Q&A with K.M. Huber

 

 

 

K.M. Huber is the author of the new novel Call of the Owl Woman. She has spent many years in Peru, and is now based in Maryville, Tennessee.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Call of the Owl Woman, and how did you create your character Patya?

 

A: I had just taken a pause from querying my first novel after several agents told me they would be interested in reconsidering it if I would divide it into a trilogy.

 

Before diving back in to reweave the opus into three satisfying parts, I really wanted to take a break and work on a shorter project. My daughter Cristina was a teen at the time and asked me to write something that she and her friends would want to read.

 

I loved the idea and accepted the challenge of writing something that would include the elements she wanted: something set in Peru, where she was born, but in the past, so we could both learn more about Peru’s mysterious Nasca culture. She also wanted me to include a bit of romance, cross-cultural challenges, and dealing with language differences.

 

What started as “a short project” soon evolved into something much deeper. I wanted the protagonist to be someone who was sensitive but unsure of herself, someone who would have to overcome challenges both external and internal.

 

As I learned more about the culture and regional history, its unique details helped shape the emergence of 15-year-old Patya.

 

Her grandmother foresees a changing future and convinces Patya’s parents not to bind her head as an infant like other Nasca children, leading Patya to struggle to understand how what sets her apart so painfully as a child could ever be useful in the future.

 

The incursion of highland hunters into their territory leads to a trauma that her mother and grandmother help her heal from, but choose to keep secret so that their clan doesn’t seek revenge and provoke worse violence.

 

I also wanted to explore ancient healing traditions as well as highlighting the amazing textile and ceramic art of the Nasca people, so I had Patya come from a long line of healers but, although she assists her mother and grandmother with their work, Patya actually prefers painting ceramics, making music, and dancing.

 

It wasn’t long after Patya started to take shape in my mind that she began to take on a life of her own. She often surprised me with her actions and reactions as the story unfolded. 

 

Q: How did you research the novel, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I started by reading everything I could about the Nasca and interviewed people who had studied the archeological remains.

 

The three major things that first jumped out were a) the wide range of theories about how and why the huge lines and animal shapes were made on the desert plains (from Olympic style games to aliens, with hot air balloons in between!), b) the proliferation of mummified severed heads, and c) the impressive water systems they developed to make underground waters accessible in one of the driest deserts in the world.

 

What caught me even more by surprise, though, was how much they seemed to have revered the killer whale (orca). I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where orcas are commonly seen, but they have not been frequent visitors to the Peruvian coast in modern times.

 

Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I did think I knew how it would end, but once my characters got rolling, they took over and I had to make some significant modifications.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: I hope readers will have a deeper feeling of connection to the earth as a living being, as well as a sense of their own power to impact their world, even when things are falling apart.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m putting finishing touches on the sequel coming out for Summer 2026 and working on a middle-grade historical fantasy in 1920s New York City where two 11-year-olds discover the ability to transport themselves instantly to other places around the world.

 

I’m also reading and gathering source material for a project based on a San Francisco artist whose serendipitous involvement with Gertrude Stein and the modernists launches her into lifetime of soul-searching psychological exploration that takes her from Freud and Jung to Gurdjieff—and all the way into the 1960s psychedelics scene in San Francisco.  

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I just want to give a shout out to my daughter, not only for planting the long-ago seed that eventually became this novel, but for creating the art used on the cover and the map inside. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb