Kelly A. Harmon

Interviewed by Wendy H. Jones

with you

By way of introduction tell us a bit about yourself and your books.

Thank you for having me, Wendy. I’m excited to answer your questions. I’m from the US and live in Maryland. I write fantasy, science fiction and horror as well as some non-fiction about a variety of subjects. I’m working on the fifth novel in the Charm City Darkness series and am currently shopping a fantasy series that I’ve been writing off-and-on for a few years. I spent some time on my thesis last year and recently finished my Masters in Fine Arts.

A nice easy one - can you tell us how you came to writing?

I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing. Making up stories and writing them down has been a part of my life since the very beginning. When I couldn’t write the words myself, I would tell my mom and she would write them for me.

You write both novels and short stories and are also a journalist. How does this all fit together?

I knew I was going to make a career out of writing when I was very little, but I got nudged into journalism by well-meaning family who thought I could make a better living as a reporter than an author. So, after college, I began my journey writing crime stories for the local paper during the day, and writing dark fantasy and horror in the evening. Reporting was at turns exciting and boring, and it fed my fiction as much as my imagination did. I interviewed murderers, movie stars, politicians, grieving widowers Their faces, their voices, their mannerisms and even a few of their stories wormed their way into my prose.

I’m no longer a reporter, but I still write nonfiction when I have the opportunity. It’s nice to switch things up and keep my brain nimble. I always feel like I learn something when I write non-fiction, which is fantastic.

Where on earth did the idea for Charm City Darkness come from? They totally blew me away.

Thank you for the kind words about CCD!

The story came about because I was ready to write something “easy.” (Little did I know!) I had just finished writing a dragon novel and another fantasy novel, (neither of which I have sent to publishers) and I was a bit tired of all the world building that goes into fantasy. So, I knew I wanted to write something “contemporary” but also fantastic, and gargoyles seemed underutilized, so I chose that as a starting point. That’s where the stoned in Stoned in Charm City comes from. A gargoyle needs a church, so I chose the one I was most familiar with: Holy Rosary in Baltimore, Maryland. One of Baltimore’s nicknames is Charm City, stemming back to 1975 when the mayor asked city marketers to come up with something to promote tourism. Charm City refers to Baltimore’s rich history and hidden charm.

The first scene I wrote was the one where well -meaning Father Hughes summons demons instead of angels. I knew then that this wasn’t his story though it was something bigger. Once I brought in Assumpta, the novel practically wrote itself.

We always ask authors about their own books but never ask them about their reading habits. What do you read to relax and what books would you pack to go on holiday?

My favourites are fantasy, science fiction and horror, but I’ll read practically anything. I enjoy biographies, history and how-to books, as well. I’m currently rereading Mo Dao Zu Shi: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, waiting for my pre-ordered book 5 to arrive! I first read it on line, but I love having the books in hand to carry with me wherever I go.

Regarding a holiday, I get very little reading done if I’m on a “sight-seeing” vacation or hiking. But if I’m headed to the beach, I’ll pack a stack of romance or cyber-thrillers: stuff that’s easy to read, that I don’t have to concentrate on, and won’t have to remember exciting escape fiction all the way!

This is the hardest question to answer for a writer and reader, if you could choose only one book that shaped your journey as a reader, what would it be?

Oh! This is an easy one for me: Patricia Coffin’s The Gruesome Green Witch. I found it in my elementary school library the week before school let out for the summer. The cover depicts a beautiful, green-skinned woman the witch whose back is reflected in a mirror. Her back is indeed gruesome, with the bones of her spine revealed and her innards hanging out! And the book is typeset in green ink. The story is about two best friends who find a magic tunnel inside a bedroom closet that leads them to an enchanted land. There, they meet all kinds of extraordinary creatures and battle the witch at the end.

There was magic in the real world and adventure! And the heroines had fun names like Mole and Puffin and they could do awesome deeds like fight trolls and learn math! I was hooked.

I will admit that I did not want to return the book! I haunted used bookstores for years afterward, looking for a copy. Decades later, I finally found one. I still reread it every so often.

Which author do you think has most influenced your writing?

Most definitely Dean Koontz. I remember reading Watchers when I was 10 or 11. I found it gripping. My mother started it first, and every time she set it down I picked it up and walked off with it.

(I have my Mom to thank for my love of books. She taught me to read before I went to kindergarten.)

After Watchers, I devoured every Dean Koontz book I could find. I learned he’d written a book called Writing Popular Fiction in 1972, which I wanted to read, but it was long out of print at the time. So I wrote to Dean Koontz and asked him if he knew where I could find a copy.

He wrote me back and told me not to buy his book. Instead, he included several photocopied covers of other books which he thought would be better. I was super impressed. I make certain to buy every book he writes.

Do you have a favourite book on Writing and if so, what is it? Again, I know this is a tough one, especially when you have so many friends in the writing world.

Yes – it’s from the mid-90s, but I think it holds up well: Sol Stein’s Stein on Writing. It’s packed with solid advice and fantastic examples. No fluff. It’s another book I reread every few years, mostly because I just enjoy his tone. I always come away with ideas.

I have reviewed the first two of your Charm City series in the magazine. Who would these books appeal to?

I waffle on this question a lot: I like to think readers of Urban Fantasy would eat it up, but there’s a sex scene which you don’t normally find in UF. So, it might turn off some of those readers. On the other hand, it might appeal to readers of Paranormal Romance, but the sex isn’t happily ever after. So I’m not sure. It’s somewhere in between. If you don’t have serious expectations about genre, I think it might appeal to anyone who likes stories about angels and demons, ghosts and gargoyles and other such creatures.

How do you go about making the switch from novel length to short stories and then back again?

I never think about the length of a story when I start writing it. I think each story has its own suitable length: it should be that long and not any longer. I knew the Charm City Darkness books were going to be novels because the idea was so large. There are multiple characters, each with their own story and motivations, so they had to be novel-length to fit it all in. There were some CCD ideas that came to me as I was writing, and I realized they weren’t part of the books. Those individual pieces became short stories because they dealt with oneoff problems that didn’t fit in with the main story line.

Sometimes I’m asked to write a short story of a particular length for a magazine or anthology, so I’ll have to come up with an idea to fit. To keep stories short, I’ll pare back on everything except the essential. With longer stories and novels, I know I’ll have the room to add additional characters and plot threads.

I’m curious as to how much from your life as a writer spills over to and shapes your fiction?

Not a lot of my personal life, but definitely a lot of what I’ve seen or been exposed to turns up in my work. Write what you know, right? I grew up in Baltimore, so it became the setting for the Charm City Darkness series. I was married in Holy Rosary Church, so it, too, was included. (Fun fact: so was my mom, my aunt, my grandmother, as well as a host of cousins.) My grandmother’s house was just across the street from the Pulaski Monument. I grew up regularly seeing these and other locations that are in the book.

Assumpta gets her name because she was born on the Feast of the Assumption in a Catholic Hospital and the nuns urged her mother to name her Assumpta. This is the true story of a close family friend (whose mother refused the nuns). Assumpta’s father presenting her with an accounting of all she owed him on her 18th birthday is a true story, too.

In a short work, I have a main character whose hand was injured when a pot of boiling oil spilled on it and burned most of the skin off. This happened to a close family member. Having seen it first hand, I already knew the details I would use. Even though this was a “modern” injury, I was able to turn it into a medieval one.

I think a lot of writers do this in order to make their stories more real, more believable. I haven’t felt the pain of boiling oil, but I once stepped on a rusty nail that was so long it pushed out the top of my foot. (Just thinking about it now gave me chills.) That was an injury that hurt twice: going in and coming back out. I remember that pain. I remember the shock. Whenever I write a character in pain, I think back to that incident and describe what I felt.

If you could go anywhere in the world to write, where would it be and why?

I like writing at the beach. There’s something mesmerizing about the roll and cadence of the waves as they strike the shore. My favourite time is when the sun is starting to set and the sand is cooling, when all the crowds have disappeared. I’ve spent hours with a notebook in my lap, scribbling away until the light fails and darkness falls. Unless it’s bitter cold, I’m happy at the beach no matter the season.

The other location would probably be Italy. I’ve visited a few times, but never for long enough. I can’t decide if I’d rather be typing away on a large terrazza in the countryside, or on a tiny balcony on a quiet side street in Rome. Maybe just under an umbrella in the Forum. There’s something exhilarating about being surrounded by so much history. It seeps into your bones. Ideas are never far away.

You are a prolific writer with numerous novels and numerous short stories in anthologies. What does a writing day look like for you?

I wish I had a writing day! I work full time, so in a typical day, I might grab a few minutes before work starts in the morning, then at lunch, and then again after work. If nothing else planned, I’ll grab a few solid hours on the weekend. That’s golden.

I’m frequently noodling a plot when no one’s looking. I’ve learned to jot down notes in those “spare minutes” when the time feels otherwise wasted: standing in line at the bank or the grocery, waiting for gas to fill, waiting on… whatever or whomever. I like pencil and paper for these moments, but if none’s available, I’ll pull out my phone and write.

Let’s get personal, what would be your perfect meal.

Lasagne, using my Italian grandmother’s recipe. Italian-style salad. Black pepper cookies and strong espresso for dessert. I enjoyed lasagne a lot growing up. While sauce simmered in a pot on the stove, my dad would make the noodles by hand. Oh, so good!

On holiday do you prefer beach, city, or wilderness? Why?

Both. I love the laziness of the beach. The hot sun beating down and the heat from the sand rising up is so relaxing. It’s like an outdoor sauna. That rest begets more rest: I find myself sleeping earlier and waking up earlier very relaxed. Wilderness, for me, is energizing: hiking woodsy paths jumping a deer or two climbing over rocks, putting my bare feet into steams. It’s great for recharging my creative batteries. And there’s always something to observe and make notes about that may or may not show up in my next story!

Do you prefer warm weather or cold weather?

I enjoy each in their own time. I love the change of seasons.

My final question, which one of your books would you recommend Mom’s Favorite Reads readers, read? Now that’s a mouthful and I wouldn’t want to try saying it after a glass of wine.

It’s always good to start from the beginning! If you don’t mind some sexy-sexy scenes, try Stoned in Charm City, the first book in the series. If that doesn’t appeal, one of my short stories could be nice. My personal favourite so far is “The Dragon’s Clause.” It appears in several anthologies (also under the name “San Marino and the Dragon”) which can be found listed here: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ ea.cgi?125876

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. It is very much appreciated, and I am sure my readers enjoyed getting to know you better.

Thank you for having me, Wendy! This was a lot of fun.

Wendy H. Jones is the award winning, international best-selling author of the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries, Cass Claymore Investigates Mysteries, Fergus and Flora Mysteries, Bertie the Buffalo children’s books and the Writing Matters books for writers. She is also a writing and marketing coach and the President of the Scottish Association of Writers. You can learn more about Wendy on her website: https://www.wendyhjones.com/