Chelsea Snow Cain (born 1972) is an American writer of novels and columns.
Biography
Cain was born February 5, 1972 in
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
, to Mary Cain and Larry Schmidt.
[''Dharma Girl'' (1996)] Cain spent her early childhood on a
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
outside of Iowa City. Her father
dodged the Vietnam draft and her parents lived "underground" for several years. In 1978, she moved with her mother to
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (locat ...
, where she attended Lowell Elementary School, Fairhaven Middle School, and
Sehome High School
Sehome High School is a public school in Bellingham, Washington, located approximately north of Seattle and south of Vancouver, British Columbia. The school serves students mainly from the western and southwestern sections of the City of Bellin ...
.
[ She spent the school year in Bellingham with her mother and the summers in ]Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
with her father and stepmother and stepbrother.
Cain left Bellingham after high school to study political science at the University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...
, where she wrote for the ''New University
In the UK, a post-1992 university, synonymous with new university or modern university, is a former polytechnic or central institution that was given university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, or an institution that h ...
'' newspaper and became the opinion editor. After graduating in 1994, she attended the graduate school of journalism at the University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
.
While at Iowa, she wrote a weekly column for ''The Daily Iowan
''The Daily Iowan'' is an independent, 6,500-circulation student newspaper serving Iowa City and the University of Iowa community. During the 2020–2021 academic year ''The Daily Iowan'' transitioned from printing daily to producing a print edi ...
''. Her master's thesis at the University of Iowa became ''Dharma Girl'', a memoir about Cain's early childhood on the hippie commune. One of her professors presented it to several editors for review, and Seal Press picked it up as Cain's first published work. She was 24 years old.
She traveled across the United States on book tour with ''Dharma Girl'', living for a brief period in Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
and then in New York City. After a year in New York, she returned to Portland, and edited an anthology for Seal Press
Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history.
Hi ...
titled ''Wild Child: Girlhoods in the Counterculture''.
Cain is married to Marc Mohan, a video store owner and film reviewer for ''The Oregonian''. They have one daughter, Eliza.
Cain and her family currently reside in Portland, Oregon.
Career
After working as a creative director at a public relations firm in Portland for several years, Cain began writing humor books in her spare time, including ''The Hippie Handbook: How to Tie-Dye a T-Shirt, Flash a Peace Sign, and Other Essential Skills for the Carefree Life'' (Chronicle Books
Chronicle Books is a San Francisco-based American publisher of books for adults and children.
The company was established in 1967 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publisher of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. ...
, 2004), '' Confessions of a Teen Sleuth'' (Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
, 2005), and ''Does this Cape Make Me Look Fat? Pop-Psychology for Superheroes'' (Chronicle Books, 2006), which Cain co-wrote with her husband. Cain also composed a weekly column for Portland's alternative newspaper, ''The Portland Mercury
''Portland Mercury'' is an alternative bi-weekly newspaper and media company founded in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. It has a sibling publication in Seattle, Washington, called '' The Stranger''.
Contributors and staff
Editor-in-chief: Wm. Steven ...
'' and started contributing to Portland's major daily, ''The Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...
'' in 2003. when she left marketing behind to focus on writing full-time. Her last column with ''The Oregonian'' was posted on December 28, 2008.
She wrote her first thriller ''Heartsick'' in 2004, while pregnant with her daughter. It was published on September 4, 2007. ''Sweetheart'' and ''Evil at Heart'' followed as the second and third in the series, respectively.
In March 2016, Cain started writing a new Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
series, ''Mockingbird
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. ...
'', the first solo series about the character. The series ran for eight issues before cancellation.
She is the writer of comic book series ''Man-Eaters'' for Image Comics
Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...
with artists Kate Niemczyk and Lia Miternique, which became available in shops in September 2018 and ended in October 2019. ''Man-Eaters'' was criticized for failing to account for trans experiences as the plot revolves around a disease that impacts people based on sex-specific symptoms. Cain's response was to print tweets criticizing her in subsequent issues of the book, which resulted in harassment and threats being aimed at her critics, and called into question the legality of publishing tweets. She went on to ask for volunteers to do sensitivity reading, as she stated the book was expensive to produce and she could not offer any pay for the job. Despite this widespread criticism, Cain returned to Image to publish ''Man-Eaters: Tomorrow Belongs to You!'' in March 2020 and an additional five issue miniseries called ''Man-Eaters: The Cursed'' in July 2021.
Accolades
* Named 6th best book of the year (2008) by Stephen King in ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' for ''Heartsick'' and ''Sweetheart''ew.com
''Entertainment Weekly''.
* Amazon Mystery/Thriller of 2007 for ''Heartsick''
* Named one of Four Hot Authors for Fall 2007 by ''Entertainment Weekly''
* ''Heartsick'' optioned as a film in September 2007
* Booksense 76 Pick for ''Heartsick''
* Barnes & Noble Developing Writer pick for ''Heartsick''
* ''New York Times Book Review'' editor's choice for ''Heartsick'' and ''Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody''
Bibliography
* ''Dharma Girl'' (1996)
* ''Wild Child: Girlhoods in the Counterculture'' (1999)
* ''The Hippie Handbook: How to Tie-Dye a T-Shirt, Flash a Peace Sign, and Other Essential Skills for the Carefree Life'' (2004)
* ''Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody'' (2005)
* ''Does This Cape Make Me Look Fat? Pop-Psychology for Super Heroes'' (2006)
*''Mockingbird – S.H.I.E.L.D. 50th Anniversary'' #1 (2015)
*''Mockingbird'' #1–8 (2016)
Gretchen Lowell Series
* ''Heartsick'' (2007)
* ''Sweetheart'' (2008)
* ''Evil At Heart'' (2009)
* ''The Night Season'' (2011)
* ''Kill You Twice'' (August 2012)
* ''Let Me Go'' (August 2013)
Kick Lannigan Series
* ''One Kick'' (August 2014)
* ''Kick Back'' (unpublished)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Chelsea
1972 births
Living people
Writers from Iowa City, Iowa
University of California, Irvine alumni
Novelists from Oregon
The Oregonian people
American women novelists
21st-century American novelists
American columnists
American women columnists
21st-century American memoirists
American women memoirists
21st-century American women writers
American comics writers
Novelists from Iowa
Female comics writers
American parodists
Parody novelists