Jeri Smith-Ready

Interview with Caitlin Kittredge, author of NIGHT LIFE

It's debut author time again! Today we have Caitlin Kittredge, whose first novel, urban fantasy Night Life, just came out last Tuesday. Fresh Fiction called Night Life "fast-paced, witty, and sexy," and if the excerpt on Caitlin's website is any indication, it looks like the kind of book that glues itself to your hands until you hit the last page.

Caitlin has graciously agreed to give a signed copy of this exciting paranormal thriller to (you know the next words by now...) one lucky commenter.


Q. What's been your biggest surprise/thrill about your first release?

Caitlin: That people I don't know actually show up to my author events! I was fully prepared to be one of those sad horror stories of authors sitting alone at tables while people flock past them to buy magazines and celeb tell-alls, but so far the enthusiasm level for NIGHT LIFE has been fantastic.

NIGHT LIFE has been described as a paranormal police procedural thriller. Are you a big fan of the cop show genre? Do you have a favorite?

I am, and I do. Criminal Minds is my current favorite crime show. I also really like Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

The main character in NIGHT LIFE, Luna Wilder, is a detective with the Nocturne City Police Department. She's also, well, a werewolf. Does she have trouble balancing these two sides of her life?

In the book, Luna's pretty much constantly at war with her two sides--she has trouble controlling her emotions because of the werewolf instincts, and she has trouble hiding who she is, because she works with a bunch of detectives. It makes for some awkward moments.

According to your bio, you live with two pushy cats. Do they work together as a team to bug the crap out of you, or are they individual annoyance artists?

They have a sort of dual system going: One, Victor, will cuddle very close to me and bite my wrist as I work on the laptop. The other, Faust, will run into my office, meow, and run out again. One point man and one for close-in work. They're very effective.

If you could inhabit the life of any of your characters, enter their world and deal with it as that person, which one would you choose?

I'd probably chose Pete Caldecott, from my short story 'Newlydeads' (part of the anthology My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon), and my novel Street Magic, which my agent is shopping. Pete's very down-to-earth and able to think on her feet, and I'd need that in her world!

Conversely, which of your characters would you most like to bring to life in our world (maybe as a best friend or much, much more ;-) ?

That'd have to be Jack Winter, from the same short story and novel. Jack is an aging punk rocker/mage who can see ghosts, has a barbed-wire wit and is quite the hottie, in his own way. I'd just want to follow him around and watch him get into trouble.

Same two questions, but use examples from another author's work (including television/movies/theatre)?

Sarah Connor. I wanted to be her when I was about 12 years old and first saw the Terminator movies. She kicked so much ass, and she wasn't perfect, but she came out on top because she was strong and driven.

If you read my blog, you know I'd love to have Dean Winchester, the hero of Supernatural, land in my neck of the woods. We'd have a great time--we have the same taste in music.

Which author, living or dead, would you most love to collaborate with?

Neil Gaiman or H.P. Lovecraft.

If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the publishing industry, what would it be?

The speed of things! I'd make everything happen in a week, like it does on TV, instead of months or years.

What's the weirdest tidbit of research you've ever incorporated into a book?

The history and construction of the Glasgow Necropolis, which is a Masonic cemetery that used to be bound by water. You can't make up a locale that's better than that.

What's your earliest memory?

Watching my grandmother cook breakfast for my mom the day after I was born. I know they say you don't remember anything that early, but I distinctly remember her standing at the stove in a pink sweater making eggs.

Do you have any phobias?

I used to be terrified of mall Santas. Clowns still don't thrill me. Maybe it's something about people in funny makeup...although that would mean I should also fear KISS, and really...not happening.

My husband hates when people use the word 'barometer' to mean 'measure.' Which word usage faux pas drives you berserkest?

The accept/except mix-up. I don't know why, but when I see it I get majorly peeved!

Name a literary cliche that makes you throw a book across the room.

The one where the hero dies and the heroine finds out she's pregnant with his baby. That one is a wallbanger for me.

Let's say there's a TV show, movie, or recording artist that has a cult of you. Which is it? (i.e., what do you like that no one else you know likes)?

Life on Mars, which is a TV show that aired in the UK. (Actually, I showed it to one of my American friends, so now it's me +1 on this side of the Atlantic.) It's a great show--it's about a police inspector who gets thrown back in time to 1973 Manchester and has to figure out how to get home, while solving crimes and living in a very different world. Also, I'm sort of in love with Philip Glenister, who plays DCI Gene Hunt. He's very adorable.

If you had a free day with no responsibilities and your only mission was to enjoy yourself, what would you do?

Eat some cheese fries, go to the movies (where they would naturally be showing a double feature of Batman Begins and Better Off Dead), go to the bookstore and the comic store and spend as long as I liked, then go home and cook a fabulous meal for my friends and I, probably also involving cheese fries.

If you could ask your favorite author one question and they had to answer honestly, what would it be?

"What would you be doing with your life if you weren't a writer?"

If you could write in a totally different genre than your current one, which would you choose?

Mystery/suspense. I'd love to do a really good thriller with a female protagonist and a great bad guy who really gave people the creeps.

What are you working on now, and what new releases can we expect to see from you down the road?

I just finished a draft of a young adult novel, which I've sent to my lovely agent for a look. It's about the Winter Court of the Fae, a coup that occurs and a young Fae's escape to 1881 England, at the height of the Victorian era. My other adult series is being shopped, as I mentioned above, and it's about what I call "punk-rock demonology", hungry ghosts, and a host of other good and scary things. Pure Blood, the second book in the Nocturne City series, releases August 26th.

If you could tell a stranger just one thing about NIGHT LIFE (other than what it's about--no cheating by quoting synopses or back cover blurbs), what would it be?

That I've tried my best to write a real story with relatable characters set in a fantastical world, and that they should read it, because I think it kicks ass!


Give Caitlin a comment or a question, or tell us which cop show character you suspect could be a werewolf (or the one you'd most like to see, uh, 'wered'), down there in the comments before 5 p.m. EST on Monday, March 17. I'll draw a name and announce the winner next Tuesday morning.

If you don't have a Blogger account, just sign in as anonymous and leave your name at the bottom of your comment so I can identify you. Then come back on Tuesday or stay subscribed to the comments to hear the results.

***Do not put your e-mail in the comments. That creates spam, and only Hormel is allowed to do that.***

(And don't forget, you still have three days left to enter the drawing for Chris Marie Green's vampire novel Twice Bitten.)

Labels: Contests, guests, reading

• posted by Jeri @ 8:39 AM
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