Kat Heckenbach, home school mom and author of the award-winning young adult fantasy series, Toch Island Chronicles, is not your typical Christian fiction writer. Heckenbach writes speculative fiction—fantasy, science fiction, horror, dystopian and even a touch of steampunk. Her stories reflect her faith and worldview, but are rarely overt. Christian themes often run deep under the narrative, or rise subtly near the surface, but rarely break through completely. She works with symbolism and allegory in her stories of magic teens on an isolated island with dragons, a talking beetle, and an Elven rocker. Her science fiction generally has no more than hints, reflecting instead simple Christian principles, such as kindness, forgiveness, and taking care of those who need help. Oddly, the clearest themes arise in her darker works, which is true of her latest release, Relent.
Relent is categorized as paranormal romance, although Heckenbach describes it as “a theologically murky, dark inspirational paranormal romance” focusing more on the paranormal/supernatural and less on the romance. She challenges readers to provide a better description for a story about Simone, the product of an angel-human union, who becomes best friends with a demon named Wraith after he tells her the truth about her heritage. Simone wants only to be normal, and falls in love with a human man, Reese, but soon realizes their relationship will only end in heartache, and things become more complicated after she leaves and realizes she is pregnant with his child.
Heckenbach is a graduate of the University of Tampa; receiving a Bachelor of Science in Biology (magna cum laude) in 1997. Her art and science backgrounds come through in her writing as well.
She is currently president of Brandon Christian Writers, a local group that meets at St. Andrews United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month. She is also Membership Chair for the Tampa chapter of the National League of American Pen Women, a group for professional women artists, writers, and musicians. And once a year in October, you can find her lurking about at the Necronomicon, a Tampa-based science fiction, fantasy, and gaming convention where she participates in writing panels, and displays and sells her paintings, mixed media, and handmade wands in the art gallery.
Find Heckenbach’s novels in print and ebook on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Follow her on Facebook (KatHeckenbachAuthor) or Instagram( Katheckenbach).
