Cathy Clamp and I met a few years ago in an online author’s group. We struck up an email friendship, one I’ve been grateful for. Why do I mention this? Because I kidnapped her and tortured--strike that--pretty-pleased her into giving me an interview for the blog today.
(puts on Emcee hat, pulls out whip and cracks it loudly--hey, every good ringmistress needs a whip--and winks).
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention! It gives me pleasure today to introduce you to my victi--um--guest I've got strapped in the hotseat today: Cat Adams, the new ‘face’ behind the seasoned paranormal romance team C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp. CT and Cathy are debuting their new pen name with their February release, Magic’s Design, and will be switching shelves as well soon. I decided to wheedle answers out of her to a few questions about their new adventure, and their new persona.
Yasmine: Welcome, Cat! While I know you really well, my readers may not, so would you introduce yourself . . . or is that yourselves?
Cat: (staring at whip) Hi, Yasmine! LOL! Yes, it’s "ourselves." We have a sort of split personality now. But today you’re just talking to one half of the team, Cathy Clamp. C.T. Adams and I—she goes by Cie, pronounced like the letter "C," so that’s how I’ll refer to her—started writing together about twelve years ago. We both currently live in central Texas in the part they call the "Texas Hill Country." That’s actually a weird name for the Texas mountains, but they’re not technically tall enough to be called "mountains" so they’re hills. But we’re still about 2,500 feet elevation, with forests of oaks and tall rock structures, very much the same as where we (also both) came from in Colorado.
Cie will be moving back to Colorado soon. She’s a big city gal, where I’m a country gal. We’ve written over a dozen books, including anthologies, historical fiction and urban fantasy/paranormal romances for the Tor Paranormal Romance line, have a few appearances on bestseller lists (most notably USA Today and Waldenbooks Mass Market Paperback list) and have won quite a few awards for both our Sazi shapeshifter series and our Thrall vampire series.
Yasmine: But if you’re doing well, hitting lists and winning awards, why change names? Aren’t you worried that it might confuse your readers?
Cat: Actually, it’s other way around. Our goal was to simplify. All these books we’ve written had both names on the cover, but readers (especially NEW readers) have had trouble finding us. If you hear about a great book from a friend and want to find it, but can’t recall the exact name, you go in and ask the bookstore to search for the author by name. But which name? Some bookstores had us shelved in ‘Adams’, some in ‘Clamp.’ Some stores would add the periods after the C and T, while others wouldn’t.
Computers, sadly, only respond to what’s been entered. We got many emails from fans who said, "My bookstores don’t carry your books. Where can I get them?" Well, yes, they DO carry our books because pretty much every bookstore does—just not where the clerks were looking. "Cat Adams" can’t be more simple, and with shelving by last name, first name readers will find Adams, C . . . meaning they’ll find all our other books too!
Yasmine: You’re changing genres too, over to my side of the shelf (well, kinda…people find me in romance, fantasy, horror, you name it I’m probably stuck there!). Will your romance fans be disappointed?
Cat: Although it sounds strange, we won’t be doing a thing different. Our books have always been urban fantasy with a little romance. We’ve been at the low end of romance percentage, even at Tor. It’s just that Tor was looking for something different for their romance line. Our wonderful editor Anna Genoese recognized that some romance fans really enjoy intense action and complex plots. Yet the fantasy readers who like (or at least don’t mind) a little romance weren’t finding us since they don’t often explore the romance aisles. Our new editor, Heather Osborn, thinks we can find our right readers if we’re in the right place in the bookstore (and, in fact, more than one bookstore already shelves us in fantasy.) So, really our move isn’t so much a changing of genres, as a recognition of what our genre always was. If that makes sense.
Yasmine: Actually, it does. But I assume there’s a higher degree of difficulty with changing both your name and your genre all at once, plus starting whole new realities that readers haven’t seen. Has marketing been a nightmare?
Cat: Not as much as you’d think. The sales team did a bang-up job getting the word out to the bookstore buyers. Then we just had to let the readers know through ads, mailings and such. but we are going to ease our way over to the new shelf, just to help readers get used to the idea. Our February release, Magic's Design, is sort of a "transition" book. It’ll be on the romance shelves, but is much more fantasy than romance.
In fact, one of the early reviews, from Publisher’s Weekly, gave what some might consider a negative review, but it was actually a positive. They said, "A sweetly satisfying love story barely manages to compete with a myriad of fantasy elements. Some subtle foreshadowing builds powerfully, but too often the focus on small details and confusing political machinations means the bigger picture is lost." Hmmm . . . so there’s too much fantasy and it’s complex, both of which were intentional.
Yasmine: Considering that I like complex books (and have been accused of being ‘too complex’ myself), I really don’t consider that a negative. If anything, it makes me more interested in reading the book. To my mind, urban fantasy is supposed to be complex, with lots of character, fantasy, and world building. And since the book is a stand-alone, you don’t have time to parcel out the world building through several books like I do.
Cat: Precisely. We know our readers are going to LOVE this new world. The only trick will be to stick with our promise that it remain a stand-alone. We’ve already had our editor and at least one reviewer ask "So what’s next? Aren’t you going to tell so-and-so’s story?" I never say never, but so far it’s planned to be just the one book.
Yasmine: You’re going to tell us about the book, right? You can’t just leave us hanging. (taps butt of the whip in her hand)
Cat: (looks nervously at Yasmine) LOL! Sure! Here’s the blurb we’ve been using, which pretty much tells the story: "Talos Onan is a magic wielder, born into the mage guild of firecrafters. As an agent of the Overworld Police, he has come from a secret land to protect Earth from magicians intent on enslaving humanity. Mila Penkin has always had the gift of healing. But this very modern woman didn’t realize her skill was born of an ancient magic, and her memories of how to unlock her potential have been stolen from her. They must find a way to work together to defeat the evil that has escaped from the prison of Rohm, deep under the planet’s surface, and unravel a plot that has been centuries in the making. But the clock is ticking, for the Tree of Life, the source of all magic, is dying. If Tal and Mila can’t defeat the dark mage Vegre before their powers are gone, there won’t be a world left to save."
Yasmine: Sounds good to me. (stares intently) I want a copy. (after an awkward moment coughs and clears throat) Of course, I'll buy it. So, what are you up to next? Will there be any more Sazi or Thrall books? I particularly loved the Thrall trilogy (which is why I was more than happy to put my name on a book blurb for it!). Will all your future books be written under Cat Adams too? Details, woman, give us details!
Cat: Well, the Thrall was only a trilogy, so those ended with Touch of Darkness, our August, 2008 release. There’ll be at least two more Sazi stories that I know of right now. Cold Moon Rising is the next Tony & Sue Giodone adventure, for release in August, 2009. I just turned it in. The Tales of the Sazi books will continue to be published under both names (because I just HATE it when names change in the middle of a series!) For those fans of the series, you’ll be excited to know that the love story is about the shifter you love to hate, the snake councilman, Ahmad al-Narmer!
And, we’re just about to sign a contract for another Sazi book that is finally going to complete the world arc about the snake threat, as well as resolve the hints about the Australian group brought up in Timeless Moon. After that? It’s hard to say. We have proposed a new spin on the world called The Wolven Chronicles with a female lead who’s a shapeshifting badger! How cool is that? You’ll meet said badger, Liz Sutton-Kendall, in Cold Moon Rising, so we hope you’ll like her. Obviously, we’d like to keep the Sazi going forever, but there’s only so much time to write and only so many months in the year.
But we’re REALLY excited about a brand new urban fantasy trilogy that’ll appear first in trade paperback in 2010 and then as a back-to-back trilogy in the summer of 2011.
Yasmine: (smiles winningly) Dish it out, Cat. Tell me about your new world. I want to hear! NOW.
Cat: (looking like she preferred the whip to the scary smile) Well, I can tell you a little about it, anyway. The first book is presently called Night Songs. It’s about Celia Graves, a vanilla mortal in a magical reality who works as a bodyguard to protect her clients against the bad demons, vampires and ghouls of the world. She uses lots of fancy gadgets to detect evil intent, and is an expert with a lot of magical weapons. But, maybe she’s not as "vanilla" as she imagined herself to be. Early on in the book, she gets attacked by a vampire. It should have killed her, but it didn’t.
She turns into an "abomination," half-vampire and half-human, which both groups decide shouldn’t exist. Yikes! So now she has to keep herself alive while trying to figure out who set her up to be killed in the first place. Then weird things start to happen to her physically that have nothing to do with either humanity or the "bats," leaving her wondering what else fate has in store for her.
And if that’s not bad enough, she’s being haunted by TWO ghosts—one of her kid sister who was murdered as a child, and the other of her best friend, both of whom think she’s just the person who can help them pass on to the next level. Oh, and she’s got two hot guys interested in her, both of whom she lusts after but both of whom would be a bad idea to get involved with. There’s secrets galore for both the reader and poor Celia to discover, and plenty of action. It’s going to be a LOT of fun!
Yasmine: Okay, now THAT sounds like my kind of book. You will let me read it to blurb, won’t you???? Please, please!!!
Yasmine: Welcome, Cat! While I know you really well, my readers may not, so would you introduce yourself . . . or is that yourselves?
Cat: (staring at whip) Hi, Yasmine! LOL! Yes, it’s "ourselves." We have a sort of split personality now. But today you’re just talking to one half of the team, Cathy Clamp. C.T. Adams and I—she goes by Cie, pronounced like the letter "C," so that’s how I’ll refer to her—started writing together about twelve years ago. We both currently live in central Texas in the part they call the "Texas Hill Country." That’s actually a weird name for the Texas mountains, but they’re not technically tall enough to be called "mountains" so they’re hills. But we’re still about 2,500 feet elevation, with forests of oaks and tall rock structures, very much the same as where we (also both) came from in Colorado.
Cie will be moving back to Colorado soon. She’s a big city gal, where I’m a country gal. We’ve written over a dozen books, including anthologies, historical fiction and urban fantasy/paranormal romances for the Tor Paranormal Romance line, have a few appearances on bestseller lists (most notably USA Today and Waldenbooks Mass Market Paperback list) and have won quite a few awards for both our Sazi shapeshifter series and our Thrall vampire series.
Yasmine: But if you’re doing well, hitting lists and winning awards, why change names? Aren’t you worried that it might confuse your readers?
Cat: Actually, it’s other way around. Our goal was to simplify. All these books we’ve written had both names on the cover, but readers (especially NEW readers) have had trouble finding us. If you hear about a great book from a friend and want to find it, but can’t recall the exact name, you go in and ask the bookstore to search for the author by name. But which name? Some bookstores had us shelved in ‘Adams’, some in ‘Clamp.’ Some stores would add the periods after the C and T, while others wouldn’t.
Computers, sadly, only respond to what’s been entered. We got many emails from fans who said, "My bookstores don’t carry your books. Where can I get them?" Well, yes, they DO carry our books because pretty much every bookstore does—just not where the clerks were looking. "Cat Adams" can’t be more simple, and with shelving by last name, first name readers will find Adams, C . . . meaning they’ll find all our other books too!
Yasmine: You’re changing genres too, over to my side of the shelf (well, kinda…people find me in romance, fantasy, horror, you name it I’m probably stuck there!). Will your romance fans be disappointed?
Cat: Although it sounds strange, we won’t be doing a thing different. Our books have always been urban fantasy with a little romance. We’ve been at the low end of romance percentage, even at Tor. It’s just that Tor was looking for something different for their romance line. Our wonderful editor Anna Genoese recognized that some romance fans really enjoy intense action and complex plots. Yet the fantasy readers who like (or at least don’t mind) a little romance weren’t finding us since they don’t often explore the romance aisles. Our new editor, Heather Osborn, thinks we can find our right readers if we’re in the right place in the bookstore (and, in fact, more than one bookstore already shelves us in fantasy.) So, really our move isn’t so much a changing of genres, as a recognition of what our genre always was. If that makes sense.
Yasmine: Actually, it does. But I assume there’s a higher degree of difficulty with changing both your name and your genre all at once, plus starting whole new realities that readers haven’t seen. Has marketing been a nightmare?
Cat: Not as much as you’d think. The sales team did a bang-up job getting the word out to the bookstore buyers. Then we just had to let the readers know through ads, mailings and such. but we are going to ease our way over to the new shelf, just to help readers get used to the idea. Our February release, Magic's Design, is sort of a "transition" book. It’ll be on the romance shelves, but is much more fantasy than romance.
In fact, one of the early reviews, from Publisher’s Weekly, gave what some might consider a negative review, but it was actually a positive. They said, "A sweetly satisfying love story barely manages to compete with a myriad of fantasy elements. Some subtle foreshadowing builds powerfully, but too often the focus on small details and confusing political machinations means the bigger picture is lost." Hmmm . . . so there’s too much fantasy and it’s complex, both of which were intentional.
Yasmine: Considering that I like complex books (and have been accused of being ‘too complex’ myself), I really don’t consider that a negative. If anything, it makes me more interested in reading the book. To my mind, urban fantasy is supposed to be complex, with lots of character, fantasy, and world building. And since the book is a stand-alone, you don’t have time to parcel out the world building through several books like I do.
Cat: Precisely. We know our readers are going to LOVE this new world. The only trick will be to stick with our promise that it remain a stand-alone. We’ve already had our editor and at least one reviewer ask "So what’s next? Aren’t you going to tell so-and-so’s story?" I never say never, but so far it’s planned to be just the one book.
Yasmine: You’re going to tell us about the book, right? You can’t just leave us hanging. (taps butt of the whip in her hand)
Cat: (looks nervously at Yasmine) LOL! Sure! Here’s the blurb we’ve been using, which pretty much tells the story: "Talos Onan is a magic wielder, born into the mage guild of firecrafters. As an agent of the Overworld Police, he has come from a secret land to protect Earth from magicians intent on enslaving humanity. Mila Penkin has always had the gift of healing. But this very modern woman didn’t realize her skill was born of an ancient magic, and her memories of how to unlock her potential have been stolen from her. They must find a way to work together to defeat the evil that has escaped from the prison of Rohm, deep under the planet’s surface, and unravel a plot that has been centuries in the making. But the clock is ticking, for the Tree of Life, the source of all magic, is dying. If Tal and Mila can’t defeat the dark mage Vegre before their powers are gone, there won’t be a world left to save."
Yasmine: Sounds good to me. (stares intently) I want a copy. (after an awkward moment coughs and clears throat) Of course, I'll buy it. So, what are you up to next? Will there be any more Sazi or Thrall books? I particularly loved the Thrall trilogy (which is why I was more than happy to put my name on a book blurb for it!). Will all your future books be written under Cat Adams too? Details, woman, give us details!
Cat: Well, the Thrall was only a trilogy, so those ended with Touch of Darkness, our August, 2008 release. There’ll be at least two more Sazi stories that I know of right now. Cold Moon Rising is the next Tony & Sue Giodone adventure, for release in August, 2009. I just turned it in. The Tales of the Sazi books will continue to be published under both names (because I just HATE it when names change in the middle of a series!) For those fans of the series, you’ll be excited to know that the love story is about the shifter you love to hate, the snake councilman, Ahmad al-Narmer!
And, we’re just about to sign a contract for another Sazi book that is finally going to complete the world arc about the snake threat, as well as resolve the hints about the Australian group brought up in Timeless Moon. After that? It’s hard to say. We have proposed a new spin on the world called The Wolven Chronicles with a female lead who’s a shapeshifting badger! How cool is that? You’ll meet said badger, Liz Sutton-Kendall, in Cold Moon Rising, so we hope you’ll like her. Obviously, we’d like to keep the Sazi going forever, but there’s only so much time to write and only so many months in the year.
But we’re REALLY excited about a brand new urban fantasy trilogy that’ll appear first in trade paperback in 2010 and then as a back-to-back trilogy in the summer of 2011.
Yasmine: (smiles winningly) Dish it out, Cat. Tell me about your new world. I want to hear! NOW.
Cat: (looking like she preferred the whip to the scary smile) Well, I can tell you a little about it, anyway. The first book is presently called Night Songs. It’s about Celia Graves, a vanilla mortal in a magical reality who works as a bodyguard to protect her clients against the bad demons, vampires and ghouls of the world. She uses lots of fancy gadgets to detect evil intent, and is an expert with a lot of magical weapons. But, maybe she’s not as "vanilla" as she imagined herself to be. Early on in the book, she gets attacked by a vampire. It should have killed her, but it didn’t.
She turns into an "abomination," half-vampire and half-human, which both groups decide shouldn’t exist. Yikes! So now she has to keep herself alive while trying to figure out who set her up to be killed in the first place. Then weird things start to happen to her physically that have nothing to do with either humanity or the "bats," leaving her wondering what else fate has in store for her.
And if that’s not bad enough, she’s being haunted by TWO ghosts—one of her kid sister who was murdered as a child, and the other of her best friend, both of whom think she’s just the person who can help them pass on to the next level. Oh, and she’s got two hot guys interested in her, both of whom she lusts after but both of whom would be a bad idea to get involved with. There’s secrets galore for both the reader and poor Celia to discover, and plenty of action. It’s going to be a LOT of fun!
Yasmine: Okay, now THAT sounds like my kind of book. You will let me read it to blurb, won’t you???? Please, please!!!
(gazes intently at Cat)
Okay, recapping here: C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp are now Cat Adams, except for the Sazi books. The Thrall is done (sniffs here…love the books, love the story…don’t wanna see it over!).
Magic's Design is the first under the new name, and is a stand-alone novel. You’re moving shelves to the SF/fantasy side with Night Songs in 2010 as three trade paperbacks, with a re-issue of all three as regular paperbacks in the summer of 2011 as back-to-backs. Is that about right?
Cat: That’s about it. We just want your readers (and hopefully OUR readers) to know that they’ll still get the same quality of books under the new name as the old. We’re just making it easier to find us!
Hope you all like Magic's Design and hey, if you’re interested in winning an autographed copy of the book, send an email to: Cat_Cie@msn.com with "Yasmine" as the subject line. We’ll pick one lucky entry at random and send a book! Can’t get better than a free book in today’s economy. You can also read excerpts of any of our books on our website (which is still undergoing a MAJOR design change, so please bear with us while we get everything linked) at http://www.ciecatrunpubs.com/.
Yasmine: People love giveaways. *grins* Okay, folks—get your emails in by Monday night—remember, send them to Cat’s addy above, not to me! And Cathy—uh—Cat—thanks for dropping by my blog. Much luck with the new books, and I can’t wait to see that new series you’re talking about! (let's Cat out of the scary chair)
Cat: Thank you! (edging toward the door) Can’t wait for the next one of your books! I loved NIGHT HUNTRESS! :) See you on the shelves, everyone. (darts out of the room)
Okay, recapping here: C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp are now Cat Adams, except for the Sazi books. The Thrall is done (sniffs here…love the books, love the story…don’t wanna see it over!).
Magic's Design is the first under the new name, and is a stand-alone novel. You’re moving shelves to the SF/fantasy side with Night Songs in 2010 as three trade paperbacks, with a re-issue of all three as regular paperbacks in the summer of 2011 as back-to-backs. Is that about right?
Cat: That’s about it. We just want your readers (and hopefully OUR readers) to know that they’ll still get the same quality of books under the new name as the old. We’re just making it easier to find us!
Hope you all like Magic's Design and hey, if you’re interested in winning an autographed copy of the book, send an email to: Cat_Cie@msn.com with "Yasmine" as the subject line. We’ll pick one lucky entry at random and send a book! Can’t get better than a free book in today’s economy. You can also read excerpts of any of our books on our website (which is still undergoing a MAJOR design change, so please bear with us while we get everything linked) at http://www.ciecatrunpubs.com/.
Yasmine: People love giveaways. *grins* Okay, folks—get your emails in by Monday night—remember, send them to Cat’s addy above, not to me! And Cathy—uh—Cat—thanks for dropping by my blog. Much luck with the new books, and I can’t wait to see that new series you’re talking about! (let's Cat out of the scary chair)
Cat: Thank you! (edging toward the door) Can’t wait for the next one of your books! I loved NIGHT HUNTRESS! :) See you on the shelves, everyone. (darts out of the room)
Yasmine: Aw shucks, I was going to ask her to stay and have one of my uber special hyper-caffeinated mochas. Okay, folks, you heard it. Seriously Cat--CT and Cathy--are fantastic writers. So check out Magic's Design and their backlist. You won't be disappointed.
(tucks whip under arm and looks around for her next vic--guest...)
