Kate Cary


Kate Cary is one of the authors of the Warriors novel series, a story about wild cats, which she writes under the pen name of Erin Hunter. The other authors who also write the Warriors novel series under the pen name Erin Hunter are Cherith Baldry, Gillan Phillip, Rosie Best, Inbali Iserles, and Tui T. Sutherland. Kate Cary has also written the book Bloodline, and its sequel Reckoning. Besides writing Warriors, Kate Cary also has helped her writing partners in working on the Seekers books.

Works

Kate Cary is a contributor to the Warriors book series, alongside Cherith Baldry, Victoria Holmes, and Tui Sutherland under the name Erin Hunter. She is also the single author of a series entitled Bloodline under no pseudonym.

Warriors

When working on Warriors, Cary, Baldry, Holmes, and Sutherland write under the pseudonym of Erin Hunter. This was decided by the fact that the name 'Erin' sounded like a strong Celtic name without much 'girliness', whilst 'Hunter' was both associated with cats and would place it next to the Redwall series, which was the only book the writers felt it could be compared to at the time. Cary has written Into the Wild, Fire and Ice, The Sight, The Last Hope, and Bluestar's Prophecy, amongst other titles in the series. She states that she becomes attached to the characters of the novels and feels distraught while writing most death scenes. She also suggests that Loch Lomond offers her the inspiration for ThunderClan's territory in the novels.

Bloodline

The first Bloodline book was written in 2005, simply entitled Bloodline. It is an unofficial sequel to Dracula and is an epistolary novel taking place during World War I. Kirkus Reviews praised its plot twists, but said that the novel had flat characterization. She also wrote a sequel titled Bloodline: Reckoning in 2007. Kirkus Reviews say that bad pacing and characterization hurt the story, but the tension is kept high by bluffs and mysteries.

Biography

Kate Cary was born outside Birmingham on 4 November 1967. She wrote her first book when she was four years old, and has been enthusiastic about writing ever since. Cary states that she has loved cats since the age of 6. She attended King Edward VI High School for Girls in Edgbaston, later moving to Surrey to study History at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she graduated in 1989. After leaving the University, she began sending her books to publishers, regularly being rejected. Eventually, she discovered a small publisher who hired her to write "how to" and activity books. In 2003, Cary sent a writing sample to Victoria Holmes at Working Partners. Holmes offered her a position writing for the Warriors series, where she would share the workload with author Cherith Baldry and Holmes herself in order to keep up with the publishing schedule.
Cary moved to Scotland in 1992, where she gave birth to her son, Joshua, in 1997. Cary returned to England in 2004, where she now resides.

BlogClan

Kate Cary created an unofficial website for the Warriors series called BlogClan. She regularly posts on the site, where she is known by the username Cakestar, and has drawn attention from many fans of the series. The site has had multiple associated wikis and role-playing sites created by members.