Author Guest Post: Alma Katsu

Between Dark Shadows and Anne Rice: 

Author of The Taker Talks About Her Inspirations 

The Taker novels were influenced by my love of Gothic tales. Whether it was stories or movies or art, I have always loved the sinister, dark, slightly melodramatic and often baroque form known as Gothic.

I think this love of Gothic has to do with the time in which I grew up. Gothic was very popular: as kids, we watched Dark Shadows on television in the afternoon. Saturdays were marathons of Hammer horror films. I think I read all of Edgar Allan Poe’s works by the time I was twelve. Then a friend gave me her paperback copy of Interview With The Vampire and I never looked back. By the time I was in my early twenties, I was writing horror short stories and getting published in small press and fanzines. It was during this time that that I wrote the short story where The Taker came to life.

I was inspired to write The Taker after a very spooky experience I had one night in the area around Concord, Massachusetts. I was driving home and had just passed an old Colonial-era farm when I thought I saw a man walking towards me on the side of the road. It was a foggy night and so I looked in the rearview mirror to make sure I'd passed him cleanly, only to see that he'd disappeared. Rather than become freaked out--which is what any sane person might do--being a writer, I started piecing together a story in my head. It became a tragic love story. I imagined the man as a ghost pinned forever to that place, which I envisioned as his childhood home. He was trapped because he'd broken the heart of a woman who loved him fiercely and refused to give him up, even to time.

That was the origin of The Taker. The story morphed and shifted a little in the ten years it took to write, but the essentials are still there: old New England, the supernatural, heartache and longing, and a love so strong that it transcends time. I wanted to create a story that would grab readers and not let go, and to make characters that would haunt you for days after you finish reading. And I’m gratified to hear that’s exactly what readers have experienced!

The second installation of the story, The Reckoning, is out now. I would say it’s more magical than the first book, and a little more romantic and suspenseful. Reviews have been great. Library Journal called it “beautiful and mesmerizing” while RT Bookreviews made it a top pick for June, calling it “utterly enchanting.” Barnes & Noble’s Book Club and Chapter/Indigo both called the series “stunning” and top recommendations. If you’re a fan of that blend of supernatural fantasy/historical fiction/horror that you see in early Anne Rice books, I hope you will check out my novels. More information can be found at http://www.almakatsu.com

The Reckoning 

Lanore McIlvrae is the kind of woman who will to do anything for love. Including imprisoning the man who loves her behind a wall of brick and stone. 

She had no choice but to entomb Adair, her nemesis, to save Jonathan, the boy she grew up with in a remote Maine town in the early 1800s and the man she thought she would be with forever. But Adair had other plans for her. He used his mysterious, otherworldly powers to give her eternal life, but Lanore learned too late that there was a price for this gift: to spend eternity with him. And, though he is handsome and charming, behind Adair's seductive facade is the stuff of nightmares. He is a monster in the flesh, and he wants Lanore to love him for all time. 

Now, two hundred years after imprisoning Adair, Lanore is trying to atone for her sins. She has given away the treasures she's collected over her many lifetimes in order to purge her past and clear the way for a future with her new lover, Luke Findley. But, while viewing these items at an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Lanore suddenly is aware that the thing she's been dreading for two hundred years has caught up to her: Adair has escaped from his prison. He's free—and he will come looking for her. And she has no idea how she will save herself.

(US): IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Powell's

(UK): Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones | WH Smith

eBook (US): Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

eBook (UK): Amazon UK

Thanks Alma for coming on the blog today! I love knowing what is behind all the creativity that goes into creating stories. 

Comments or Questions for Alma? Let her know!