Caitlin R. Kiernan

I'm a moderately successful novelist and author of short stories. Moderately successful means that I can support myself with the income from my publishing, and that I've won a few awards, and the critics usually like me. But I am not a "horror writer." This is a common misconception, and one that I try to steer present and potential readers away from. I am just a writer. My most recent novel is Daughter of Hounds (January 2007), and my most recent short-fiction collection is Alabaster (August 2006). I've also worked as a palaeontologist and have published numerous scientific papers, including the description of a new mosasaur from Alabama. I was born in May 1964 near Dublin, Eire, but have spent most of my life in the southeastern US. I attended college at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and the University of Colorado (Boulder). I'm tall. Keeping my secret Nebari identity a secret is an increasingly low priority. I'm into body art and modification. I'm a lesbian. I'm also a lapsed vegetarian, though the two things are unconnected. I adore film and read as much as I can, which is not as much as I'd like. I also adore New England and get to spend far too little time there. I have an enormous fossil collection. I'm something of a Mac addict, since about 1986 (Apple IIE), and now write on an iMac. I live with my partner, Kathryn A. Pollnac (photographer and doll-maker), a dwarf winter white hamster, and my Siamese/Tonkinese cat, Hubero Padfoot Wu. I have been a neoVictorian prude and a sexual libertine. I'm not fond of eggplant. Or tapioca. Or sweetbreads. I love Thai food. The pink make-up I wear fools most humans. I want to believe, but don't. I avoid Xtianity in all its forms like the plague. In fact, I avoid all patrifocal religions. I don't smoke, and while I do support public bans on smoking, I have no problem with what people do in the privacy of their own homes. I support the legalization of most illegal drugs. I spent almost a year of my life singing and writing songs for a band in Athens, Georgia ('96-'97). I have a film agent, but so far nothing's come of it. I detest many things: humanity, flourescent lighting, fast food, Wal-Mart culture, Republicans, neocons, Starbucks, the Age of Irony, ill-behaved audiences, the use of plastic when paper or glass would work just as well, shoddy workmanship, bad television, leafblowers, Dean Koontz, Oprah Winfrey, ignorance, creationism (and "intelligent design"), and wastefulness in all its guises. I support all forms of morphological freedom. Politically, I'm somewhere between a liberal Democrat and a socialist. Shakespeare rocks my socks. I prefer Daffy Duck to Bugs Bunny, Chaplin to Keaton, Coke to Pepsi, the Marx Bros. to the Stooges, antique typewriters to laptops, hardwood to carpeting, Doc Martens to all other shoes, talent to craft, paper to plastic, mustard to ketchup, and Anne Sexton to Sylvia Plath (tho' Miss Plath is fine, too). My favourite liqeuer is absinthe. My favourite beers are Guinness and Bass. I would much rather travel by rail than by air. I've read Ulysses three times, cover to cover, but Dubliners is my favourite Joyce. I live in Atlanta, but want to move to Salem, Massachusetts. I don't go to many shows because crowds annoy me. In fact, I don't get out much. I didn't set out to become a recluse. It just sort of happened. I am fascinated by Antarctica, and Mars is my favorite planet. Europa is my favourite moon, with Titan a close second. Global warming is a reality.You can see my WitchVox profile here.