Monday, August 17, 2015

Beth Cato

Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in a lair outside of Phoenix, Arizona. She shares the household with a hockey-loving husband, a numbers-obsessed son, and a cat the size of a canned ham.

Her latest novels are The Clockwork Dagger and The Clockwork Crown.

A couple of weeks ago I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:
This week I have been reading a book that comes out soon, The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard. It's an amazingly fresh fantasy that takes place in a sort of post-apocalyptic Paris, long after the Great War was joined by fallen angels who destroyed much of the earth. The lead character is a Vietnamese man who has been stranded in the city. I love the unique new blend of religions and mythologies.

A few days ago, I finished up a nonfiction book: Mark Twain and the Colonel by Philip McFarland. This was a research book for me since my next steampunk series includes Theodore Roosevelt as a character. I still have a few more books on him to read, but this book ended up being enjoyable and quite useful since it took care to show both men in the context of the period, with all the good and bad (in our now-wiser eyes) that entails.

I also want to mention one of my recent reads that will probably be among my favorites for the whole year: Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho. It's a brilliant take on Regency England with magic and political drama, with two fantastic people of color as the leads. It was one of those books that made me genuinely sad when it ended. I didn't want to say good-bye to Zacharias and Prunella!
Learn more about The Clockwork Dagger and The Clockwork Crown at Beth Cato's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Clockwork Dagger.

My Book, The Movie: The Clockwork Crown.

--Marshal Zeringue