UFI welcomes Author Karen Avizur. Thanks for Joining us!!
What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?
I wrote my first story when I was twelve, working on a laptop. I'd save my story on a floppy disk. One time I left it in my back pocket and accidentally sat on it. I was in tears until my father managed to salvage it -- an early lesson on the importance of backing things up in multiple places!
What do you enjoy doing on your down time?
I take my dog Ginger on walks, though during the summer we usually only go in the mornings or evenings since it gets so hot down here in Florida. I'm also a big movie buff, and I love to read, mostly stuff similar to what I write, urban fantasy. That genre has always had a special place in my heart. I remember needing to wait a few years to read Goosebumps, since it scared me so much when I was younger, but when I got to my teens, it was the most awesome book series.
What is your Favorite part of writing?
I think when a character kind of pokes me and goes, "Nope, that's not what I'd do." That's pretty fun. Having a whole other world in my head is wildly entertaining. And making up all the rules for the science, breaking physics, so to speak. The sky's the limit.
Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?
Not routines, exactly. The only thing I really feel I need is the desire to write. Forcing a story to happen never makes a good story. The best stuff comes out when I've got a great idea that's fleshing itself out without me trying and I end up close to bursting, needing to get it written down. I actually wrote the first chapter of Trackers while on vacation, on my cell phone! I had this awesome idea for an introduction and absolutely needed to get it down somewhere.
What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?
I am a major Harry Dresden fan. Jim Butcher rocks. I also enjoy Seanan McGuire's books immensely, several of her series; the Newsflesh series is my favorite take on the zombie genre. I also liked Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series. Just an excellent world of werewolves and magic.
How would you pitch A Tracker's Tale to someone who has not heard of it before?
It's a day-in-the-life story following a psychic FBI agent, Katherine Colebrook, as she handles various cases involving "parasapiens". These most commonly include werewolves, vampires, and pucas (fae), and also others, some more dangerous, that pop up occasionally. And we follow her daughter, who is psychic too, and tends to find trouble.
Can you tell us a little bit about the world that the Trackers series is set in?
What fascinated me most was the idea of a world where supernatural-type creatures existed, and everyone knew and had always known. Most of the series I read and TV shows that I watch revolve around a world where these things are in the shadows. I thought it would be interesting to have things like civil rights issues for faeries, reality shows starring vampires, a werewolf that runs a company that sells certified silver-free products, and so on. How would they fit into society?
Do you have a favorite scene in A Tracker's Tale?
I think the court scene in the beginning is one of my favorites. I wrote it later and added it in, thinking it would be a great way to introduce Katherine, mostly
because she's out of her element. She's much more comfortable doing her job, where she calls the shots, than talking about it. Especially since she's a psychic, it's difficult testifying in a court case. She knows too much and feels like she's the only one in the room who really understands what's going on.
Which one character out of all your books was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?
I think my favorite character to write is Katherine's daughter Alexandra, just because she doesn't take any crap from anyone. She's had a difficult time of it, growing up psychic, but it's just made her stronger. She and her mother aren't always on the same page, but they've been through a lot together, and their close relationship means a lot to Alex.
What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?
A Tracker's Tale is just the beginning of Katherine's adventures. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be releasing the second novel in the Trackers series this October; my editor and I are working on it at the moment. Also, I have a prequel that I can't wait to eventually share with my readers. Katherine's life has been a long one, she's had to endure some tragedy, and this are what made her who she is. It's definitely an important part of her story that I can't wait to tell!
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After graduating film school, Karen moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as a film editor for several years while also pursuing her writing. “I was taught that a film editor is really the final-draft screenwriter. It’s true,” she notes. “I’d written much of Trackers as separate short stories over the years, but being an editor helped me see how to weave those stories together into novel form.”
Karen now lives in Florida with lazy dog Ginger (her Australian cattledog mix), and still keeps a hand in editing for special clients.
Find Karen and her books
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A Tracker's TaleTrackers #1
Amazon
Welcome to the strange and perilous world of Katherine Colebrook: FBI special agent, Los Angeles… Trackers Division.
In Katherine’s world, werewolves, vampires, púcas, and other parasapien species – forced for centuries by human fear and prejudice to live at the fringes of society – have finally come out of hiding to demand their rightful place alongside us. It’s a fragile co-existence, fraught with mutual distrust: a new social contract for which the rules are still evolving. And when those rules break down – usually when a parasapien begins preying on humans – that’s when the Trackers step in. It’s their job to hunt them down and stop them by any means necessary.
Within this elite unit, Katherine Colebrook is one of the best. Her psychic abilities made her a natural for the Trackers Division, allowing her to move between the parasapien and human worlds in ways that no other agent could. But Katherine’s calling hasn’t come without struggle and losses along the way. As a single mother, she must contend with her teenage daughter, Alexandra, who not only shares Katherine’s psychic abilities, but seems determined to follow the same dangerous path as her mother.
And so, when Katherine’s latest assignment threatens to bring that danger too close home, she finds herself faced with the toughest challenge of her career: Can she protect her daughter’s life, while battling a ruthless adversary who’ll stop at nothing to destroy her?
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