Today I'm delighted to hand over to author Kate Rigby. Kate has written an impressive amount of books so I'll waste no more time and hand you straight over to her so that you can find out more.
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| Photo courtesy of Kate Rigby |
Author Biography
Kate Rigby was born near Liverpool and now lives in the
south west of England. She’s been writing for nearly forty years, with a
few small successes along the way, although she has long term health
conditions. She is a hybrid author, having been traditionally published, small
press published and now indie published.
She realized her unhip credentials were mounting so
she decided to write about it. Little Guide to Unhip was first published in 2010 and it has since been updated.
However, she’s not completely unhip. Her punk novel, Fall Of The Flamingo Circus was
published by Allison & Busby (1990) and by Villard (American hardback
1990). Skrev Press published her novels SeaviewTerrace (2003) Sucka!(2004) and Break Point (2006) and other shorter
work has appeared in Skrev’s avant garde magazine Texts’ Bones.
Thalidomide Kid was published
by Bewrite Books (2007).
She has had other short stories published and
shortlisted including Hard Workers
and Headboards, first published in
The Diva Book of Short Stories and as part of the Dancing In The Dark erotic
anthology, Pfoxmoor Publishing (2011)
She also received a Southern Arts bursary for her
novel Where A Shadow Played (now
re-Kindled as Did You Whisper Back?).
She has re-Kindled her backlist of previously
published as well as most of her unpublished work including:
Break Point (Awesome Indies Certified)
Suckers n Scallies (formerly
Sucka!)
Down The Tubes (Underground
Book Reviews Certified)
Tales By Kindlelight (a collection
of short stories, many of them previously published or shortlisted in short
story competitions and now available in paperback as She Looks Pale &Other Stories)
Savage To Savvy (ABNA Quarter-Finalist 2012 and Awesome Indies
Approved)
I think you'll agree that's a remarkable list of books but Kate has been writing for many years! I had the pleasure of reviewing The Dead Club at the beginning of last year which you can read here and one of my favourite characters was Topsy the cat so I was excited when Kate told me that Topsy had agreed to come along for a chat.
Interview with Topsy from ‘The Dead Club’
Interviewer: Hello, Topsy.
I have kept the window seat for you as I know how you like to recline
and stretch out.
Topsy
(ceases washing, looks alert): Why, thank you.
Interviewer:
Saucer of cream?
Topsy:
Now you’re talking!
Interviewer:
You are a very handsome boy with that tabby overcoat.
Topsy
(exposes belly, rolling a few times): Handsome girl, if you please.
Interviewer:
Of course. I do apologise.
Topsy
(suddenly fixing interviewer with a knowing stare): People are always making
that mistake. Not all heroic felines are male, I’ll have you know.
Interviewer:
I’m afraid I can’t offer you the same treats as Mrs L who cleaned your old
master’s house either.
Topsy:
Just give me a saucer of cream and I’ll be fine.
Interviewer:
Now you make a few appearances in The Dead Club, don’t you?
Topsy:
More than Mrs L, I’d say.
Interviewer:
It’s a rather ominous title, wouldn’t you say – The Dead Club?
Topsy:
We cats have nine lives as you know. We’re used to dicing with death, missing
it by a whisker, but some of the people I come into contact with...well, a cat
senses when they need a bit of feline intervention.
Interviewer:
Yes, there is that touching scene when you save Marina – literally – from
falling off a ledge at one point.
Topsy:
I do my best, but sometimes, fate is bigger than us.
Interviewer:
Would you say you were a moggy on a mission?
Topsy: We are always on some sort of mission, even
if it is just to get into your food cupboard – well, that especially.
Interviewer:
But wasn’t your main mission to find your brother who you were certain was
still out there somewhere?
Topsy
(purring): Mmm. I was sure we were separated as kittens and there was a Turvy
out there, missing me.
Interviewer:
Well, we won’t issue any spoilers in our interview today. But tell us a bit more about the ‘catverts’ as you call them in the pet
shop window?
Topsy:
You’ll have seen the kind of thing – you
know: ‘young mums waiting to settle down’ and language that you folks will
understand.
Interviewer:
Or to quote you directly: Kindle, this
beautiful black and white gal has just arrived with her brother, Nook – this
handsome black & white chappie. Kindle and Nook haven’t had the best of
starts but they’re settling into the comparative luxury of our lovely rehoming
centre. They have not had much experience with people so we have immediately
enrolled them in our ‘charm school’ where they will learn the pleasure of
cuddles, the delights of laps and indoor conveniences such as litter trays –
Topsy
(waving a dismissive paw): Not quoting me, my friend, that was an actual
catvert I strolled past and I remember feeling quite bitter that the brother
and sister in question were at least able to be rehomed together. Things were
very different in my day!
Interviewer: I’m sure. Still, you talked about fate
earlier. Do you think it was fate that you and the railway poet, Zion, hooked
up together, after he’d experienced a loss?
Topsy: Oh yes.
There is a lot of fate going on in the book, if you ask me, which most
people don’t. But Zion needed to overcome his fear of train journeys which he’d
previously lived for and I needed to go on a train journey in search of my
brother, so we sort of hooked up and helped each other out, so to speak.
Interviewer
(stroking Topsy’s head:) Well, thanks for joining us today, Topsy, but I’m
afraid we have run out of time. A big
thanks to the haphazardous hippo who I hope doesn’t have an aversion to
felines.
Topsy
(slinking off): An aversion? The very idea.
Thank you so much for bringing Topsy along for a chat today Kate. It was lovely to meet her but such a shame that she had to leave so quickly, but I guess that's cats for you, always busy!
You can find out more about Kate, her books and connect with her using the links below:
I'd like to thank Kate and Topsy for stopping by today. It's been an absolute pleasure having you both here.
Many thanks, Neats! And Topsy is purring her satisfaction :)
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome Kate and I'm pleased to hear that Topsy is a happy kitty. I know how difficult they can be to please sometimes!😉
ReplyDelete