Katriena Knights

Katriena Knights wrote her first poem, "Ode to a Pancake," at the age of three, and has since become the award-winning author of several paranormal romances, including The Haunting of Rory Campbell, a December, 2001 release from ImaJinn Books. Other books include Time and Time Again, also available from ImaJinn, The Vampire Apocalypse novella series, which will be appearing in paperback from ImaJinn in April of next year, and Dealing With David, a best-selling short contemporary published by Hard Shell Word Factory.

Katriena grew up in a podunkish town in the middle of a cornfield in East Central Illinois, and now lives in a podunkish town in the middle of the Colorado mountains with her husband, two children, four Siberian huskies and several very stupid aquarium fish. In her "spare" time she likes to read, watch TV, catch up on movies and play sword-and-sorcery computer games. She's a die-hard X-Files fan and knows more about Pokémon than anyone over the age of ten should ever know.

Katriena loves to hear from her readers and can be contacted through her
web page.

PNR: Katriena, you sold four stories, published by the now closed Dreams Unlimited in 2000. Two of these tales were science fiction/futuristic romance stories, STARCHILD and its sequel EARTHCHILD. The other two were the first stories in a vampire series entitled, THE VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE. These stories, JULIAN, and NICHOLAS, have been re-released in trade paperback by Imajinn Books. These are two of the four tales in REVELATIONS which is book one of the saga. Do you anticipate a re-release for your sciencefiction/futuristic tales as well?

Katriena K.: I hope so. I've been working on it over the past year since Dreams Unlimited closed. Right now the books are in limbo, but I'm still pursuing publication elsewhere. Since Starchild has received a great deal of postive critical attention, including being nominated as best e-book of 2001 by both Affaire de Coeur and Romantic Times, I'm optimistic.

PNR: You also have two other paranormal tales out from Imajinn, THE HAUNTING OF RORY CAMPBELL, and TIME AND TIME AGAIN, which as the titles suggest are a ghost and a time travel romance respectively. Tell us a little bit abut them.

Katriena K.: Time and Time Again is another book that began its publication journey with Dreams Unlimited--in fact, it was my first published book. It's about Britt Keane, whose husband was mysteriously murdered. Determined to get him back, she uses his fortune to build a time machine, then hires Jesse Branson, a PI, to help her prevent her husband's murder. But things turn out to be much different than she anticipated, and in the end she must face the question of whether it's right or even desirable to change the past.

PNR: REVELATIONS begins with "Julian". Julian is an eight hundred year old vampire. He is unusual in the fact that he hasn't tasted blood in nearly three centuries. How has he resisted the urge, and why does he find himself loitering outside the party at Vivian's home, given the temptation?

Katriena K.: Almost 300 years ago, Julian encountered a Sioux shaman who gave him a collection of herbs. When smoked, these herbs make the desire for humanblood controllable. As a result of his abstinence and the constant use of the herbs, Julian is transforming into something other than a vampire. He must take certain steps to complete this transformation, and when he does, it means traumatic change in the vampire community. He visits Vivian's party every year as a way of testing himself, to see if he can still resist his inner demons.

PNR: Lorelei Fletcher is one of the humans in attendance at this party. She has been fascinated from the age of six with vampires, why? How does she find herself in such a dangerous setting? How does she meet Julian?

Katriena K.: Lorelei arrives at the party with Dina, who's been escorted there by her boyfriend, Nicholas. Lorelei's obsession with vampires is explained later in the story and has to do with the part she plays in Julian's transformation. She meets Julian when he rescues her from Nicholas, who goes unaccountable berserk at the party. In the next section "Nicholas", we learn his side of the story, why he lost control and the consequences of that action.

PNR: The third tale, reveals the connection between a mysterious elder, "Lucien," who plays the lead role in the events which are transpiring, and Vivian. It also details Lucien's origins and past. We learn that he is one of four half brothers, the sons of mortal mothers and the god they'd thought to appease. They are the first demons?

Katriena K.: The "first demons," or proto-vampires, were born 12,000 years ago in Eastern Europe. These vampires are able to produce children in the standard manner, as well as vampires, made through an exchange of blood.

The genetic material they thus put into the gene pool has ramifications for the current crop of vampires. Their blood-children also have different powers from vampires whose origins come several generations away from the original proto-vampires. This is siginificant to Vivian, who, unbeknownst to her, is a blood-child of a first demon.

PNR: Through dreams Lucien and one of his brothers had discovered a way to
change the nature of these blood-children. They had recorded the information into a book. At the present time we find Lucien and Vivian trying to reconstruct the information, via the internet from vampires world wide. How had this information which is vital to Julian's destiny, become lost?

Katriena K.: The Book of Changing Blood, written by Lucien and Aanu when they emerged from the mud after the Black Sea Flood (see Noah...) was destroyed by the Dark Children, who believe it is blasphemy to consider the possibility they are anything other than demons. The Book offers a possibility of transformation into a creature of good, rather than evil.

PNR: That Julian has truly become something other than what he'd been for the last eight hundred years becomes apparent in the four tale, "Lorelei". Though it is clear that she and Julian love each other, she is restless and moody. We won't go into the cause, however she feels a need to leave the vampire underground, return home, and ponder her future. Any illusion of choice evaporates when she is kidnapped from her apartment. What is at stake here?

Katriena K.: To be honest, we don't know yet. Lorelei has been affected both mentally and physically by her interactions with Julian. She's starting to discover she's no longer a human being, but not yet what that means.

PNR: There will be a book two, entitled APOTHEOSIS. Who can we expect to find there? Will there be additional collections in this series. What is next for Katriena Knights?

Katriena K.: In APOTHEOSIS, we'll find out more about the Dark Children and Lorelei's transformation, and there will be a confrontation between the two factions of vampires. There's a possibility there'll be more books, but I don't have any actually planned yet. It'll depend on other factors.

After REVELATIONS, my next release is RING OF LIGHT, the first in a four-book fantasy romance series, coming late this year from ImaJinn.

Featured in this Issue:

They're back! :
Amanda Ashley
Maggie Shayne
Updates:
Christine Feehan
Rosemary Laurey
Romance Interviews with:
Angelique Armae
Keri Arthur
Jennifer Dunne
Charlaine Harris
Katriena Knights
Jaye Roycraft
Susan Squires
Featured Website:
The Vampire Vixens