Meet Tempest Knight
8 Comments MC: Start off by telling us about you. Who is Tempest Knight?
TK: During the day I’m a mild-mannered, single, professional woman. But when night falls and the earth is shrouded in shadows, the pearly rays of the moon the only light, I sit before my computer to write the most sensuous tales, bringing up erotic fantasies from a world shrouded in its dark veil, and let all the night creatures come out to enjoy the earthly pleasures with humans.
MC: Your bio says that you have an interest in folklore. Can you tell us more about that and how you got interested in it?
TK: Puerto Rican culture, as well as other Latin American cultures, is rich in folklore. Beautiful “tainas” who bewitched the Spaniards sentries at “La Garrita del Diablo.” “La Llorona” in Mexico. You cannot not grow in this country with such rich history and lore that comes from the mix of three cultures – taíno, African, and Spanish – and not be affected by it.
When I was a child, my grandparents used to tell me all these fantastic stories from specters to myths – some from my distant relatives like Pirate Cofresí -, and I just loved hearing them. I’ve always had a very vivid imagination, so every time I heard one of those stories my imagination took flight, and now I can’t help but to draw inspiration from them when I’m writing.
MC: And what about runes and tarot? Could you explain it for the readers who don’t know much about these topics?
TK: Believe it or not people are quite familiar with the runes. Those who saw the movie “Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” saw the runes etched in the book Gandalf read when they were trapped in the mines of Moria. And of course, those into Harry Potter have heard Hermione complain about her rune course. You know, that’s how my goddaughter got into them.
Now the runes were the Vikings’ alphabet system, but they were also used for divination. Basically, the runes consist of 24 pictographs, each representing a force or object of Nature. For instance, Hagall represents limitations or delays, and Uruz the wild cattle. If you check out websites, you’ll see that the Vikings carved runes into everything.
A friend of mine from high school, whose father was into Freemasonry, had a rune set. Every time she hosted pajama parties at her house, she treated us for a rune session. It aroused my curiosity.
As for the tarot, just like the runes, it’s another divination tool. There are many theories of the origin of the tarot – too many to discuss in such a short amount of time. Suffice it’s to say that there’s evidence that points to tarot decks being about 400 years old. Nowadays you can walk into Borders or occult stores and find hundreds of tarot decks of all sizes and themes, which is totally mind boggling – especially if you’re a beginner. But let’s stick with the one we’re all familiar with, the perhaps most famous tarot deck of all, The Raider-Waite, which set the standards for all other tarots. It consists of 78 cards divided into 2 arcanas: 22 cards in the Major Arcana (which present major forces of nature at work or the Fool’s journey as some prefer to refer to it) and 56 cards in the Minor Arcana (which present the mundane: cups – emotions, pentacles – material possessions, wands – creativity, and swords – will).
I’d heard about tarots when I was younger so my curiosity was piqued. I bought my first tarot deck at the age of 19, and I’ve been studying it since then.
MC: How do these interests influence your writing?
TK: Like I mentioned before, I sometimes draw some of my inspiration from the lore and myths I find in different cultures. Of course, I might twist some of the tales around, change them to suit my purposes. But mostly it helps me when I’m worldbuilding. And as for the runes and the tarot, they’ve become instrumental in some of my stories by becoming an integral part in them.
At other times, when I’m stuck in a story, I use the tarot to get me unstuck. I have to thank my dear friend and fellow writer Lynn Daniels, who sent me all these tarot spread sheets to help me with characterization, plot, and conflict.
MC: You live in Puerto Rico, right? You paint a wonderful picture of it in your bio and I just love learning about new places. Would you mind telling us more about this Island of Enchantment? Where are your favorite places to visit? What are the “must see” sights?
TK: Puerto Rico (or Borinquen), referred by poets and songwriters as “la perla del Caribe” (the Caribbean pearl) and “la isla del encanto,” lays between the Atlantic Ocean, with its restless dark-blue waters, on the North and the peaceful turquoise Caribbean Sea on the south. It’s a small island, 100 miles by 35 miles. During the day, the sound of parrots, nightingales, and other birds can be heard; and at night the “coqui” (a very small frog) lulls you to sleep with its song. The exotic smell and sights of tropical fruits (mangoes, pineapples, and many more), the colors of wild flowers is everywhere, every single day of year. “Flamboyanes” in summer. Ixorians in spring and fall. The beaches with their white sands are a sight to behold. If the sun painting the baby-blue sky and the waters orange as it sets at the beach can leave you breathless, the sunrises over the green folliage of mountains are just as inspiring. Down here nature comes in small yet amazing packages, like “El Yunque,” the dwarf rainforest. We also have “El Bosque Seco” (the dry forest), with its twisted trees. The mighty Caves of Camuy, where many of our tainos lived, are an artistic expression of Creation.
If you prefer to check out the arquitecture, then there’s “El Morro”, San Felipe Fort, La Fortaleza, Serralles Castle, Porta Coeli, etc.
If you’re into the cultural and festivals, you can miss to visit Loiza Aldea. There’s no other place to see people dancing “la bomba y plena” in traditional clothes. Or go to the Bacardi Festival. Just be careful not to get drunk. *lol*
MC: Tell us about your book Enduring Promise from Cobblestone Press. I
love the title! How did you come up with the idea for the book?
TK: Funny you mentioned the title because that’s how I came up with the idea for the story. *g* You see, I have to have the perfect title for a
story before I even begin to write it. So last year, back in mid-July,
some of my fellow writers encouraged me to write a 6K piece for the
writing competition, and at the time I thought it was a good idea. But two
weeks before the deadline, I was sitting in front of my computer with the
blank screen staring back at me. No title, no story. So my cousin called
me and asked me to check for a movie on the Barnes & Nobles website for
her. She couldn’t recall the title of it except it had the word “promise”
in it. So I typed the word and a list of movies came up. As I read the
titles, one of them stuck up, Love’s Enduring Promise. I’m telling
you, I couldn’t get it out of my head. It was like when you hear a song,
and then you can’t stop humming it, even if you hate the song? A total
earworm. *lol* Then later that night, I was watching a vampire movie when
suddenly the whole story hit me. *wg*
Deanna Lee, owner of Cobblestone Press, told me on the Friday’ night chat to celebrate the release of Enduring Promise if ideas for my stories fell on my lap, and I answered, “Oh yes, they always do when I have the right title.” *g*
Now, you want to know about Enduring Promise? Let me just say that it’s a wonderful love story of love lost/love found between Giselle Dubois, a vampire who fell in love with her sex-slave, and Evan Harris. I can’t tell you more. Now you’ll have to read the book to find out the details. For a full blurb, go to
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/enduringpromise.htm.
*winks*
MC: What’s coming up next from you? Should we mark our calendars? Any
upcoming events, chats, that sort of thing.
TK: Wow, I’ve got so many chats scheduled, so get those red-ink pens and mark your calendars. *wg* My fellow midnight mooners and I will be at Ciar
Cullen Passion on Oct. 14, at Coffee Time Romance on Oct. 17, and at
eBookLove on Oct. 20. I’m scheduling a few more chats for September, so
check out my website for updates. My fellow writers and I at Midnight Moon Café are preparing a lot of surprises for the September and October. Keep tune!
As for contests, on September 24, “Enduring Promise” will be part of the Book-a-Day at The Romance Studio. So some lucky person will win a copy of it. *wg* Speaking of The Romance Studio, I’ll be a featured author for the month of October. I’ll be putting more details on this in my website too.
MC: Your book was recently reviewed by Literary Sass. They’re known for
their brutal honesty. And they gave you two glowing reviews. Care to
brag… I mean, share. :-)
TK: Oh, I know! *lol* They’re really tough readers to please. They know
what they want and not want in a book, and they’re very vocal about it.
I’d seen them rip apart other books, so I almost fell of the chair when I
saw their wonderful reviews. It took me about 10 minutes before it sank
in. Did you know they were the first ones to review my book? Call me
dorky, but I printed out those reviews and framed them.
MC: Now for some fun questions. If you could have any special power,
what would it be?
TK: The power to command water.
MC: If you could be any god or goddess, who would you be and why?
TK: Well, this is going to surprise a lot of you, but I’d say the Morrigan, the Celtic goddess of War, a shapeshifter. I bet you all were expecting me to choose one of the many love and beauty goddesses, like Venus, Aphrodite, or Freyja, since I write erotic romance novels, didn’t you? *lol* Sorry to disappoint you then, but the truth is that I am, as
one of my ex-boyfriends called me, a true warrioress. Like a Xena, the
Warrior Princess. Except that I’m 5’2″. And my eyes are chocolate brown.
*chuckles* Besides, the Morrigu’s symbol is the raven, which she used to
shapeshift into it, and although there are no such birds in my country,
I’ve always have a connection with them.
MC: Five words that describe you?
TK: Loyal, temperamental, fiercely honest, relentless, and anally perfectionist.
MC: Anyone who’s been to my myspace page knows I love two things. First of all, peaches. Do you have a favorite food? Fruit? What beverage do you always have on hand while you’re writing?
TK: Favorite food? Easy. Pizza. I love pizza. Especially peperonni! I could it every day forever and ever. Every Sunday I have to have pizza. If I don’t, beware. I shapeshift into this ugly beast. Pizza is the most erotic food for me.
As for favorite beverage to get me through the writing, I used to have Vanilla Coke. Big fan of vanilla! But it was discontinued. Now I have a glass of water. Yes, I know. Not very exciting, uh? However, I usually have a bowl of pop-corn or a few chocolate chip cookies around to fuel my mind when the tough gets going.
MC: The other thing I love… okay, I’m slightly obsessed with is flipflops. Do you have any obsessions? Collections?
TK: Obsessions? Hm… I don’t know about that. I love men with long hair and great bodies. Does that constitute an obsession? *lol* I collect stuff with dragons, gargoyles, tigers, and wolves.
MC: What’s something that your readers may not know about you?
TK: I was the lead guitarrist in an all-girls heavy metal band back in the 80s. And yes, I had the whole big hair and wore leather pants and spiked necklaces. I still my cherry red Carvin V220 with reverse inline head and black chrome inlays – the last of its kind to be made by Carvin Electric Guitars – and the Mouradian CS 64, also red.
MC: What is your writing schedule like?
TK: Schedule?! What schedule? Honestly, I wish I had one. I envy those who brag about how they can put certain amount of hours into their writing. But working a full-time job with a wacky schedule, I barely scrape a handful of minutes to write when I get home. Even during weekends. I’m lucky if I can have an hour to sit and write. Sometimes days go by without me writing a word. That’s why I write to such a sedate pace to the chagrin of some people in the writing business.
Nowadays I carry my PC Pocket with its foldable keyboard with me at all times, in case I can squeeze a few extra minutes of writing while at work. In the trunk of my car, there’s a plastic box, where I keep a notebook, which I use to jot down notes if I can’t take out my PC Pocket.
MC: How can readers (or anyone else) get in touch with you?
TK: Readers can check out my website at http://www.tempestknight.com/ for
updates and more info. They can also join Midnight Moon Cafe Newletter at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/midnightmooncafe/. But if they’re looking to
have some fun, go by my blog, Midnight Moon Cafe, which I share with three
other excellent paranormal sensual writers, Cora Zane, Cassandra Curtis,
and Brandi Broughton, at http://midnightmooncafe.blogspot.com/. I also
jumped into the MySpace hype and now you can find me at
http://www.myspace.com/tempestknight. You can add me to your list of
friends.
Thanks Tempest!
Thank you for having me here!
What do you think?
