From the TBR Pile: Blog Tour: Interview with Kate Brandes, Author of The Promise of Pierson Orchard

We are really excited to have with author Kate Brandes with us today for an interview. She is promoting her book, The Promise of Pierson Orchard. Make sure to come back on May 6 to read a review of the book!

Author: Kate Brandes
Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
Date of publication: April 2017

Long before fracking ever came to Minden, Pennsylvania, the fissures in the Pierson family were developing into major fault lines.

Green Energy arrives, offering the rural community of Minden the dream of making more money from their land by leasing natural gas rights for drilling. But orchardist, Jack Pierson, fears his brother, Wade, who now works for Green Energy, has returned to town after a twenty-year absence so desperate to be the hero that he’ll blind their hometown to the potential dangers. Jack also worries his brother will try to rekindle his relationship with LeeAnn, Jack’s wife, who’s recently left him. To protect his hometown and to fulfill a promise to himself, Jack seeks out his mother and environmental lawyer, Stella Brantley, who abandoned Minden–and Jack and Wade–many, many years ago.

“Brandes checks off all the boxes for quality fiction: the characters are well-rounded, the settings, such as the apple orchards, the crisp Silver Creek, and the rocky outcrops, are vividly described, and the plot is well-organized and crisply paced. The tension between the characters satisfyingly rises to a crescendo that’s in sync with the larger environmental crisis that threatens the town.” – KIRKUS REVIEWS

Kari& Autumn: What inspired you to become a writer?

Kate: I’m not sure inspired is really the word for what happened to me. I began writing in my mid-thirties. Before that I worked as an environmental scientist, a job I still have.

It was after my first son was born that I was struck with a feeling of wanting to try making something that would reflect my view of the world. I’ve always loved reading fiction and understand the world better through stories. I’ve also kept journals all my life, used mostly for working out problems or making important decisions. So perhaps it was inevitable that I turned to writing as the creative outlet I found myself searching for.

Even though I had two small children, a full time job, and more volunteer commitments than any sane person should have, I crammed in time to learn how to tell a story on paper. I worked hard, whenever I could. And eventually, after years of rewriting and rewriting, I got a publishing contract for my book.

Kari& Autumn: Where do you come up with the ideas for your books?

Kate: I feel like the ideas find me rather than the other way round. It always starts with a small thing - something I fixate on. Then I start to build on that and if I feel like I have enough of a story possibility, I start writing.

Kari& Autumn: What exciting projects are waiting in the wings?

Kate: I’m writing a new novelJ It’s another book club fiction work with an eco bent, partly inspired by Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang.

Kari& Autumn: Who is your favorite literary character and why?

Kate: I love Olive Kitteridge.

Kari& Autumn: Just for fun, if you could be any animal, what would it be and why?

Kate: I’d be a sea turtle, because the oceans seem like the last frontier on earth and I’d love to experience the world as they do.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About Kate Brandes

An environmental scientist with 20 years of experience, Kate Brandes is also a watercolor painter and a writer of women’s fiction with an environmental bent. Her short stories have been published in The Binnacle, Wilderness House Literary Review, and Grey Sparrow Journal. Kate is a member of the Arts Community of Easton (ACE), the Lehigh Art Alliance, Artsbridge, the Pennwriters, and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Kate lives in a small town along the Delaware River with her husband, David, and their two sons. When she’s not working, she’s outside on the river or chasing wild flowers.

Connect with Kate

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Kate Brandes’ TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, April 17th: Broken Teepee

Tuesday, April 18th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Monday, April 24th: The Book Whisperer

Wednesday, April 26th: 100 Pages a Day