Op-Dec: Operation Deceit VBT

Blurb:

A shadowy past becomes a sinister future… It's 1933 and the height of Boston's social season. Claire Healey overhears a terrible argument between her industrial-tycoon father and her socialite mother. Claire's father sends her mother away, declaring she is hysterical with fatigue. Displaced by this disastrous outcome, Claire is brought to New York by her spirited aunt, to be raised beyond the reach of the damaging turn of events.

Nine years later, Claire returns to her childhood home to face her past once more. The world has long since exploded in war. A mysterious stranger named Carsten Reiniger has infiltrated the scene, placing his commanding presence among the old familiar faces of Boston's elite. Intrigued by the newcomer, Claire struggles to piece together his identity and finds a dangerous connection to her troubling past. When Claire's prying comes to light, she and her aunt are whisked away in the middle of the night to ensure their silence. Can Carsten Reiniger be trusted or is he implacably loyal to duty alone?

Excerpt:

Aunt looked to Claire, who was nestled tight against her. She squeezed Claire even tighter and warily eyed Father. He glared at Claire with an unspoken threat.

“Carroll,” Aunt said with disbelief. “Look, it doesn’t have to be like this.”

“I don’t expect you to understand, Noreen,” Father said, lifting his chin arrogantly. “Let me make it simple. Your sister is sitting in a hospital in Switzerland for discovering the very same thing your niece did this evening. Do you really think I’m just going to let both of you walk out the door—to waltz off and talk to the police?”

Aunt’s mouth popped open. She struggled to find the right words to sling at him.

“You—f-f-ink,” Aunt said.

Father chuckled. “Careful, Noreen, or I may put you there with her.”

Carsten reappeared from the office and handed Claire’s father a slip of paper. The younger of the pair seemed a bit anxious. Claire’s eyes switched back and forth between them as her father read.

“Tonight,” Father murmured. He rubbed his chin with two fingers and exhaled. “So be it.”

Father tucked the slip of paper into his pocket. He pivoted back to Claire and her Aunt, throwing his hands up and joining them in a loud clap.

“So be it,” he cried at them. Aunt tensed, drawing Claire tighter to her side. “Mr. Reiniger—take the women into the office and keep them under guard while I have the servants make our final preparations.” He smirked, amused by something. “You can finish your date.”

K. Williams, thanks so much for stopping by. So, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?

Thanks for inviting me to the blog!  A little about me…I’m an avid dreamer turned writer down of things—a dog mom, film studies graduate and sometimes painter.


How did you get started writing?

The other day, I saw this gif of Stephen Fry talking about how he loved the typewriter so very much that he literally copied out a novel simply because he liked to type on a typewriter. I stared with joy at this for a moment, thinking, I did the same thing! I grew up with a small library of my own. My parents were very much in favor of reading and learning. Those stories, I remember just being immersed in them, visuals in my head like films. Film was also a very big thing in my house, documentaries, classic film, 1980s blockbusters. I suppose, also being located in a rural area without a lot of other children around, the mix of books and film led to a very big imagination (Sesame Street plays in my head even now, reinforcing the idea of imagination and its wonderful uses). So came High School, when the film Memphis Belle released, I was ripe for being obsessed. The story was everything for me all at once. I wanted to turn my reading and my ideas and all I had learned into stories like that one—something to remember history, inspire and entertain.


What was the inspiration for your book?

A dream. I mean that in all seriousness. I had a dream I was Claire, though she was unnamed at that moment. The scene of her homecoming, the window, meeting Carsten and her aunt sweeping in were all straight out of the dream. So was the date scene and the final few scenes, which I will not giveaway here. Usually dreams seem like really great ideas until you think about them a while, but this one…minus the date movie being Star Wars (oh, yeah, I’m a total fan), it held up to the day.


What’s the one genre you haven’t written in yet that you’d like to?

I have completed two historical fiction novels and moved onto a cross-genre trilogy called The Trailokya Trilogy. I’ve puttered around with fantasy before (High Fantasy), but never felt like it was the right fit for me. I was treading ground already well laid out. There was something else that could be done that wasn’t so well trod upon. I thought bridge the gap between fantasy and science fiction! Take things that are philosophical and put them into realistic terms. For instance, I make angels and demons real—they coming from a plane outside our universe, but they’re absolutely real and the things in religious texts are gleaned from the broken memories of us—humans—and it’s all so mixed up and confused between the reality of it, what we want things to be and what we tell ourselves it is.


Are there any genres you won’t read or write in? Why?

I favor Historical and fantasy because I write what I know or enjoy myself. I used to read a lot of romance, and that may show somewhat in my work, but it’s something I have chosen not to pursue. Women writers are often shuffled into the genre for lack of a place to put them. I’d like to write where women are usually not so welcome. It’s a challenge on more levels, breaking ground for those to come and having to outperform male counterparts substantially just to prove you belong. That might not be fair, but it’s the way it is. The challenge will make me a better writer in the long run, and that’s really more of what I am looking to do.


So, what are you working on right now? Have any releases planned, or still writing?

The first installment of the Trailokya Trilogy will be released in April along with a reissue of my first novel Blue Honor. Currently, I am finishing up the sequel to OP-DEC (OP-GHO: Operation Ghost) and will make plans once that is settled into the publication cue for what project I pick next. Trailokya two and three will come out in the next couple years.


Alright, now for some totally random, fun questions. Favorite color?

Cobalt blue (or as I call it, Giants Helmet Blue)


Favorite movie?

Just one? Young Frankenstein – I keep the script on my coffee table even though I could probably recite it to you without it.


Alright, you have one superpower. What is it?

Healing like wolverine.


You can have dinner with any 3 people, dead, alive, fictitious, etc. Who are they?

Wolverine…lol…I know. I know, I can do better than that…Boba Fett doesn’t talk much—R2D2 is unintelligible…How about Sherlock Holmes, yes! An amazing dinner conversation. Winston Churchill – former Prime Minster of Britain, WWII—I’ve read he was an awful misogynist and swore like a pirate. My future husband—‘cause I’d like to finally meet him. Or Captain America…whoever comes first.

Last question: Which of your characters are you most like and how/why?

In OP-DEC? Possibly Claire. She’s mostly an introvert as well. She internalizes a great deal to process it, unlike her best friend Sarry or Aunt. Claire is a young woman in development and the book tracks her progress on that front, and some of her behaviors are my own—longing to be more like Sarry or Veronica Lake, being attracted to Carsten and not knowing how to approach that venue without mangling it, hanging in there with zeal through some interesting times. We both have Irish ancestry and sharp tongues when needed.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

March 16: Rogues Angels
March 16: CBY Book Club
March 17: Long and Short Reviews
March 18: The Cerebral Writer
March 19: Writers and Authors
March 20: Brooke Blogs
March 23: Sharing Links and Wisdom
March 24: Room With Books
March 25: Straight from the Library
March 25: Welcome to My World of Dreams
March 26: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
March 26: FictionZeal - promo
March 27: Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews

Author Bio and Links:

Born in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she continues to reside, K.Williams embarked on a now twenty year career in writing. After a childhood, which consisted of voracious reading and hours of film watching, it was a natural progression to study and work in the arts.

K attended the State University of New York at Morrisville, majoring in the Biological Sciences, and then continued with English and Historical studies at the University at Albany (home of the New York State Writer’s Institute) gaining her Bachelor’s Degree. While attending UA, K interned with the 13th Moon Feminist Literary Magazine, bridging her interests in social movements and art.

Currently, K has completed the MALS program for Film Studies and Screenwriting at Empire State College (SUNY), and is the 2013-2014 recipient of the Foner Fellowship in Arts and Social Justice. K continues to write and is working on the novels of the Trailokya Trilogy, a work that deals with topics in Domestic Violence and crosses the controversial waters of organized religion and secularism. A sequel to OP-DEC is in the research phase, while the adaptation is being shopped to interested film companies. Excerpts of these and more writings can be found at: www.bluehonor.com.

Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Goodreads