Tangles
A Suspense-Filled Historical Tale
Coming November 12, 2024
Pre-order Summer 2024
A quietly fierce secretary, a brash young scientist, a town cloaked in secrecy...
Available for pre-order Summer 2024
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...and an entire region under threat.
READER REVIEWS
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“Ha! True-to-life and so well rendered.”
SAMANTHA DUNN,
author of Failing Paris and Not by Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life, Executive Editor of Coast Magazine
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“Wonderful essays!”
ELLEN SUSSMAN,
National Best-Selling author, founder Sonoma County Writers Camp, adjunct professor UCLA, Stanford, Rutgers, San Francisco Library Laureate
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“Years from now, people will look back at 2020 and scratch their heads trying to imagine what the COVID-19 atmosphere must have been like. KSB summed it up perfectly with humor and grace. I laughed out loud at the spot-on observations!”
CASEY DECKER,
professional editor, The Meticulous Type
MEET THE AUTHOR
Photo credit Marc Von Borstel
An Austin, Texas transplant, Kay Smith-Blum is a recovering retailer who writes from her bayside perch in Seattle. Named Woman Business Owner (NWWA) of 2013, her wit, humor, and resourcefulness helped her high-end retail fashion business endure multiple economic shifts in a decades-long career. She and her husband sold their company in 2016, allowing KSB to write full-time.
Winner of the 2023 Black Fox Lit short story contest, Smith-Blum is a member of the Historical Fiction Writers Group, WFWA (serving on the Scholarship committee), HistFic Feisty Women Anthology 2024 committee, Ravenna Writers Circle, CommuterLit Writers Group, the Authors Guild, PNWA and AWP. She has been published in over a dozen literary journals and her debut novel, TANGLES, will be published on November 12, 2024 (available for pre-order Summer 2024).
As a publicly elected official (President of the Seattle School Board 2012) she led multiple initiatives on behalf of the students of Seattle. As a private citizen, Smith-Blum raised millions of dollars for education, the arts, and medical research. She established the first greenhouse and urban gardening program in Seattle Public Schools. She has served on numerous charitable boards in the Pacific Northwest. An active member of the downtown Seattle community, she is currently advocating for a park in the last green space in the urban core, made available by the demolition of the Highway 99 viaduct. An avid gardener, Smith-Blum works out her writer's block in her three sons' gardens and the nearest lap pool.
A graduate of the University of Texas, Smith-Blum chaired Downtown Seattle’s first marketing campaign and published a seasonal magazine for 10 years. She co-authored the “Every Man, Every Woman” inspirational series of cards and posters, published by Schurman Fine Papers, Portal Publications, and Sawdust City. Smith-Blum is a dynamic speaker and experienced producer of large and small events that leverage both traditional and social media.
CV:
"Every Man...Every Woman Should..." Inspirational poster series published in 1991, co-authored and edited by Kay Smith-Blum (original text written by Teresa Elliott)
https://sawdustcityllc.com/every-woman-should/
“Targets,” humorous essay, Virus Days series, nominated for Best of the Net 2020
Heavy Feather Review, May 2020 https://heavyfeatherreview.org/2020/05/07/smith-blum/
Down in the Dirt Magazine (reprint):
Online issue, June 2020, http://scars.tv/cgi-bin/framesmain.pl?writers
Print version, November 2020, http://scars.tv/dirt/dirt177nov20/Pipe_Dreams.htm
Late Frost collection, December 2020, http://scars.tv/2020September-December-issue-collection-book/Late_Frost.htm
Anthology 2020, http://scars.tv/2020collection-book/Vote_Early_Read_Often.htm
The Furious Gazelle, (reprint) January 2021, https://thefuriousgazelle.com/2021/01/12/kay-smith-blum/#more-3087
“Zooming Right Along,” humorous essay, Virus Days series Quail Bell Magazine, June 2020
http://www.quailbellmagazine.com/the-real-20/personal-essay-revamping-life-with-the-virus
“Testing, Testing,” humorous essay, Virus Days series Bewildering Stories, June 2020
http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue861/testing_testing.html
“Syon and Me,” humorous essay, Virus Days series Pif Magazine, December 2020
https://www.pifmagazine.com/2020/12/syon-and-me/
“Ringed In,” flash fiction (drawn from first novel) CommuterLit.com, September 2020
http://commuterlit.com/2020/09/wednesday-ringed-in/
“The Newcomer,” flash fiction
Fiction Attic Press, January 2021 http://fictionattic.com/the-newcomer/
CommuterLit.com, reprint June 2021 http://commuterlit.com/2021/06/wednesday-the-newcomer/
“Desco Drive,” a short story (drawn from second novel) Minerva Rising Press, Fall 2021
Print issue https://minervarising.com/subscribe/issue20/
“Reach,” flash creative non-fiction Change Seven Magazine, January 2022
https://changesevenmag.com/reach-by-kay-smith-blum/
“Wallpaper,” a flash fiction drawn from first novel, The Stray Branch, April 2022
http://www.thestraybranch.org/current-issue-2/29-spring-summer-2022/
“On Edge,” a creative non-fiction piece, nominated for a 2023 Pushcart Prize,
Yellow Arrow Publishing, Summer 2022 https://www.yellowarrowpublishing.com/store/yellow-arrow-journal-upspring-pdf
“Lines,” a fictional short story, Grande Dame Literary, August 2022
https://www.grandedameliterary.com/post/lines
"Daylight Saves," a flash creative non-fiction piece, Adelaide Magazine, December 2022
http://adelaidemagazine.org/2022/12/20/daylight-saves-by-kay-smith-blum/
"Ten Days," a personal essay, winner of Black Fox Lit's 2023 short story contest, April 2023
https://blackfoxlitmag.com/readissue24/
"Stripped," a flash fiction piece, Zoetic Press, Heathertide Orphans anthology, December 2023
print only, https://shorturl.at/iOX16
"The Calf," a companion short story to Tangles, Hist Fict Feisty Women Anthology, coming Spring 2024
"Free Will," flash fiction, Fiction Southeast, coming TBD
CONTACT
For media or bookclub inquiries, please contact Kay Smith-Blum:
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