What is Alma Katsu reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Alma Katsu, author of The Descent.

Her entry begins:

My reading is usually a mix of research for the next novel and something for pleasure.

My work-in-progress is a historical novel set in England in the Georgian period, so I’m deep in research mode right now, juggling four reference books. I’ll spare you the details on those, but thought you might be interested in the novel I’m rereading specifically to inform my writing of the WIP, and that is The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. I was lucky enough to interview Faber when the book came out and we had a long discussion about how he handled point-of-view in it, and it’s stuck with me ever since. He did this interesting thing with multiple third person within a single passage—not quite omniscient and very tricky, like a narrative high-wire act and something I’d love to try my hand at. Take a look at The Crimson Petal if...[read on]

About The Descent, from the publisher:

Of all the universe’s forces, the most mysterious, confounding, and humbling is the power of love.

Alma Katsu’s acclaimed trilogy—a supernatural epic that began with The Taker and sparked a chase around the world in The Reckoning—comes to a stunning conclusion, and brings Lanore McIlvrae to a final encounter with Adair, her powerful nemesis. Dismayed by Adair’s otherworldly powers and afraid of his passionate temper, Lanore has run from him across time, even imprisoning him behind a wall for two centuries to save Jonathan, her eternal love. But instead of punishing her for her betrayal, Adair declared his love for Lanore once more and set her free.

Now, Lanore has tracked Adair to his mystical island home to ask for one last favor. The Queen of the Underworld is keeping Jonathan as her consort, and Lanore wants Adair to send her to the hereafter so that she may beg for his release. Will she honor her promise to return to Adair? Or is her true intention to be reunited with Jonathan at any cost?

Learn more about the book and author at Alma Katsu's website and blog.

The Descent is the third book of The Taker Trilogy, an acclaimed epic supernatural love story that’s been published in over a dozen languages.

Writers Read: Alma Katsu (October 2011).

The Page 69 Test: The Taker.

Writers Read: Alma Katsu (August 2012).

Writers Read: Alma Katsu.

--Marshal Zeringue