We’re so pleased to have author Kim Fielding joining us today on the tour for her latest release, The Little Library. She’s here to chat a bit about the book and has added an interesting question at the end of her post, a little food for thought which is fun to ponder, so feel free to share your answers in the comments.
Welcome, Kim!
Hi! I’m Kim Fielding and I’m very excited to announce the release of my newest novel, The Little Library! Set in California’s Central Valley, this story stars a guy with a slightly obsession with books. What’s not love about that, right?
If you’re familiar with my books already, you know that I’m eclectic. I don’t write in just one genre—I write in them all. Mwah-hah-hah! Actually, this isn’t an evil plot to take over the world, but rather a symptom of my own weakness. I’m tempted by the shiny, and I find lots of things shiny.
My day job is university professor, and I refuse to stick to a discipline there either. My degrees are in law and psychology (i.e., I spent a lot of time in school), and I teach criminal justice. CJ is a great field for me because it’s broad enough to let me teach and research all sorts of things. Still, I sometimes pose myself a rhetorical question: If I had to choose another academic discipline, what would it be?
Okay, not math. We can get that out of the way from the start. I stink at math and I don’t enjoy it. And I have no musical or artistic talents whatsoever, so I guess we can cross those off the list.
But that leaves… almost anything else. I took some anthropology classes in college and loved them. I find the differences—and similarities—in human cultures fascinating. Plus I have a friend who’s an anthropologist, and she gets to go on digs in interesting places plus help the cops when they find a body, which I think is really cool.
And speaking of forensics, I also know a forensic entomologist. I realize that studying bugs in corpses may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it’s really interesting. Turns out those bugs can tell us a lot.
English calls to me too. Not so much the composition aspect, because I’m pretty sure that if I spent all of my career trying to get students to write properly, I’d lose my mind. But what about literature? Wouldn’t it be great to read for a living? And as an author, I really enjoy thinking about how other writers have used words in magical ways.
I could also see myself as a historian. It’s so intriguing to think about how people have lived in other times and places and how different events have transpired. I’m especially interested in the history of everyday people. What was it like to be a woman living in Babylon in the 16th century BCE or a child in Xianyang during the Qin dynasty? What jokes did Nok culture people tell a thousand years ago, and what stories did they tell? Even more recent and geographically closer histories can intrigue me. I live less than an hour from gold rush country, and I can’t get enough of poking around in the old towns and cemeteries up there.
The protagonist in The Little Library was a historian, in fact. But a series of disasters has sent his professional and personal lives into a tailspin, and now he’s facing some difficult decisions. Then a sexy ex-cop appears on the scene, and things get even more complicated.
If you could study in any academic discipline—without worrying about eventually getting a job—what would you choose? Please share in the comments.
About the Book
Elliott Thompson was once a historian with a promising academic future, but his involvement in a scandal meant a lost job, public shame, and a ruined love life. He took shelter in his rural California hometown, where he teaches online classes, hoards books, and despairs of his future.
Simon Odisho has lost a job as well—to a bullet that sidelined his career in law enforcement. While his shattered knee recovers, he rethinks his job prospects and searches for the courage to come out to his close-knit but conservative extended family.
In an attempt to manage his overflowing book collection, Elliott builds a miniature neighborhood library in his front yard. The project puts him in touch with his neighbors—for better and worse—and introduces him to handsome, charming Simon. While romance blooms quickly between them, Elliott’s not willing to live in the closet, and his best career prospects might take him far away. His books have plenty to tell him about history, but they give him no clues about a future with Simon.
Buy the Book: Amazon || Smashwords
About the Author
Kim Fielding picked up a pencil when she was three years old and never put it down. She always dreamed of becoming an author, but took a roundabout way of getting there, first spending an inordinate amount of time as a student and ending up with a law degree and a PhD in psychology. She wrote plenty of academic articles and even a few books, but fiction continued to call to her. One day, she finally put that pencil to its intended use again and began to write novels.
Today, Kim is the best-selling, award-winning author of numerous gay romance and fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning multiple -genres. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in fifteenth-century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, slaves, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.
Kim writes authentic voices and unexpected heroes.
After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there among the cows and almond trees with her husband, her two daughters, and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.
Contact Kim: Website || Blog || Facebook || Twitter || Email || Newsletter || Kim’s Books
I’ve spent way to much time in college already to think about going back to school (undergrad double major in English/history with additional degrees in English and library science). Working in a university library is good enough for me now. But if I could have done ANYTHING, it would have been archaeology. Digging up clues about the past sounds like fun!
As a librarian, I couldn’t resist reading The Little Library. I really enjoyed it.
Oh this sounds good!
I adored this book…especially how you brought these characters to their more adult and mature decisions, The heart knows what it knows. Thanks for your books and many, many enjoyable hours!