Ask the Author: Ki Longfellow
Answered Questions (16)
Ki Longfellow
A friend who did much to help me with this book.
Ki Longfellow
Who my father was. A full blood Iroquois, yet I know next to nothing about him. How my very young mother met him in New York City, what happened then (aside from the obvious), how he fared in the Second World War - did he die, did he come home shell shocked, did he ever even know about me. Perhaps it's not so much a book mystery as a life mystery. I do think about it now and again.
Ki Longfellow
It's possible Marko could have gotten into a spattle with Susie. His wife was named Susan. I didn't meet him until 1961. He was 11 years old than me so he and Susie must have been kids. I can't imagine him dangling Belle out a window. But who knows? Yes, I knew Leo. He owned and manned The Kettle in Sausalito. We all hung in Leo's. Not an affable man. We ignored him.
Ki Longfellow
I can't help it. The style is dictated by the idea and urge. I was born on Staten Island. Thought it might interesting to have someone look at Manhattan and long for it. Characters come from somewhere within... I never know. They just appear and start talking. As for noir, I adore Raymond Chandler. One of my earliest literary loves.
Ki Longfellow
Blues for the Dying should be out in a few months. Sorry I took so long to answer. I miss these sections, then suddenly - there they are!
Ki Longfellow
A promise I made to my late husband a long time ago. It's not a biography, exactly. Or a memoir, exactly. Honestly, I don't know quite what it is. But I do know its illustrations and design will make up for all my failings as a writer.
Ki Longfellow
Opening a blank file and staring at it. I usually do this once something prods me. In one case, a title I loved and from it came the tale. In another, a need to discuss a spiritual understanding I could not teach, but I could draw with words. In another, someone asking me to write a short story for a noir collection and finding the short story deserved more than one short story. In another.
Ki Longfellow
That keeps changing as my life changes. I've just finished a book about my late husband. I promised him I would write it. It's taken me 20 years to begin but I've done it. It's my first (and last) nonfiction. No idea if it does him (or me) justice, but there it is. It's called THE ILLUSTRATED VIVIAN STANSHALL, a Fairytale of Grimm Art. And now I begin my 5th Sam Russo - my very own detective series which is great fun to write.
Ki Longfellow
Sit down and write. Keep writing. And of course, READ.
Ki Longfellow
Writing. Entering a world entirely mine. Very much like reading except the story plays out in my mind and I write to keep up with it.
Ki Longfellow
Oh dear. I've never had writer's block. I don't know what it feels like. The worst I've ever had is a simple: I don't want to write. For that, I merely give myself a stern talking to.
Ki Longfellow
I love so many styles, so many genres. But mostly it's a matter of the story I'm telling. The story that tells itself to me dictates the style. A passive King James voice for my historical novels. A snappy vernacular quasi-movie dialogue for Sam my detective. An unreliable narrator for what I had to be told was horror. My attempt at "best seller" writing (hah) for my first two published books. The interior voice, nothing seen save from her POV, for my woman who thought dying seemed a good idea. It's the story that dictates the style. I can't stick with one because my tales are seldom alike. If I COULD stick with one style, I might be successful.
Ki Longfellow
I've never stopped caring, but I've stopped worrying about the value of things. Like financial success, awards, the ratings on my books here on goodreads, or anywhere else. I think it's less about no longer caring and more about knowing what's valuable. The work is valuable. If you love what you do, you can easily let go caring if others do or do not. Although I admit it's lovely to hear that something I've made touches someone.
Ki Longfellow
He called himself Zekial Marko, a name he chose over his given name. Yes, John Trinian was his pen name. I knew one hell of a lot of Marko's friends in the '60s (not the 50s) but I've never heard of someone called Talus Taylor. That doesn't mean Talus wasn't a friend even though Marko and I were THIS close. He knew almost everyone in Marin County and San Francisco which is how I met some very interesting folk.
Ki Longfellow
I read everything I can find, talk to scholars (one of the reasons Flow Down Like Silver, for instance, has been the topic of scholarly seminars in Argentina and Italy). My library for The Secret Magdalene alone takes up an entire bookshelf. As for Hypatia, only 16 pages of original source material exist - so far as anyone knows. People rely on the Suda compiled a few hundred after Hypatia's time. The Suda was primarily written by Christian apologists not only anxious to deflect blame for the murder of Hypatia, but that also stems from a completely different moral and philosophical world than the one Hypatia knew. They inflicted their moral standards on her as well as their religious beliefs. If anyone overlooked history, it was the compilers of the Suda. This means I had to make a number of decisions about her based solely on her known interests (mathematics, astrology, alchemy, her chosen philosophers), the writings of the one pupil still in existence, and her probable responses to documented events occurring during her life. I didn't have to overlook historical precedent though - there is so little of it. Thank you for asking. Loved answering. I could go on and on.
Ki Longfellow
So sorry, Sharon... I never noticed this feature of goodreads until just now. But yes, I have. It's what pushed me to write The Secret Magdalene as well as Flow Down Like Silver.
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