The Occult Detective’s #LastWrites with…@Kelli_Owen

KELLI OWEN

Welcome to the eighth installment of LAST WRITES.

The premise is simple. My guests face their final rest, but before Death claims them they are granted a few earthly pleasures, the memories of which will travel with them into the great unknown.

Today’s guest is Kelli Owen. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Kelli now lives in Destination, Pennsylvania. She has attended countless writing conventions, participated on dozens of panels, and has spoken at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA regarding both her writing and the field in general. Her fiction leans toward thriller and quiet horror, with an occasional bloodbath and even rarer happy ending.

LAST MEAL

My initial thought was to go for a favorite: sushi or crab legs or something of that ilk. But if this is the end and i know it and I’m going for experiences, well, then… my mom’s standing rib roast and dad’s steamed artichoke, with grandpa’s cabbage salad, and a slice of one of my sister’s cheesecakes for dessert with a small square of my brother’s fudge. It’s impossible to eat any of those things without being flooded with memories and I think it’s more about the memories than the flavor (although my mom’s standing rib roast is actually the best piece of red meat in the entire galaxy).

LAST BOOK

I stalled getting this back to you because of this question, as a reader and writer there are just so many under the fiction header alone. In the end, it again came down to memories, because you said these “last experiences” will travel with us to the beyond. So for “book” I’m actually going to choose my children’s baby books. To remember those funny moments I wrote in the margins or added when I hadn’t slept for days. The nuances of their innocence and exploration that are often lost in the experiences of them growing up. Yes please, I’d take that with me. 

LAST MOVIE

Since I’d already be a sobbing hot mess from the baby books, we might as well just go full girl here and break down. I’d watch Maleficent with my little Raynebow. Sleeping Beauty was always my favorite Disney movie. It had the best prince (for more on that, see my blog Disney, Dreams and Disarray. The greatest villain. And they did an amazingly heart-warming job re-envisioning it in Maleficent. I started calling my little Raynebow “beastie” after we watched it the first time, so I’d like to take that memory with me when I leave. Also, I cry like a damn baby at the end. What? I really am a girl. Just not very often or openly.

LAST SONG

Since we’re all about experiences and emotion, it’s going to have to be the Chris Cornell cover of Thank You, and I’ll just leave it at that.

FIRST PERSON YOU’D LIKE TO MEET ON THE OTHER SIDE

My gut reaction was to say grandparents, because well, they’re grandparents, they give the best hugs and can make the scariest of things seem like nothing (and we are talking about being dead here, so there’s a little fear involved). But I’m sure I’ll see them soon enough. Instead, I’m going to choose a good friend of mine from childhood, Wally. He was my first kiss in kindergarden though we never dated, not even once, he just stole that kiss during a movie about polar bears. He was in both school plays with me in Cathedral. He dated one of my dearest friends for years and years. And unfortunately, he was the first of our crew to die. I miss him horribly and think of him often. We have lots to catch up on.

.:.

You can find out more about Kelli from her official website, Amazon Author Page, twitter, and facebook.