K.E. Andrews has always been an avid reader, which sparked her passion for writing at an early age. Most days she spends her time daydreaming about stories and making mood boards. When she’s not writing, she tends to her plants, plans out her next crafting project, and binge-watches shows on Netflix. She currently lives in Powder Springs, Georgia with her family and three cats.

https://www.keandrews.org/

Amazon Author Page

Twitter: @KEAndrews95

Welcome to the Hive, Katie. Let’s start with the basics: tell us about your latest release, Hills of Heather and Bone – why should readers check it out?

Hills of Heather and Bone is a cozy story about a married couple, but there’s a splash of darkness. It’s basically cozy dark cottagecore necromancy. Even though it’s more of a slice of life fantasy story about a couple on the run and trying to survive, it deals with themes of grief, anxiety, perseverance, and accepting one’s self. It’s a mix of Nettle and Bone, The Bone Witch, and Outlander. Also there’s a spiteful chicken companion. 

Give us an insight into your characters, who can we expect to meet? What kind of dynamics do they share?

 Morana is the main character in HOHAB. She’s in her thirties, an introvert who is struggling to stay hidden since she’s a boneweaver (necromancer) and her abilities are forbidden. She was interesting to write because she deals with anxiety and chronic illness, and tries to balance those emotions while trying to be happy and make a life for herself. She’s balanced out by her husband, Percy, who is an outgoing and cheerful healer. They compliment and challenge each other, and even when their circumstances threaten to break them, they continue to hold fast to each other and hope.

Speaking of worlds, what inspires your worldbuilding? Do you have a magic system/s? If so, can you tell us a bit about it? 

I wanted to set a book in a Scottish/ Celtic inspired world and when I came up with the title for this book, that seemed the natural setting to put the story in. I drew a lot from Scottish culture and landscapes to build the world of Errigal. There is also magic in this world. There are eleven gods who blessed people with different abilities, and those people with magic are called bloodgifted. Most people are only gifted with one bloodgift but some have two and are called doublegifted (Percy is doublegifted and is a rootsower–someone who can control plants–and a fleshmender–someone who can heal and control different parts of a body.) I wanted to do a new take on necromancy, so with boneweavers, they can’t bring back the soul of a dead person, but they can reanimate a body and hear the memories that people have in their bones. 

If you were transported into your own fictional world, how do you think you would fare?

I’m all about the cottagecore stuff, so I think if I was a rootsower, I’d do very well. This world is inhabited by the spirits of dead gods, the evil forces called the morrigans, and the Failinis who hunt down boneweavers and rogue bloodgifted. The world isn’t without it’s dangers, but so long as I wasn’t a boneweaver or did anything to attract unwanted attention, I might fare okay.

Tell us a little of your experience entering the SPFBO competition? How does it feel to be entering a second time?

I knew I wanted to enter HOHAB into the competition this year, so I did adjust my publishing schedule to make the registration deadline lol. I didn’t expect it to close so quickly. Since there was a fair amount of cozy that made it into the semifinals and finalists last year, I felt I had a good chance of doing well this year, although even if my book doesn’t make it far, I’m just happy to be in a competition with 299 other amazing authors. Looking at the competition, I feel a little out of my league. I also know more people this year than last year, so while that’s exciting, I know that there can only be one winner. I felt like last year I didn’t know really what was going on and I wasn’t as involved with the Indie community as I was this year. The best way I can describe it is like returning to camp and recognizing familiar faces and getting to know new ones.

We see such varying opinions from authors when it comes to the time of editing their books. How have you found the editing process? Enjoyable, stressful or satisfying?

I personally love the revision process even though it can be messy and exhausting. You get to take the basis of the story you already have and make it better. This book surprised me in the fact that I started it last March and published it this May, which is by far the shortest amount of time (by like 9 years) that I’ve written and completed a project. That fills me with a bit of worry about if the story is good enough or complete enough, but so far there have been good reviews about the story. At the end of revisions, it’s so satisfying to see the completed work and knowing how far you’ve come to get it to that point. 

We always appreciate a beautiful book cover! How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped the artist would portray?

I’m all about aesthetics. I had a particular image in my head of what I wanted, so when I approached my cover artist (Jade Mae Yee is amazing) with a lot of images and she did a great job putting everything together. I wanted this book to have hopeful vibes with a tinge of darkness. Once I had the cover art, I did the rest of the layout and design with fonts and everything.

Just for fun, how would you pitch your book as a 1-star review?

“This book is just about a woman being sad all the time. Her husband is too perfect and nothing happens. The author spends too much time talking about the food and the flowers. I only liked the chicken. 1-star only because of the chicken.”

Can you tell us anything about any upcoming projects? Or can you tell us a few teasers for your sequel? 

I’m currently working on the sequel to the first book of my Grinning Assassin trilogy (the first book was a SPFBO8 semifinalist) and revising that to publish hopefully late next year. I also have some short story ideas I want to get done and possibly another poetry book. There might be a HOHAB novella or short story in the future, but I don’t have any details yet.

Who are the most significant women in SFF who have shaped and influenced your work? 

Tahereh Mafi was really the first author who’s writing style really influenced me. She had such a beautiful way of describing things, and I always wanted to mimic that. Catherynne M Valente was one who showed me how to write fairy tales that had that mixture of magic and darkness. Sarah J. Maas taught me how to not write women characters and stories and how important it was to have a cohesive plot and not just an interesting world and characters (hot take, I know, but I didn’t like her books). She was however the one who got me interested in writing female assassins and morally gray women characters, so I do have to thank her for that. Julianna Baggot showed me how there could be beauty found in the grotesque and not quiet perfect.

Who is a great woman in SFF who we should be reading? Any hidden gems?

A. E. Jürgens’ work (Aisling) is one I’ve read recently this year and I loved how lush and vivid her worlds are. Judy I. Lin can create such wonderful magic systems (A Magic Steeped in Poison). Cole Arthur Riley (This Here Flesh) was so powerful and poetic that it made me cry. 

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing? 

I always like to tell people that the characters I write aren’t perfect. They aren’t heroes or destined for greatness, but people trying to live their lives and dealing with internal struggles alongside their exterior ones. Not everything in their lives will be resolved, just like in real life, but I feel like that doesn’t make their stories any less important or beautiful.  

Thank you so much for joining us for Women in SFF!