Welcome, Booklovers!
This morning I’m also welcoming KRISTINE F. ANDERSON, author of Crooked Truth, a historical fiction novel to the blog. Won’t you join us for book talk?
Good morning, Kristine. How do you take your coffee?
KA: I couldn’t live without good coffee and used to drink three or four cups a day. Now I usually drink decaf coffee with half and half.
Ally: I’ve switched to half-caff, but I still get in two or three cups a day. While I fix our mugs, please introduce yourself to readers.
Bio:
Kristine F. Anderson earned a Ph.D. in Communicative Arts from Georgia State University. She has worked as a freelance writer for national newspapers and magazines and taught high school English. She has also taught courses at Shorter College and Southern Polytechnical State University, now part of Kennesaw State University. Crooked Truth is her debut novel.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be an archeologist and explore the hidden tombs in the Valley of the Dead. I always hoped to find a mummy of a long-forgotten pharaoh.”
Author Contacts:
Website: www.kristinefanderson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kfaphd/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingwritingthriving/
Twitter: @kfaphd
Kristine F. Anderson earned a Ph.D. in Communicative Arts from Georgia State University. She has worked as a freelance writer for national newspapers and magazines and taught high school English. She has also taught courses at Shorter College and Southern Polytechnical State University, now part of Kennesaw State University. Crooked Truth is her debut novel.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be an archeologist and explore the hidden tombs in the Valley of the Dead. I always hoped to find a mummy of a long-forgotten pharaoh.”
Author Contacts:
Website: www.kristinefanderson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kfaphd/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readingwritingthriving/
Twitter: @kfaphd
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Who or what inspired you to write your featured book?
KA: Crooked Truth was inspired in part by a story of a middle-aged couple who had a mongoloid son in a small Southern town in the early 1930’s. I heard the story from an elderly relative at a family cook-out. The mongoloid son never went to school and he was very limited. His older half-brother bullied and abused him, making him do the heavy work on the farm. One day the older brother was found shot to death on the front porch. People suspected the mongoloid son, but his mother always said he’d never hurt a flea.
It was also inspired by the experience I had working with a little boy with Down Syndrome while I was teaching in our local school district. Though he was also very limited, he was well liked and very sociable. No one ever bullied him or called him names.
Ally: How did you get your first book or story published?
KA: I sent out lots of query letters, but didn’t have much luck getting an agent. I was getting very discouraged. Then I found about Mercer Un Press’ Ferrol Sams Fiction Award Contest. I literally entered my manuscript at the eleventh hour and started lighting candles. Six months later I got a call from the editor and learned I’d won the award and a contract!!! Crooked Truth was selected as the best work of fiction that represented the human experience in a Southern context.
How’s that for beginner’s luck???
Ally: Do you write with a theme or message in mind?
KA: I didn’t begin writing Crooked Truth with a theme in mind, but as the characters and their conflicts became more real to me, the theme seemed to develop. And I went with it.
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
KA: I have always been a reader/writer. I kept a diary – complete with a small key –when I was young. As I got older, I began to keep a journal and taught high school English. I also worked as a freelance newspaper and magazine writer.
Ally: What's the best writing/marketing advice you can pass on to other writers?
KA: Keep reading and writing! You can’t publish an article or book if the material is tucked away in your drawer.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
KA: My next book, tentatively titled Outside the Diamond, follows two of the characters from Crooked Truth – Lucas and Cotton—into the early 1960’s. Lucas has stayed in the South. He lives in Atlanta and works as a freelance writer. But Cotton now lives in Cleveland, Ohio and is one of the first Negro ball players on a major league team. While their lives are very different, they both get involved in the early Civil Rights Movement. I hope it will be released in 2024 or 2025.
Ally: Which questions did you choose to answer in the lightning round?
KA:
Ally: Who or what inspired you to write your featured book?
KA: Crooked Truth was inspired in part by a story of a middle-aged couple who had a mongoloid son in a small Southern town in the early 1930’s. I heard the story from an elderly relative at a family cook-out. The mongoloid son never went to school and he was very limited. His older half-brother bullied and abused him, making him do the heavy work on the farm. One day the older brother was found shot to death on the front porch. People suspected the mongoloid son, but his mother always said he’d never hurt a flea.
It was also inspired by the experience I had working with a little boy with Down Syndrome while I was teaching in our local school district. Though he was also very limited, he was well liked and very sociable. No one ever bullied him or called him names.
Ally: How did you get your first book or story published?
KA: I sent out lots of query letters, but didn’t have much luck getting an agent. I was getting very discouraged. Then I found about Mercer Un Press’ Ferrol Sams Fiction Award Contest. I literally entered my manuscript at the eleventh hour and started lighting candles. Six months later I got a call from the editor and learned I’d won the award and a contract!!! Crooked Truth was selected as the best work of fiction that represented the human experience in a Southern context.
How’s that for beginner’s luck???
Ally: Do you write with a theme or message in mind?
KA: I didn’t begin writing Crooked Truth with a theme in mind, but as the characters and their conflicts became more real to me, the theme seemed to develop. And I went with it.
Ally: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? What influenced that decision?
KA: I have always been a reader/writer. I kept a diary – complete with a small key –when I was young. As I got older, I began to keep a journal and taught high school English. I also worked as a freelance newspaper and magazine writer.
Ally: What's the best writing/marketing advice you can pass on to other writers?
KA: Keep reading and writing! You can’t publish an article or book if the material is tucked away in your drawer.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
KA: My next book, tentatively titled Outside the Diamond, follows two of the characters from Crooked Truth – Lucas and Cotton—into the early 1960’s. Lucas has stayed in the South. He lives in Atlanta and works as a freelance writer. But Cotton now lives in Cleveland, Ohio and is one of the first Negro ball players on a major league team. While their lives are very different, they both get involved in the early Civil Rights Movement. I hope it will be released in 2024 or 2025.
Ally: Which questions did you choose to answer in the lightning round?
KA:
- book you're currently reading: The Great Longing by Sue Monk Kid
- ebook or print? Definitely print! I love the smell and feel of a book and I like to make notes in the margins.
- most watched tv show: Jeopardy, especially the tournament series
- favorite comfort food: Sloppy Joe’s
- the best thing a book fan has ever said to you: Sometimes true justice overrules our legal system.
- If you couldn't write anymore, what would you want to do? I hope I’ll always be able to write something – but if I couldn’t be a full-time writer, I’d like to be a Park Ranger and work at a historic site.
Crooked Truth
Genre: historical fiction for YA and adult readers
Rating: PG-13
A true Southern Gem—Daren Wang, author of The Hidden Lights of Northern Fires
Crooked Truth proudly takes its place in the ranks of Southern Literature—Christopher Swann,
author of Never Turn Back and Shadow of the Lion
Fifteen-year-old Lucas Webster doesn’t mind working in the fields and chopping cotton on his grandfather’s farm in South Georgia. But he hates getting stuck caring for his Uncle Robert.
Born with Down Syndrome, Robert can’t even tie his shoes or print his name. Though he is ten years older than Lucas, he follows Lucas around like a clumsy shadow.
Lucas wants to get out of Crisscross and be rid of his child-like uncle, but after his grandpa dies in the spring of 1948, things change. His grandmother withdraws in her grief and Alvin Earl, Robert’s half-brother, returns to manage the farm with his guns and stash of liquor. And Lucas must become more than a reluctant caretaker.
When a fatal shooting occurs late one hot afternoon, Lucas must decide what to tell the sheriff. As he discovers the ties that can destroy and bind a family, he cannot reveal what really happened to the local authorities or anyone else. He realizes that not all lies are alike. And he twists the truth to protect those he loves.
Purchasing links:
Amazon Books:
https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Truth-Kristine-F-Anderson/dp/088146757X/
Mercer University Press, Order by E-mail: mupressorders@mercer.edu
Genre: historical fiction for YA and adult readers
Rating: PG-13
A true Southern Gem—Daren Wang, author of The Hidden Lights of Northern Fires
Crooked Truth proudly takes its place in the ranks of Southern Literature—Christopher Swann,
author of Never Turn Back and Shadow of the Lion
Fifteen-year-old Lucas Webster doesn’t mind working in the fields and chopping cotton on his grandfather’s farm in South Georgia. But he hates getting stuck caring for his Uncle Robert.
Born with Down Syndrome, Robert can’t even tie his shoes or print his name. Though he is ten years older than Lucas, he follows Lucas around like a clumsy shadow.
Lucas wants to get out of Crisscross and be rid of his child-like uncle, but after his grandpa dies in the spring of 1948, things change. His grandmother withdraws in her grief and Alvin Earl, Robert’s half-brother, returns to manage the farm with his guns and stash of liquor. And Lucas must become more than a reluctant caretaker.
When a fatal shooting occurs late one hot afternoon, Lucas must decide what to tell the sheriff. As he discovers the ties that can destroy and bind a family, he cannot reveal what really happened to the local authorities or anyone else. He realizes that not all lies are alike. And he twists the truth to protect those he loves.
Purchasing links:
Amazon Books:
https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Truth-Kristine-F-Anderson/dp/088146757X/
Mercer University Press, Order by E-mail: mupressorders@mercer.edu
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