Featured Interview With Nancy Klann-Moren
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Over the years I’ve had two husbands, two sons, 5 grandkids, and a whole mess of cats. I suffer from the wanderlust gene and travel as often as possible – for therapy.
I learned to handicap the ponies and take no prisoners at the poker table, from my bookie Grandpa. On my eleventh birthday Gramps took me to the track, where I ate my first pastrami sandwich and then picked the daily double, to win $657.
I make primitive wall hangings from found objects collected on walks. I gather pods, and seeds, and palm cloth from trees, and sea glass and driftwood from the shore.
I live near the ocean with husband number two and our cat Ella.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I don’t remember having a fascination with books as a young child. I found a love for reading in my late teens. I’d lose myself in the stories and pull all-nighters to finish.
The joy of writing came later, after kids and career. I love to make up stories and have been writing fiction for over 15 years.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Ray Bradbury, Flannary O’Connor, Pat Conroy, Susan Cisneros
From these skilled pros I learned that writing can be playful. I’m drawn to the rhythms throughout their work. For me, they transform writing from the craft of storytelling, to fine art.
My favorite genre to read? I like a good old-fashioned, fast-paced spy novel filled with exotic locations.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Distant remnants of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, intersect in the rural town of Hadlee, Mississippi, during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Jason Lee Rainey is the son of a civil rights activist who was later killed in Vietnam. He never knew his father and feels he won’t be able to live up to such a man.
From the first pages of this coming-of-age novel, the story builds around Jason Lee Rainey’s friendship with Samson Johnson, two young boys harassed by the others because Jason Lee is white, and Samson is black. Despite the bigotry their friendship grows strong.
Jason Lee lives with his mother, Cassie, who never came to grips with being a young widow, and her brother, Uncle Mooks, a Vietnam vet who returned with significant psychological problems. Uncle Mooks holds a strong influence on Jason Lee, as an example of how war stripped some men of their true potential. After years of being a stable single mother and caregiver for her brother, Cassie’s strength gives way to her deep sorrow and she winds up in a treatment center for a month-long stay, leaving Uncle Mooks and Jason Lee on their own.
During her absence, Jason Lee discovers, and reads for the first time, his father’s hand-written journal of the 21 days he spent during the Selma to Montgomery march. The accounts of his dad’s convictions and bravery in the civil rights movement inspired Jason Lee and Sampson to dream of a better life, with purpose.
Jason Lee’s childhood ends when a tragedy for which he blames himself strikes. He copes with the overwhelming grief by helping another character, Mr. Otis, who has never trusted white people since his own tragedy, years ago, perpetrated by the KKK. Jason Lee’s persistent kindness overcomes the man’s mistrust and what Jason Lee is able to do for the man, helps him forgive himself.
These events inspire Jason Lee to create a goal for his adulthood, and to the ultimate realization that he is indeed, his father’s son.
The Clock Of Life is about friendship, inequality, and doing right for others, just because it’s right.
It began as a short story. One morning while in a writers conference I read a portion of the short story. The workshop leader asked what I was doing for the next couple years because, “What you have written isn’t a short story, it’s a novel.” After a good deal of foot dragging, I took up the challenge.
Book Awards and recognition for The Clock Of Life:
2014 – Finalist, Best Kindle Book Awards, Literary Fiction
2014 – Second Place, Writer’s Digest Self-Published e-Book Awards, Fiction
2013 – Finalist, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Fiction
2013 – Finalist, Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, Southern Fiction
BRAG (Book Readers Appreciation Group) and five-star review
AIA (Awesome Indie Approved) Gold Medal and five-star review
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Just swinging by to say your book sounds amazing. Just added it to my Kindle list.
Thanks Avery, please enjoy!