The Drive-by Returns: Catherynne M Valente

What to say about Cat Valente that hasn’t been said already? She has a prodigious talent for awesome titles matched only by her skill in producing glorious prose? She produces poetry that reads like prose and prose that is positively poetic? She wore easily the most gorgeous dress at the Hugos this year and she should have had an award for that at the very least?

She is the woman who has created the worlds of Palimpsest, The Girl Who Navigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, The Orphan’s Tales, The Labyrinth, A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects and the upcoming Deathless. Long may she write!

1.  The first book I read that blew my brain and made me want to be a writer was …
I think The Neverending Story, which was the first non-picture book I read by myself when I was five. I loved it so fiercely, and so fiercely wanted to go. Maybe I’m still rebuilding Fantastica with my stories all these years later.

2. A story can be made irresistible by the addition of …
Hm. Books within books, sad robots, secret histories, katabasis. A dark queen in a great outfit doesn’t hurt.

3. The first person I disturbed with my writing was …
I believe that would have to go to by 10th grade English teacher Mr. Skrabo, who thought I was deeply disturbed. So I wrote more disturbing things to upset him. And the world goes round.

4. If I wasn’t a writer, I would be … 
… a Classics professor, I expect. Or possibly a chef. That’s what my brother does, and much like my job, it’s a hell of a lot of insane work that just looks sexy and cool to outsiders.

5. Donuts or danishes?
Danishes, always! I love the sweet cheese kind. I’m secretly a total sucker for danishes.

 She doth blog here.

This entry was posted in Drive-by Interviews, News, On Writing: General and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.