The two authors who probably influenced Kate's early writing the most were C. S. Lewis and  J.R.R.Tolkien.  When Kate was in a convent boarding school in 1954,  Mother Superior, who was also her English teacher, told her class  that her close friend C.S. Lewis had just telephoned  her with a request. He asked if she and her students would be willing to read  a new book by an Oxford colleague that was about to be published and give their honest opinion. He said he would mail an advance review copy right away and that he and his friend would appreciate their  feedback as soon as possible.  From that moment on, Kate, who in addition to being an avid reader was an ardent C.S.Lewis fan, started watching the mail closely. As soon as the book arrived, and before anyone else realized it had come, she grabbed it from the mail pile on the front hall table then raced upstairs to stash it under her dormitory mattress.  C.S.Lewis' "Oxford colleague" was, of course, J.R.R.Tolkien. And that was how, at the riipe old age of sixteen, Kate became one of the first people ever to be invited to read and comment on Part One of The Fellowship of the Ring,. Along with her fellow-students, she gave it an enthusiastic review. Her only regret is that she didn't think of some way to hang on to that review copy because, nowadays, it's worth an absolute fortune! Like Ernest Hemingway, Kate spends many more hours a day reading than she does writing. Among her mulititude of  favorites are  Roger Zelazny's incomparable Amber fantasy series, Lois McMaster Bujold's Barrayar epics, David Weber's Honor Harrington military SF yarns, Piers Anthony's Xanth adventures and, last but not least, Alan Dean Foster's lyrical fantasy, Journeys of the Catechist. She also confesses to an addiction to thrillers by the likes of Lee Child, Vince Flynn, Jeffrey Deaver, Paul Levine and David Baldacci, a real fondness for  Rita Mae Brown's historical novels High Hearts  and Riding Shotgun, and lighthearted mystery series by Lilian Jackson Braun et al popularly.known as 'cozies'.     

The Wages of Justice received the 2001 Dream Realm Science Fiction Award and Dark Angel received the 2001 Dream Realm Cover Art Award.
The Wages of Justice and The Spirit Dogs of Sirius were both 2003 EPPIE finalists.
Dark Angel was also a cover art finalist in EPIC's 2002 Quasars.
The Wages of Greed and A Circle of Arcs were 2001 EPPIE finalists.
Golden Silence and The Spirit Dogs of Sirius were 2000 Dream Realm Award Finalists along with the cover art for Aase's Daughter and The Wages of Justice.
The Wages of Justice was also a 1999 Frankfurt Award Nominee.
The Other Woman was voted Best Poem in the 1998 Preditors and Editors Poll.