Featured Interview With Jessica Simpkiss
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Jessica. I was raised in many different places but feel that Earlysville, Virginia defined my childhood. Currently I live in Virginia Beach with my husband, daughter and our pet hedgehog, Quilliam Hedgemond Simpkiss.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I don’t remember exactly when the fascination started, which makes me think it was always there. Growing up, I was diagnosed with dyslexia which has always affected my reading skills. I am a terribly slow reader but I love reading. In high school I was on the literary magazine and the school paper and thought I was going to be a famous writer. Reality kicked in while in college and the need to learn something more marketable than creative writing got the better of me. I majored in Art History (I know I said something more marketable, but at the time it seemed like a good idea) and immediately moved from the DC area to a little town in the middle of Florida, never to use my Art History degree. I lost my writing and creative voice for awhile, but I have found it once again and just published my first novel, The Spaewife’s Secret.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I don’t know if I have a favorite author. Often times I’ll read a book I love by an author and read something else in their catalogue and not love it as much. I love reading different and obscure things.
I love historical fiction. I love that certain things in this genre could have happened the way authors decide to portray them. My second novel, tentatively entitled Bone in the Blood is my first foray into the genre and is based in 1950s Ireland and follows the lives of three different women who are all affected by Irelands homes for unwed mothers. Even though the book is entirely fictional, the events and characters may have existed close to how I have portrayed them, and I love that.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Spaewife’s Secret was released by Solstice Publishing in November and is a thriller/mystery hybrid set in the Western Isles of Scotland. Lachlan McKinley returns to the Isles after a twenty year absence after, he claims, a creature from Scottish lore killed his best friend.
The book alternates between an adult, current day version of the main character and a younger version. The chapters parallel each other, leading up to the discovery of the truth about what happened to Arden Scott in the hills behind Bosta Beach.
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