mainlymurderpress.com, amazon.com or can be ordered from any bookstore.

Kate has graciously offered a copy of Moonlighting in Vermont to one lucky person who posts a comment to the blog this week. -- AP

LW: Welcome, Kate! Tell us a little bit about yourself. Do you write full time, or do you have a day job?

KG: I long for the days when I could write all day long! I took them for granted. I have a day job, now, at our local K through 12 school, where my job title is Admin Support. That means I do everything from substitute teaching to answering phones. It’s great to work at the same school my kids attend. And in most of the country it wouldn’t be possible because my youngest is in fifth grade and my oldest is a junior in high school. There aren’t a bunch of K-12 schools around any more.

I’m not sure my kids like having me around all the time. They can’t get away with much.

I write either late at night or very early in the morning. When I can stay awake!

LW: You call your books “mystery with a side of laughter.” Given that mysteries usually involve dead bodies, in what ways do you infuse humor into your writing?

KG: It’s just my personality. I don’t take anything that happens in my stories too seriously. My odd sense of humor takes over and the next thing you know a madcap adventure appears on the page.  My aim is to give readers a good time. You shouldn’t have to think too hard when you read my books. It’s not literature, but if you need to relax and have a laugh, then my books are for you.

By the way, I don’t actually laugh at the dead people, well at least not in these two books, the next Bree novel; How Much is that Dead Guy in the Window (working title) is a little more irreverent. The body has diapers duct taped to it.

LW: Tell us a little bit about Bree MacGowan. How did you come up WITH her as your protagonist?

KG: I wanted to write about the period of my own life when I wasn’t a kid anymore but I didn’t really feel like an adult. I was sort of feeling my way along, not sure of how to get what I wanted out of life. Bree is a little more confident than I was, so it’s kind of like I got to rewrite a section of my life.

Bree evolved as I wrote. I knew some about her when I started; I know a lot more now. Bree has a lot of what she wants, but there’s still a lot that she hasn’t figured out yet. She’s miserable at relationships. She doesn’t really know what she wants to be when she grows up. But she has this lovely old farmhouse and tons of animals and she likes her life.

She’s a little tired of finding dead people.

LW: How close is Bree MacGowan to Kate George?

KG: Bree is who I wish I’d been when I was thirty. She’s far more self confident than I was. She has more fun. She knows she’s attractive and she enjoys flirting for fun. She knows she doesn’t have to marry, date or sleep with every guy she’s attracted to.

On the other hand, Bree has my sense of humor and my love for animals. She appreciates life in the same way I do. She loves living out in the sticks and hanging out with her friends. All traits she gets from me.

But she’s also a typical Vermonter, whereas I’ll always be a Californian.

LW:  How much of your plots do you draw from real life, if any? Or your life in particular?

KG: My plots tend to be products of my imagination. The details though, the dogs, the chickens, getting stopped by state troopers come from my life. It’s a mash-up. I think the details make the stories more believable.

LW: I see that besides your current book, Moonlighting in Vermont, you have another Bree MacGowan book coming out in March, California Schemin’. Tell us a little about both books.

KG: We first meet Bree MacGowan in Moonlighting in Vermont just as she’s discovering her dead boss. As sometimes happens when you discover a body, she becomes a suspect in the murder. Bree knows she’s innocent, which means the murderer is still on the loose. The trouble is the cops don’t seem to be interested in looking for the real killer.

Moonlighting is full of Mud, Snow, Dogs, Danger and of course, some sex.

California Schemin’ finds Bree in – you guessed it – in California. She’s hanging out in the Sierras with Beau Maverick relaxing and recovering after her run in with a murderer, and a body falls out of the sky. Well, off a bridge, but it seemed like it fell from the sky. Once again Bree is in danger, and the story takes her from California to Vermont and back again. Twice.

California Schemin’ is full of handcuffs, FBI agents, knock out pills and airplanes but not much sex. Bree is too busy in this one to be thinking much about romance.

LW: Are there more Bree MacGowan adventures in the planning stage?

KG: Yes, as I mentioned above I’m working on the next Bree now. It’s called How Much is that Dead Guy in the Window. At least it’s called that for now. I like book titles that play off song titles but I couldn’t think of any more good ones with state names in them. But titles often change so I try not to get too attached.

Bree is back in Vermont for this book and there will be some new characters and some old standbys. I can’t say what’s going to happen with Bree’s love life. It’s hard to say what will happen until I’ve written “the end.” Plots have a way of changing – and I don’t really work off an outline anyway. It’s much more fun (and nerve wracking) when I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

LW: Did your dog really eat your flash drive?

KG: Yes, I have three dogs. One is a rather large yellow cross that looks like a lab, but probably is a cross between a goat and bear. He eats everything. Especially if it belongs to me. I either dropped my flash drive, or he stole it off my desk. Either is entirely possible.

There was material on that drive that I hadn’t backed up yet. That’ll teach me to be more diligent about backing up my work, but I was pretty cranky re-writing those scenes.

LW: Anything else you’d like to tell us?

KG: Well besides mysteries I’m starting to write paranormal romance. I thought it might be nice to switch off once in a while, to keep everything fresh. The first one is set on what would be the east coast of the US – if the east coast had mermaids, magic, cliffs and coves.

That’s about it. Feel free to ask questions. I very rarely bite.

You heard her, readers. Kate rarely bites. So ask away! One of you could win a copy of Moonlighting in Vermont. Don’t forget to check back on Sunday to see if you’re the winner. -- AP