Straight Chatting from the Library: Kat Loveland and Characters

Kat Loveland is doing a character interview with all six of her characters as part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kat will be awarding a $40 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

READ THE CHARACTER INTERVIEW

Hello Library Fans,

I'd like to thank you all for inviting myself and my friends to share a little about ourselves today. I'm Kat and through an incredible feat of scheduling and the planets aligning correctly I managed to get all six of my friends whose story I tell in my Honor Bound Series all in the same place.

I'd like to introduce you to John and Clara, Cesco, Sarah, Jessie and Min-Ji. Thank you guys for making this all work out.

Me:My first question is for John and Clara. You're successful fashion models but you also have the charity Runway for Runaways that you started to honor your parents and you have been working to stop criminals. When you approached me to write your story, what was the most important thing you wanted to get across to people who may read it?

Clara: That being able to do things other people can't, whether it be controlling fire, empathy or moving faster than normal people, that doesn't make your life easier or solve your problems. Quite often it's the opposite. We also wanted to make people aware that just because someone is different doesn't mean you should fear them.

John: To me, the one thing I felt needed to be shown was how hard it was for us to choose to do what we are doing. When we first chose to start this, as you show in Awakenings, we were pretty damn naïve as to what paths this would lead us down.

Me: Thanks. Sarah, you've just come into your ability and you have had to make some hard choices. Now that you've had some time to get accustomed to it and you're spending time with people who can relate to you, would you do things differently?

Sarah: Of course I would like to go back and make it all go away, but I can't be something other than I am. I'm too curious, at some point I would have done something to draw attention to myself and still have been forced to choose trying to hide what I am over accepting it. I think in the long run I made the right choice because of how powerful I am. As my brother Chad reminded me, with great power comes great responsibility.

Me: Cesco, my readers all seem to fall in love with you right off.

Cesco: Really? Wow, I wouldn't have expected that. Why?

Me: I think it's your outlook on life. How easy going and supportive you are. What do you think is the driving force behind how you are?

Cesco: Parkour, movement and martial arts. Moving, living in the moment, facing your fears and constantly challenging yourself, you can't succeed at any of that unless you're willing to let go of negative things. I know it sounds overly Zen and cliché but it's true. There's no point in hating and dwelling on stupid things that are out of your control. Love who you are, what you do, and help others. I need to add to what John said though, when we started this we thought we would be able to track down some bad guys and call the cops. It's not that simple. I know it will be a challenge for me to stay grounded in who and what I am as things go on. Fortunately, I love challenges.

Me: You'll handle it, you always do. Jessie, the more of your story and your empathic powers I heard the more intrigued I became. It seems to be such a versatile ability. What do you think the biggest advantage and disadvantage of your power is?

Jessie : Oh, that's a complicated question. I think in a way it's the same thing. Empathy cuts both ways, knowing what people are feeling can help and hurt you. You know when someone is being honest when they tell you they love you or are your friend, you also know when they don't. People are rarely honest about their feelings. To function in this world you have to be nice to people you don't like, tell white lies to smooth things over and be civil etc. Being able to perceive all of that can destroy you, especially if you're an empath like me and can manipulate emotions as well as feel them. At some point you reach a place where you decide that if everyone is lying anyway what's wrong in making them do what you want. An empath's teenage years are even more hellish and traumatizing than usual, that's when most of us either go nuts or become very manipulative. Empathy is like any other ability, at some point you have to take responsibility on how you are using it. Unfortunately, most of us don't learn that until something truly tragic happens.

Me: I always that telepathy would be the most challenging ability to have but I think empathy may even be worse. Thanks for sharing that with us. Min-Ji, first I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being willing to open up about your childhood to me so I could write your story. My question for you is more about your future than your past. You've gained much more control over your pyrokinetic ability. Do you see yourself being able to have something close to a normal life in the future?

Min-Ji: Normal is a term that will never really apply to me, my scars and my memories will always be there. I think at some point I may be able to live somewhere that I don't need fire suppression systems installed to keep me from burning down my house in my sleep because of a nightmare. I'm having fewer flashbacks and when I do get them I can control them. I really don't think about the future. The life I have now is so much more than I ever dreamed I could have, wanting more seems selfish to me.

Me: Thank you. The owners of the blog wanted me to ask all of you your favorite book. Mine is the entire Dresden Series.

John: Art of War

Clara: Vampire Lestat

Cesco: The Book of Five Rings

Jessie: DragonLance Series

Min-Ji: Memoirs of a Geisha

Sarah: Sherlock Holmes stories

Once again, thanks all of you for coming and I hope all of you reading this enjoy it.

Kat

READ THE BLURBSAWAKENINGS

X-Men meets the Real World. "This was an amazing book while steeped in fantasy it tackles a huge subject , the subject of human trafficking. Instead of a bland preachy PSA against it, this story uses amazing imagery, action, intensity, and heart to keep you reading well into the night."

Children and teens with unique abilities are being sold on the black market. When twins John and Clara made a vow several years ago to help children that had abilities, they never thought they would be forced to fight hardened criminals. Honor Bound Awakenings shows the beginning of the journey they and their friends from idealism to reality and what sacrifices they will be forced to make to keep their vow.

SACRIFICES

Picking up the moment Awakenings end – John and Clara are forced to choose which of them will continue to put themselves in the line of fire, Cesco has to make peace with what he may have to become to keep the others safe, Min-Ji confronts her painful past head on, Sarah and her family must learn to adapt to the results of her Awakening and Jessie has to struggle to keep the group emotionally stable.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM HONOR BOUND: SACRIFICES

He couldn't move, Min-Ji was screaming, he felt searing heat and smelled burning flesh, pain raged through his shoulder. Min-Ji, she couldn't!

“Min-Ji! Don't!” Cesco screamed. His eyes flew open, harsh light blinded him. Someone was holding him down. His right arm wasn't moving, his left arm shot full speed at the face hovering over him, the punch connected, flinging the man across the room where he landed against the wall. Cesco tried to get up, as soon as he moved the intense pain in his shoulder and face floored him causing him to curl into a tight ball. “Min-Ji! Holy crap! What happened?” The phrases coming between waves of pain.

“Cesco! Stop!” John's voice barely cut through the pain.

"John?"

“Yes, I'm here. Lay back, you're hurt.”

“Where are we? Is everyone ok?”

John's hands pushed against his chest easing him onto his back.

“My shoulder, I can't move it.”

“You were shot. The bullet shattered your collarbone and put a hole in your shoulder blade. You just punched Dr. Rothstein. He was sewing you up. Clara was shot too but she's all right. Doctor, are you ok? Sorry about that.”

First priority was to try to forget everyone else's emotions. She slowly started unraveling those in her mind, hellish pain and agony, that wasn't her. She had developed a visualization to help her through things like this, she imagined all of the emotions that weren't hers as clothes she was wearing and would slowly strip away the layers until she got down to just her own skin. It worked fairly well.

Layer after layer came off. Eventually she cleared everything away so she only had her emotions left and could take inventory of her mental state. The storage facility office froze in her mind, blood on the floor, dismembered people, Min-Ji screaming and Cesco on the floor. As an empath she had learned how to face her own emotions along with manipulating and controlling others. She took a deep breath and allowed herself to relive the moment. Sheer panic and disgust hit her, her heart started to race and her stomach clenched again as she smelled the blood and charred flesh. How badly she had wanted to run the other way, but she couldn't. She couldn't at the time and she sure as hell wouldn't now. Forcing herself to stand there, she allowed the whole scene to slam into her mind over and over until it no longer affected her.

Eventually she could look at it without her pulse skyrocketing so she moved to the next one, driving the car as John shot the people they were chasing. That wasn't so bad, she and John were focused so their emotions weren't out of control and the blood and gore was manageable for her to look at. The last one she didn't want to face but she had to. Her view of Min-Ji coming out of the office and setting a person on fire, the emotions that Min-Ji had felt had been so intense. She and Min-Ji had bonded so often to keep Min-Ji stable that Jessie was starting to think it had almost become permanent. She picked up on even small shifts in Min-Ji's emotions now without having to touch her.

John went to check on Clara, he had felt her mind start stirring.

“Clara, you need to rest.”

“That's a bit complicated,” a gentle laugh brushed against his mind. “You haven't been blocking all that well. I know about Min-Ji and Cesco. I know about how you almost blacked out. I drifted for a bit and slept but there's too much going on and I am picking up on it. I held back as much as I could until you had a quiet moment. We have a lot to figure out.”

“You're taking this rather well.”

“Not really. Just pushing it down for now.” As she said that he felt her let him in a bit more and was suddenly glad she had been pushing things down. She was in a panic, if he had been feeling that along with his emotions he would be a wreck. He put his blocks up so she wouldn't have to do all the work.

“Thank you,” he told her.

“You're welcome.”

“Sarah is on the way to help with Cesco. I am not sure how much she will be able to do. Dr. Rothstein said he can repair the shoulder later if we are staying in town and wrote prescriptions for drugs. You should be able to walk well enough for the show. Maybe Sarah can heal it fast enough so you're not in pain. It's just a small wound, nothing is broken in your leg. We need to get Cesco in the car and get back to the condo and we still have a million things to do for the show. We have more press tomorrow, we're going to look like hell.”

She squeezed his hand back. “When...I did what I did to you,” she shuddered a bit at the memory, “I wasn't panicking. I know you thought I was but I wasn't. I wanted to protect Chad and hurt you, but I didn't know it was you because it felt like I was being kidnapped again.” She paused, her voice growing soft. “All I thought was what would be the fastest way to make you stop, I wasn't really scared, I was angry. I don't want to say anything else right now, please Dad.” The memory of that moment was pushing her close to the edge. She looked down at the armrest of the seat one of her hands had been resting on it, it had started rippling and shifting form. She quickly pulled her hands away from the chair and away from her Dad's hand then held them up in the air. She couldn't shift things if she wasn't touching them.

“You don't have to. I understand now.” He reached his arm around her and pulled her close. “We will get through this, somehow we will. I promise you.” He said as he kissed the top of her head. They stayed like that the rest of the flight.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Who is Kat Loveland? Why does she write?

Good questions. Complicated questions. Questions that make you say hmmmmmmm.

Kat is a person of great charm and grace, she lights up whatever room she walks into. Her stunning fashion sense mesmerizes all who see her. Witty rejoinders and endless amounts of relevant and thoroughly researched facts and tidbits flow effortlessly from her mouth.....

Yeah, ok, Not so much. I've got the witty rejoinders but not the fashion sense. I like comfy, simple clothes and sparring with weapons. I occasionally try my hand at archery and artistic photography, sometimes I'll even hop a wall or vault a bench. I'm a tomboy at heart, what can I say.

Why do I write? My imaginary friends are endlessly entertaining and they always do whatever the hell I tell them to. Besides it's fun to play Goddess, most authors won't admit that but I'm pretty blunt. It's fun to torture, harass, endlessly confound and every once in a while make a character a bit happy with life. Not too often though, that's just silly.

My editor tells me and I quote : “Only a genius can write three books at the same time, work all the time and shoot arrows into the air and hope and pray what goes up does not come down on top of her.” Have I mentioned she's an awesome editor?

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter Buy the book at Amazon.

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