Hello and Welcome All!

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing K. M. Warfield author of Shield and Scepter.

Hi K. M., thank you for agreeing to this interview. For those readers not familiar with you, would you please tell us a bit about yourself? 

I’ve always been creative, and loved to make up stories. We had a maple tree in the front yard. When the leaves would fall, I’d spend hours using them to outline houses or castles. There were ballrooms, libraries, bedrooms….everything. I would wander through the ‘doorways’ and have adventures in my mind. Unfortunately, my parents didn’t know how to raise a creative child. By the time I started high school, I thought my talent was nothing more than a way to b.s. my way through an essay on a test. It’s taken a lot to fight back against that mindset.

Beyond that, I’m married. Have 2 grown kids who are amazing. And I’m owned by a tortie named Muse who occasionally shares me with Caspar, aka Lord Fluffy Butt.

How did you choose the genre you write in? 

Fantasy has always intrigued me. I’ve wanted to escape to another world for as long as I can recall. I love being able to create somewhere totally new that follows the rules I set down. It’s also a lot easier when you can make up everything! Consistency is necessary, but I don’t have to spend 3 hours diving down a search engine rabbit hole to make sure that the streets around Central Park are accurate.

If this book is part of a series, tell us a little about it? 

This is the second book in my Heroes of Avoch series. I’m a long time Dungeons and Dragons player. There’s a group of friends I’ve been playing with for a decade. We had a campaign where everyone just clicked with their characters and personalities and the rest. To the point that I started writing small short stories to flesh out things that happened in game, or between sessions. When the campaign ended (3 1/2 years later!), I didn’t want to let go of the characters. So, I wrote ‘Scales and Stingers’. I didn’t think it would be a series, but two weeks later I started on ‘Shield and Scepter’. The final book, ‘Sword and Soul’, will be released in May of 2024.

What types of scenes are your most favorite to write? 

It’s dialogue. Those in-depth conversations between characters that I can breathe life into who they are, make them come alive for a reader. I’m definitely not a ‘spicy’ author (we’re talking fade to black!), but some of the most gut wrenching scenes for me to write were the heavy drama/things are changing big time ones.

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult? 

David and Leigh Eddings, off the bat. I read The Belgariad in middle/high school and was in awe. That series was the first one I read where the characters really felt real. That they could be me or my friends at the time. There was such a flow of normalcy with them. It wasn’t the hero saying ‘I shall go do this deed!’ and rushing off. It was the hero having doubts, asking ‘why me’, and still finding the courage to do what needed to be done.

Nick Pollotta is my go to if I have to laugh. He’s the only author I’ve ever read where I’ve almost fallen out of the chair, unable to breathe, tears streaming down my face, and laughing over a single well placed pun.

I’m also a huge fan of Patricia Kennelly-Morrison’s Keltiad books. Especially her retelling of the Authurian saga, and Aeron’s reign as Queen of Keltia. She could seamlessly blend fantasy and science fiction into a world steeped in Celtic lore. I teared up more than once reading those books.

K. M. Warfield
Author – Heroes of Avoch trilogy
She/Her

 

 

Shield and Scepter

by K. M. Warfield

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GENRE:   Fantasy

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An ancient relic. Two solitary quests. A chance to prove one’s worth.

After an intense battle against the malicious Goddess, Lolc Aon, and freeing the Fallen citizens of Byd Cudd, Jinaari and Thia are presented with new challenges while in the public eye.  Even though Thia has been granted nearly unlimited healing power through the God Keroys, many still doubt her because of her Fallen lineage. Jinaari does his best to support her, but his lessons are cut short after his sister is kidnapped.

Faced with life altering obstacles, will Jinaari keep his vow to protect Thia even from afar? Can Thia learn to trust herself and win over the public? Or will it be too late?

AMAZON

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Lukas shook his head, “When he warned me, I thought he was joking.”

“Who warned you? About what?”

“Althir, before he left. Told me that keeping an eye on you was going to be harder than what he was going to do. Until tonight, I thought he was exaggerating.”

“She’s the Daughter of Keroys, Lukas. Where she goes, and when she chooses to, is not something she needs to explain to you. It’s not Garret’s Mark she bears.” Caelynn said from the staircase. “Jinaari has reasons to keep her safe. I’m willing to bet him asking you to keep an eye on her didn’t include restricting her movements to the point of suffocation.”

Thia cringed inwardly at the tone of her friend’s voice. So much anger and pain was hidden beneath her words. 

“She’s right. You don’t owe me an explanation, though I’m glad to hear this wasn’t a problem with any of my men. Go upstairs, rest if she lets you. I’ll talk with you tomorrow. If we can be honest with each other,” he gave her a direct look, “then perhaps I can keep my word to Jinaari without restricting you beyond what you’re comfortable with.”

Glancing toward the stairs, she caught sight of Caelynn as she disappeared. “I’d like that, Lukas. Things should be back to normal by then.”

“For your sake,” he said, “I hope so. I like you, Thia. So do my men. We’d be here even if Althir hadn’t asked us to be. We all got scared when you disappeared, but that one,” he glanced over his shoulder toward the staircase, “she was ready to burn Almair to the ground to find you.” 

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Born in the late 1960’s, K. M. has lived most of her live in the Pacific NW. While she’s always been creative, she didn’t turn towards writing until 2008. Writing under the pen name of KateMarie Collins, she released several titles. In 2019, the decision was made to forge a new path with her books. The Heroes of Avoch series, along with a new pen name, is the end result.

When she’s not writing, she loves playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends, watching movies, and cuddling up with her cat. K. M. resides with her family in what she likes to refer to as ‘Seattle Suburbia’.

Facebook / Twitter(X): @KMWarfieldbooks / Website / Amazon

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K. M. Warfield will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Follow the tour HERE.

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