Kay Hemlock Brown

Biography

Kay Hemlock Brown grew up in Western Pennsylvania, and was a part-time instructor at a small university in the northeast. She has been writing since she was in high school, and loves classical music, ballet, gymnastics, figure skating, the martial arts, tennis, and science fiction. (To be honest, she is an indifferent performer in any of these areas.) Presently she is a freelance writer.

She also likes dogs, cats and birds, and hates spiders. Kay has been adopted by several pets (who belong to a friend), and she has become a slave to them! Okay, that's enough information for the present.

Smashwords Interview

When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
I listen to a lot of music, and follow my students and former students, on social media; that takes a lot of time. I also read a few authors on e-books. I read my own stories, over and over!
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
Actually I do. It was Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott. A couple of years later, I read Little Women, and Good Wives. I loved, and still love, these stories dearly. The philosophy and the morals are a little dated, though I think I absorbed their essence into my own thinking. But I certainly absorbed some of Alcott's style. I only read the Anne of Green Gables books a couple of years ago, believe it or not, and unfortunately L. M. Montgomery's style has influenced my own even more heavily!
Read more of this interview.

Where to find Kay Hemlock Brown online

Series

Helen
The saga of Helen Nordstrom, a musical genius, and her numerous adventures

Books

Yraid
Price: Free! Words: 26,080. Language: English. Published: July 10, 2020. Categories: Fiction » Romance » Adult, Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian
Aggie has always been an introvert. As she graduates from college, her roommate requests that Aggie should keep in touch. Aggie's roommate nudges her to write, and they begin a correspondence. Meanwhile, Aggie notices a lovely woman, who regularly walks by her window. Fascinated by her, Aggie makes friends with her at the first opportunity, and with her dog, Molly.
Helen at Westfield
Price: Free! Words: 128,960. Language: English. Published: April 30, 2020. Categories: Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian, Fiction » Romance » Adult
Helen is a single mother of four. But she is not the typical such woman; she is, in fact, a world-famous musician, and a television personality on the side, while her main occupation was teaching music at a small four-year college. These are some of the most exciting and most rewarding days of Helen's life. But unexpectedly, she encounters a colleague whom Helen finds irresistible.
Helen's Concerto
Series: Helen, Book 10. Price: Free! Words: 144,400. Language: English. Published: June 21, 2019. Categories: Fiction » Romance » Contemporary, Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian
Helen, the famous musician, college professor, and actress in the weekly science-fiction drama The Galactic Voyager, falls ill during filming, is taken to hospital, and has a brain tumor taken out. When she awakes, they find that she has lost her memory. Her friends anxiously await the return of her memory, but it's slow in returning. Especially anxious are the women who are in love with her.
Helen On the Run -- The Lost Years
Series: Helen, Book 4. Price: Free! Words: 83,130. Language: English. Published: November 13, 2018. Categories: Fiction » Adventure » General, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
Musical phenomenon Helen is in graduate school, and looking after her adopted girls, Gena and Alison. Certain folks hostile to lesbian foster-parents agitate to have the girls taken from Helen's care, and the girls are put in a foster home. They escape, and come to Helen, and they together go into hiding for a little more than a year. Helen is pregnant, and that complicates things.
Helen and Sharon
Series: Helen, Book 5. Price: Free! Words: 134,870. Language: English. Published: October 24, 2018. Categories: Fiction » Adventure » General
Helen, a music professor and concert violinist, had many adventures incognito as a teen. She still longs to be able to do that, but does not want to compromise the reputation of the college where she teaches. She once again disguises herself as an unknown talent, Sharon, and stars in a hit movie. Then there are unexpected developments, and her co-star falls in love with her. And it's mutual!
Helen Backstory: Lisa, Cindy, and the Violin
Series: Helen, Book 1. Price: Free! Words: 27,890. Language: English. Published: July 21, 2018. Categories: Fiction » Romance » Contemporary
Junior Helen meets Lisa Wallace, a young ice skater after an accident, then meets Cindy, a hooker who has amnesia. Then she acquires a fabulous, unaltered Baroque violin, and gradually becomes an accomplished violinist, and a lyric soprano. Finally, Cindy leads her to an entire set of cousins she never knew she had. This gives you the background of some central characters in the Helen story.
Jane on Holiday
Price: $3.95 USD. Words: 40,480. Language: English. Published: May 12, 2016. Categories: Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian, Fiction » Erotica » Romance
Artist and photographer Jane sneaks off with incognito porn queen Lisa Love to a cottage in Canada. Love blooms, even though Jane is settled in a fairly stable threesome with a pair of twins, Gillian and Angela. The twins are sweet and beautiful, and love Jane to pieces, but Lisa attracts Jane in a different way. In addition, there are several other women who lust after Jane in Canada.
Jane—The Early Years
Price: Free! Words: 76,960. Language: English. Published: September 26, 2015. Categories: Fiction » Women's fiction » General
This is a prequel to "Jane", the heavily-downloaded earlier novel by this author. Jane, a reserved, introvert young woman gradually learns how to keep her balance in the rough-and-tumble world of glamour photography, and manages to maintain a number of friendships, and a few romantic relationships, with several women.
Helen's Eventful Summer
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 88,930. Language: English. Published: September 12, 2015. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » LGBTQ+, Fiction » Romance » Adult
Helen Nordstrom, away in Seattle for the monthly filming of the Television series Galactic Voyager, impulsively decides to hire the services of a beautiful call girl, Melanie. This leads to no end of trouble, especially because Melanie becomes infatuated with Helen, not recognizing her as the famous actress in the Galaxy show. Meanwhile, Helen's half-sister Tommy decides to become a porn queen.
Music on The Galactic Voyager
Price: Free! Words: 255,230. Language: English. Published: August 15, 2015. Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » General, Fiction » Cultural & ethnic themes » Cultural interest, general
The Voyager is on a search for a habitable planet. On board, in hibernation, is a famous musician, Helen N, almost forgotten 75 years into the voyage. Social conditions become turbulent, and Helen is resuscitated. Helen gradually becomes comfortable with the on-board population, and finds a wealth of love and affection, not necessarily romantic.
Helen at Ballet Camp
Series: Helen, Book 2. Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 49,080. Language: English. Published: June 30, 2014. Categories: Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian
This early episode of Helen's adventures is when she is about twenty, has dropped out of college, and is persuaded to be an assistant at a ballet camp in France. Helen is a lesbian, and has such a fearsome sexual appetite that only her great compassion helps her to keep herself in check. Somehow everything works out, and the camp is a brilliant success.
Helen and Lalitha: The Lost Years
Series: Helen, Book 3. Price: Free! Words: 73,270. Language: English. Published: June 17, 2014. Categories: Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian, Fiction » Romance » Contemporary
This is a tender love story, of Helen, who is a senior in college when the story begins, and a demure foreign student, Lalitha. The latter is a saree-wearing, conservative Indian girl, while Helen is a tall, athletic American, a musical phenomenon, already famous as a violinist. In fact, it is two l love stories, since Helen loses her memory, and they meet once again, twelve years later.
Prisoner!
Price: Free! Words: 46,430. Language: English. Published: June 2, 2014. Categories: Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian, Fiction » Fantasy » Historical
The Green Princess and the Blue Princess, twins, watch as the army and its captives return to their city. Among the captives is a young girl of their own age, dressed in rags. The girl comes to be the Green Princess's personal slave, and falls in love with her mistress. But it is her twin sister who returns the slave's love, and they begin a passionate affair.
Helen and The Flowershop Girl
Series: Helen, Book 6. Price: Free! Words: 9,630. Language: English. Published: April 24, 2014. Categories: Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian
During the summer break, Helen meets Sheila, who manages a Florist shop, and they have a brief affair. Warning: there's a little explicit sex, and it might be a little more than you really expect.
Alexandra
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 329,010. Language: English. Published: January 28, 2014. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » LGBTQ+, Fiction » Science fiction » Military
In the distant future, a human colony on an Earth-like planet has established a civilization, which has degenerated to a level of technology comparable to the early 20th century on Earth. Notably, same-sex relationships and marriages are common, and the story focuses on a young Queen, Alexandra, who is faced with an invasion just weeks after her marriage to a lovely Southern princess, Genevieve.
Christine's Amazing Musical Christmas
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 39,070. Language: English. Published: December 27, 2013. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Family, Fiction » Cultural & ethnic themes » Cultural interest, general
This story is about how, while Christine and her friend Kelly discover Bach's beautiful Christmas Oratorio, they find a lot of beauty in their experiences in meeting kids from the twelve schools that are participating in the combined music festival, the several foreign soloists who are also coming to sing, some of whom greatly admire Christine. The last protagonist is the Oratorio itself!
Helen Versus Handel's Messiah
Series: Helen, Book 8. Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 7,700. Language: English. Published: December 25, 2013. Categories: Fiction » Romance » Contemporary, Nonfiction » Music » Classical
Helen, a multi-talented musician and Bach expert, comes under fire from the conservative Christian Right, and very quickly finds herself barred from performing in any sacred works. She retires from the concert stage, a bitter woman. A year later, it is Christmas once again, and Helen and her beloved Marissa try to face the season with joy, but Handel's Messiah gets in the way.
Jane
Price: Free! Words: 125,000. Language: English. Published: October 31, 2013. Categories: Fiction » Romance » Adult
Jane, is forced to earn a living as a glamour photographer. Her true talent is painting portraits, and soon after she begins to sell her artwork for fabulous amounts of money, disaster strikes, and she loses her girl lover tragically. Gillian comes along just in time, and Jane learns a new skill. But then porn princess Lisa Love enters Jane's life, and threatens to ruin everything.
Little John Finds a Friend!
Series: Helen, Book 9. Price: Free! Words: 11,200. Language: English. Published: September 19, 2013. Categories: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Family, Fiction » Holiday » Christmas
Awkward Little John is surrounded by beautiful girls, all of whom are off limits. But down the hill is Spooky, the Goth chick from his college, who has a sort of crush on him. It's Christmas, and Little John doesn't know exactly why he is feeling so glum. And that gorgeous Sophie, a glamor model from the Czech Republic whom his half-sister Tommy has brought along is driving him crazy with lust.
Helen at the Beach
Series: Helen, Book 7. Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 65,410. Language: English. Published: August 18, 2013. Categories: Fiction » LGBTQ+ » Lesbian
Helen and Amy, their three adopted daughters Gena, Erin and Alison, and Helen's own little boy James, are vacationing incognito by the sea. Helen is a music professor at a small college, a violinist and conductor. Helen and Amy had only come together recently, but Helen has a wandering eye. On a visit to Philadelphia, she meets the daughter of a photographer, and they fall in love.

Smashwords book reviews by Kay Hemlock Brown

  • When Women Were Warriors Book I: The Warrior's Path on July 29, 2018

    I am about 80% of the way through this amazing story. The author's grasp and mastery of a sort of epic voice is brilliant. All the dozen or so characters, sketched mostly in passing, create indelible images, true archetypes, actually recognizable from among the people who live around us in this century, but have been transported to a feudal alternate universe. No number of stars are enough for this story; I sincerely hope the author lavishes as much time and care on all her subsequent stories! Two thumbs up, and a big toe as well.
  • My Brother's Girlfriend on Aug. 08, 2021

    A nice story, with amazingly believable characters. But it's all spoilt by the unbelievably bad mechanics: spelling, mainly, and often a completely different word that either sound like a word that would make sense, or a word that does not make sense at all. An author with a different name (Shelby) has been accused of plagiarism on Amazon, but the title and the summary are exactly the same as for this story. I wonder whether the poor mechanics are intended to disguise the plagiarism, if it is present? Careful editing would either make this a fabulous book, or expose it as a ripoff! Finally, the cover photograph is really wonderful! What a confusing book to review!
  • Without Hesitation on Aug. 21, 2021
    (no rating)
    Let's get one thing out of the way: this is not 'hard' SciFi-- anyone who thinks they like SciFi should learn what that is. It really isn't soft SciFi, but for lack of any other category, that's where it goes---or science fiction fantasy. As a romance about a couple of women, it works well. The two main characters have good chemistry. Other than that, the story lives in the world of computer games, and lovers of those will relate to the story.
  • Remainders on Oct. 16, 2021

    A super romantic, sweet story. It's very brief, like a half-hour episode of a TV series, which may serve as a basis for future development. That's not to say that the characters are uninteresting; they are both cute. The case that the detective is working on does not yield at all, but one keeps thinking that the new character might help crack it, to some degree.
  • Delivery on Feb. 26, 2023
    (no rating)
    This is a gentle story of a British woman who owns a technology company, and an American woman who drives an ambulance, set during WW1. During a 6-hour drive the girls are forced to connect with each other very quickly, which they manage without being rough or inconsiderate. Before were ready to let them go, they're gone. There's a war on.