Official Interview: Greg Kater

[kandscreeley]

Good day lovely ones! Today's interview is with Greg Kater author of The Warramunga's War which, in case you didn't know, is book of the month for this month, February 2019!

If you would like to view the official review, written by @Rosemary Wright, click here.


If you would like to take a look at the book on Amazon, click here.

I encourage everyone to participate in the book of the month discussion, which can be found here.

To view the book on OBC bookshelves, click here.

Now, let's get down to the fun!

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1. What do you want everyone to know about you as a person?

My name is Greg Kater and I am a 79-year-old Australian. My ancestors sailed out from England in the early 1800’s. I spent my school years at a boarding school in Sydney, usually working in the holidays on the family sheep and cattle property, 500 kilometres west of Sydney. I am now living in Sanctuary Cove on the beautiful Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia.

I graduated from the University of Sydney in 1960 in Advanced Geology and Geophysics. After that, I spent the next nine years working in the mining industry, mainly in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia as well as some work in Malaysia and Indonesia. From 1969 to 1980, I managed a significant mining company in the Philippines and subsequently set up a mining consultant office in Sydney. From there I travelled all over the world consulting to many mining companies until my retirement from the mineral industry three years ago.

I have been married for 58 years and have four children and six grandchildren. I have worked in all types of environments off the beaten track, varying from Australian desert and bush country, to parts of the USA, Central America, South East Asia, Russian Siberia and most provinces of China.

2. What has been your biggest obstacle to overcome in reaching your dreams?

As far as writing is concerned, until I retired, I had never had time for anything else except the many technical reports required by companies and clients as well as contributions to mining journals.

3. Let's talk about your book, The Warramunga's War. It's the first novel of a historical fiction trilogy. Where did your inspiration for it come from?

Inspiration came from a number of factors. Firstly, for the first time in over 50 years, I had time on my hands. Secondly, what I had in my possession were some of my father’s notes on his battles in the World War II Syrian campaign in the early part of the Middle East fighting. I thought, that would be a good place to start. I would set all my novels as historical fiction with the time setting based on that part of the war and the aftermath of war as it effected my characters. Thirdly, I kept thinking about the weird and wonderful people I had worked with over the years and decided it would be fun to base many of my characters on them. Not the bad characters, of course. People who live and work in remote areas are often unique.

4. The reviewer states that this novel had "fascinating historical details." How much research went into this book?

The historical research for The Warramunga’s War took me approximately the same time as the actual writing of the book. Being my first novel, I wanted to make sure the background historical events were accurate. This was aided by my interest in history and my intimate knowledge of the Australian outback. As I went into it, the research was fascinating as well as demanding.

5. What was your favorite part of the book to write?

My favorite part of the book was developing the principal and other characters and blending in their activities with actual historical people and events. As I mentioned before, many of the characters are based on people I have known and worked with in all sorts of environments, so it was fun remembering all of them.

6. Are they specific themes or ideas that you want readers to walk away with?

Not particularly. I just really want readers to be entertained as well as providing them with interesting insights into little-known historical facts. The novel presents a mixture of action, adventure, romance, humour and friendship. A novel for the whole family.

7. I know this is a trilogy, but what's next for you? Any different projects on the horizon?

The other two books in the trilogy, The Warramunga’s Aftermath of War and Skills of the Warramunga, have both been published during 2018 and have received a significant number of maximum star reviews already. After completion of the trilogy, I decided that I couldn’t let the principal characters just fade away, so I have written a fourth novel, Conflict on the Yangtze, which should be published by March 2019.

The new novel has the same principal characters and is set in China during 1946 during the turmoil after the end of the Japanese occupation.

How about a few fun questions?

8. Who's your favorite superhero?

When I was young, my favourite superhero was always Superman. I guess he still is.

9. What era in history would you like to go back and observe?

I’ve always been interested in the Napoleonic era. Times were rough then, with Britain and France constantly at war, but interesting. The naval battles were amazing!

10. Do you have a favorite TV show or movie?

My favourite movie is an oldie – “Roman Holiday” with the incomparable Audrey Hepburn. I usually prefer to watch sport on television.

11. What's playing in your car right now? Audio book? Radio station? CD?

A local radio station with music.

[bookowlie]

What an interesting interview! Thanks to the author and Kandscreeley!

[yoda4ever]

It was an interesting interview. I really like to learn about the author because it helps me get a better perspective of his background. This helps me see how he relates the story to his personal experiences.

[LeDiplomatique]

Great interview, thanks Kandscreeley.

[Nikolas Farmakis]

Wow! A very interesting interview. It is great to know some information about the author of such an amazing book!

[Amanda Deck]

With all that experience, it's no wonder he wrote such evocative scenes. It was easy to feel like I was in the scenes while I read his books.

[gatuguta2030]

What an interesting interview! Thanks to the author and Kandscreeley!

Sure.A great one.