Sonam: Hello Kristen! I'm super excited to have you here. Please introduce yourself to the readers.
Kristen: Hey I’m Kristen Keenon Fisher author of The Quantum Cartographer, Book of Cruxes, which is my debut novel. In my downtime, I like eating cereal, stalking artists’ instagram pages and plotting world domination.
Sonam: What made you write this book Kristen?
Kristen: I had this idea to blend time travel and reincarnation. I wanted to explore the idea that reincarnation itself could be a form of time travel, in that, a soul could return at any point in time and even reincarnate into the past. I wanted to use familiar concepts but reveal them in unexpected ways. I was just really in love with the idea of creating a story that was like mythology in a sense, wherein, it could be viewed and understood in a multitude of ways. Every detail has meaning. Nothing is arbitrarily placed. Time is an illusion, and I really wanted to show that and use it to create what I call, this “beautiful confusion” within the reader. If events that take place in the future seem to inspire events that took place in the past, which came first?
Sonam: Great! Now that the audience know you please tell us How did you get started doing what you’re doing now? How did you discover your passion?
Kristen: Well, I had always written short stories and poems growing up but it wasn’t always something I gave much attention to. I think sometimes the things that we end up becoming passionate about later in life tend to fly under the radar early on because they come so easy to us. And because they feel so natural, we don’t ascribe much meaning to them until we discover their magic power. I fell in love with writing when I discovered its power of healing, its power to help me understand things about myself and others, its power to help me express things about myself that really don’t have proper context to be expressed in a conversation. But its power to help me discover things about myself is what really got me. And I’ve been hooked ever since.
Sonam: Kristen I'm wondering why did you select this type of content for your book?
Kristen: I planned to create a story that was sort of a hybrid of sci-fi and fantasy. I wanted the action of sci-fi and the lore of fantasy and a story layered in the intricacies of time travel just seemed like the perfect medium. I wanted to give my readers something that looked really cool but that also had depth and meaning. I want to hopefully entertain you but also evoke your mental facilities. I don’t want you to just read along passively I want to challenge your mind; I want to make you think and ponder and feel rewarded when you learn the answers to your questions.
Sonam: Life is full of changes, how do you cope with all the changes and stay on the edge?
Kristen: I drink lots of coffee and I have really good balance. Fun fact: I can balance a baseball bat on both of my pinky fingers while standing on one foot. True story.
I also like to meditate. I have discovered that my day is much easier to manage when it begins with meditation. And a cup of coffee. But it’s important to just be yourself and stay true to who you are. As long as you’re doing that, you’re always state of the art.
Sonam: I wanted to ask you this since the beginning, when did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Kristen: It was a dark and stormy night. My room was pitch black aside from the sharp flashes of lightning that struck the air and drew rain from the clouds. The shadows in the room began to take on strange shapes. Disfigured and emboldened. As I sat with my limbs packaged tight to my body—one of the shadows began to move. A cold chill crawled through every nerve-ending inside me. It came closer. And as it did, it began reaching out, clutching what appeared to be some blunt object in its claw. Immobilized with fear, I shut my eyes. It’s a nightmare, I thought. In a second I’ll wake up and none of it will be real.
Then… A light. Bright and encompassing. Not like the brief glimpse of a lightning strike but warm and sustained. Slowly, I peeled open my eyelids and shielded from the glare.
It was my mother. Holding a flashlight in one hand and a book in the other. “The Beginner’s guide to the World of Fairies.” I was never the same.
Sonam: We all are in indecisive as kids. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
Kristen: I wanted to be a magician. I thought if I knew magic, then I could have anything I wanted and lots of it. I used to get in small arguments with my mom all the time about it because she would always tell me that it didn’t necessarily work that way. But I would always say, “That’s because you don’t know magic.” She just didn’t understand, you know? I also wanted to be an astronaut to, but, I figured if I knew magic then I could just go to space whenever I wanted to.
Sonam: Now that I know you love writing, what do you like to do when you're not writing?
Kristen: When I’m not writing I enjoy, gaming, drawing with the S pen on my Galaxy Note 9, engaging in random acts of kindness, and reading about strange topics like cryptozoology. Did you know that in certain areas of the Amazon, the people of the rainforest will cover their shelters with huge mounds of grass and leaves at night to keep giant spiders from stealing their family members???
Sonam: we all have had our fair share of failures, what were the failures you faces on this journey?
Kristen: well, I would have to say that embarking on your first novel tends to incur the wrath of the “doubting voice” inside your head. Whether it’s, “You’ll never finish,” or “You don’t have enough time” or “No one will ever read it,” or “You should focus on something more practical.” It always shows up until you shut it up by proving it wrong. I simply refused to put too much pressure on myself during the writing process. I just had fun with it. I was going to finish no matter what. Some days I would write a few paragraphs, other days a chapter. I just took my time and ignored the heckler.
Sonam: What does your family think of your writing?
Kristen: They were kind of surprised when they found out I had written novel. I never really told anyone until it was almost complete. My mother read it which really surprised me because she’s not the most avid reader but she does love sci-fi. And she loved it. I quizzed her on it just to make she actually read it and she knew absolutely everything. All the characters plots and subplots. I was really impressed. I dedicated the story to her, my sister and a couple other family members. The story has really strong female characters so I dedicated it to the strong women who raised me.
Sonam: And lastly, do you wanna say something to your audience?
Kristen: Thank you all for stopping by and listening to me rant. First and foremost, I would like to extend the best of health and well wishes to you and your families.
The Quantum Cartographer, is a science fiction story but it’s also my “open letter” to the world. I hope it gives readers something fun and engaging but also thought-provoking. It is my hope that it inspires and uplifts you and also challenges your mind. I would like to leave you with a quote.
“The after is closer to the mind than the eyes. The treasures of this house, afoot. Here, the one whose mind mirrors the path shall reap all that was lost, as an offering for what is to come.
“But warn those who would tempt this house, unaware, for they will come no closer to its wealth. But ever further from themselves.”
— The Book of Cruxes
Sonam: Thank you Kristen for joining us. It was lovely having you and chatting with you, I am sure the readers must have loved your fun interview. We all are so looking forward to your book.
Kristen: Thank you son for having me. I'm super excited for you to read my book.