Do you want to know what makes an author tick? These answers from cozy mystery author K.E. O'Connor should interest you.
And what do the K and the E stand for? Answer at the end!
FIVE MINUTE QUESTION AND ANSWER TIME
Coffee, tea, or soda? – Tea all the way. Herbal and black tea. I subscribe to a service called Bird and Blend and they do amazing teas, including one called Birthday Cake. I never drink soda. I used to work as an usherette at the cinema, so got free soda and popcorn. You’d think it was a dream, but after drinking too much soda one night, it just tastes gross and so sweet. I hadn’t drunk soda since I was 18 – my teeth thank me.
What is your favorite movie? I love Gremlins. It’s my go-to festive movie. Cute critters, not-so-cute critters, love, humor, HEA, a hint of the paranormal, and Christmas. Genius.
What are your favorite toppings on pizza? Pineapple. I know, lead me to the firing squad. It’s a controversial answer, but I love fruit pizza. Never tried it? Get a pizza base, use jam/jelly as your base, and cover in fruit. Sticky, gut-plumping heaven.
Cake or pie? What is your favorite? Cake. Love it. My waistline doesn’t. Favorite cake… carrot cake with frosting (mainly for the frosting.) Or brownies. Any kind. I’m often browsing (and buying) from a company called Cakehead.
Favorite author (besides yourself)? What a mean question. Only one? Really? Harlan Coben writes page-turning thrillers. He’s ace. I also love Jane Austen and Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie and… LOL. I’ll stop.
Horror movie or chick flick?? Hmmmm, at a push a chick flick. But I love an action movie, something over the top like Fast and the Furious and I love a period drama like Pride and Prejudice. Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies is also fun.
Cat or dog person? Do you have any? If so, what and names, please.... ALL ANIMALS (I’m shouting.) I love them. All of them. Fur, feathers, scales, snouts, claws, paws, trotters, beaks. Animals are amazing. They make life better. I’d love to own some pigs, but my current living situation makes that option a hard no. I used to have three beautiful black cats, Mr. John, Janet, and Cassie. Over the years, they left me due to old age and heartbreaking accidents, but they had a huge place in my heart. I had a portrait commissioned of Mr. John and Cassie and it sits next to my desk.
Ideal vacation? I plan to stay in Gladstone Library in Chester. You get to live in a library!! Dream come true. There are 150,000 books. All they’d need to do is add cats and a never-ending supply of cake, and it would be perfect. You can check it out here - https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/accommodation/sleeping-with-books
Camping or 5-star hotel? – Hmmmm, I’d like to pick a 3-star hotel. May I? I like a comfy bed and no ants in my sleeping bag, but too much luxury makes me squirm.
Favorite season and why? In the UK, we have summer for about three weeks, spring for about four months, which is usually chilly with a side order of dampness, and then lots of long, gray cold days that blur into autumn and winter. I’ll go for spring, but the seasons merge on this chilly little island. I’m eyeballing winter sun places in Spain and Cyprus. I also have a friend or two in Texas who I might have to beg for a visit!!
Name ONE thing you are afraid of .... Losing my passion for writing. It makes me so thrilled that I offer these fab fictional portals for people to jump into. If I woke up one day and thought 'nope hate writing,' I’m not sure what I’d do. Probably eat cake and adopt a pet pig.
Name ONE thing you cannot live without.... putting aside the things we need to survive (water, warmth, cake, etc) I’d go for the classic: books. Books have gotten me through dark times. I see books as glorious escape portals you can fling yourself into and revel in the mystery or love story, or whatever it is you enjoy. Without books, I’d be bereft.
What was your favorite subject in school? I didn’t have a favorite subject. I didn’t love school. I’m a huge introvert, so being stuffed in a class with 30 hormonal teenagers was painful (and I wasn't a cool cat.) I didn’t mind history and geography. I studied English at A-Level, along with politics, and geography, but I was sooooo glad to get out of there (and then spent four years at university - lol.)
What was your least favorite subject in school? Maths. Yuck. It was mainly the mean teacher who made fun of me, but I didn’t see the point of all those dry equations. Have I ever used them? No!
What movie have you seen more than once? I re-watch tons of movies. I’ve seen Sense and Sensibility about fifty times. I love Emma Thomson’s speech when she’s saying how she feels about Hugh Grant – ‘I like him. I think very highly of him.’ ‘Like him? Like him!’ It’s so much fun.
What is your guilty pleasure? Snooping on my neighbors. I’m a mystery writer. I need a source of inspiration! I shall leave it at that.
Who is your celebrity crush? James Purefoy. It’s his voice. It’s so delicious. I was also partial to the late Alan Rickman (again, his voice was dreamy, especially when he played Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility.) I can be totally seduced by a lovely male voice. And if he plays the guitar, I’m lost.
Tell us something we don't know that you would like people to know about you ...... I look like an innocent book nerd, but I’m a rock chick. I have a passionate love of rock and metal. A guy with a gravelly voice (there’s that voice thing again) yelling into a mic, accompanied by some finger shredding guitar action, gives me the chills. I’m listening to Iron Maiden and Inglorious as I type this.
What do your initials stand for? Karen Elizabeth. I'm a lovely Karen - unless you steal my books, deprive me of cake, or are mean to animals! Then you meet evil Karen.
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K.E. O’Connor is the author of the Every Witch Way series, the Witch Haven mystery series, the Crypt Witch cozy mysteries, the Lorna Shadow ghost mysteries, the Holly Holmes baking mysteries, the Zee Town paranormal cozy series, and the Old Sarum mystery series, along with other titles available if you cast the right spell. She can imagine dragons, taste cookies when they aren’t even there, and hear the crack of a witch’s broom at a hundred paces.
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K.E. O’Connor is the author of so many books she can't remember them all. Noteworthy mentions include:
Every Witch Way series (a talking familiar as the lead character, anyone?)
Witch Haven mystery series (14 books of fabulous witchy mayhem)
Crypt Witch cozy mysteries (17 books of murder, a talking hellhound, and a big old demon issue)
Lorna Shadow ghost mysteries (13 books of ghostly mystery)
Holly Holmes baking mysteries (9 books of delicious cake, murder, and stunning British jollies)
Zee Town paranormal cozy series (5 quirky, fun books with murder and friendly zombies in Cornwall)
Along with other titles available if you cast the right spell.
She can imagine dragons, taste cookies when they aren’t even there, and hear the crack of a witch’s broom at a hundred paces.
Visit her website for more bookish, magical fun
