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Lauren Kate interview (November 2009)

Lauren Kate recently finished her M.A. in Creative Writing at UC Davis, where she also teaches. She lives and writes in an old farm house in Winters, California. Her first novel, The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove goes on sale one month before Fallen. Lauren very kindly spoke to Fantasy Book Review in November 2009.

Fallen is a supernatural fantasy book that will appeal greatly to the young-adult/teenage demographic. Did you set yourself boundaries, in regards to language and subject matter, that you felt were important to stay within to avoid upsetting/offending your readers (and possibly their parents)?

I haven’t reached a place where I needed to censor myself yet—and I don’t plan to. Maybe that’s because I wanted to keep Luce as accessible as possible (both to teens and their parents). For all the bad rap she gets, she’s basically a good kid, not really prone to much hard livin’. I think telling the story though her clean lens gives me a little leeway to pepper the story with some more risqué characters, like Arriane or even Cam.

Of course there’s still the whole issue of “the war between good and evil,” which can seem like a heavy or controversial topic. But I’m not interested in making any pronouncements about right or wrong, just in opening up a conversation, maybe challenging a few pre-conceived notions…just to be contentious.

Read the Fantasy Book Review of Fallen

Do you believe that boys/men will enjoy Fallen as much as their female counterparts?

Yes! Though maybe it will just be a decoy to attract female attention: “Look at that cute boy on the train reading that sensitive romance novel. I must go introduce myself!”

We Brits love nothing more than coming across British references while reading books by American authors. Fallen’s prologue is set in England, and then there are a couple of references, one to Albert Finney, and the other to The Smiths. Do these references reflect your own personal tastes?

Is this the part of the show where I admit to being an anglophile? Yes, okay, you’ve got me. You guys just do everything so darn smartly.

How large a part did your M.A. in Creative Writing play in the writing of Fallen? Would the book have been possible without it?

I’ve been taking writing workshops for about ten years so I think I was already comfortable with the benefits of a writers workshop. I applied to my masters program so that I could have more time to write. Before that, I was working long hours as an YA editor at HarperCollins (yet another place I indulged my anglophile tendencies—I got to work with people like Louise Rennison and Frank Cottrell Boyce). Anyway, back to the M.A. Time is really one of the most valuable things a beginning writer can have, and I really had about a year to just write, which was fabulous. In the process, I also met some wonderful writers and got to read a lot of great works. So yes, it was a good thing.

Are there any fantasy books from your own childhood/teenage years that are still special to you?

Oh, this list could go on and one! I loved all the Narnia books. And anything by Roald Dahl, Lois Lowry, Lewis Caroll. More recently, I love Meg Rosoff and Frances Hardinge. Right now I’m reading Frances’ The Lost Conspiracy—and loving it.

For more information on Lauren Kate, visit http://laurenkatebooks.net/.

Fallen book trailer

Posted: November 26th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Interviews, Lauren Kate

Fantasy Book Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate

Seventeen year old Luce is sent to reform school, Sword & Cross following a terrible tragedy involving her ex-boyfriend Trevor. The details of what happened that night are hazy and Luce is struggling to come to terms with the idea that she might have been responsible.

Fantasy Book Review interviewed Lauren Kate in November 2009

On her first day at Sword & Cross Luce meets Cam, a good-looking, edgy guy with piercing green eyes and dark hair and she feels strangely attracted to him despite the fact he is not usually her type. However Cam is not the only guy to have attracted her attention. Daniel is captivatingly handsome, almost too perfect, Luce feels instantly drawn to him, as if she already knows him, but she would never forget someone who looked like that, would she?

An epic battle between Heaven and Hell, with echoes of Paradise Lost,
Fallen is a story of a love doomed to fail over and over again.

Fantasy Book Review says “Lauren Kate’s writing is accomplished, thankfully avoiding the unnecessarily flowery and long-winded narrative that often plague pages of romantic fantasy books. The reader’s interest is engaged early and, helped by a solid and ever-evolving plot, never lets go. This is a gothic love story featuring fallen angels and forbidden love (a winning formula) that will thrill and delight in equal measure.”

To read the review in full – Fallen by Lauren Kate book review

Lauren Kate recently finished her M.A. in Creative Writing at UC Davis, where she also teaches. She lives and writes in an old farm house in Winters, California. Her first novel, The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove goes on sale one month before Fallen.

Posted: October 13th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Fantasy Book Review, Lauren Kate, Stephenie Meyer

Lauren Kate’s Fallen series acquired by Random House Children’s Books

Random House Children’s Books has acquired the first four titles in the Fallen series by Lauren Kate. The deal, made with sister company Random House Inc in New York, was for a major six figure sum. The books will be rushed into production, with the first title published this winter on both sides of the Atlantic.

Featuring angels and menacing demons, FALLEN will appeal to the Stephenie Meyer generation.

Fantasy Book Review interviewed Lauren Kate in November 2009

Fantasy Book Review has now read and reviewed Fallen. It looks like it is going to be a massive hit both here and States side, to read the review click here.

Annie Eaton, Publisher at RHCB comments, ‘I am extremely excited about the potential for this new series, which is a delicious mix of temptation, impossible love and the supernatural. No teenage girl will be able to resist the handsome and tormented Daniel.’

17 year old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous and highly intelligent boy Daniel at their reform school. But then she discovers Daniel is a fallen angel, cursed, destined neither to ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell, and tormented by love. The two realise that they have spent their lifetimes finding and losing one another, and face the final challenge to keep evil forces at bay and seek redemption for all.

RHCB is planning an aggressive marketing and publicity campaign in the UK to launch the series which will be published in December 2009.

Lauren Kate is finishing her MA in Creative Writing at the University of California.

Posted: June 13th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Lauren Kate, Stephenie Meyer