Writer Wednesday: Cat Rambo
Originally published at finding my words. Please leave any comments there.
I’m pleased to welcome the science fiction and fantasy writer, Cat Rambo. Find out about her latest collection, what haunts the lake near her home, her mantra for writing, and more…
(Incidentally, she’s got some giveaways going on at her blog this week coinciding with the debut of her latest collection, so please check it out.)
1. First things first…a name and bio:
Cat Rambo lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives beside eagle-haunted Lake Sammamish with two cats, a software developer, and a horde of plastic dinosaurs.
2. Where are you from and what’s your favorite thing about where you live?
I grew up in South Bend, Indiana. My favorite thing about it is the Griffon Bookstore, a book and games shop where I spent way, way too many hours playing RPGs and hanging out with my cronies. The Griffon’s still going strong, I’m pleased to say.
3. Tell about your latest story. What made you want to write it?
My latest story is “Dagger and Mask,” which I wrote for a feminist space opera anthology edited by Athena Andreadis and Kay Holt, The Other Half of the Sky, which will appear next year. I had heard Chuck Palahniuk read and something he said about his book Imagianry Monsters and how he’d used a facial injury to make readers identify with his character made me want to try that strategy and see how it worked. I think it did.
My latest book, available today! Is Near + Far, from Hydra House. It’s all SF short stories, and it’s something I am extremely pleased with. My other collections are both fantasy, and I wanted to show I could write SF as well. I’m pretty sure I pulled it off.
4. Where can people find your books and stories?
There’s a list of my fiction, with links to online stuff as well as to where it’s available on Amazon, at http://www.kittywumpus.net/blog/fiction
5. What are you working on right now?
I’m working on two projects at the moment. One is a rewrite of a fantasy novel, The Moon’s Accomplice, which I’ve been struggling with for far too long. The other is a novella for the Fathomless Abyss project, a shared world run by Phil Athans, called A Cavern Ripe With Dreams, which is a sequel to the one I just turned into him. I had only meant to write one novella, but when I sat down and looked at the project, I realized I’d written a longer work that fell neatly into two separate parts.
6. What inspired you to be a writer?
I’ve always been an avid reader, and prose has also always come easily. I wanted to emulate the writers who’ve enthralled me with their stories and maybe entertain someone as much as they’d entertained me.
7. Who is your favorite character in your stories? Why?
I really had to stop and think about this question because I realized the character that immediately sprang to mind is from the novel I’m working on. Story-wise, I’m going to go with Desiree, who appeared in “Clockwork Fairies,” my first attempt at steampunk, which was published on Tor.com. Why? Because she’s smart and assertive, and trying her best to survive in a society where she doesn’t fit in.
8. What is your favorite comfort food?
Macaroni and cheese. My brother Lowell and I trade mac and cheese recipes back and forth, actually. Recently I’ve been trying to improve on his with the addition of some crab meat. It’s a horribly unhealthy recipe, full of butter and cream, but man, is it good.
9. What character from your stories was the hardest to write?
The narrator in “Worm Within,” which appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine. She was my first (but not the last) try at an unreliable narrator, and I love how the story turned out.
10. What’s the biggest challenge about being a writer?
Staying focused and not getting distracted. “Writers just (effing) write” is a mantra in my household, and something my spouse reiterates when he sees me getting carried away.
11. Do you have any advice for beginning writers?
See the “Writers just write” slogan above. Don’t worry about the other stuff like social media or the font on your business card - just write. Then write some more.
12. Who are your favorite authors and why?
One is James Tiptree Jr., aka Alice Sheldon, who wrote amazing, nuanced, brilliant stories full of great language. Another is Carol Emshwiller, whose short stories never fail to blow me away with their inventiveness. For a third, Grace Paley, who was beyond a doubt one of the greats when it comes to short short stories. One of my happiest moments was having her to dinner while she was teaching at Johns Hopkins and I prize my sweet potato pie recipe because she asked for a second piece.
13. What books have most influenced your writing?
A very early book was Turn Not Pale, Beloved Snail, a book on writing aimed at young writers, by Jacqueline Jackson. It included an extensive bibliography in the back, which I used to guide my writing for several years. Another book is Ken Rand’s slim volume The 10% Solution, which is the only writing book I actually buy and give to new writers.
14. What tools are in your writer’s tool-kit?
A sense of humor and some degree of literary sensibility from my years at Hopkins. I love words and am always looking for new and interesting ones, and that love of language has carried me far.
15. Where can people find out more about you and your books and stories?
My website, which can be found at http://www.kittywumpus.net/ as well as at http://www.catrambo.com/
16. What question(s) did I forget to ask?
You forgot to ask what sort of chocolate bar I would be, if I were a chocolate bar. The answer is a plain Hershey’s bar.
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If you are a writer interested in participating in Writer Wednesday, please send an email with a short biography to ww (at) ambersistla (dot) com.