Following the Old Ways: Local Storyteller K.M. Rice Defies Convention
By Julie Horner
Kellie “K.M.” Rice grew up with books. “I was really fortunate that my parents read to me every night. It was this magical experience snuggled up next to my mom or dad and seeing the pictures and hearing the words, and it transported me somewhere else.” Rice wrote her first story as soon as she could put pencil to paper.
Rice’s grandmother’s line hails from the Highlands of Scotland. Known as “the wild” Clan MacRae, legend had it that the MacRae women went to battle alongside their men. Learning of her heritage from a young age through her grandmother’s telling, Rice came up strong, embracing an innately bold ethic. The name “Kellie” comes from the Gaelic tradition and means woman warrior. A trip with her family in 2016 to visit where her ancestors came from “was very powerful,” Rice said.
Knowing her heritage helped guide how Rice wanted to tell her stories. Fascinated with mythology, folklore, and history, and with a penchant for embellishing her stories with swordplay, she earned her Master of Fine Arts at San Jose State University, publishing her first novel, a dark fantasy called Darkling, in 2013. Rice now has six books to her credit. Her flagship series is a Celtic fantasy adventure called Ophelia, Afterworld Books One and Two, which explores with a magical twist what it must have been like to live in olden times. Her love of Irish history fuels the series, building a bridge, Rice said, for the modern reader to bring history to life in the everyday.
Dedicated to pursuing archetypal characters who are able to self-reflect upon scary ideas like death or grand ideas like the eternal bond of friendship, many of Rice’s champions are female. “I had to go through a process,” she said. At first, she was writing about male characters because typically “men go on adventures, girls don’t.” But then she thought, “Why am I writing about males when I’m not one? I don’t know what that experience is like. Why am I not writing about female characters?” Influential to this epiphany for Rice were outspoken women authors Margaret Atwood, Octavia Estelle Butler, and Ursula Kroeber Le Guin who famously turned societal perceptions upside-down during their lifetimes. From that point, Rice shifted and began writing about female leads. “There’s so much unexplored territory, in particular, if you have a female heroine and a female villain. That dynamic is a little bit different and there are so many different tools you can play with as a storyteller.”
K.M. Rice is known internationally as well as closer to home in Felton. Voted Best Local Author many years in a row in the annual Good Times “best of” poll, Rice values the community support. “I’m growing my local audience, which I’m really excited about,” she said. She hears from readers all over the world who are obsessed with the adventures of Ophelia, wondering when the next book in the series is coming out. The answer is on Rice’s Patreon site: patreon.com/KMRice
Rice said, “Historical fiction can help us not only be connected to our roots but can help contextualize who we are and where we come from, where our families came from, and possibly why.” You can find independent author K.M. Rice wherever books are sold and at Felton Mercantile. Learn more at kmrice.com.
Photos by Alexandra Rice Photography
