{"id":6126,"date":"2016-04-25T01:05:39","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T05:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/?p=6126"},"modified":"2016-04-22T11:53:59","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T15:53:59","slug":"interview-with-constance-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/?p=6126","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Constance Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cwauthor\"<\/a>What is one of your favorite things about writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like telling stories that make a connection with people.\u00a0 Many years ago I learned a very valuable lesson when I was a reporter:\u00a0 I was writing an in-depth article and to protect my sources I changed the names and locations and even sexes of the people involved.\u00a0 And when the article came out I got a lot of letters from readers who were convinced that I told \u201ctheir\u201d story although I had never interviewed them.\u00a0 And then I realized that even if there were only seven basic plots in novels it was the way you wrote that story, and the attributes you gave the characters, that made it unique and connected with people.<\/p>\n

Would you tell us about your latest release? <\/strong><\/p>\n

My latest release is a Gothic mystery\u2013LOST ROSES OF GANYMEDE HOUSE.\u00a0 This is the blurb for it:<\/p>\n

“There, Miss, that be Ganymede House in the distance,” says the driver of her carriage as newly impoverished Sarah Scott gets her first glimpse of the magnificent house in Yorkshire, England, where she will live as tutor for the two children of widower Oliver Grayson.\u00a0 But, unknown to the young woman, she is about to venture into a bleak home where the children are silent, the master morose, the servants suspicious and the family history forbidding.<\/p>\n

And, as she begins to take on the responsibility for the children\u2019s education, Sarah finds herself caught up in the hostile spirit that permeates Ganymede–the portrait of Oliver’s wife, Rosamunda, that is locked away in an unused bedroom; the mysterious scent of roses in rooms where no one has entered; the mystery surrounding Rosamunda’s death and the banishment of the mother’s imprint on the children and the manor.\u00a0 Slowly Sarah comes to realize that evil inhabits the house and that she no longer is an outsider to the family–what stalks and touches Ganymede now touches her.\"cwlostroses\"<\/a>\"cwlostrosesback\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What are you working on now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m editing an entirely different novel right now that will be out in early summer. \u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s about senior citizens and the setting is a senior citizen retirement complex.\u00a0 I just felt that there are so many questions and answers for the aging family member, the children and their children and I wanted to write a book about it.\u00a0 And, I wanted to write about the joy and the good times that\u2019s still part of the elderly person\u2014that just because a person ages, it doesn\u2019t mean that they sit in rocking chairs, etc.\u00a0 There\u2019s still life!<\/p>\n

Do you have an excerpt from your latest release you would like to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is an excerpt from LOST ROSES OF GANYMEDE HOUSE and I hope you like it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere, Miss, that be Ganymede House in the distance.\u201d The driver pointed a bony finger beyond the turn of the road. \u201cYe can scarcely see the manor from here\u2014there\u2019s a bit of mist this morning\u2014but wait a while and you\u2019ll see it clear for yourself. Some say the estate is the most beautiful in the whole of Yorkshire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The carriage turned from the country road onto a private lane lined on both sides by tall stately elms. Once we passed onto the narrow dirt road and were within the confines of the low stone walls that faced the public thoroughfare, I felt chilled; the mist seemed not yet to have dissipated here, as it had across the distance we had just travelled, where the sun had already warmed the cool grounds. The contrast between where I had already been and where I was going now was virtually the same as clear and clouded, or as light and darkness. I shivered in the unexpected coolness and the driver, seeing me draw my cloak around me, tried to make me feel comfortable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sun just takes a bit longer to get here,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s something you\u2019ll be grateful for when we\u2019re in the midst of a hot summer. Then you\u2019ll be glad for the respite from the heat.\u201d Nevertheless, the man urged the horses on as though he failed to believe his own words and wanted to waste as few moments as possible within the enclosure of the darkened woods.<\/p>\n

I had always dreamed of having my own family and my own place in London society, but alas, it was not to be. As the only child of a kindly but inefficient solicitor and his equally kindly but inefficient wife, what should have been an inheritance sufficient to allow me to live in comfortable surroundings turned out, upon the reading of the wills of my parents, to be nonexistent. The inheritance I had heard about during the years I was growing up simply never materialized. Thus, at the age of nineteen, while my friends were preparing for an endless round of parties and balls, I had to consult with my father\u2019s partner about terms of employment that would allow me to live a respectable, but diminished, life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid, my dear Miss Scott,\u201d my father\u2019s partner, Henry Clayton, said, staring down at my parents\u2019 last will and testament, \u201cthat your father did not provide for you as adequately as he had wished. He had hoped that the money would be forthcoming so that he could have left an estate for you, but\u2026\u201d Mr. Clayton\u2019s voice trailed off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d I said, \u201cmy father was not the most astute of men when it came to handling finances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut a warm soul,\u201d Mr. Clayton interrupted. \u201cHe was the noblest of people. His clients came to rely on him and his word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they did not pay him, as you and I know.\u201d I took a deep breath and asked the question that I was dreading. \u201cAnd now, Mr. Clayton, what is to become of me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you have a favorite character or characters you feel especially close to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do.\u00a0 Noah and Allie are characters in a book I wrote a couple of years ago\u2013a time-travel romance about today and World War II–called IN TIME.\u00a0 It incorporated themes I\u2019m interested in\u2013time-travel, forever-beyond eternity-love, choices we all must make for ourselves, and characters who are kind and decent.\u00a0 I had played with the themes for a while before it all came together for me and when the book was finished, I hated to let Allie and Noah go–I got so involved with them that I wished they were real.<\/p>\n

Would you share one of the sexiest or most romantic lines from one of your books?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a rather mundane romantic line from IN TIME (if romantic lines could ever be mundane)\u2013but in the context of the story it\u2019s a hold-your-breath revelation:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve fallen in love with you, too.\u201d He said it barely above a whisper but in her mind the sound of his gentle voice was loud and stunning and she looked up at him and let a few more ticks of the clock echo in the room before she spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect you to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would you tell us about yourself? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been an investigative reporter, magazine writer, documentary video writer\/producer and now I write novels.\u00a0 I usually write at night because it\u2019s quiet and there\u2019s nothing to distract me.\u00a0 My dog, Jake, sleeps peacefully by my desk and I usually have a cup of coffee next to the mousepad. \u00a0And by day, I\u2019m always trying to \u201ccatch up\u201d with household things, meet-up with friends and family, food shopping, take Jake for walks\u2013all the everyday things it seems you never have enough time to do.<\/p>\n

Do you have any pets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m very much an animal lover\u2013any animal.\u00a0 I have a wonderful, wonderful, 12-year old rescued beagle\/hound\/shepherd and I\u2019m always showing his photo to friends and strangers and encouraging people to adopt a forever pet from a rescue organization or shelter and to please be kind to all animals.<\/p>\n

My Bio:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Constance Walker is the author of two Gothic mysteries, LOST ROSES OF GANYMEDE HOUSE and THE SHIMMERING STONES OF WINTER\u2019S LIGHT.\u00a0 She is also the author of IN TIME, a modern-WW2 time-travel romance and WARM WINTER LOVE, a contemporary romance about choices.<\/p>\n

My in-the-middle-of-revamping website:\u00a0 WWW.CONSTANCEWALKER.COM<\/a><\/p>\n

AMAZON LINK TO BUY:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Roses-Ganymede-House-Constance-Walker-ebook\/dp\/B01CH1KSL0\/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457053716&sr=1-2&keywords=LOST+ROSES+OF+GANYMEDE+HOUSE<\/a><\/p>\n

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