Hello, and good morning. How are you doing today? Hey, I'm
good. How are you? Absolutely fantastic. We got to talk about this
book cover. I know we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover
and stuff, but this is a fantastic, memorable book cover. What went
into the thought of this. Yes, I love the cover as well,
and the thought was my team really wanted her to symbolize female empowerment. It's
there, it's there. I study Native American spirituality, and I mean,
I just feel like the great mystery is right there, and that she has
this vision and she's moving forward and you can you can follow her, or
she's gonna set the story up and you're gonna eventually get there. Yeah.
And I love how she Is she coming out of the smoke or is she
disappearing into the smoke? Mmmmmmmm? Oh my god. And of course you
know when you break it down, are we talking about something that is coming
from a pipe kind of smoke? Is there an elder that's with her in
the way of growing forward? Yeah? It really drives you in and brings
a lot of questions. Perfect cover. Wow. One of the things that
I find so special about this story is that just a few weeks ago,
I was with Ricky Medlock of Lenyard Skinner and he's got a whole entire campaign
to basically get information to people to understand what these stories are all about,
because it's happening all over the place. Yeah, that's amazing. I think.
I think we are seeing an uptick in people wanting to talk about the
MMIW crisis, and I hope that Listening for Smoke does that as well.
That brings a lot of people in to say, pay attention to this,
Yeah, because this puts it inside their hands. This isn't a news story
on the radio or something that's happening on ABC News. With this story right
here, you're physically allowing us to go through and experience exactly. Yeah.
That is my hope for this book. When I first started writing, I
was sure how I could find the line between, you know, an entertaining
thriller and a book that deals with an actually real serious issue. And I
thought I could do that through these characters and to bring in real emotions that
would be relatable to every reader. I've sat down with numerous medicine men and
we've talked about documenting the history of the Native American lifestyle and how it needs
to continue to be very sacred. And the elders always tell me, no,
they're not writing the history. They're not writing the story, and it's
going to be lost. I think a book like this, even though it
is it has its darkness to it, it's still part of the history and
the story, and it's got to get in the hands of somebody two and
three decades from now. Yeah. Absolutely, And I really wanted to bring
in a lot of the culture in a respectful way and to honor all the
things that I grew up with, my childhood memories there on the reservations,
in visits with my family, and the culture. This everything that I felt
was so special and that I have so much pride about with the black Feet
culture, I tried to bring in so that people could see how cool this
is, Like, I have so much pride for my culture. So when
you said that you were on the Blackfeet Reservation, were you up in Montana,
Because I'm from Montana and that's up there around the Great Falls area.
Yeah. The Blackfeet Reservation is nestled right along the Glacier National Park and I
never lived there, but my older siblings did, and I visited a lot
because I lived in Bozeman for the first half of my childhood, so we
were pretty close to visit, and I go back every summer. Now my
dad lives up there again, and so I get to spend a lot of
time up there. Do you feel like that you were spiritually called to write
this story because it is so personal it feels like an experience. You know?
Maybe I did feel like a great need to write it, and I
doubted myself at the beginning because I wasn't sure if I was the right person
to tell this story or if I was talented enough to pull it off.
But I did just keep coming back to the idea thinking that this is a
story I need to tell. It was very important to me to try.
There's a huge part of my heart that would love to see this on Netflix
and or Hulu as a binge watch, because I and I think that would
be so incredible to be able to go there and see it for ourselves in
the way of understanding the story and basically understanding the deep darkness that that's going
on that needs to be talked about. Yeah, that would be an absolute
dream. I would love for what's in my head to be out there for
people to see what I see, and of course to bring in more eyes
to show what's going on, what this epidemic is doing to real communities.
I think seeing it would definitely strike a chord, locating a sense of balance
inside the story. Sure, you talk about the pain, but it's also
a thriller for readers as well. Yeah it is. It's on its surface.
Looking for Smoke is a gripping thriller in which these black seat teenagers are
suspects in the murder of their classmate and they must now clear their names while
a killer is still in their midst. But at its heart, it's a
story of community and resilience and fighting for your loved ones despite the cost.
And it's about the great lengths that we would go to protect our families and
the thirst for justice we feel when we fail to do that. How many
people are shaking their heads, going, oh my god, this is just
your debut novel. What is the writing world going to be like when you
get book two, three, four, and five? You know, I
hope it just keeps getting even better and better. I really want to continue
to write these thrillers with a native characters and shine a light on this issue.
I think it's important and I have found a real joy in writing it.
Where is your writing space? In other words, I write inside a
forest here in South Charlotte, North Carolina, because I believe that that's where
the energy of my writing comes from. For you to write a book like
this, did you go to the same place to write it? No?
So I am a mom and I have two young kids. So I wrote
this book like during an hour of nap time every day in my room,
in my sweatpants, by myself for an hour of the day, and then
maybe after that time at night. So it was not the ideal location,
but just being alone in my thoughts. I can be anywhere and the creativity
will come out. When did you know it was time to relinquish the book
to a the editor and or the book company. I felt really comfortable giving
it to the editor. I chose at the HarperCollins imprint called Heart Drum,
and Heart Drum's sole mission is to uplift Indigenous voices. See and they have
so many beautiful Native books out there, and I knew that they would take
care of this story and get it into all the hands that we wanted into
and that they would take care of me as a native author. See that
goes all the way back to the beginning when I was talking about the Elders,
where they're afraid that the story is not going to be shared. You've
got to love a publishing company like that. Yeah, it is really beautiful
and it's so special for me to have this experience as a debut, to
find just the perfect home for this book. It's really it's really cool.
I got to ask you kind of a personal question only because I grew up
in the state of Montana and Bozeman was my hangout with my grandmother, and
that is, did you ever get over there or see the Bozeman Tunnel which
was coming up at the I ninety No, And it's been so long since
I've been in bozun It's my grandfather helped create it way back in the nineteen
sixties. And it's just I just dream of that day of finding somebody who
remembers seeing the Bozeman Tunnel, and my quest is good. I will continue
with it. I will go on until I meet that person. I'm so
sorry. Where is Where can people find you and give you lots of love?
Because, like I said, this is your debut novel. I want
you to feel like the community has embraced your soul. Yeah, that would
be wonderful. I am on Instagram and Twitter or x and TikTok I'm on
TikTok list, but it's all Ka underscore kobel co O b E l L.
That's where you can find me. Excellent. Well, I look forward
to talking to you many more times in the future. Ka, thank you
so much. Thank you for talking about looking for smoke. Will you be
brilliant today? Okay, thank you too.