NATASHA: Thank you for the interview. Can you tell our readers about yourself?
K. NILSSON: My parents were immigrants and settled in a community with expatriates from their hometown. I was born a year after they emigrated. No one in the tenement-like community attended college. I wanted to leave the town where the females were expected to marry, stay home, and have babies.
The teachers at the high school encouraged me to dream beyond my parent’s expectation and helped me get into a university. I got a part-time job, paid for my education, and pursued electrical engineering. When I graduated, I got a job working on flight simulators for an aircraft company.
Despite my education in the sciences, I became a closet aesthete. I love art, music, and went to all the local museums, took art history classes as electives, and dated a musician who taught piano.
NATASHA: How long have you been a writer?
K. NILSSON: I began writing on a fanfiction website, met another fan, and we formed a friendship, exchanging vignettes and short stories. Though we drifted apart, I could not shake the urge to write. I wrote detailed end-of-year summaries and included them in holiday cards. I wrote long travelogues, adding restaurants, and hotel reviews.
NATASHA: When it comes to writing, do you have a particular routine or writing process that allows the ideas to flow better?
K. NILSSON: Initially, I wrote by the seat of my pants, capturing the story as it develops in my mind without the confines of an outline. I put myself in my character’s shoes in the scene. However, the downside was backtracking to put the scenes in order. So, I’m using the outlines now.
NATASHA: Can you tell our readers about your latest book?
K. NILSSON: The latest books are part of an enemies to lovers and romantic suspense series––The Blue Trilogy.
Smoke Screen is the second book.
The two characters had a one-night stand where the man ghosted the woman as soon as the liaison ended. He was a real cad. Imagine the emotions when they are sitting across from each other in a conference room. They cross paths as she seeks a missing person, and he investigates technology theft.
NATASHA: And how did you come up with the title?
K. NILSSON: The titles went through a few incarnations. I settled on Blue because the eye colors between the character, Devyn and her mom made her immediately recognizable to someone in her parents’ past.
The title of the second book, Smoke Screen, was a reference to the effort made to mask the goings on behind the scenes.
The last book, Dead Heat, was my husband’s suggestion. It is a reference to the urgency in solving the case as soon as Max ties together clues that the stolen technology and the missing student are connected.
NATASHA: If you could have one of your stories turned into a film? What story would that be, and why?
K. NILSSON: I have yet to write a story worthy of a screenplay. I’m ruminating on it––a family saga. It’s on my calendar for the next year. The temporary title is Satan’s Overlord.
NATASHA: Are you like any of the characters you write about and why?
K. NILSSON: I think some part of an author’s makeup invariably seeps into their characters. For instance, the bull-dog determination of Devyn/s character in Blue, Max's pain of abandonment, and Ben’s controlling personality, resemble me in small ways.
NATASHA: Besides writing, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time to relax?
K. NILSSON: Prior to 2020, my husband and I traveled most of the year. Every destination included art museums and food tours. The tours about local cuisine reveal the history and culture of the region. I enjoy the food part of the trips the most. This past year, I’ve enjoyed streaming European dramas on television.
NATASHA: Can you share with our readers any future projects that you are working on?
K. NILSSON: I plan to release the last book of the Blue Trilogy, Dead Heat, in May 2021. Then I will focus on Satan’s Overlord (temporary title), a family saga.
NATASHA: How can our readers learn more about you and your books?
K. NILSSON: Readers can learn more about me on my website and signing up for my newsletters. The newsletters allow me more freedom to communicate with readers more intimately than trying to engage them to buy my books. I share a favorite recipe, movies I’ve been streaming, what I’m reading on my kindle, and my next story.
Author Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42514585-smoke-screen
Purchase: https://amzn.to/390SEWt
Author links:
http://kimbernilsson.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kimbernilsson/
https://twitter.com/kimber_nilsson
https://www.facebook.com/kimbersworld
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17022263.K_Nilsson
AUTHOR BIO:
K. Nilsson's love of reading began with the Bobbsey twins. When she ran across some Italian True Romance novellas stashed in the attic, the musty serials hooked her on adult fiction. Though black and white photos were dramatic enough to know what the stories were about, she taught herself to read in Italian and translated them to her friends. She's an unapologetic reviewer of books, restaurants, and vacation destinations. An amateur photographer, K. loves taking editorial photos and documenting her travels. Her personal philosophy, sleeping is a waste of time.
