Today we sit down for a chat with author Kath Boyd Marsh, who writes
Middle Grade fantasy, always with a mystery to solve and always with a dragon.
Learn more about Kath and her books at her website and blog, which has been
taken over by Fox Hound Rufus, his brother Hank, Nikki Cat, and assorted other
felines.
When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
Wanted? There’s a choice?
Hmmm. I wrote all through childhood beginning at seven years old with a picture
book about my little sister called The PB. “Published” by my grandfather when
he stapled together the lined notebook paper. I guess the road to getting
traditionally published started with paid essays that I wrote as therapy when
my only child was getting ready to go to college. It was a good thing I wrote
them while she was still making me crazier as a high schooler, because I laid
on her bed at home and cried for the first two weeks she was at Vanderbilt.
That was not comedy time.
And I do love comedy. Those
essays were funny, as were the short stories for a children’s magazine after
that. But it took a very unfunny long time to find a publisher who wanted any
of my novels. And she did turn down the first one I submitted. The long trail
from notebook paper picture book to books actually for sale on Amazon and
Barnes and Noble, and even on the shelves in my county library, was nearly 27
years.
I am stubborn. It is my
strongest virtue. So I kept hounding traditional editors and publishers until I
found a traditional publisher! A dream come true.
Where do you write?
Right now I’ve moved out to
the side deck where all I hear are birds and the wind in the trees. Which
brings me to the silence is golden thing. It is. I need all my brain cells
firing to write, so other people’s noise is no good for me. And with one
important exception, I cannot write to music with lyrics. Toby Keith. Sigh. I
can bounce in my seat and type happily to Toby.
How much of your plots and characters are drawn from
real life? From your life in particular?
Well since my books are
about dragons and wizards and Barfaromi, you’d think my books are not drawn
from real life. But they sort of are. I’m very big into injustice. When I was in school, social
organizations came to sign up kids. Two organizations came one day to my fifth
grade class, and one was the one I had been in the state we had just moved
from. I got in that line to join the new higher level. But the girl in front of
me was told she couldn’t join because she was the wrong religion. I got out of
line.
Describe your process for naming your character?
While I am very much into
being honorable, I do cheat on naming. My parents did an extensive genealogy on
our family. So I go back and appropriate ancestors’ names.
Real settings or fictional towns?
Fictional with a taste of
real places I’ve been. Did I mention I’ve lived in seven states and one foreign
country?
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters
has?
Would it be a quirk that
good-hearted Great and Mighty Wizard Moire Ain can’t seem to get the words
right to her spells? She’s honestly earned the Bumblespells Wizard title.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
What makes you think I’m
quirky? Who told?
If you could have written any book (one that someone
else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
Clowns of God. It’s touched me like no other book.
Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s
yours?
Just one? Yipes! Maybe we
should move on.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Lying. I cannot bear a
liar.
You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your
three must-haves?
Ice and two other authors so we could talk and create forever.
Ocean or mountains?
Both. But I love trees so
much, I think mountains edge it out.
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
In between.
What’s on the horizon for you?
We are moving from the
gorgeous Kentucky Blue Grass to Pennsylvania to stalk our only child, the
Lehigh University professor. No. Not downsizing like normal folk. We’re buying
22 acres so First Husband, aka Prince Consort, and the dogs can run and play
all day while I write. Did I mention I’m optimistic?
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself
and/or your books?
In addition to this sequel
to The Lazy Dragon and the Bumblespells Wizard, the third of my
short ebooks releases Dec. 1—Bubbles and Smush: Dragon Rescue. The ebook series is based on a minor comic
character from The Lazy Dragon, and
his eccentric cousin. These are so much fun to write. Very expensive, though.
$.99 each. Yipes!
Dragon Bonded
In this quirky adventure through various fantasy realms, dragon Hazel and
her (former) best friend Gaelyn struggle to foil a villainous unicorn. Ever
since her brother Cl'rnce and his wizard partner were crowned the Dr'gon
Primus, Hazel has had her paws full dealing with all the work. Cl'rnce might
wear the crown, but Hazel is the one cleaning up the messes her prankster
brother leaves behind. To manage everything, Hazel relies on her own Wizard
Partner, the unflappable Galeyn. When Cl’rnce is poisoned, it’s Gaelyn that
Hazel turns to for help. However, Gaelyn has been keeping secrets of her
own—secrets she never intended to share, not even with a friend like Hazel.
Gaelyn struggles to hide her true self, but is unable to lie when her secret is
revealed. Now caught between their former friendship and their new distrust for
one another, the two must work together if they are going to save Cl’rnce’s
life from a foe neither of them had expected.
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