Kurt Kamm, An Interview
After reading an review Kurt Kamm's latest thriller, Tunnel Vision, which is available from Amazon today, I decided to find out more about him. He kindly answered the following questions:
When did you first realize
you were a writer?
When I was at Brown, I took a career aptitude test and the
first recommendation was that I become a novelist. I decided I would rather
earn a living and went to work on Wall Street. Now that I am retired, I’ve had
the opportunity to write, and I really enjoy it. Me? A writer? I’m still trying
to find out.
Since you are such an expert about fires, firefighting
and emergency services, tell us something about how all that came about?
I moved from Los Angeles to Malibu several years ago. Soon
after I moved in, the Sheriff’s Department came at 4:00 A.M. and told us we had
15 minutes to evacuate. On the way out, I watched my neighbor’s house burn to
the ground, along with a church and several other homes. The fire department
was literally at my gate when I left, and they stopped to fire at my front
door. During this episode, I got a firsthand look at wildland firefighting and
thought it was something I had to learn about. Over the years, the LACoFD has
allowed me to ride with their crews, attend their training camps, and simply
spend time in the stations. It ain’t Wall Street.
How did you first get
published?
I submitted my second novel, Red Flag Warning,
to several small presses and the first to respond was Aberdeen Bay. At the time,
it was relatively new, and I was impressed with the owner. Later I learned that
the editor had only read the first two chapters, but I was on my way.
What has surprised you most
about being a published author?
The number of people to whom I have sent a complimentary
book—usually folks who helped me in my research—who have never even had the
courtesy of even acknowledging that they
received it (let alone actually open it).
What do you wish you had
known when you first began writing?
That POV is a living breathing thing, and you can mess with
it and do a lot of imaginative things. It scared the heck out of me in the
beginning
What kind of promotion works
best for you?
I’m still trying to figure that out. I have a few thousand
Facebook friends (mostly first responders) and have built up a small but loyal
following. E-mail and Facebook announcements seem to work better than any
number of advertisements and literary website efforts. I’ve done some paid ads
in magazines and have had countless radio interviews, none of which have made
any difference. Winning contests is nice for the resume, and gives credibility,
but doesn’t seem to have any effect on sales either.
And what are you working on
now?
Tunnel Visions is my 5th and last firefighter
mystery. I’m about 1/3 of the way into a narco – novel, which begins in
Guatemala, moves to Mexico, stops on Catalina Island (and yes, there is a
hellacious fire), and finally returns to Guatemala.
Kurt kindly provided these pictures:
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Madeline