Alabama author, Pamela King Cable is a self-described coal
miner’s granddaughter who was raised by a tribe of wild Pentecostals and
storytellers. She writes about “religion and spirituality with paranormal
twists unearthed from my family’s history. "I write about my passions, what
moves me, what shoots out of me like a rocket. My key inspirational force is my
spirituality.”
She is a multi-published author whose novel, Televenge, attracted national attention
from Fox News, CBS Atlanta, as well as book bloggers and media outlets
worldwide. Writing stories steeped in Bible-belt mystery and paranormal
suspense, Pamela has gained a reputation for piercing the hearts of her
readers. She has taught at writing conferences, and speaks to book clubs,
women’s groups, national and local civic organizations, and at churches across
the country.
“I was born in the South... My
memories of my childhood run as strong as a steel-belted radial tire and as
deep as an Appalachian swimming hole. The dusty roads in the coal towns of the
‘sixties are where my career as a writer was born.”
“On my thirteenth birthday, I received a copy of Gone with the Wind. I devoured it in a
weekend. Margaret Mitchell became my hero until I discovered Flannery O’Connor,
Harper Lee, and Eudora Welty. The rich story content of the south fans the
flames of many writers’ fires. But for me, their work was a springboard,
catapulting me into the possibility of creating my own unique stories driven by
compelling and unforgettable characters.”
Have there been a-ha
moments that have shaped your life and writing? Spiritual life-changing
moments in my life have consistently fed my desire to write. However, those
A-ha! moments came at a price. Compassion and love from my Heavenly Father
saved me from the bottom of my barrel, from the depths of despair. In the midst
of the darkest valley of my life, He raised me up and placed in me a desire to
pierce the hearts of my readers with the written word straight from my
sanctified imagination. He delivered me, saving my life more than once. It
wasn’t just the hand of God that moved; it was His whole arm. There is nothing
like experiencing the miracle hand of the Master first hand. No A-ha! moment
can compare. The undiluted and undisputed faithfulness of God molded me as a woman
of faith, and as a writer.
“For me, it is within sanctuaries of brick and mortar;
places of clapboard and canvas that characters hang ripe for picking. From the
primitive church services of the mountain clans to the baptisms and sacraments
in cathedrals and synagogues all over the world. From the hardworking men and
women who testify in every run-down house of God in America to the charismatic
high-dollar high-tech evangelicals televised in today’s megachurches, therein
lie stories of unspeakable conflict, the forbidden, and often, the unexplained.”
What prompted you to
write your latest release, the historical Christian fiction novel, The
Sanctum? “Late in 2008, and for the next two years, I labored over a
new story to give myself a break from the heat and intensity of my novel, Televenge. Little did I know of the
fierce obsession and passion that would overtake me in writing The Sanctum. Wanting to include the
possibility of the paranormal and spirituality from different points of view, I
focused on a young girl with fuzzy, red hair who called herself Neeley, and the
story began.”
Tell us about some more
characters in The Sanctum. “This skinny, parentless
thirteen-year-old who wore thick eyeglasses and hand-me-down dresses captivated
me from page one. Placing my little redheaded girl on a tobacco farm in 1959,
and in the caring hands of an elderly African-American male, a rugged
individual who wasn’t afraid of his gentle side, I quickly fell in love with
them. The novel slowly wrote itself, dragging my heart behind it.”
Many of my stories are based on people I’ve known and places
I’ve been. History also plays a great part in my work. As a writer it is my
desire to transport a reader’s mind—but my ultimate joy is to pierce your
heart. When I was a little girl someone in my family taught me respect for all
people. He said we were related to the great Martin Luther King since after
all, my maiden name is King. I soon realized it wasn’t true, but I never forgot
what he said. Later, I discovered blatant prejudice had incubated for decades
within my family. My southern grandparents believed wholeheartedly in
segregation.”
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| The land of The Sanctum |
For over a decade I lived near Summerfield, North Carolina,
located northwest of Greensboro. This area is historically saturated with horse
and tobacco farms, which today still dot the landscape. By chance I discovered
James W. Cole (1924-1967) was ordained into the ministry in Summerfield at the
Wayside Baptist Church in 1958. He toured as a tent evangelist and broadcast a
Sunday morning radio program, becoming an active member of the Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan, and eventually the Grand Dragon of North and South Carolina. The
man intrigued and appalled me, and since the first part of the book takes place
in Summerfield during that time period, I wrote him into the story.
The International Civil Rights Center and Museum is located
in the recently restored Woolworth’s building in downtown Greensboro, a
Woolworth’s that also found its way into my story. As I further studied the
Civil Rights Movement, I thought of it in terms of rights for all people. My
great grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee, according to our family’s
historian. So I then researched the Trail of Tears.
And finally the wolf appeared. An animal that has fascinated
me all my life, the wolf is about family and order. It is a subtle character,
but a voice to be reckoned with. I studied wolves carefully, and found people
who loved the animal enough to create wolf sanctuaries. I spent time on a
sanctuary near the town of Bakersville in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a five-hour
drive from my home. When I arrived a sign read, The Wolf Sanctum. From that
moment I called my novel, The Sanctum.
What do we need to
know about the main characters or topics? On a November day in 1946, Neeley
McPherson turned five years old and accidentally killed her parents. Thrown
into the care of her scheming and alcoholic grandfather, she survives by her
quick wit, and the watchful eye of an elderly black man, Gideon. In 1959, as
equal rights heats up the South, authorities accuse Gideon of stealing a watch
and using a Whites Only restroom. Neeley, now thirteen, determines to break him
out of jail.
The infamous Catfish Cole, Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon of the
Carolinas, pursues Neeley and Gideon in their courageous escape to the frozen
Blue Ridge Mountains. After Gideon’s truck hits ice and careens down a steep
slope, they travel on foot through a blizzard, and arrive at a farm of sorts—a
wolf sanctuary, where Neeley crosses the bridge between the real and the
supernatural. On this cascading landscape she discovers her grandfather’s
deception, confronts the Klan, finds her faith in God, and uncovers the
shocking secrets of the family who befriends her.
Set in a volatile time in America when the winds of change
begin to blow, The Sanctum bestows
sanctuary, invokes the healing power of second chances, and leads Neeley to
tragedy once again but in doing so, grants the desire of her heart.
What do you want your
readers to take away from it? That above all else, God is faithful.
Most of my readers have reported they feel drained. As
though they’ve stepped through a portal in time. They’ve been informed,
enlightened, and yet their hearts have been pierced clean through. They’ve said
to me many times that the characters became alive. I want all of my readers to
experience that. To want to linger inside the pages, to live in the story until
it becomes a part of them. Until the story is pressed into the recesses of
their memories.
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| Pamela King Cable |
You seem to have an
active relationship with your readers. Is there a way they can support your
work? What would you like to tell them personally? They encourage me by sending a note, or a
Facebook message, or posting a review. Writers need encouragement, they need
love, and they need prayer. Writing is a tough, tough business. It's grueling,
actually. It takes no less than ten years of writing, rewriting, and learning
your craft before you are actually ready to publish. But writing is the easy
part. The length of time it takes from finishing the novel to publication is
painfully long. Social media, marketing, getting your book into the laps of
your readers, that's the hard part. I want my readers to realize this, and I’ve
let them know a few important ways to support and encourage their favorite
authors:
- REVIEW IT ON AMAZON
- TELL AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN
- RECOMMEND ON GOODREADS
- REQUEST AT YOUR LIBRARY
- PROMOTE ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
Will you share an
excerpt of the book? “My life had to change, and yet I knew, living in
North Carolina, danger arrived in winter. Southerners hole up during cold
weather. Food is tasteless, and the world around us smells like our rusted tin
roofs. Religious conviction freezes on our faces, but our sins are not
confessed. I was a child of winter. I had learned the consequence of snow and
cold. It was a dreaded time of year, knowing every cold and flu season brought
me bad luck and closer to truths too terrible to bear. But the day I turned
thirteen began a new chapter that taught me bad luck could turn into good luck,
even though it might take time. Even though the evidence of good luck is often
invisible as a bubble at first. Even though the evidence of things unseen can
make you think you’ve lost your mind.” ~ Neeley McPherson, The Sanctum
Any bookstore can order it for you, and you can also order
it from my publisher, Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.
Keep in touch with Pamela on
Website: www.pamelakingcable.com
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