Pamela K. Kinney Spotlight

Pamela Kinney, writing as herself and under the name Sapphire Phelan, has a flair for the dramatic. She's an actress and writer! I think it's great because both professions complement each other naturally. She leans toward paranormal and horror and has an enviable list of publishing credits. Read on to find out more about Pamela/Sapphire.

KW: If you had to live out one of your stories, which would it be? Why?

PK: I admit I imagine myself in most of my characters' roles, not all, but some. I think [I'd pick] "Soul Seduction" in Forbidden Love: Bad Boys. Meeting Branigan Darkman, my bad boy fairy, would be interesting as he is definitely bad. Also Iridescent Invasion--who doesn't want to stop alien invaders and save the world? LOL.

KW: I adore reading thrillers, but doubt I could ever write one. Is there a genre you’d like to write, but don’t think you could?

PK: I once thought when I was younger that I could write mysteries, but now I'm not too sure. It's not to say I might not try one day, but for now I don't think so. I never thought I could do a nonfiction book, as it's harder to write than fiction and yet, I just finished it and sent it off to the publisher.

KW: What was the genesis for Irridescent Invasion?

PK: Believe it or not, some truly bad science fiction movie that was on the SciFi Channel some months ago. There were these aliens that came to earth by metorite, got onto this train and began to kill people off. Though my alien isn't like those parasitic ones in the film. A germ of an idea came to me while watching it, I wrote it down, and the next day I began to type it all out.

KW: Which authors have influenced you, and how? Do you think you've absorbed any of their skill by osmosis or even by design?

PK: Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, Laurell K. Hamilton, J. R. R. Tolkein, Madeleine L'Engle, H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and Kelley Armstrong are among the few. Though heavily, I'd say Ray Bradbury and Shirley Jackson.

KW: What are you reading right now?

PK: Eragon by Christopher Paolini since the movie is coming out next month, and I like good dragon fantasy stories anyway. I'm also trying to read The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown since we bought the movie on DVD, though something tells me I'll see the movie before I even finish the book.

KW: I assume Sapphire Phelan is pseudonym. Is there any significance to that name?

PK: Sapphire is my birthstone (September) and Phelan is an Irish name I found in a baby book long ago, it means wolf. I used it for a character's last name in an erotic horror novel I have almost finished, and in the upcoming story, "Being a Predator is a Bitch." I thought it would go well with Sapphire.

KW: If you could only watch one movie again for the rest of your life, what would it be?

PK: Three actually for me: Day the Earth Stood Still, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back (though I can watch all of the Star Wars films) and The Haunting (1963 version).

KW: What makes you angry? Happy?

PK: People who don't know what they're talking about when they don't have all the facts, and people talking on cell phones while they're driving, oblivious to everything, and then almost cause an accident.

What makes me happy is simple things, like a good book, a nice day, or being with my husband, or hearing from a reader that they enjoyed something I wrote.

KW: What’s your favorite possession?

PK: I'm proud of this expensive diamond ring I won long ago, but my faves are these two stuffed animals--one is a dragon that looks very realistic and the other is the Yoda my husband got me at Star Wars Celebration III last year.

KW: What is your fondest memory?

PK: Seeing my son for the first time after I just gave birth to him and the nurse had placed him in my arms.

Wow. That was a such a defining moment for me, too. Check out Pamela's release, Crimson Promise, with Lady Aibell Press. Also, visit her at her website and blog.