Steampunk Granny Interviews Reading Glasses Author, K.A. Magrowski

                                                            

 

Krista is the vice-president of the South Jersey Writers’ Group and according to her bio, she’s been mangling the English language since 1985 and hopes to secure a book deal before the zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion. She’s a wonderful writer so I think she’ll beat the apocalypse deadline. Krista’s work can be found in “Apparitions of Murder,” Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey. 2012, Dreams of Decadence magazine and We Walk Invisible: A Short Story Anthology (Chupa Cabra House).

                                                                   

Krista’s story “The Highborn,” is featured in Reading Glasses. 2014.

Marie Gilbert: I’m so very happy for you, my friend, and I know everyone would like to know more about you. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

K.A. Magrowski: I guess I’ve always been making up stories, as I think many kids do. I didn’t really start writing anything down formally until I was about 14 when I starting writing some bad teenage poetry and then a sci-fi novel that, thankfully, never saw the light of day. After high school I had a love/hate relationship with writing – I still made up stories in my head but rarely wrote anything down until I was in my late 20s when I joined a writing group in Philadelphia run by Alison Hicks (www.philawordshop.com) where I learned so much about writing through our weekly meetings. It’s been a crazy ride since then as I’ve continued to learn, to improve, and “perfect” my craft.

                                                                    

Marie Gilbert: Tell us a little bit about your main character and where did you get the inspiration for this story?

K.A. Magrowski: The story was inspired as I lay on my bed by an image I received of a priestess with snake arm bands in a candle-lit temple. After a few false endings, the completed story came to me while writing up against the anthology deadline. Amazing how that works.

 

Marie Gilbert: Why do people seem to fear a powerful woman or Goddess?

 

K. A. Magrowski: I don’t know exactly. I think there’s a deep-seated fear, especially in America, of powerful women because so much of our language is male-oriented. The Founding Fathers. The Men Who Built America. The constant qualifiers – woman coach, woman pastor, female lead, woman writer. Rarely do you see the converse. Male is understood as a default and everything else almost seems to come as a surprise. That kind of thing we see everyday in media. Strong, intelligent women, even today, are viewed so many times as bitches, or conniving temptresses, or whining hags that don’t know their place.

Religions especially can be infuriating in this regard. The Catholic Church would be a different place if more women held positions of power and decision making. We’re still going through growing pains when it comes to gender equality in many spheres.

Marie Gilbert: What type of stories are you more comfortable writing?

 

K. A. Magrowski: I can’t say I write to any theme but most of my writing has an element of the supernatural or the strange or the unusual. It’s the way I see the world I guess. If the mundane world were all there was to the universe, and there were no mysteries or unexplained phenomena, then I would probably just fall over from boredom.

Marie Gilbert: I know you’re working on a ghost story and I can’t wait until it’s published. With that thought in mind, when do you expect to get it published and will Hypothetical Press be the publisher you’ll go with?

K.A. Magrowski: Magic 8-ball says, ask again later .

Marie Gilbert: As Vice-President of the South Jersey Writers’ Group, tell us what makes a writing group successful?

K.A. Magrowski: Obviously, first and foremost, it’s the people. You need a group of people willing to work together, to listen, to learn, and to share. I think that’s what makes the South Jersey Writers’ Group so much fun to work with – there are so many people who are willing to share their time and expertise without ego getting in the way.

Also, I think having people willing to commit their time. We couldn’t do what we do, or offer the variety and scope we can, with our volunteers. There’s a lot of hard work and planning that go into making the group run smoothly.

Marie Gilbert. It was pleasure talking about your story featured in Reading Glasses and I’m sure everyone reading this interview will want to read all your works. Thank you, Krista.

You can find Krista, here:
http://kamagrowski.com/

https://www.facebook.com/krista.magrowski?fref=ts

You can find Reading Glasses here:

And, my apocalyptic tale with a twist, Roof Oasis, the first in a series is on Amazon.com and on Kindle.