Interview and Giveaway: The Spirit of Kilapea by D.H. Starr

Lisa: We’re so pleased to welcome author D.H. Starr today to chat about himself and his newest release from Rocky Ridge Books, The Spirit of Kilapea. Thanks for joining us, D.H.! Let’s start by having you tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know.

D.H.: I’m a pretty open book, but I do have a few secrets that I keep to myself. For example, I’m in love with the Backgammon app on my iPad. Literally can sit for hours and play. Also, I can watch episodes of my favorite shows over and over without ever getting bored. I love how each time I watch a show I pick up on something new I hadn’t noticed before. Yeah, kinda of a geek here.

Lisa: How long did it take to write The Spirit of Kilapea, and what was the most difficult part of the writing process (i.e., dialogue, plot or character development, pacing, etc.)?

D.H.: This book flew out of me. Partially it’s because I lived what these characters lived in terms of the camp, it’s motto, it’s structure, and the setting. I didn’t have to keep reminding myself what I’d established earlier because it’s already there, cemented in my memory.

The hard part in that book was trying to make Kip likable. He’s not the nicest guy back home, with justifiable reason, but still, it’s hard to root for a person who has done mean things. So making him sympathetic was very important to me and I found that to be where I spent the most time thinking and revising.

Lisa: What’s your favorite scene in The Spirit of Kilapea, and what makes it a fave?

D.H.: I love the scenes where Nick and Kip are being real with each other. They both guard themselves in different ways, but coming together opens them up in unexpected ways. There’s one scene where they are talking on top of the art building deck that I particularly like because it’s kind of raw and honest and sweet all at once.

Lisa: Would you care to share an excerpt from the scene with us?

Excerpt: Why had he chosen his favorite spot for the meeting? The deck on top of the art building boasted a panoramic view of the lake and provided a front row seat to watch the sunset. Processing the heavy conversation he’d just had would be much easier if he could meditate in his personal spot alone. But he had Color War to plan. If he were to guide his leaders, it would have to be by example, and putting his own needs first was exactly what he’d just told Brad not to do.

Besides, he wasn’t a good enough actor to fool himself. He wanted to see Kip.

Climbing the steps, Nick pushed his conversation with Brad to the side. Kip deserved his full attention and support, especially after calling Brad and Eric out on his first day.

When Nick crested the stairs, he found Kip already there, sitting on a folding chair with his legs propped on the railing. The wind blew in his hair, orange beams of sun catching the thick blond waves and making them glow. He seemed so relaxed and peaceful, as if he hadn’t just had to flex his muscled the first day on the job. Nick followed Kip’s line of vision, unsure whether he stared at the island across from them, or the pinkish-orange orb sinking toward the water’s surface.

“Hey.” Nick decided to let Kip know he was there rather than staring at him like a lovesick schoolboy. “Heard you had an interesting experience this afternoon.”

Kip lowered his legs from the railing, planting his feet on the deck. He stood, turning to face Nick. “Hey, yourself.” He nodded to a second chair he’d set up next to the one he’d just vacated. “Wasn’t too bad, although I don’t think I made any friends today.”

Nick crossed to the empty seat and plopped down, staring at the sun. “You did the right thing. I’m impressed, actually. It couldn’t have been easy to redirect those guys on your first day.”

Kip sat down next to Nick, resuming his relaxed position. “Wasn’t so bad. I just wanted to make sure they knew I wouldn’t tolerate slacking. Chances are, no emergencies will happen, but all it takes is one screw up and, well, you know.”

He did know. While no campers had ever drowned in the nine summers he’d attended, there had been isolated cases over the camp’s century-long history. “Anyways, I spoke to the LCs. I doubt you’ll have the same problem again. At least I hope you don’t.”

Kip chuckled, then turned to face Nick. “Sorry. It’s just I told myself I wouldn’t tell you about it. How’d you find out?”

Nick smiled, some of the tension easing out of his muscles. “Idiots were talking about it in their cabin without checking to see if anyone,” he pointed at himself, “was listening outside.”

“Oh shit!” Kip laughed, dimples making an appearance. “Well, I bet they won’t make that mistake again.”

“No, probably not.” How had he not noticed those dimples before? Cause he hasn’t smiled yet. Nick leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh. “Anyways, please tell if the behavior continues. It’s important for me to know.”

“That’s fine, but let’s get down to business. Tell me more about this Color War.” Kip shifted his chair so he no longer faced the horizon. Instead, his crystal-blue eyes settled directly on Nick.

Heat washed through him, settling in his groin, his cock hardening in his boxers. He shifted so he could face Kip, adjusting his dick while trying not to draw attention to his entangled predicament. “Kent pretty much summed it up. It’s a day of activities, competitions really, and the whole camp participates. There’s athletic, art, and water events, so we really have to coordinate every resource we have. It’s a scheduling nightmare, but in the end, it’s fucking awesome.”

“Sounds cool.” Kip crossed one leg over the other, his knee hanging lazily to the side.

Nick found himself unable to avert his eyes from the bulge in Kip’s pants. Even in cargo shorts, he filled them out nicely, the outline of his cock pressing at the fabric running down his thigh. No way could that be limp. He had to be sporting at least a semi. When Nick raised his head, he found Kip watching him, a slight smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. Busted.

“Yeah. It is.” What the fuck else could he say?

Silence surrounded them, slightly awkward, but not terribly so. Nick glanced at the sun once more. The orange had intensified, the bottom touching the water’s edge on the horizon. “It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?”

“I’ll say.” Kip’s response came too quickly. When Nick turned to look at him, Kip’s attention wasn’t focused on the sunset. “Is that why you chose here for our meeting?”

Well if that wasn’t a ticking time bomb of a question, Nick didn’t know what was. “Honestly, this is my favorite spot on earth. I try to come here every day just to…” Nick pondered exactly what he did up on the deck. Most of the time he didn’t really do anything but sit quietly and let the world happen around him. “…I don’t know. Just to take it all in.”

“It’s pretty breathtaking.” Kip faced the water once again. With the glow bouncing off the water, his skin seemed to shine.

“I can’t imagine how I’d survive without it.” Nick sucked in a shallow breath, surprised at having revealed something so personal.

“You seem to have your shit pretty well lined up.” Kip’s placed a hand on Nick’s thigh, giving him a squeeze.

Electricity rushed along his leg, doing nothing to ease his attraction to Kip. “It’s a show. Back home I work hard to fit the image everyone expects of me. Here, I can just let go and be myself.” Well, mostly. But he wasn’t going to share that piece of information.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like, back home I have to be on all the right teams and show up at all the hot parties. If I don’t, I guess I’m afraid I’d become invisible.” Funny how he’d never verbalized his fears. Then again, who would he tell?

“I’ll be honest. That surprises me.” Kip removed his hand from Nick’s leg, the absence of his soothing warmth leaving a chill. “You seem like the kind of guy who’s the same no matter where you go. I find it hard to believe you live one life back home and another one here. No one’s that good an actor.”

Nick huffed out a frustrated Huh! “You’d be surprised. Sometimes I wish I could just tell everyone what really matters to me and if they don’t like it they can go to hell.”

“What really matters to you?”

Nick froze, unsure where his admission had come from and even more confused why he was sharing all of this with Kip. Yet he couldn’t deny how good it felt to talk and get his thoughts out of his head. “I wish I had the confidence to be myself without worrying about what anyone else thinks.”

The hairs along Nick’s arm raised, sending a shiver along his skin. Kip remained silent for about a minute. Just as Nick had decided he’d gone too far, making Kip uncomfortable, Kip shifted his position, resting his forearms on his thighs, bringing him scloser to Nick. “I know exactly what you mean.”

“Oh yeah?” He’d managed a flippant tone, yet his heart kicked up a notch.

“Yeah. Believe it or not, I only have one read friend. My parents couldn’t give two shits about me and carted me off to boarding school. The kids at Morningwood are a bunch of rich kids and followers. Only way to survive there is eat or be eaten.”

He couldn’t have just said what Nick thought he heard. “Did you say the name of your school is Morningwood?”

Kip smiled. “I know, right? Totally fucked up.” His expression darkened just as quickly. “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of. But I’ve had to figure out how to survive on my own. No one else seems to give a damn about me. Well, except for Adrien.”

Nick nodded, although the mention of this Adrien person struck a chord inside, leaving him curious about things he had no business wondering about. “What do you mean you’ve done things you’re not proud of?” Not the question burning most on his mind, but a close second.

Lisa: Thanks for the share! Now, if you could spend some real-life time with one of the characters in the book, who would you choose and why?

D.H.: Honestly, I feel like I have spent time with them. This entire story is based loosely on my personal camping experiences in New Hampshire. I spent 10 summers at a YMCA camp and those summers helped, in part, to shape my values. But if I had to pick one character, it would probably be Nick. He’s sweet and genuine and scared, trying to figure himself out and yearning to be himself. At the same time, he has the strength of character to speak up when he sees something wrong.

Lisa: Let’s take off your author cap and put on your reader cap for a moment: what do you look for in a book, what sort of protagonists do you love, and do you have a favorite genre/sub-genre?

D.H.: I read all sorts of books and I find my tastes go in phases. Sometimes I like to read short stories to see how other authors manage to develop plot and character in a limited amount of space. Other times I seek out action-packed stories filled with twists and turns which keep me glued to my Kindle. But I have a particular soft spot for paranormal stories, particularly vampire stories. I love the world building that goes on. It gives me that “what if that was really true” feeling and I can escape for a while to a completely different place.

Lisa: What are your least and most favorite things about being an author?

D.H.: Least àPlotting out stories, finding the time to write, editing and EDITING!

Most à Drafting. The characters take on a life of their own and the story always twists and turns from my original design.

Lisa: Have you ever written a line, paragraph, or passage, and thought, “Darn, that’s pretty amazing, even if I do say so myself”? What was it?

D.H.: Not usually. More often than not, I’m amazed by the way other authors use words and description in innovative ways. But every once in a while, I strike on a paragraph here or there that I think, “Hmm, that’s not bad.” In the story I’m currently revising for re-release, Feed. Prey. Love., I wrote one that captured a lot of activity with very few words…a skill I’m still working on.

His restraint snapped like a brittle twig. He opened his mouth, a wild smile pulling at the corners of his lips as the invisible force of the Paranormal Council surrounded him, bouncing off his guards with no effect. Clamping down, Jonah’s fangs sank into flesh. At the same time, the wind blew furiously carrying the screams of the council’s failed attempt to prevent Jonah’s insatiable lust for killing.

Lisa: What’s the one genre/sub-genre you haven’t written yet, but would love to? What’s kept you from it so far?

D.H.: I haven’t written a sci-fi futuristic story, and it’s itching to come out of me. I wrote a novella called Variant Breed which was always intended to be the prequel to a longer more fleshed out story. I still intend on writing it, but other projects keep hedging their way for top priority.

Lisa: If you could choose one of your books to be adapted for the silver screen, which would you choose? Why do you think it would translate well to film?

D.H.: I would love to see my wrestling series adapted for something like Netflix or HBO or something. Derek and Scott gripped my heart early on in my writing career and haven’t let go. Their journey is epic and could easily translate into several seasons of angsty young adult drama.

Lisa: What’s the one book you’ve read in your lifetime that you wish you’d written? Why did this particular book leave such a lasting impact on you?

D.H.: There are so many, but one in particular that I’ve marveled at is Octavia Butler’s book Wild Seed. Her world and the characters in it are so rich and imaginative that I always get completely lost. It’s a book I can read over and over and never get tired of.

Lisa: What books and authors would you say influenced you to become a writer yourself?

D.H.: Eden Winters has consistently inspired me. Her Diversion series is exemplary. Action-packed, well-written, and with characters you just want to eat up.

Ally Blue, particularly her Bay City Paranormal Investigations series fits the bill for my world-building preferences.

Most recently, I’ve discovered Hailey Turner and her Metahuman Files books. She writes the hottest sex scenes I’ve ever read and uses words like a painter uses a brush.

Lisa: If you won the lottery, what’s the first completely self-indulgent thing you’d do?

D.H.: Buy a penthouse apartment in New York City, a house in Massachusetts where my family lives, and a luxury condo in Florida.

Lisa: Let’s pretend you’re taking a road trip, and you can choose any three of your characters to go with you. First, who would you want on the ride-along, and why them?

D.H.: Well, I’m particularly partial to Jeremy from Meant For Each Other since he’s also and educator and we’d have a lot to talk about.

Derek and Scott are a little too young for me to road trip with, so not them.

Purvis, although a side character in Feed. Prey. Love. would be a hoot since he’s so over the top and has fairy dust that would make everyone horny and increase all of our chances of getting lucky.

Emory from Perfect For Me because he’s just an all-around nice guy, he’s hot, and he’s a social worker so we would have lots to talk about.

And although she isn’t a character in my book, I’d want to drag along Kris Jacen simply because she’s so fun and awesome.

Lisa: Second, who would be most likely to: *Have to hit every rest stop bathroom

D.H.: That would be me, but not to use the bathroom. I need to stretch and move frequently.

*Whine about how long it’s taking to get where you’re going

D.H.: Probably Jeremy. He deals with young kids so his patience when not at work can sometimes run thin.

*Break wind with the windows rolled up

D.H.: Again, that would be me. But I’d own it.

*Flip incessantly through songs on their music app

D.H.: If I brought Derek it would be him since he’s in love with music and mixes songs for parties. From the list I mentioned…maybe Kris?

Lisa: If you could sit down to dinner with any author, past or present, who would you choose, and why? What are some things you’d want to chat about?

D.H.: Gordon Merrick. I’d want to know what inspired him to write his Peter and Charlie trilogy. He wrote it at a time when there wasn’t a lot of erotic gay romance out there, so it took some guts to do what he did.

Lisa: What book that you’ve read and loved would you most like to be a character in? Who would you be, and why?

D.H.: Finny from A Separate Peace. He was the epitome of what an awesome guy should be growing up.

Lisa: If you were stranded on a desert island, what are three things you’d absolutely have to have?

D.H.: Funny, because that question was just asked at a workshop I attended recently. First, a bucket or some sort of container to collect water in. Next, something glass to help start fires. Finally, some huge tome of a book like Shakespeare’s compete works that I could read over and over but still have many stories to read.

Lisa: If you had to choose between becoming a superhero or supervillain, which would you choose and why?

D.H.: That’s a tough question because if I could become something I’d want to be a vampire, but a good one. I love the rules attached to the good ones. Live forever, never get sick, never age, super strength, mental strength, it seems a glamorous life…although lonely if I didn’t have someone to share that life with.

Lisa: What would your superpower be?

D.H.: Reading minds would be the ultimate power. If I knew what people were actually thinking as opposed to what they said, I think I’d have been able to avoid lots of hurt feelings and problems. Plus, for the haters out there, I’d know just how to exact revenge.

Lisa: If James Corden invited you to Carpool Karaoke, what song(s) would you sing with him?

D.H.: Don’t Stop Believing by Journey,

Lisa: If you could travel back in time, with all your years of experience and wisdom intact, what advice would you give to your teenage self?

D.H.: Come out, come out, come out. Be who you are unapologetically.

Lisa: If you were to sit down and write your autobiography today, what would the title be?

D.H.: Making Lemonade from Lemons

Lisa: Star Trek, Star Wars, both or neither? Explain.

D.H.: Neither. That particular world isn’t for me. I’m more of the Hunger Games and Twilight guy.

Lisa: Thanks for taking the time to be here with us today, D.H., it’s been fun!

About The Spirit of Kilapea

Length: 157 Pages

Category: Contemporary, Teen Fiction

Publisher: Rocky Ridge Books

Buy Links: Amazon || Barnes & Noble || Kobo || iBooks

Blurb: Can one summer change the lives of two young men?

All-American boy Nick Pinchert, popular, athletic, envied by the jocks and desired by the girls—or that’s what he wants everyone to think. Deep down, he harbors a secret he fears will rip his world apart. His summers of leadership at sleep-away camp are sacred, a time to let go of trying to meet others’ expectations and just be himself…mostly.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Kip Davenport has everything except parents who care about him. He’s grown up shipped from boarding school to boarding school, and Camp Kilapea is one more holding station where he needs to claw his way to the top by tearing others down. Placed in a leadership position he hasn’t earned, Kip plans to deal with the extra resentment the same way he always has.

When the two meet, the attraction is immediate, terrifying Nick and providing Kip with the perfect target for his manipulations. But Camp Kilapea’s teachings challenge even the most obstinate. The three pillars of body, mind, and spirit force campers and leaders alike to examine their choices and to become better people.

But is the spirit of Kilapea strong enough to force Nick and Kip to lower their guards and let each other in?

About the Author

DH Starr is a normal guy with a naughty mind. His stories focus on the dynamics of relationships. He loves sci-fi, paranormal, and coming of age stories.

Connect with DH: Website || Twitter || Facebook || Email

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