Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Curiosity Killers
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Taylor, Kathleen W.; Kollman, Kathleen W. Taylor
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://kwtaylorwriter.com/
CITY: Dayton
STATE: OH
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://kwtaylorwriter.com/about/ * https://jlgribble.com/2015/10/12/kw-taylor-new-dog-star-books-author/ * http://rawdogscreaming.com/introducing-k-w-taylor/ * https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-w-taylor-kollman-18940716 * http://www.wright.edu/~kathleen.taylor/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married.
EDUCATION:University of Dayton, B.A., 1997; Wright State University, M.A., 2003; Seton Hill University, M.F.A., 2015.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. AGEHR, Inc., editorial assistant, 1997-98; Cityfolk, junior marketing/communication manager, 1998-2001; Books & Co., special orders representative, 2003-04; Wright State University, Dayton, OH, administrative staff, 2005-07, instructor and advisor, 2007-11, advisor, 2011–.
AWARDS:Excellence in Teaching with Writing, Writing across the Curriculum Program, Wright State University, 2010; Best Romance Story, Wordhaus, 2013.
WRITINGS
Contributor of short stories to anthologies, including Once Bitten, Never Die, Wicked East Press, 2011; 100 Worlds, Dreamscape Press, 2013; and The Grotesquerie, Mocha Memoirs Press, 2014.
SIDELIGHTS
K.A. Taylor is an author of novels, novellas, and short stories, and she has worked as an instructor and advisor at Wright State University, in Ohio. She told a contributor to Catherine Cavendish’s blog, “My day job is teaching college English, so I always have a toehold in academic and scholarly writing as well, and I especially enjoy exploring the ‘thinky’ side of popular and speculative fiction.”
The House on Concordia Drive
Taylor’s novella The House on Concordia Drive introduces an antisocial radio talk-show host named Sam Brody. The antihero protagonist hates the supernatural, believes it cannot exist, and thinks that anyone who believes otherwise is either a loon or an idiot. He spends most of his time on his nighttime talk radio show, The Red Eye, ridiculing listeners for their beliefs and debunking all things remotely mystical. So, when Sam is sent to investigate a reportedly haunted house, the house on Concordia Drive, he already knows what he is going to find. At best, it will be nothing, at worst, some scammer will try to make him a convert. The house on Concordia Drive, however, is famous for its supernatural activity, having been featured in the media because of it. Sam knows that his career hangs in the balance as he sets out to debunk any signs of haunting.
Of course, nothing is ever that simple, and this case really could shake Sam’s dogged beliefs. As he faces each supposed ghost he encounters, he must also face himself. These ghosts, Sam’s memories of the past, are what truly pose a threat to his carefully built persona. Given that The House on Concordia Drive combines the commercial appeal of a ghost story with the literary appeal of catharsis, Taylor’s work is in line with her attempts to combine the popular with the more academic. As Anton Cancre put it in his online Horror News review, “It’s a relatively complex piece, for its length, and goes against the expected direction for this type of story. There is some damn impressive talent on display here.”
The Red Eye
Sam Brody appears once again in The Red Eye, still on a mission to debunk psychics and ghosts and all things to do with the metaphysical. This time around, Sam appears to be the victim of a poltergeist, but since he does not believe in poltergeists, there must be a more natural explanation for all of the objects that begin to take flight around him. The woman who calls him and accurately describes his own dreams must also be explained away, as must a mysterious coworker who constantly smells of sulfur. As Sam sets out to get to the bottom of these strange phenomena, he discovers that he has a stalker who may be to blame. Now that Sam knows the threat against him is human, he reluctantly turns to his ex-wife, who happens to be a police officer.
Reviews of The Red Eye were largely positive, with Horror News correspondent Cancre announcing that “the dialogue had personality. There were touches of how the relationships worked that were gorgeous. Taylor’s prose flowed as clean as a mountain stream. It says a lot that, despite the issues I had, I flew through reading this.”
The Curiosity Killers
In the stand-alone science-fiction novel The Curiosity Killers, Taylor offers a story set in a dystopian reality. Most of the southern and midwestern regions of the United States have broken away and reformed as the Renartian Alliance of America. This new country is at war with the liberal coasts, attacking universities and making sure that scientific and technological advancements are either stalled or destroyed. One scientist, Edward Vere, is so determined to stop the aggressions of the Renartian Alliance that he sets out to discover a time-travel device so that he can end the alliance before it begins. Edward’s efforts lead to a bizarre series of events, beginning with Wilbur Wright (one half of the Wright brothers). When Edward accidentally pulls Wilbur out of a past time line and into Edward’s present, the two inventors decide to work together to advance Edward’s work in time travel. Unfortunately, as Edward and Wilbur get ever closer to a breakthrough, their research and equipment are stolen. The technology lands in the hands of Claudio Florence, the leader of the Renartian Alliance. Claudio plans to use it to ensure that his successor is as successful as he is.
As a Publishers Weekly critic put it, “Taylor’s likable characters and solid narrative style make the ridiculousness of the plot almost palatable.” A reviewer on J.L. Gribble’s blog was equally laudatory, asserting that The Curiosity Killers “is not your typical science fiction novel. Nor is it your typical dystopia, steampunk, alternate history, or time-travel novel. When you add serial killers and urban legends such as the Mothman, it sounds like it should be a mess. Instead, Taylor melds all of these elements to a create a fantastical voyage through time.” The reviewer also praised Taylor for “creating an alternate future in which the Victorian-inspired steampunk aesthetic actually makes sense.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, April 18, 2016, review of The Curiosity Killers, p. 102.
ONLINE
Catherine Cavendish Web site, http://www.catherinecavendish.com/ (November 1, 2011), author interview.
Horror News, http://horrornews.net/ (August 9, 2014), Anton Cancre, review of The Red Eye; (August 12, 2014), Anton Cancre, review of The House on Concordia Drive.
J.L. Gribble Web site, https://jlgribble.com/ (October 12, 2015), “KW Taylor: New Dog Star Books Author!”; (May 5, 2016), review of The Curiosity Killers.
K.W. Taylor Home Page, https://kwtaylorwriter.com (March 1, 2017).
Wright State University Web site, http://www.wright.edu/ (March 1, 2017), author profile.*
About
K.W. Taylor’s debut novel The Red Eye marks her fiftieth publication credit (Alliteration Ink, 2014). Her first science fiction novel, The Curiosity Killers, will be released by Dog Star Books in 2016. She has short stories in the anthologies The Grotesquerie (Mocha Memoirs Press, 2014), 100 Worlds (Dreamscape Press, 2013), Sidekicks! (Alliteration Ink, 2013), Touched by Darkness (Etopia Press, 2012), and Once Bitten, Never Die (Wicked East Press, 2011), as well as many print and electronic magazines. Taylor’s two short novellas, The House on Concordia Drive (Alliteration Ink) and We Shadows Have Offended (Etopia Press), were released in 2014 and 2011 respectively. Taylor serves on several panels for local, regional and international literary grant awards and writing contests, and graduated from the innovative Writing Popular Fiction MFA program at Seton Hill University in 2015. Taylor teaches college English and Women’s Studies in Dayton, Ohio, where she lives in a restored nineteenth-century home with her husband. When not writing, Taylor enjoys yoga, doing crafts badly, and collecting board games. She blogs at http://www.kwtaylorwriter.com.
For media inquiries, email kwtaylorwriter AT gmail DOT com.
KW Taylor: New Dog Star Books author!
OCTOBER 12, 2015 / STEELVICTORY
KW Taylor
KW Taylor
Some facts you might not know about speculative fiction writer K.W. Taylor:
Like me, she is from Dayton, Ohio. By law, all Dayton writers must go by their initials for publication.
Her adorable tabby cat Dharma and my blue-point Siamese Alex are having a sordid long-distance romance.
In our spare time, we front a postmodern industrial synth band as K-Dub and DJ Scribbles, featuring all of the Dog Star Books authors (with Matt Betts on bass, Albert Wendland on key-tar, and K. Ceres Wright on drums).
Okay, that last one might not be entirely true.
So, here’s the good news! K.W. Taylor is now officially part of the Dog Star Books/Raw Dog Screaming Press family! From the official blog post: “RDSP is happy to announce that we’ve signed K.W. Taylor’s time travel novel The Curiosity Killers for release in 2016 under the Dog Star Books imprint.”
Like my own Steel Victory, it was her thesis novel for Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction graduate program. I first heard K.W. read the first chapter of The Curiosity Killers at a writing retreat last spring, and I have been dying to read more ever since. I’m a big fan of her protagonist Sam Brody (of The Red Eye), and I know that I will be just as entertained by Ben Jonson!
Please join me in congratulating K.W. Taylor! You can find her online at her blog and on Twitter (@kwtaylorwriter) and Instragram (@kwtk).
K.W. Taylor Release Scheduled for 2016
RDSP is happy to announce that we’ve signed K.W. Taylor’s time travel novel The Curiosity Killers for release in 2016 under the Dog Star Books imprint.
K.W. Taylor is the author of the urban fantasy Sam Brody series, about a dragonslaying disc jockey (The Red Eye and The House on Concordia Drive, both 2014 from Alliteration Ink). She has an MFA from Seton Hill University. Taylor lives in a restored Victorian home in Ohio with her tech writer husband and—unlike every other novelist in the world—an insanely photogenic kitten. She teaches college English and Women’s Studies and blogs at kwtaylorwriter.com. The Curiosity Killers is her first science fiction novel.
In The Curiosity Killers, Ben Jonson is a failure—a failure at living up to his noble parents’ expectations of him, a failure in love, and a failure in his career. With his dissertation on historical mysteries proving to be his latest failure, he uses the one thing he does have—money—to fund a physicist’s time travel experiments. But when a time traveling serial killer targets the woman he loves, mild-mannered Ben must summon the courage to change history rather than merely observing it.
Kathleen W. Taylor Kollman
Fiction Writer, Lecturer of English, Women's Studies Affiliate Faculty, and College Advisor.
Dayton, OhioHigher Education
Current
Wright State University
Previous
Wright State University, Books & Co., Cityfolk
Education
Seton Hill University
101
connectionsSend Kathleen W. Taylor InMailMore options
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-w-taylor-kollman-18940716
Background
Summary
Lecturer of English and affiliate faculty in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program. Teaching composition, literature, women's studies, and creative writing. Writer, currently primarily of genre fiction. College advisor for humanities and social science majors.
Specialties: gender in the media, queer theory, writing, fiction writing, creative non-fiction writing, media criticism, English language and literature, academic advising, higher education administration, non-profit marketing, composition and rhetoric, twentieth-century American literature, science fiction literature and media
Full publication credits available at www.kwtaylorwriter.com. Select recent publications listed below.
CV
CV
Experience
Lecturer of English; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Affiliate Faculty; and College Advisor
Wright State University
2011 – Present (6 years)Dayton, Ohio
Teaching college composition, literature, women's studies, and creative writing. Advising humanities and social science students in the College of Liberal Arts.
Served as Interim Assistant Dean for Academic Services in 2012.
(Open)3 honors and awards
Instructor of English and College Advisor
Wright State University
2007 – 2011 (4 years)Dayton, Ohio
Teaching college composition, literature, women's studies, and creative writing. Advising humanities and social science students in the College of Liberal Arts.
Served as Interim Assistant Dean for Academic Services in 2012.
Administrative staff
Wright State University
2005 – 2007 (2 years)Dayton, Ohio
Worked with the Assistant Dean and College Advisors as advising assistant in all Liberal Arts majors. Performed changes of major and minor and other administrative duties related to student support services (2006-2007). Worked with the Department Chair, faculty, and staff as support for a variety of student service and administrative functions. (2005-2006).
Special Orders Representative
Books & Co.
2003 – 2004 (1 year)Kettering, Ohio
Performed customer service and bookseller functions. Led book clubs and maintained specific store sales-floor sections.
Junior Marketing-Communication Manager
Cityfolk
1998 – 2001 (3 years)Dayton, Ohio
Box office management, public service announcement and advertising copywriting, and special event customer service.
Editorial Assistant
The AGEHR, Inc.
1997 – 1998 (1 year)Centerville, Ohio
Assisted in the editing, layout, and design of Overtones, bimonthly journal for non-profit music educators’ organization.
Volunteer Experience & Causes
Playreader
Dayton Playhouse
April 2013 – December 2014 (1 year 9 months)Arts and Culture
Opportunities Kathleen W. Taylor is looking for:
Joining a nonprofit board
Skills-based volunteering (pro bono consulting)
Causes Kathleen W. Taylor cares about:
Arts and Culture
Education
Politics
Organizations Kathleen W. Taylor supports:
American Association of University Professors
Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)
Courses
Seton Hill University
Readings in Genre Literature
Term Writing Project
Writing Residency
Publications
The Red Eye (novel)(Link)
Alliteration Ink
March 2014
Urban fantasy; my debut novel and fiftieth publication credit.
The House on Concordia Drive (novelette)(Link)
Alliteration Ink
March 2014
Mystery/horror novelette. Prequel to full-length novel THE RED EYE.
"Dharma" (short story)(Link)
The Grotesquerie: An Anthology of Women in Horror (anthology)
February 2014
Anthology from Mocha Memoirs Press.
"Harmonia Axyridis" (short story)(Link)
100 Worlds (anthology)
October 2013
Flash fiction anthology from Dreamscape Press.
"Doomed" (short story)(Link)
Sidekicks! (anthology)
March 1, 2013
Part of the anthology SIDEKICKS!--stories of second bananas and partners-in-heroics.
We Shadows Have Offended (novella)(Link)
Etopia Press
October 31, 2011
Horror novella, period piece, soon to be republished by Wild Crow.
"The Found Girl" (short story)(Link)
wordhaus
July 24, 2013
Rebooting your life after tragedy.
"The Curiosity Killers" (short story)(Link)
WordRiver Literary Review
2012
Early, short story version of steampunk novel in progress.
"She Lets Her Ladder Down"(Link)
Twenty or Less Press
March 14, 2012
Short piece about the challenges of sisterhood.
"Iannic-ann-ôd" (short story)(Link)
Dark Fire Fiction
January 2012
Part of a flash fiction cycle of reimagined Breton folk tales.
"Sparkling Teeth and Sacrifices" (short story)(Link)
Once Bitten, Never Die (anthology)
December 2011
Snow White plus vampires.
Languages
English
Native or bilingual proficiency
French
Limited working proficiency
Skills
Top Skills
5Creative Writing
Fiction Writing
2College Teaching
12Teaching
1University Teaching
4Literature
9Higher Education
4Editing
1Copywriting
6Public Speaking
Kathleen W. Taylor also knows about...
2Research
Women's Studies
Creative Non-fiction
American Literature
Community Outreach
Student Engagement
Student Recruiting
Education
Seton Hill University
Seton Hill University
Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Creative Writing
2012 – 2015
Creative writing MFA in Writing Popular Fiction (science fiction/fantasy/horror).
Activities and Societies: Writing Popular Fiction program
(Open)1 project
(Open)3 courses
Wright State University
Wright State University
Graduate Certificate, Instructional Design for Online Learning, 4.0
2014 – 2015
Completed graduate certificate in Instructional Design for Online Learning, May 2015.
(Open)1 project
Kathleen Kollman: Instructional Design Porfolio
Kathleen Kollman: Instructional Design Porfolio
Wright State University
Wright State University
Graduate Certificate, Women's Studies, 4.0
2001 – 2013
Activities and Societies: Women's Studies Affiliate Faculty Member
Wright State University
Wright State University
MA, English, 3.66
2001 – 2003
Concentration in Literature with independent project on E.M. Forster.
Activities and Societies: English Graduate Organization
University of Dayton
University of Dayton
BA, Communication Arts
1993 – 1997
Concentration in Electronic Media (broadcasting) with focus on radio.
Activities and Societies: Amnesty International, University Chorale
Additional Info
Interests
Research and Teaching Interests Breton folklore, business writing, composition and rhetoric, creative writing (fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction), digital humanities, feminist literary theory, French literature in translation, gender and women’s studies, genre media and literature, instructional design, late nineteenth/early twentieth century British and American literature, and queer theory.
Personal Details
Birthday June 20
Advice for Contacting Kathleen W. Taylor
Wright State directory information: http://people.wright.edu/kathleen.kollman
Projects
Instructional Design Portfolio(Link)
Starting August 2014
This web site is a portfolio and set of lessons I am designing in the Instructional Design for Online Learning graduate certificate program at Wright State University. In the lessons for each course, I describe information gleaned from texts on teaching, technology, and the intersection thereof, as well as how to implement strategies for the teaching of creative writing. Lessons are divided up for...more
The Curiosity Killers
January 2013 – June 2015
Thesis: The Curiosity Killers, science fiction, 90,000 words
Advisors: Tim Waggoner and Heidi Ruby Miller
Science fiction novel with elements of thriller, alternate history, and steampunk. A wealthy historian sends clients back in time to learn the truth about famous unsolved mysteries. Readers meet the Wright Brothers, Jack the Ripper, and the lost colony of Roanoke, all against a backdrop of a...more
Organizations
Association of Writers and Writing Programs
Starting August 2014
Honors & Awards
Learning Communities Guest Speaker: Outstanding Guest Speaker Recognition
Wright State University
March 2013
Learning Communities Instructor: Outstanding Ratings Distinction
Wright State University
March 2012
Excellence in Teaching with Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum Program
Wright State University
May 2010
Best Romance Story
wordhaus
November 2013
Short story “The Found Girl” awarded Best Romance Story in Best of wordhaus anthology contest, November 2013.
People's Book Award nomination
People's Book Awards
September 2013
Anthology Touched by Darkness, featuring “We Shadows Have Offended,” nominated for a People’s Book Award, September 3, 2013.
Featured Artist
Weekly Artist
April 2012
Best of the Net nomination
Best of the Net Awards
December 2011
Nominated for a Best of the Net Award for short story “Phlegmatic,” 2011.
Kathleen Taylor Kollman
Lecturer of English, Women's Studies Affiliate Faculty, and College Advisor
Office Hours: Summer and Fall Wednesdays 10:00-11:00 am and by appointment
E-mail: kathleen.kollman@wright.edu
K.W. Taylor's first science fiction novel, The Curiosity Killers, debuts from Dog Star Books in 2016. She is also the author of the urban fantasy Sam Brody series, about a dragonslaying disc jockey (The Red Eye and The House on Concordia Drive, both from Alliteration Ink). She has short stories in the anthologies The Grotesquerie (Mocha Memoirs Press, 2014), 100 Worlds (Dreamscape Press, 2013), Sidekicks! (Alliteration Ink, 2013), Touched by Darkness (Etopia Press, 2012), and Once Bitten, Never Die (Wicked East Press, 2011), as well as many print and electronic magazines. She holds an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, blogs at kwtaylorwriter.com, and tries to make her cat internet famous on Twitter @kwtaylorwriter.
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
'We Shadows Have Offended'
An Interview with K W Taylor
Today, I am delighted to be able to chat to Kathleen whose compelling Horror novella ‘We Shadows Have Offended’ has just been published by Etopia Press.
If you haven’t read it yet, here’s a bit of background to the story:
After the death of a mutual friend, Sam, Bill, and Roger can no longer hide from the memories of what they all did that day... the day they killed the little girl. The little girl who wasn’t a little girl. Now it’s back, and it’s looking for them, leaving death and destruction in its wake, hell-bent on revenge. Can Sam summon the strength and courage to make a sacrifice that will save his friends and family?
Catherine: Welcome Kathleen and congratulations on publication of ‘We Shadows Have Offended’. Without giving too much away, this is a highly compelling and inventive story of retribution. Is this an idea you worked on for a long time or did the inspiration suddenly come to you one day?
Kathleen: Thanks, Catherine! I actually started this piece back in 2008 based on a writing prompt from one of my fiction-writing colleagues. He issued a challenge to several friends to write a flash piece simply based on the word “beginnings.” I fleshed this out to a working title of “The Beginning of Shame,” but then the story branched off into other directions and no longer really has any connection to that original idea. At first, this was supposed to just be a straightforward piece of period literary fiction about the first protagonist, Hammond, getting acquitted for murder but getting confronted by the victim’s father. That was actually all it was going to be, and it was just a couple of pages long. Then I got to wondering why he’d get acquitted, why he killed the young Naval officer in the first place, and it became a much longer, occult-tinged horror story. I think I had an idea of a nameless, faceless evil in mind as I wrote the rest of it, but I wanted to retain the original atmosphere of these strong, practical Midwesterners in a kind of vague era between the 1940s and ‘60s. I wanted the characters to seem relatable, but also retain a little of a bygone time period, which I felt made it seem more mysterious.
Catherine: What made you start writing and when did you begin?
Kathleen: *****I’ve always written stories, ever since I was little, but I got much more serious about it in my early twenties. When I realized I wanted to be a writer, I left my job to study literature and creative writing in graduate school, earning a master’s degree in 2003. In the mid-2000s, I was a part-time television and media critic for a local newspaper, and that got my confidence up to inspire me to begin submitting my short stories to markets. Since really committing myself to my craft, I’ve had fifteen pieces of fiction published, as well as over twenty reviews, essays, and pieces of media or literary criticism. My day job is teaching college English, so I always have a toehold in academic and scholarly writing as well, and I especially enjoy exploring the “thinky” side of popular and speculative fiction.***
Catherine: In addition to Horror, you also write Fantasy and Science Fiction. What draws you to each of your preferred genres?
Kathleen: I sort of put everything under the umbrella of speculative fiction. If it’s not a straightforward, realistic story, I’m drawn to it, as both a writer and a reader. Though I have written more dramatic literary fiction, it’s almost never what I pick up to read for fun. I think the appeal for me is simply the heightened emotions involved. Characters make or break a piece of writing, and when you throw well-written characters into extraordinary circumstances, that brings all their personality traits out into a kind of wild, exaggerated place that forces them to examine their strengths and weaknesses. Speculative fiction can also do amazing things with metaphor, argument, theme, and general experimentation of form that I don’t think literary fiction can do as well. At the end of the day, I suppose I just like the idea that a work takes the reader completely out of his or her daily reality. Yes, there’s something to be said for a piece ringing really true to real life, but isn’t it that much more interesting to be taken on a journey through a land of fairies or vampires or out into the stars to other planets? Reading and writing is all about letting your mind explore things without the hindrance of reality.
Catherine: You have the knack of scaring your readers, but what scares you the most?
Kathleen: I think I covered a lot of my personal fears in ‘We Shadows,’ many of which are fairly universal: the body snatcher idea, the notion that the person you trust and know—or even the stranger you see walking down the street—isn’t quite human. That someone has been taken over and invaded by something with no regard for life or reason. That threat, the wildcard, the entity you can no longer trust…that’s terrifying. It’s sort of like the zombie or vampire trope but with a bit of a twist that I think makes it scarier. Being unable to trust the person next to you…that’s a horrible notion that throws everything into uncertainty, and I think a lot of horror works on that general idea of uncertainty. What was that noise? What are you doing with that knife? Why are you growing lots of fur and growling? We don’t understand what’s happening, and so we’re just insane with fear as we wait for the situation to resolve itself.
In real life, I probably struggle with uncertainty. I’m not scared of a lot of general things that people tend to find frightening—for example, I’m a big defender of snakes as not being scary, and I don’t really believe in ghosts. But life uncertainty, that’s pretty upsetting. I’m a mess if I’m waiting for something to happen: a phone call, an answer to a big life-changing question, test results, that sort of thing. That’s actual horror, not the alien invasion or bloodsucking fiends. Just regular uncertainty over your own life.
Catherine: What are you currently working on?
Kathleen: I’m always tapping away at a couple of different pieces at once. I’ve been toiling away at two different urban fantasy novels, one of which I’ve chipped away at since 2005, the other since 2008. Thankfully, they’re both almost finished at long last, and they’re both very comedic and completely different in tone from ‘We Shadows.’ I’m also creating a composite novel of interlocking short stories set in the same steampunk universe; that work will be a bit darker, a bit more adult, but still not quite as dark as ‘We Shadows.’ The only other horror I have in the pipeline is much shorter; I recently completed a multi-story cycle of horror flash fiction based on the mythology of medieval Brittany.
Catherine: What advice would you give to anyone who wants to get their story published?
Kathleen: The most important thing I ever did with regard to my fiction writing was join some writing groups. My primary group, one that meets in person once a month locally, has done so much for my confidence and abilities. I could not have done it without those folks, and we do so much for each other in terms of networking, marketing, and even just basic proofreading. It’s phenomenal and has helped all of us do amazing things. We’re able to give each other leads on markets to pursue (and avoid!). We’ve also worked together on common projects, like round robin stories and experimental collections, shared PR ideas, that sort of thing. More than anything, I think a new writer needs a group like this in order to really get their work into shape. You’re always able to be a better critic and editor of someone else’s work, and so even if you’re all starting at the same level when you begin working together, you’ll help each other improve so quickly.
Catherine: If you had your own TV chat show and could interview 3 people (living or dead), who would they be and what would you want to talk about?
Kathleen: I would love to interview some of the most prolific authors whose work I enjoy and find out exactly how they manage it! Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates immediately come to mind. Those two have such an amazing work ethic! I’d like to get a peek into their writing routine. I’d also love to find out from Bram Stoker how he feels about the current state of vampire fiction. It’s become almost a genre unto itself and one I have a hard time thinking about writing in because it seems everything fresh has already been done. Maybe it’s time to look back at the master of the form, go back to the origins and whatnot.
Catherine: Thank you very much for joining us today. Where can we find out more about you and, crucially, where can we find your book?
Kathleen: Thanks for having me!
I’m on Twitter at @kwtaylorwriter, Facebook at www.facebook.com/kwtaylorwriter, and I always link new blog entries both places.
‘We Shadows Have Offended’ is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, OmniLit, and it’s coming soon to Sony, Kobo, and the iBookstore.
Here’s an excerpt to give you just a flavour of ‘We Shadows Have Offended’:
The memory often played itself inside Mensonge’s head as he slept, though seldom vivid enough to cause him to wake up screaming. On the plane from New York to Chicago, he fell into a twilight slumber full of an endless loop of the worst thirty minutes of his entire life.
One second, it had been four boys sitting on a rusty metal carousel as it lazily spun in the late October breeze. Bill was lighting matches and flicking them off into piles of leaves. Hammond was smacking him on the back of the head for doing so every time he caught him. “My mama’s going to bust you, fool,” Hammond would say. “Gonna burn the whole house down.”
Sam just laughed at the two of them, while Roger himself wished he were brave enough to go play with tiny Nona Centini as she sat on the sidewalk nearby, alternately hugging and beating her beloved grey teddy bear. Roger’s tiny cousin whom they’d left back in Haiti was just Nona’s age, and he missed her painfully.
“What’s the funny talker think?” Bill was asking.
Roger glared at him and longed to answer in his native tongue but didn’t dare. Bill was the only one of the boys who mocked him, and Roger didn’t care for his attitude. “Something is wrong with your head,” he told Bill.
That was when Sam had gasped and began to point. “Not his head,” Sam had murmured. “What’s wrong with Nona?”
There was no longer a sweet toddler on the sidewalk. Nona’s bear was cast onto the grass, and there was still a tiny figure wearing her crisp, white dress. The thing inside the dress, however, was very clearly no longer human.
Posted by Catherine Cavendish at 11:52
The Curiosity Killers
Publishers Weekly. 263.16 (Apr. 18, 2016): p102.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Listen
Full Text:
The Curiosity Killers
K.W. Taylor. Dog Star, $14.95 trade paper (220p) ISBN 978-1-935738-81-7
Fantasy author Taylor (The Red Eye) switches to science fiction in this ambitious but often disjointed tale of dystopia and time travel. In an almost-standard future dystopian world, a large part of the American South and Midwest has seceded and formed the Renartian Alliance of America (RAA), inexplicably "sabotaging [East Coast] universities and sending [their] technology backward to nearly Victorian-era antiquity." Against this setting, scientist Edward Vere has a time-travel breakthrough, inadvertently pulling Wilbur Wright through from the past. As the two inventors join forces to continue Vere's research, their technology is stolen, and the head of the RAA himself, Claudio Florence, uses it to set in motion a bizarre plan to find his successor, deciding that pulling Virginia Dare into the future from Roanoke is the only option. ***Taylor's likable characters and solid narrative style make the ridiculousness of the plot almost palatable***, but this isn't a story that stands up to even the slightest scrutiny. (June)
Review: THE CURIOSITY KILLERS by K.W. Taylor
MAY 5, 2016 / STEELVICTORY
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THE CURIOSITY KILLERS by K.W. Taylor
Today I’m celebrating the launch of K.W. Taylor’s first science-fiction novel, The Curiosity Killers! This book is close to my heart because I have been friends with the author since she was still writing it, cheered her on as it passed as her thesis for Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction graduate program, and then threw her together with my publishers at Raw Dog Screaming Press/Dog Star Books and cackled to myself as the sparks flew. This phenomenal book is the inevitable end result.
In the twenty-second century, a second Civil War is decades past. The states of the New British Empire have been reduced to working with Victorian-era technology–that is, except physicist Edward Vere, who invents time travel with a little help from aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright.
Vere partners with historian Ben Jonson to monetize the invention, founding the first time travel agency. Unbeknownst to them, a serial killer is using the technology to murder without detection. When Ben discovers the killer has targeted the woman he loves, the mild-mannered academic must become brave enough to change history rather than merely observing it.
If the style of the cover looks familiar, it’s because it was created by the same artist who designed my own Steel Victory cover and the upcoming Steel Magic cover! Brad Sharp continues to create standout artwork that definitely makes all of the Dog Star novels pop.
I was also honored to be asked to provide a quote to help promote the novel!
“Taylor’s first foray into science-fiction borrows from her urban fantasy and horror background for a unique spin on the time travel novel. The Curiosity Killers is an exciting adventure set in a beautifully detailed alternate United States with enough serial killers, monsters, and mystery to keep readers on their toes.”
–J.L. Gribble, author of the Steel Empires series
The Curiosity Killers is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM!, and directly from the publisher.
On to my official review…
Disclaimer: I am friends with the author, we share a publisher, I proofed this book before publication, and I provided a cover quote. However, I purchased a copy of this book for full price.
***The Curiosity Killers is not your typical science fiction novel. Nor is it your typical dystopia, steampunk, alternate history, or time-travel novel. When you add serial killers and urban legends such as the Mothman, it sounds like it should be a mess. Instead, Taylor melds all of these elements to a create a fantastical voyage through time*** that goes back to the legend of the lost colony of Roanoke, visits the home of the Wright brothers, peeks in on the locations of some famous serial murders and other unexplained events, jumps forward to an vastly changed United States, and even swings by an alternate dimension for a surprising detour.
This journey is led by a well-rounded (and diverse!) cast of characters that include a not-quite mad scientist, a historian who finds his adventurous side, some adventurers who dabble in history, and a super-villain who looks scarily familiar in our own political age.
The only downside to such a large cast is that there were a few characters I wish I could have spent more time with, including Wilbur Wright and those closest to him. However, even though Taylor bounces around in both time and place, I was never confused about where I was, when I was, or which narrator was guiding me. Though Taylor’s previous novel I have read (The Red Eye) featured a single first-person point of view, she is equally deft at balancing multiple third-person narration streams.
And finally, one of Taylor’s greatest feats in this novel (besides keeping so many timelines straight and avoiding paradox) is ***creating an alternate future in which the Victorian-inspired steampunk aesthetic actually makes sense.***
Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.
Book Review: The House on Concordia Drive – Author K.W. Taylor
Anton Cancre 08/12/2014 Book Reviews
ConcordiaI wasn’t particularly sure about reviewing this one. After all, it’s a short, cheap oneshot to draw in an audience for the followup novel (The Red Eye) and I already reviewed that one. But, due to the huge difference in tone, structure and effect between the two, I decided that it warranted me chiming in on.
Sam Brody is a bit of an ass. He also likes to harangue people via his nightly radio show, The Red Eye, while debunking claims of supernatural phenomenon. Now, he has been sent out to look into the story of a famous haunted house, the source of at least one major movie. It is the type of story that could make his career, if he can get it to break.
Ostensibly, the above is the plot of The House on Concordia Drive, but that isn’t really what it is about. At least, that isn’t what I was taking away from it. It is, instead, a story about an asshole who is being forced to deal with the repercussions of his own selfish and self-centered behavior. From the asshole’s point of view. The mystery is there, the investigation is there, but those felt more like ciphers to me. This element is also where the book really shines.
K.W. Taylor works with a terrific sense of brevity and subtlety here. She doesn’t bother to break from Brody’s interior at any point, so we are never told directly how to feel about him. He seems to think he’s pretty awesome and that comes through. However, she lets his actions speak for themselves, while using the background of the haunting to reflect his own personality and shortcomings. Admittedly, the imagery at the end, with the birds and the references to The Odyssey and the phone screen, is a tad heavier handed than I would have preferred but she still shows a remarkable level of trust in the audience.
***It’s a relatively complex piece, for its length, and goes against the expected direction for this type of story. There is some damn impressive talent on display here.***
November 18, 2014
The House on Concordia Drive (Alliteration Ink), by K.W. Taylor
By evisceratingpen
I wasn’t particularly sure about reviewing this one. After all, it’s a short, cheap oneshot to draw in an audience for the followup novel (The Red Eye) and I already reviewed that one. But, due to the huge difference in tone, structure and effect between the two, I decided that it warranted me chiming in on.
Sam Brody is a bit of an ass. He also likes to harangue people via his nightly radio show, The Red Eye, while debunking claims of supernatural phenomenon. Now, he has been sent out to look into the story of a famous haunted house, the source of at least one major movie. It is the type of story that could make his career, if he can get it to break.
Ostensibly, the above is the plot of The House on Concordia Drive, but that isn’t really what it is about. At least, that isn’t what I was taking away from it. It is, instead, a story about an asshole who is being forced to deal with the repercussions of his own selfish and self-centered behavior. From the asshole’s point of view. The mystery is there, the investigation is there, but those felt more like ciphers to me. This element is also where the book really shines.
K.W. Taylor works with a terrific sense of brevity and subtlety here. She doesn’t bother to break from Brody’s interior at any point, so we are never told directly how to feel about him. He seems to think he’s pretty awesome and that comes through. However, she lets his actions speak for themselves, while using the background of the haunting to reflect his own personality and shortcomings. Admittedly, the imagery at the end, with the birds and the references to The Odyssey and the phone screen, is a tad heavier handed than I would have preferred but she still shows a remarkable level of trust in the audience.
It’s a relatively complex piece, for its length, and goes against the expected direction for this type of story. There is some damn impressive talent on display here.
Cover art: I really like the somewhat German-expressionist skewed angularity and stark lack of color. Despite the simplicity of the image, it is evocative enough to grab attention from across a room.
Book Review: The Red Eye – Author K.W. Taylor
Anton Cancre 08/09/2014 Book Reviews
the red eyeMeet Sam Brody, skeptic extraordinaire and late night host of The Red Eye, a radio show where he debunks myths of supernatural, psychic and otherworldly goofiness. So what does he do when he finds himself thrust neck deep into the same sort of stuff he professionally calls bullshit on? Say, for instance, items start exploding or flying around when he is near? Or the coworker who reeks of sulfur and the crazy redhead who calls him up, telling him about his dreams? Obviously, some craziness must ensue.
I am sorry if I sound a bit flippant in the above, but I was tossed around by the abrupt changes in both character and thematic thrust from the preceding House on Concordia Drive (an introduction to the character and, ostensibly, his world) to this work. One of the things that impressed me about that story was that it didn’t go for the obvious and overused approach of having the skeptic changed to a believer by the wild and wacky ways of the spiritual realm. This story, however, falls into that same trap. Similarly, I like how honestly Concordia portrayed a selfish, egotistical bastard in the midst of a collapsing personal life without demonizing or glorifying him. Again, here we have him quickly shift to a slightly gruff teddy bear once he has a girlfriend to be all cuddly with. The shift was too jarring for me and that affected my experience.
At its heart, The Red Eye seems to be an attempt to tell a very traditional fairy tale in a modern context. You’ve got the white knight, the wizened wizard, the maiden fair and the big, bad dragon. I get the attempt, but it causes several problems. The big bad is a cardboard cutout of evil, with no sense of motivation or personality beyond that. The feminine interest has no place in the story outside of being something for the hero to save. There never seems to be any doubt that the hero will triumph. The window dressing is updated, but the problems with this type of tale are not addressed and it hurts the story.
These issues were all the more frustrating when placed next to the obvious talent on tap here. ***The dialogue had personality. There were touches of how the relationships worked that were gorgeous. Taylor’s prose flowed as clean as a mountain stream. It says a lot that, despite the issues I had, I flew through reading this.*** And Concordia was nearly brilliant. The Red Eye just seems bland in comparison.
The formula at work here is classic, and perhaps so for a reason. Likely, you will either find it comforting or aggravating.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
The Red Eye by K.W. Taylor
I'll admit, I was judging this book by it's cover. It's dull and lifeless and looking at it, you kind of expect James Bond to be blown from a volcano. Although that'd be a great book for some people, that's not me.
Instead, I found an amusing and humorous story! The Red Eye is actually the name of a radio show that Brody runs. He spends hours every night poking fun at the supernatural. One night, things begin to change when he realizes that he's being stalked. Having to go to his ex-wife 'the cop' for help is only the beginning of his troubles.
In all fairness, the book could have done with a bit more editing, but it's barely noticeable.
Most of the book I found myself with my eyebrows quirked and a slight smile on my face. It isn't laugh out loud funny, but that amusing funny. I could hang out with this Taylor. We could spend an entire day at the mall just batting wit back and forth. It could be a blast! The story itself is actually pretty predictable. The characters are where the humor comes in. That and a small dose of chaos randomly tossed in.
The only real issue I had with this book is that the ending was really annoying. I'm sorry, but it was just way too predictable. And corny! And I like corny jokes! The cornier the better! Give me cornbread! But! This was not that kind of corny. It was the 'oh she didn't know how else to end it so she went this route' kind of corny. The book was definitely a good enough read to suffer through the ending, however. So don't let that put you off.
If you want something quick and light to read, this could be great for you. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of graphic sex and graphic horror. This would be a great book to read when you're at your in-laws' and doing your best to avoid them.
Friday Indie Review: The Red Eye by K. W. Taylor
Posted on May 23, 2014 12:01 am by Esther Jones Comment
The Red Eye is the debut novel by by K. W. Taylor. I went into this book wanting to like it. I really did. The premise of the book, according to the blurb we received, was that it would be about a late-night radio talk-show host who debunks legends, myths and the arcane. This becomes a bit of a problematic embarrassment for him when he slowly gets dragged into the arcane world himself.
The character introduction actually went off really well, too. This author grabbed me with her description of the hungover deejay puttering to work in his Volkswagen Rabbit. Here’s the introduction we get to our main POV, Brody, and his attitudes:
“Comin’ up, the midnight ramblings of a voice from beyond,” George droned. “Phone lines open up in ten, so call up and talk to me. Two two nine…” He rattled off the phone number, and I rolled my eyes.
“Voice from beyond.” Shyeah. Whatever, dude. I’m a goddamned skeptic, not a psychic.
Nobody understands my show, not even the other deejays.
I love a strong intro scene. From the first couple pages it was apparent the author knew how to use the English language, and she was starting to set up something interesting.
The problem for me, is that much like the other deejays, once I got into the book I didn’t understand Brody either. The intro to the book sets up someone who is a self-described career-skeptic, who has a history of debunking the paranormal, who has won himself a whole show devoted to disproving things that go bump in the night, and isn’t afraid go toe-to-toe with anyone who says differently.
With giving Brody that kind of background, I wanted to see him kicking some ass and debunking something at the beginning of the book. He can be rude; he can be snarky– the author’s set up a guy that doesn’t care who he pisses off, and is perfectly OK with rolling into work 20 minutes late and hungover, no matter whose feathers it ruffles– but to pull off that kind of strong introduction this character has to show us that intense, analytical mindset in action. It’s what allows him to poke holes in others’ (obviously erroneous) beliefs and enjoy doing so.
Instead, we see none of that. The first call of the night freaks him out, and even though this is a caller he’s supposedly had verbal sparing matches with for months, we aren’t shown any of that. Instead, he kinda believes her and cuts the call short, while he hurriedly reassures himself she’s just being a kook. Here’s the kicker: all the caller says is that he’s pissing people off in the arcane community, and he may not like the consequences.
Ok. Well. Yeah. Of course, he is. That kind of goes with the territory. The character you’ve just introduced me to, who I was hoping to read about, wouldn’t give a flying flip who “in the arcane community” he pisses off. He doesn’t believe in it!
Which led me, the reader, to this chain of thought:
Wait, a minute. This can’t be right. This guy talks to fanatics who believe in the arcane for a living. They are probably 99% of his callers. If he gets spooked by a repeat caller, where is his skepticism? If he doesn’t even argue with her, or try to spar, how does he debunk anything? How does he even have a show?
To be clear, nothing in the least spooky has happened to Brody’s character at all at this point in the book. And here is my biggest, ultimate problem with this book. Brody is not a skeptic. Brody doesn’t become a skeptic. Let’s go back to Webster’s dictionary. A skeptic is:
a person who questions or doubts something (such as a claim or statement) : a person who often questions or doubts things
Brody just kinda hopes the arcane isn’t reality.
For example, Brody confronts a stalker who turns out to be his repeat caller, and instead of assuming like any other reasonable human, that’s she’s just a crazy stalker– which would be still scary enough on its own– he immediately buys into everything she says.
Instead of thinking, “Wait a minute. This is a stalker who’s just admitted to following me around for months, and could easily have found any of this information by chatting up my estranged ex-wife, talking to my landlord, hell on Google, or even going through my trash like any other sham psychic,” he immediately jumps to the conclusion that she must be on the level, even though he doesn’t want to believe it. The author doesn’t even try to show us any kind tap-dance from Brody that might indicate he doesn’t buy her story hook, line, and sinker.
This is topped off with Brody’s assistant telling him that George (the announcer from our little introduction piece) tried to make a human sacrifice out of her on their first date. Guess what. He believes that too. No problem-o. Not even a glimmer of, “While I’m sure that was very scary, and you have every right to avoid him, are you sure that’s what really happened? And really, why the hell didn’t you go directly to the cops, change jobs, etc?”
There is no skeptical mindset to this character at all. Brody is a believer who had a crisis of faith, and now the arcane is coming to reclaim him. I’m thinking that he made up all of the debunking on his resume, so he could stay up late at night and drink.
This flaw (which I’m obviously having big trouble with) gets compounded because once Brody does finally start to get some answers, the author clumsily cuts out mid-dialogue and withholds all of the new information from the reader while continuing the scene. This results in a disappointed reviewer.
And I quote:
“This gets a trifle complicated,” she said.”Let me see if I can explain.”
And boy did she ever. When she was done, I didn’t know what to believe anymore.
Nothing… nothing in my dull but happily quiet life would ever be dull or happy or quiet anymore, not if everything she said was true.
She held out the candle, and her gaze pierced me with expectation and a glimmer of hope.
And the scene continues with no attempt at actual explanation whatsoever.
Say what? Brody gets some kind of breakdown about what’s going on (as I give up on him ever being a skeptic, sigh. Brody loves him some hearsay), and the audience doesn’t even get to go along for the ride? That’s just not cool. It’s OK to withhold information from your readers, dramatic tension depends on it, but you can’t have a scene in which someone deliberately and blatantly reveals information to your POV without also giving it to the audience. You can break the scene before the information is divulged, you can hint that information may have been given, and have it occur not in the scene, but you can’t intentionally exclude your audience from something the POV is currently experiencing.
Guess what? Telling your reader, “Now the character learns all kinds of information, but I’m not going to show you,” throws your reader right out of the scene. It excludes them from your story.
One good thing I can say about this book is that the prose is easy to read. The imagery is often spot-on and interesting. I just wish the characters were as consistent, and the book didn’t try so hard at being spooky and abstruse. Possibly some readers will be able to get over the fact that Brody isn’t a skeptic, or the author’s tendency to wave information in front of the reader before jerking it away, Charlie-Brown-style– presumably in the pursuit of more mysteriousness. Obviously, I couldn’t.
So final thoughts on this one: This book had a great premise with lots of potential, but failed to follow through. It could have been great. Instead, it is rather disappointing, and not really recommended.
Review: “Method Writing” by K.W. Taylor
JUNE 9, 2016 / STEELVICTORY
method writing
“Method Writing” by K.W. Taylor
Disclaimer: This author and I share a publisher, and I consider her a good friend. However, I purchased this short story for full price.
“Method Writing” is one of those short stories that covers characters and events that deserve to be a novel. However, it is the rare sort of writer who knows that sometimes a better story can be told through short fiction.
The main character is fascinating, and as a fellow speculative fiction writer, I can more than identify his irritation at a former teacher’s insistence that writers can only write what they know. But rather than more “normal” sorts of research, John goes above and beyond to inhabit the worlds of his characters. Despite the fact that I also write about vampires, you certainly won’t find me sleeping in a coffin or switching to a liquid diet!
Thought I expected the ending, it was still well executed. I wanted a bit more of it, but making it any longer would have overbalanced the rest of this story story.
Well-worth the read for anyone who wants reassurance that the writers in their life are actually fairly normal people.
Rating: 4 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.