Location: United States
Member Since: Dec. 03, 2016

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Connor Kerns

Biography

Connor lives in Portland, Oregon. He started writing poetry at the age of 11, and his first published poetry book was Image Made Word (1990, Roan LTD).

He got up the nerve to start e-publishing novels in 2020, and the following titles are available: The Hero of Houston, an eco-thriller; Measure Her, a comedy-romance; Blue Blossom, a historical memoir set in World War II; and a sci-fi/fantasy trilogy, The Three Books of Wisecraft series.

Premieres of play adaptations of Jane Austen novels, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, were produced by Quintessence: Language & Imagination Theatre, where he was Artistic Director. Other productions of his plays include: Pride and Prejudice, The Child is Father of the Man, Face Reader, and Treatment (Quintessence); A Bawdy Tale (Montgomery Street Players); Zaney (Arts Equity); I Go to War and Vaward of Pallas 3 (Epicurean); The Folio (CoHo) and Where No Storms Come (Stark Raving Theatre).

He is also a director, having received his MFA in Directing at the University of Portland, and he taught acting for 24 years. His book Imaginative Doing, Collected Essays on Acting was published in 2013.

Smashwords Interview

Historical memoir, romantic comedy, sci-fi/fantasy...and now a thriller?
Yes, I'm exploring all the genres. I enjoy thrillers when I go to the movies, and I wanted to take readers on that visceral, don't-know-where-this-is-going ride in a novel. Also, I just had what seemed like a great idea for a plot--a hydrogen explosion in Houston. The other thing in the stew pot was Change: I wanted to see what would it would take for a climate change denier to change his mind.
Why write a fantasy series with elements of science fiction and romance?
The Three Books of Wisecraft series was influenced by the adventure stories I read growing up--Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dune by Frank Herbert--and role-playing games we played. I've always liked creating and exploring new worlds, especially making up history and even languages. As a reader, I value relationships among the main characters. So actually the 'romance' aspect is what made writing these books engaging over a long period of time (17 years!), and I hope will also hook readers. Because it's the depth of the characters--Lease, Heloniss, Kadge, and Blackburse--that matters most.
Read more of this interview.

Where to buy in print

http://amazon.com

Series

The Three Books of Wisecraft by
The series is comprised of three novels that take place on a Renaissance-era world called Globe. There, three cults worship the god Zo, the goddess Dia, or the goddess Hecta. Cult rivalries heat up in The Blue Book of Wisecraft, when the Blue Book of Knowledge is found on Prosper Isle. This is one of three ancient books of wichemistry, the craft of magic. Lease Mottle practices wisecraft and is torn away from Lady Heloniss, whom he loves, to pursue the other books. Meanwhile, Heloniss is a scholar and herbalist who is wrongly persecuted for being a practicer of wisecraft. She is hunted by fanatics called muddyed, who chase her off the island. She encounters Kadge Goodfellow, a spy who falls in love with her instead of killing her. In The Red Book of Wisecraft Heloniss befriends a girl of the Hectan cult, Blackburse, a prodigy who seems to know more about wisecraft than anyone. In The Black Book of Wisecraft, Mottle, Heloniss, Goodfellow, and Blackburse must safely bring all three books together. When they do, they will have to contend with the gods over control of the universe.
The Blue Book of Wisecraft
You set the price!
The Red Book of Wisecraft
You set the price!
The Black Book of Wisecraft
You set the price!

Books

The Hero of Houston by
You set the price! Words: 61,230. Language: English. Published: March 7, 2024 . Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Action & suspense, Fiction » Romance » Sci-fi
During a fierce lightning storm in Texas, a home-grown terrorist threatens to blow up a hydrogen tower in a petrochemical plant. Two politicians, enemies, must fight their desires and make personal sacrifices in the crisis. What will it take for the right and left to overcome their hubris and save their city, and maybe the world, from climate disaster?
The Black Book of Wisecraft by
Series: The Three Books of Wisecraft. You set the price! Words: 41,750. Language: English. Published: December 2, 2021 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » General, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
(5.00 from 1 review)
The Black Book is the third of the lost books of wisecraft, and it has been found in the far south. Blackburse the young wiche has planned a great gamble when all three books are brought together, for then they will reveal their true power. Can Blackburse harness that power to protect her family and friends from the fanatic muddyed and the greed of the gods?
The Red Book of Wisecraft by
Series: The Three Books of Wisecraft. You set the price! Words: 49,780. Language: English. Published: July 29, 2021 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Epic
(5.00 from 1 review)
Three rival cults are seeking the lost books of wisecraft. Kadge Goodfellow is sent to the desert to find the Red Book of Power, while his friends Mottle and Heloniss are besieged by fanatic muddyed in a pyramid. Can Goodfellow retrieve the book in time to save his friends?
The Blue Book of Wisecraft by
Series: The Three Books of Wisecraft. You set the price! Words: 98,870. Language: English. Published: June 21, 2021 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » General
(5.00 from 1 review)
Fanatics have come to Prosper Isle seeking the lost books of wisecraft. Lease Mottle finds the Blue Book of Knowledge on his estate, setting off a race among rival cults to also find the Red Book of Power and the Black Book of Foresight. Can Mottle and the woman he loves, Lady Heloniss, secure the book's wisdom? Or will Heloniss choose the mysterious spy Kadge Goodfellow instead?
Blue Blossom by
You set the price! Words: 68,820. Language: American English. Published: December 3, 2020 . Categories: Fiction » Romance » Historical » General, Fiction » Literature » Literary
The novel Blue Blossom embraces the vast sweep of the Second World War across Europe and within one man’s soul. Johann Frühauf comes to love literature and intense romantic affairs in youth, but war turns him into a reluctant German army officer, and by the end of the fighting he suffers a breakdown. Late in life, he seeks to mend his own spirit by giving an unusual gift to the woman he loves.
Measure Her by
You set the price! Words: 53,100. Language: English. Published: December 3, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Urban
Harris is obsessed: with Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure; and with the woman playing Isabella in his film version of it. Perdita, doing makeup for Harris' film, is convinced that a friend's death was not suicide. Portland, Oregon stands in for Shakespeare's seedy Vienna as Harris seeks redemption from a bad marriage through art and love, and Perdita plays novice detective.

Connor Kerns' tag cloud

adventure    bittersweet    bittersweet affair    cervantes    eco thriller    fantasy    feminist    feminist books    fiction    film    heroine female sleuth    historical    magic    measure for measure    memoir    mystery    novel    physics    poetry    portland novels    renaissance    romance    romance novel    sci fi action    science fiction    shakespeare    thriller novel    urban fiction book    war