Today's #WomensHistoryReads interview brings us a new genre inspired by history, "speculative historical fiction," by GIRL WITH A GUN author Kari Bovee. In addition to her books, Kari has a writing project that obviously resonates with my interests -- highlighting "empowered women in history" on her blog (see more about that below.) You'll love her questions and answer, which will whet your appetite for her upcoming book. Welcome, Kari!

Greer: How would you describe what you write?

Kari: I would call it “speculative historical fiction” because I like to take real life characters, like Annie Oakley in my book Girl with a Gun - An Annie Oakley Mystery, and create a new reality for them. Annie Oakley was not a detective in real life, nor did she try to solve crimes. But, in my books, she does. While I like to stick to real life historical settings, I like to have my characters, real and imagined, interact with one another. It’s fascinating to think about how history might have been altered if certain people or events came into the historical figure’s life during a particular time period. It’s sort of like changing history in a way. To me it's great fun!

Greer: What’s your next book about and when will we see it?

Kari: I’ve written a prequel novella to Girl with a Gun titled Shoot Like a Girl that will be released sometime in the fall of this year. The second book in the Annie Oakley series will be out in Spring, 2019 with Spark Press.

Greer: What do you find most challenging or most exciting about researching historical women?

Kari: I have a blog that features empowered women in history (it can be accessed through my website at https://www.Karibovee.com) The most challenging thing about researching for the blog, or my books, is sometimes there is a ton of reliable information out there on the internet or in various publications, and sometimes there isn’t. I like to write about wildly famous women, but also about the not-so-wildly famous women in history. For the not-so-famous women it’s hard to find unique material. Often, the same two paragraphs have been written about them in a variety of places. For the wildly famous women in history, I like discovering little nuggets of information about them that not many people know about. It’s also exciting to me to breathe life back into the women that have made an impact in history. I like to think about what went on in their heads, how they felt about their experiences, their life, and the people they encountered? We know what these women DID in life, but do we really know how they FELT about it? Only they truly knew their own thoughts and feelings. I ask myself questions like, what scared them? What excited them? What repulsed them? What were their secret passions? etc. I try to answer those questions based upon what I’ve learned about them. It’s like a psychological experiment!

Question for you: Which one of your characters would you like to spend the day with, and what would you do?

Greer: Fabulous question! The one that leaps to mind immediately happens to be one of my characters most inspired by a real-life historical woman: Adelaide Herrmann, known as the Queen of Magic, who I wrote into my novel The Magician's Lie. She was fiercely independent and intelligent, not to mention a truly impressive magician. Early on in my book tour, I tried to learn some stage magic and discovered I was absolutely terrible at it. But with her guidance maybe I could be better!

For more about Kari and her books:

Website: https://www.Karibovee.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/KariBovee

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KariBovee/

Instagram: kari bovee_writer