Interview with Alma Katsu author of 'The Taker'

Hi Alma! Thanks for joining us at Books for Company today. Please introduce yourself and your book, The Taker.
I’m Alma Katsu, author of The TAKER. My novel has been compared to “Interview With the Vampire” and “The Historian” although there are no vampires in it. I think these comparisons are made because The TAKER has similar qualities to those books: it’s big and sweeping, goes back in time and has dark, magnetic characters caught up in tragic circumstances. The publisher, Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster, has made The TAKER a “Big Book” for BEA and a lead fiction title for the fall – I’m very lucky that my publisher has so much confidence in this book.
The TAKER is the story of a young woman, Lanny, going up in an isolated pocket of the Maine territory in the early 1800s who falls in love with her childhood friend, Jonathan,. Jonathan is the eldest son of the richest family in town. handsome and extremely desirable, but unfortunately,Jonathan doesn’t love her in the same way. When Lanny is exiled to Boston, she falls in with Adair, a mysterious man with otherworldly powers. He offers Lanny the ability to bind Jonathan to her forever – but it comes at a price. Once the deal is made, Lanny finds out what a terrible price it is, and she must figure out how to save her beloved, and herself, from an eternity of suffering.
While most of the book is set in the early 1800s, it opens with Lanny in the same town she grew up in, but in the present day, and she’s just been taken into custody for killing Jonathan. So right away, you see that this woman has been alive for over two hundred years and she’s just taken the life of the man she loves more than anything, the man she sacrificed everything to possess. Why?


What’s the hardest part about writing a book?
For me, it was understanding that a novel couldn't be just what I wanted to write about, but that the readers will have certain expectations. A writer can certainly play with these rules (and that's where real creativity comes through) but you can't break them without a good reason, and without making that reason plain in your writing. I'm not saying that you have to write to please your imagined audience, but you have to be aware that certain choices are going to limit the range of people who will be drawn to your book. But that's just one of many difficult things about writing a book. The art of creation through words is a wonderful process but sometimes it feels quite limited. Like trying to construct the Eiffel Tower with your hands bound together.

Did anything influence you while writing The Taker?
It took 10 years to write The TAKER. It was inspired by many things from my childhood -- the early American surroundings, fairy tales, my creepy hometown and love of horror movies -- but as the book was being rewritten, I'd say a big influence was the other writing I was doing. I had gone through a graduate writing program and always read literary fiction, and expected I would write literary fiction, but on the advice of literary agents, tried to write a commercial thriller. I ended up writing several, and learned a lot about pacing and that experience made The TAKER a much tighter, compelling read.

You have a few different covers for your book, which is your favourite?
That's hard! All are beautiful in their own way. The US version is going to be quite tricked out, and have maps for the endpapers. I can't wait to see it! The UK version has black edging -- it really stands out. And everyone loves the Spanish cover art, with the Venetian mask.

How did you pick the title for your book and do you already know it before you start to write?
This poor book actually went without a title for most of its life. It was titled THE FALLEN when it sold, but then Lauren Kate's book came out and we knew we had to change it. My agent came up with The TAKER.

What genre do you mainly read? Did this influence your writing at all?
Mostly I read what would be considered literary fiction. I read pretty widely now, trying to keep up with the books everyone is talking about. Like China Mieville--I can't wait to read Embassytown.

Are you currently working on anything?
I'm currently working on the second book in the trilogy, The RECKONING; it's about to go through revisions. I don’t think we have a US release date yet but it comes out in the UK in January 2012. I’ve started on the third book, The DESCENT. There are some short stories in the works, too.

Random –

Ebooks or Paperback?
I don't have an e-reader yet, so I'd have to say trade paperbacks are my favorite form of book right now

Library or Book Shop?
I wish I had more time to hang out in libraries, but because of my schedule I tend to swoop in & out of book stores

Music or TV?
I wish it were music but lately, I'd have to say I watch a bit more TV. Games of Thrones! Looking forward to the next season of True Blood, of course.

Find Alma

Website

Amazon (UK/USA)

Book Depository
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Thanks so much for joining us Alma at Books for Company. I really enjoyed reading your answers and finding more out about The Taker, of which l hope to be able to read myself!