Interview With Author W.D. Kilpack III
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
W.D. Kilpack III, MPC, PSMC, is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author recognized for his works across various media, including print, online, radio, and television. His writing journey began at the age of nine when he won an award for a poem. As an adult, his first three novels — Crown Prince, Order of Light, and Demon Seed —each won the International Firebird Book Award and The BookFest Award, with Crown Prince also receiving the International Impact Book Award. His works Demon Seed, Rilari, and Vengeance Borne were featured as Editor’s Choice on BooksShelf, and both Order of Light and Rilari were named Top Picks. He earned an Honorable Mention from L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest for his novella Pale Face. To date, his books have garnered 26 awards.
In addition to his writing career, W.D. Kilpack III has served as the editor and publisher of 23 print and online news and literary publications, with circulations as high as 770,000. He is also a partner at Safe Harbor Films, LLC, where he writes screenplays and oversees marketing efforts.
He holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Westminster University, where he double-majored in communication and philosophy and completed the Honors Program. He went on to earn a Master of Professional Communication with a writing emphasis. As a high-performing athlete, he also qualified for international competition in Greco-Roman wrestling.
For 25 years, he was a communication professor and a nationally recognized wrestling coach. Outside of his professional accomplishments, he is an accomplished cook. He resides in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he is happily married to his high-school sweetheart and is father to five children, as well as helping to raise five step-children.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Vengeance Borne: Book Five of New Blood.
It continues the story of Natharr, who is Guardian of Maarihk, one of a long line of protectors dating back to the Firstborn Age, before the Aa Conquest. Natharr’s is an ancient role, rooted in his Firstblood, giving him Sight to see what is yet to be, adhering to his sacred duties even in the centuries since the Firstborn were forced to the brink of extinction by the Aa.
Natharr still stands guard over all men, Aa or Firstborn, Seeing what will come to pass, deciding what is unavoidable and what is not. Spending decades planning, even for saving the life of the newborn Crown Prince Vikari so he may one day reclaim the throne in the land where Mankind was created.
In Vengeance Borne, the past and present collide, forcing Natharr and the rest of the Rilari to struggle with the consequences of their absence, past choices, and the power of the Usurper’s vizier left unchecked for far too long. The strain proves too much for some, requiring hard decisions to prepare for a dark future racing toward the Guardian of Maarihk, Ellis the Elder, and the Knights of Ril. All that two generations of Guardians have planned from what their Sight revealed is on the brink of failure. They split their forces to race against time, gambling that thinner numbers will endure on diverging paths toward victory.
Meanwhile, Nathan fights to deal with great loss and a change of course in his life in the Maarihk Empire as it plants new seeds yearning for a single goal: vengeance.
As far as what inspired the New Blood Saga, for months, I was having a recurring dream that would have me in tears when I woke. It persisted for months, and I finally realized that I needed to write it. Pretty quickly, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to achieve the same level of emotional impact in one book, so I thought I would write a trilogy. However, even then, in building to the point in the dream, creating the gravitas that would really give it some punch, I hadn’t even gotten to the dream in those three books, so I thought it would be six. As I continued writing, it became an eight-book saga.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I do not write out outlines, but I always have a plan for major milestones in the storyline. I like to just let it flow for the steps between those milestones. I love those moments where I sit back and say, “Whoa! I didn’t see that coming.” If it surprises me, it will certainly surprise my readers.
Also, my wife, Alison, loves her bedtime stories. I write every day, without fail. That night, I read to her. She tells me when she thinks a character wouldn’t say or do something. It also allows me to get a wave of editing in while reading it out loud. Incidentally, one of my more common comments is that my female characters don’t sound like they were written by a man. That is thanks to my wife.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love science fiction and fantasy. My influences include Homer, J.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Stephen R. Donaldson, George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Alan Dean Foster, Piers Anthony, Robert Holdstock, Robert Adams, John Norman, Melanie Rawn, Shakespeare, Aristotle, and Robert Frost. There are only three authors whose books I have read so many times (or loaned to friends who didn’t treat them as the treasures they are) that I bought them a second or third time: Tolkien, Anthony, and Foster. Since I am also a screenwriter, this list would not be complete without Aaron Sorkin, Quentin Tarantino, and James Cameron. The most inspirational writers would be Homer, Tolkien, Martin, and Artistotle. People always balk on the last one and I have one response: Aristotle was writing around 350 BCE and people are still reading his work and it’s still absolutely applicable; that’s absolutely humbling.
What are you working on now?
I am polishing up Battle Calm: Omega Message, the sequel to my dystopian military sci-fi novel, Battle Calm. I’m tweaking the last chapter and and working on cover art for it. It should be out in the next month (knock on wood). I have completed the second draft of the screen play for my sci-fi novella, Pale Face, which is in movie development and waiting feedback. I am starting the polishing work on Usurper’s Might: Book Six of New Blood, which will be out before the end of the year!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best thing is my website, www.Kilpack.net, which has turned into the communication hub of my hopes and dreams. It has information about the books and links to purchase them directly on Amazon, NOOK, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple, etc. The site also has information about me (for those who are interested); links to interviews; photos sent to me by readers holding my books; videos of people who joined the Knights of Ril (which you can also do on the site), then videoed themselves reciting the vows of a Knight of Ril and sent them to me. It’s been pretty amazing, and certainly unanticipated, to have people sending me those kinds of responses. It also has links to my author pages on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, LibraryThing, and other information!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
The best advice I have is write, write, write. You see a movie and a line of dialogue has you going down another path, write it down. You hear a song and a lyric strikes you, write it down. The best advice for someone wanting to be a writer is just that: start.
The next best bit of advice is don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. Envy is an ugly and devious monster. If someone says that you can’t, it’s probably that monster using its powers to capitalize on someone’s true feelings that he or she can’t. Remember that.
Last, write the book that you want to read. I know I’m not the first to say this. Stephen King, Maya Angelou, etc., have said it. But it’s true. If it’s something you would want to read, then write it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” ― Abraham Lincoln
What are you reading now?
The Doomsayer Prince by Rune S. Nielsen
What’s next for you as a writer?
Continuing to promote my books, increasing the number of my personal appearances, and just continuing to love every minute of it!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I love Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey; Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (I have a single-volume collection); and Shakespeare’s MacBeth.
Author Websites and Profiles
W.D. Kilpack III Amazon Profile
W.D. Kilpack III’s Social Media Links
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