Featured Interview With Kim Idynne
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in a small Minnesota town with my parents and two brothers. I loved being outdoors, and the area had a fascinating landscape that shows up in a lot of my stories: swamps, forests, small decrepit cemeteries, mud slides, reclusive backwoods homes (one with a menagerie of “exotic” animals), even quicksand-like soil that tried to swallow me and one of my friends when we tried to cross it after a rainfall. Today I live in roughly the same area with my fiancé, who is also a writer.
I love animals and have lived with rabbits, rodents, and more. The most recent were my two dear cats, Tom and Elijah, who lived with me for 15 years. Tom was a skinny stray who used to casually wander into my house when I lived in a small Wisconsin town; he was very chill and friendly. At the time, some of my neighbors were supporting a movement to take feral cats off the protected species list (meaning that they could be shot and killed). After hearing that, and after Tom was mauled by another cat in my backyard, I decided he was better off living with me. I took him to the vet and got his wounds treated, and then I adopted another cat to keep him company while I was at work. Tom was blatantly disgusted by that at first, but he got over it, and the two became buddies. Elijah died recently, and Tom started to waste away after that. Even when he was sick, he remained a very chill and loving cat. Elijah was a really strange, quirky animal, and not at all trusting when I first adopted him, but when he learned to trust me he became very sweet.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started to read at an early age, and was always fascinated with books. I wasn’t much of a rule-breaker as a kid, but I used to ride my bike to the local library even though it was forbidden, as it required riding on the shoulder of a busy highway. I had a basket installed on my bike so that I could place a good-sized stack of books inside of it. I still have some short stories that I wrote when I was in first grade, and in fourth grade I wrote my first illustrated book series about the strange adventures of one of my friends. As an adult, I became an ELA teacher so that I could share my love of literature with others.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
When I was young, my favorite novel was The Exorcist; I liked how the author contrasted the evils in the world with the ability of humans to do good. Today, I don’t have favorite authors or genres. Some books I’ve read lately that I really enjoyed are The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Change Me into Zeus’ Daughter (both non-fiction). I’m currently reading Cuando era Puertorriquena to salvage my Spanish-speaking skills. I work at a high school, where my students inspire me every day as we figure out how to be the best possible stewards of this world.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is Mahatmas and Monsters, a story about a young man who must learn to transform from a vampire back into a human. In the world of this novel, Elias learns that not everyone who is bitten by a monster becomes a monster, and that his condition is reversible. He desires to become human again so that he can be with Aarya, his childhood love, but he also detests the idea of being vulnerable. To him, humanity means weakness, corruption, and hypocrisy. Elias must decide whether to defeat his vampirism, but it means coming to terms with a painful past and the crimes he has committed as a monster, and it means risking his heart with Aarya. His journey is difficult enough, but an added challenge comes from the fact that he has surrounded himself with monsters who prey on humans—monsters who respond to his transformation with varying degrees of hunger, envy, and wrath.
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