Caitlin Kittredge (born September 1984) is an American author and comic-book writer of

dark fantasy Dark fantasy, also called fantasy horror, is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporates disturbing and frightening themes. The term is ambiguously used to describe stories that combine horror fiction, horror ...

and

urban fantasy Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy, placing supernatural elements in a contemporary urban area, urban-affected setting. The combination provides the writer with a platform for classic fantasy tropes, quixotic plot-elements, and unusual charac ...

noir. She is known for her ''Nocturne City'' series of adult novels, and for ''The Iron Codex'', a series of

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

books. She has also written the comic books ''Coffin Hill'' for

Vertigo Comics DC Vertigo, also known as Vertigo Comics or simply Vertigo, is an Imprint (trade name), imprint of the American comic book publisher DC Comics. Vertigo publishes comics with adult comics, adult content, such as nudity, drug use, profanity, and ...

and ''

Witchblade ''Witchblade'' is an American comic book Ongoing series, series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint (trade name), imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owne ...

'' and ''Throwaways'' for

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

Personal life

Caitlin Kittredge graduated from college with a degree in English. She has cited

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

, and H.P. Lovecraft as inspirations. Kittredge is a fan of

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

, classic

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

novels, and comic books. She describes herself as "a skeptical believer in the Something Else. There's too much strange in this world for me to totally discount the possibility of Something Else being out there. But at the same time, I'm the first person to try and debunk any supernatural stuff that people claim is going on around them. I, personally, had one completely terrifying encounter with something supernatural that I still can't explain...hence my lack of 100% skepticism."

Career

Adult fiction

Kittredge's ''Nocturne City'' is a series of adult

novels. The story follows Luna Wilder, a young police officer who lives in a city inhabited by both normal humans and paranormal beings. Being a werewolf herself, Luna has ties to both sides of her society.

Young-adult fiction

Kittredge's debut young-adult novel, ''The Iron Thorn'', was released in February 2011. It is the first novel in the ''Iron Codex'' series, an alternate-history

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...

story set in a Victorian-themed America. The novel's main setting, Lovecraft, was named after author H.P. Lovecraft. The book follows a girl named Aoife, who embarks on a journey to save herself from a hereditary madness, and ends up on a paranormal adventure alongside two allies. A review from ''Booklist'' applauded the novel's romance and plot twists, and stated that "Kittredge's richly descriptive narrative captures all the details of clockwork, inventive machinery, foggy mists, ghastly ghouls, and creative landscapes." The review also called Aoife "a caustic-tongued, feisty, and independent young woman, with plenty of nerve and courage." A review from ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' stated, "Though the material borrowed from H.P. Lovecraft occasionally calls too much attention to itself, Kittredge generates significant thrills and chills in this fast-moving tale".

Comic books

Kittredge began writing a monthly comic-book series for

titled ''Coffin Hill'' in October 2013. She is also the writer of the ongoing series ''Throwaways'', which began in July 2016 and a revamp of ''

'', which began in December 2017, both for

Bibliography

Novels

''Nocturne City''

#''Night Life'' (March 2008) #''Pure Blood'' (August 2008) #''Second Skin'' (March 2009) #''Witch Craft'' (September 2009) #''Daemon's Mark'' (May 2010)

''Black London''

#''Street Magic'' (June 2009) #''Demon Bound'' (December 2009) #''Bone Gods'' (November 2010) #''Devil's Business'' (2011) #''Soul Trade'' (2012) #''Dark Days'' (2013)

''Icarus Project''

#'' Black & White'' (2009), with Jackie Kessler #''Shades of Gray'' (2010), with Jackie Kessler

''Iron Codex''

#''The Iron Thorn'' (February 2011) #''The Nightmare Garden'' (February 2012) #''The Mirrored Shard'' (February 2013)

''Hellhound Chronicles''

#''Black Dog'' (October 2014) #''Grim Tidings'' (August 2015)

Short stories

* "Ginger: A Nocturne City Story", in '' Strange Brew'' * "Newlydeads" (Black London), in '' My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon'' * "Perdition", in ''Love Bites'' * "The Devil Went Down to Boston", in ''Games Creatures Play'' * "Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go" in ''Huntress'' (2009)

Comic books

Vertigo

Coffin Hill #1-ongoing (with Inaki Miranda, 2013-...)

Image

Throwaways #1-ongoing (with Steven Sanders, 2016-...)

#1-ongoing (with Roberta Ingranata and Bryan Vanelza, 2017-...)

References

External links

* *

Interviews

FantasyLiterature.com interviews Caitlin Kittredge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kittredge, Caitlin 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American horror writers Writers from Olympia, Washington Living people 1984 births American women horror writers 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Washington (state) American female comics writers American comics writers Urban fantasy writers