Guest Author Interview: Alma Katsu

Please welcome today's guest author Alma Katsu!  Alma is the author of The Taker.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Alma:  I was one of those kids who was always reading, and then always writing stories for myself. I guess I got hooked when I started writing chapters of a story that my friends in high school wanted to read; I'd finish a chapter and they'd be clamoring for the next one. I haven't had an audience like that in a long time, though!  I studied writing in college but took a long break for work, and came back to writing fiction at age 40. That's when I got serious about it: went to grad school, attended conferences and workshops, joined writer's groups, and wrote every day.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Alma:  I grew up in a creepy little New England town, in a house that we believed was haunted, so you might say I was destined to write in this vein. The TAKER is a bit different from many paranormal books in that it doesn't draw on familiar paranormal tropes, such as vampires, werewolves or ghosts, but has a magical element to it that's unexplained, much like the supernatural in real life.   (All is explained by the end of the third book, rest assured.)

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Alma:  It wouldn't be immortality, I tell you that. I might opt for the ability to forget particularly painful memories, and the ability to erase painful memories for others. Regret can be destructive and crippling for people, after a certain point.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Alma:  For one thing, the story is fairly unique (or so I've been told.) It's not something you'd heard before. What grabs most readers, I think, are the characters. I wanted to write a big story with big emotions and characters that you won't forget and you won't want to say goodbye to once the last page is read.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Alma:  When my agent was pitching the book to publishing houses, this was the question editors most liked to talk about, because the characters are so distinctive, I think. For Adair, the villain, Jonathan Rhys Meyers name came up quite a bit, but I think that's because people like him as a villain :-)  One of the other lead characters, Jonathan, is supposed to be not only a very handsome man but perhaps the epitome of male beauty, so who would you cast for that part? It's very difficult -- though Johnny Depp's name came up, he might be a little old for the part (and it pains me to say that.) I don't have a clue who would be the female lead, Lanny, and so I leave that up to my agent, who knows Hollywood much better than I do. Who would you cast?

The Taker by Alma Katsu

Described as an "epic supernatural romance," The TAKER combines historical fiction with a supernatural element for a dark romantic story that's "astonishing... heartbreaking and magical."

In the novel, set in the 19th century, a girl from northern Maine falls for and gets impregnated by a wealthy local out of her social league. When she flees to Boston to have the baby, she gets swept up by a group of immortal beings, and a tricky love triangle develops after the leader of the undying crew falls for her and gives her everlasting life.


Thank you Alma for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Alma Katsu and her books, please visit her website.