Interview with Kathryn Meyer Griffith

I’d like to welcome our guest today, Kathryn Meyer Griffith. It’s a pleasure having you come visit us at Much Cheaper Than Therapy, where chocolate is plentiful and advice is free. So grab some chocolate and a lounge chair. Your therapy session has begun.




I understand you have a new release out called Egyptian Heart. Can you tell us a little bit about your fabulous new book?



Well, it’s a time travel romance…about an Egyptologist, Maggie Owen, who while on an archaeological dig uncovers Ramose Nakh-Min’s ancient tomb and a magical amulet hidden in his sarcophagus. It sends her back to his time…1340 B.C – where she falls hopelessly in love with him, the man she was destined to love. At first she’s mistaken for a slave, but she looks so different…pale skin, bright green eyes like a jinn…which is a sort of a demon. Ancient Egyptians were very superstitious and some believe Maggie is evil. Of course, that causes her a lot of trouble. She also finds herself in turbulent times with Pharaoh Akhenaton and Queen Nefertiti’s power waning and war about to break out with the Hittities. To make a long story short, Maggie ends up helping Queen Nefertiti and her daughters escape Egypt, she gets her man and she helps change history…for the better. I love a happy ending. The book is my first e-published, but my tenth published novel. It comes out today from The Wild Rose Press.

Egyptian Heart is a very interesting title. How did you arrive at that name?

I wrote it under another name, The Cursed Scarab; sold it as Of Another Time…but at the last minute I decided that the first sounded too much like a horror title and the second sounded too generic. I wanted the readers to know it was an Egyptian story. Egyptian Heart popped into my head. I thought it sounded more romantic since Maggie not only loved ancient Egypt but ends up giving her heart to an ancient Egyptian. The title and the beautiful cover created by The Wild Rose Press artist, Tamra Westberry, with the face, the pyramids and the camel, I think, help place it in ancient times.

Did you have to do a lot of research for the book?

Oh, my gosh, yes! I have a file folder three inches thick with notes and copies of photos. I spent many, many hours studying the history of that time and the people. Simply, everything in the book is basically historically correct except Maggie Owen and Ramose Nakh-Min…who never actually existed. They’re fictional characters thrust into a real time, real situations and with people that once lived. I think a lot of writers do that.

What character did you like writing about the most, and why?

Maggie. She’s like me in some ways – artistic and curious – but better. She’s fearless and adventurous. I find giving my heroine courageous traits I don’t have (I’m afraid of everything!) makes her an interesting character – and it’s great therapy for me. I have her do everything I can’t or won’t do. You know…like defy a soldier, face down a lion or physically defend the man she loves.

If your book was made into a movie, what actor would you like to fill your hero’s shoes?

Ah…funny that you should ask. There’s this new show on called Moonlight about a vampire PI. The actor is Alex O’Loughlin. He’s Australian. I’m hard to please and not many actors catch my eye and attention like he has. He’s…handsome and so charismatic. Got the dark hair and eyes, too, of my hero. Except ancient Egyptians were a little more tanned than he is. But he’ll do.

Do you have any authors that inspired you?

When I was a kid I read science fiction and historical romances. Mysteries. Anything spooky. I loved Ray Bradbury and Robert Heinlein. I had a lot of authors that moved me; too many to list. But Stephen King and Dean Koontz are two of my favorites.

What do we have to look forward to next?

I have two more novels (Winter’s Journey, a romantic suspense, and The Ice Bridge, a romance with a dose of murder mystery) and two ghostly short stories (In This House and Don’t Look Back, Agnes…to be a series) contracted with The Wild Rose Press. They should all be out in the next few months. You can get updates on them (and see my homemade book trailers with music by my musician/songwriter brother, Jim Meyer) at: www.myspace.com/kathrynmeyergriffith or www.authorsden.com/kathrynmeyergriffith or www.bebo.com/kathrynmeyerG

Buy Egyptian Heart at: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=639&zenid=c8af6c1ea41227c0f321ae5d9b3ef092

Trailer for Egyptian Heart



Thanks, Kathryn Meyer Griffith!

Bio: Kathryn Meyer Griffith has been making up stories since she was a child and has been writing for over thirty-five years. She was a graphic designer for twenty-three years; she’s a wife (husband, Russell), a mother (son, James) and a grandmother (grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn) and lives with her husband and two quirky cats (Cleo and Sasha) in an old house in a small town in Illinois. She’s had nine books* published and Egyptian Heart will be her tenth.

*Evil Stalks the Night, Leisure 1984; The Heart of the Rose,Leisure 1985; Blood Forge, Leisure 1989; Vampire Blood, Zebra 1991; The Last Vampire, Zebra 1992; Witches, Zebra 1993 & Pinnacle 2000; The Calling, Zebra 1994; Scraps of Paper, Avalon Books, 2003; All Things Slip Away, Avalon Books, 2006. Egyptian Heart, November 30, 2007 (paperback May 30, 2008); Winter’s Journey, early 2008; The Ice Bridge, early 2008; In This House and Don’t Look Back, Agnes, winter of 2007 or early 2008…all from The Wild Rose Press. wwthewildrosepress.com

To find out more about Kathryn : www.myspace.com/kathrynmeyergriffith or www.authorsden.com/kathrynmeyergriffith or www.bebo.com/kathrynmeyerG