Kim Baccellia @ixtumea, Author of CROSSED FIRE, #crossedfire #lachesispublishing #ParanormalYA

I’d like to welcome Kim Baccellia, author of Crossed Fire to my blog today.

RW:    Tell us about yourself, your family, where you live, etc.

KB:  Hi!, I’m Kim Baccellia, a YA author. I’m from Sacramento (yes, the same city where Stephanie does her crossings). Currently I live in Southern California with my husband, son, and two parrots.

RW:    How many hours a day do you spend writing?

KB:     I try to write every day. When my son is in school, I go to my writing office and try to get in as much writing as I can. I schedule time for writing. During this time, I don’t answer the phone or do errands for others. This is my time. I feel it’s very important to give yourself permission to say ‘no’ to others.

RW:   Why did you decide to write? When did you submit your first manuscript and what genre was it?

KB:     I’ve always wanted to be an author. I’ve written short stories since the fifth grade. I didn’t really start submitting stories/poetry out until much later. My first novel, Earrings of Ixtumea, was a multi-diverse YA fantasy.

RW:    Who are your favorite authors? Who influenced your writing?

KB:    I have many favorite authors! Terry Brooks; Diana Gabaldon; Isabel Allende; Beth Revis; Rachel Caine; and Ellen Hopkins. My list is always changing!

I’d have to say Terry Brooks influenced my writing at the beginning. I first got into fantasies when I read his Sword of Shannara series in high school. My biggest thrill was when I actually met him at the Maui Writing Conference back in 2004. When I told him how much he influenced me with my own writing, he asked about it. He’s so supportive of the writing community!

RW:   Who are your favorite characters among the books you’ve written?

KB:    I really have to say that Jordan Lake of my Myth & Mayhem series is one of my favorites. I love her enthusiasm and she’s the one that led me to find out more about Audrey Hepburn.

Stephanie in the Crossed series is also someone close to my heart.

RW:   How much does reader feedback matter to you? Do your fans’ comments and letters influence you in any way? Do you have a favorite comment or question from a reader?

KB:   I do read comments from my writers. It was the comments asking about when another Crossed book would come out that led me to write Crossed Fire.

My all time favorite comment came from a high school Skype meeting I had. This adorable teen got up and told me how much she loved my book and when will the next one come out. Soon, please?

RW:    How do you come up with story ideas? What kind of research do you do for a book?

KB:     Each book is different. For the Crossed series I came up with the idea after seeing numerous crosses off the side of the road. My husband asked, “What if it’s the job of someone to make those crosses?” I took it a step further and had Stephanie be a “rescuer,” someone who made talismans for the dead in order to guide them to the Other Side.

In the Myth & Mayhem series, I was frustrated with the number of rejections I had been getting. At that time, I was a reader for a YA romance imprint. So while on a run, I brainstormed an idea that would include a “cute,” light romance.

Earrings of Ixtumea came about after an experience I had as a bilingual teacher. I used to have this one bulletin board where I’d have the students draw themselves. Almost all of my girls drew themselves as white, blonde, and with blue eyes. That really bothered me. I was taking Chicano Studies classes where my professor explained why this might be happening. I also saw this with the Mexican side of my family. So Lupe came to be. I had her thrust into a parallel world where she had to confront her heritage.

RW:    Would you like to write a different genre or sub-genre than you do now?

KB:    I’m currently writing a romance set in Tuscany, Italy. It’s more new adult. It’s been fun to write. I feel that it’s good to write outside your comfort zone!

I also plan on finishing a memoir based on growing up with a bipolar father.

RW:   How many books have you written, how many have been published?

          

KB:     I currently have five published books out. Earrings of Ixtumea; Crossed Out; Crossed Fire; No More Goddesses; and Goddesses Can Wait.

           I’m finishing revisions on a dystopian novel. I’m also writing a romance. I have the outline of a memoir that I plan to get back to soon.

           I also have a poem published in a poetry anthology, an essay on the adoption of my son in a national adoption magazine, and other poetry published.

RW:    After you’ve written your book and it’s been published, do you ever buy it and/or read it?

KB:     Yes, I do buy copies! I do go over them after they’re published. Mostly though, I buy copies to share with family. I also do giveaways.

RW:    If I were a first-time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why?

KB:     I’d recommend first reading Crossed Out to find out more about Stephanie. Though Crossed Fire could be a standalone novel.

Younger readers I’d recommend reading No More Goddesses to find out how Jordan ends up getting on the wrong side of the Goddess of Love.

RW:    What book for you has been the easiest to write? The hardest? The most fun?

KB:    I’d have to say the Myth & Mayhem series was the most fun to write. I totally got into reading about Audrey Hepburn and fell in love with her.

The hardest scene to write has to be when Lupe finds out why her mother became so hard. I sobbed throughout writing that scene.

RW:    Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?

KB:    I have to laugh on this question. I’m not a fan of country music, but my one character, Phoenix, loves it. Let’s just say I ended up listening to it in order to get into the head of my character! You never know where they’ll lead you.

CROSSED FIRE

The Plot

Stephanie Stewart is a typical sixteen-year-old girl—she loves hanging out with her friends, going to concerts, and sipping mocha lattes. Yup. Just your average teenager… Except for one difference—she can see and talk to the dead. In fact, Stephanie helps dead girls who who’ve been murdered or killed, cross over. Just as Stephanie is getting used to her unique “gift”, her mom stumbles into some dangerous witchcraft that backfires and triggers similar abilities in Stephanie’s best friend Cura, and nemesis Hillary.

Stephanie already has enough trouble trying to maintain a “normal” life between school and her cute boyfriend Dylan, who happens to have a supernatural talent all his own. But now she has to help her friend Cura and her “frenemy” Hillary cope with their new-found powers as well as cross over two murdered cheerleaders and battle an evil demon who wants to use Stephanie’s supernatural strengths as a free pass to The Other Side. And she needs to do it all while still getting her term papers in on time. She’s definitely going to need an extra-large mocha latte for this.

An Excerpt:

Life hasn’t been “normal” for me in a very long time. Not since I figured out that I could see and talk to dead people. Well, dead girls mostly. My name is Stephanie Stewart and I help dead teenage girls cross over into the light. I’m not sure why I’ve been singled out for this. I don’t think I’m anyone special, but for some reason I’ve been given this “gift” and it has really thrown my life upside down.

Kim Baccellia

Bio

Kim Baccellia has always been a sucker for the paranormal. She blames it on her family’s love for such things such as having picnics at cemeteries, visiting psychics, and reading her mother’s copies of the daily horoscope. She even had her own horoscope column in middle school, which was a big hit! She lives in Southern California with her husband and son.

Book Links:

Video Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXmtXqD16ag

Publisher: Lachesis Publishing

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/1773590111

KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/crossed-fire-book-2-crossed-series

Contact Kim At:

Website: http://Kim-baccellia.com

Blog: http://kimbacceliasweblogfantasy.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kbaccellia

Twitter: @ixtumea

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kim-Baccellia/e/B002NM28O4

How to Not Euthanize a Cat on Social Security

I had a horrible "adventure" last night. It truly sucks to be old and broke in this country. My neighbor asked me to drive her to the emergency vet. It's the end of the month, so of course she had no money, and when we got there the cat was already cold and barely breathing. I had to double-check that she was still alive when I got her out of the car.

Of course “Jane” was in denial that Kitty was that far gone. They wanted $109 for the doc to even look at the cat. Any tests or treatment would be more. I already knew there would be no treatment. Jane wanted to hear that from the doc, and kept trying to get them to take a post-dated check. She finally asked if they could keep Kitty overnight so she could pawn some jewelry to pay the bill. They said that would cost $500, plus the $109, and $250 for blood tests plus more for whatever other tests they might need to do, and the cat's body temp and heartbeat were both going down. They said they'd put the cat down for free, but of course it would cost money to have them dispose of the body.

At that point I told Jane that when I was a medic and when I volunteer to sit with dying patients they get cold and their heartbeat slows at the end, and I that I thought the cat was dead in the car. I told her I didn't think she should put Kitty through any tests and I thought the best thing to do would be to just put her down. Then I called my daughter and asked if they would bury the cat in their yard, because we're not allowed to bury cats here. My daughter agreed. Jane finally agreed to let them euthanize the cat and take her to my daughter's. I said we'd put her in the recycling bin and put a stone on top to keep the critters out until the kids get home, because they’re out of town right now. Elizabeth also said Jane can come by and visit the grave.

The vets said they had some papers for us to sign before they put her down and left us alone with Kitty. They were gone so long, Kitty died in Jane's arms. I put her on the table and listened to her chest but didn't hear anything. Then I asked someone with a stethoscope if they could hear anything. The person who came in must have been the vet, because they tried to charge us $109. At which point, I went off. I yelled, "The f***ing cat died in our arms and you people did nothing for us! We don't owe you a thing!" Then we marched out of there—and I left my purse and had to go back for it.

So, Kitty is now in my daughter's recycling bin, in a bag one uses to bring frozen food home from the store. I suspect my neighbor would have pawned every piece of jewelry she owned if anyone else had driven her to the vet last night, and the poor kitty would have been dead when she got back there this morning. At the very least, she probably would have ended up pawning her jewelry to pay $109 for the doc to say, "Yup, she's gone," plus The Goddess knows how much more to have the poor baby cremated. I'm so glad I was able to be there for her, even if I did lose it at the end.

A few years ago when my cat, Titania died, I ran into the same thing, but I let my fingers do the walking. I was planning to take her downstate to our vet near Rantoul, but she didn’t make it to the third when my Social Security came in, either. I couldn’t find a place that would dispose of her without charging at least $100 to walk in the door and have a doc say, “Yup, she’s gone.”

That was the night I met the young man who is now my son-in-law. It was right after we had the Valentine’s Day blizzard—the ground was frozen and there was three feet of snow with drifts over six feet in places. Elizabeth called Marshall to help us. He ended up putting Ti in a dumpster on the other side of the Volo Auto Museum where we lived at the time. I wasn’t supposed to know that’s what he did with her, but there was nothing else he could do. We couldn’t exactly keep her until the ground thawed.

Thank the cat goddess Bast it’s been unseasonably warm here, and the ground isn’t frozen as it would normally be right now. Marshall can bury Kitty.

RIP, Kitty. Give Titania my love.

(I have no photos, as I have not asked "Jane" if it's okay to post this)