Today we meet Kaye Spencer, a fellow Coloradoan
Welcome to An Indie
Adventure, Kaye. Tell us, what inspired you to write your Halloween-themed
western romance short story, For Love of a Brystile Witch?
I wrote this story for the anthology, Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico, a
two-volume set published by Prairie Rose Publications. My story is in Volume 2.
Here’s how the story evolved: What if a woman hanged as a witch in 1692 Salem put a
generational curse on the hanging judge in the moments before she was hanged?
Then what if, 200 years after the hanging, fate brought together the last
living woman from the witch’s line and the last man from the judge’s line to
break the curse? And what if only true love will break the curse?
What were your
experiences as a child that contributed to you becoming a writer?
As an only child until I was thirteen growing up on
a cattle ranch combined with my natural ‘loner’ personality, I spent a lot of
time by myself. Once I learned to read, the clichéd ‘world of adventure’ opened
for me. About that same time, my parents bought our first television, and I
discovered what are now the classic western television programs. So all of that
taken together brought out the author in me, and I was writing my own western
stories by the time I was ten.
Do day-to-day life
experiences influence your stories?
Yes, day-to-day experiences have influenced my
stories over the years. I’ve pulled from experiences from my rodeo years, my career
in education, from raising kids, etc. An example is that crafted a villain
using the undesirable traits from three male school administrators with whom I
worked (endured, actually) lol. I even combined their names to make the
villain’s name. And, of course, I killed off the villain at the end of the
story. ;-)
What is the
first thing you do when you begin a new book?
Now this is a difficult
question for me to answer. I don’t have writing rituals, I don’t have a muse, I
rarely come up with a title until the book is finished, sometimes my characters
aren’t named until well into the story, and I’ve never started writing a story
from the first page, so hmm...
Probably what I lock down early in the book’s creation is the specific
year(s) of the time period and the setting, since I write more historicals than
contemporaries.
If you were a TV,
film or book character, apart from one you've created, who would you be? And why?
I would be Catherine Chandler from the original
1988-1990 television series, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (the Ron Perlman/Linda
Hamilton series). They were the perfect
star-crossed couple—always together, yet so far apart. Theirs was love for the
sake of love. I would change the tragic ending of the series, though, and I
would live happily ever after with Vincent.
Give us a brief
summary of “For Love of a Brystile Witch”:
Mercy Pontiere is the last ‘daughter’ in a long line of
heredity witches. Two hundred years ago, Reid Corvane’s ancestor condemned the
“Brystile witch” to hang. On the gallows, she placed a curst of short life and
great suffering on the men of the Corvane line. Unintended consequences
developed over the years that impacted both families. If Mercy overcomes two
centuries of generational hatred to find love and foregiveness for Reid, and if
he returns her love, the curse will be broken. Mercy thinks time is her ally;
Reid’s time is running out. Love must find them by All Hallows’ Eve, or the
Brystile witch will claim the life of another Corvane man. Reid has thirty-one
days and counting…
Buy Links:
Cowboys, Creatures,
and Calico Boxed Set - Vol. 1 & 2
Bio:
Native Coloradoan, Kaye Spencer writes romances from her basement hovel
in a small, rural town in the far southeastern corner of Colorado—no mountains
in sight—just prairie dogs, buffalo grass, and glorious prairie sunsets. While
drawn to cowboys and the Old West, all genres are within her story-crafting
realm.
Reading Louis L’Amour’s westerns, listening to Marty Robbins’
gunfighter ballads, watching the *classic* television westerns, and growing up
on a cattle ranch all inspired her love of the American Old West—truths and
myths alike. Kaye's favorite movie line is from ‘Quigley Down Under’. At the
end of the movie, Quigley outdraws Marston in a gunfight and, as Marston dies,
Quigley looks down at him and says, "I said I never had much use for one.
Never said I didn’t know how to use it."
Retired from a long career in public education that included teaching
through a community college outreach program, Kaye is enjoying being a
full-time writer and spoiler of grandchildren. Kaye is also afflicted with
ACD—Accumulative Cat Disorder—with no cure in sight.
Find Kaye:
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