Catherine Wells
Catherine Wells says:
"My official biography will tell you that I was born in LA but moved to the small town
of Robinson, ND, at the tender age of four. There I grew up (sort of) and went to
Jamestown College (Jamestown, ND) and earned a BA in theater, and got married.
We lived for three years in Connecticut, where daughter April was born, before going
back to ND, where daughter Joanne was born. While living in Bismarck, I got my
first break as a writer: three of my plays were produced at my church, including one
that was filmed for local television..
The official bio also says that in 1982, we moved to Tucson, Arizona, where I had
some more plays produced, got my masters in library science at the UofA, and finally
sold my first novel. (You will notice the prominence of desert motifs in my work.)
Mother Grimm did me proud when it was nominated for the 1997 Phillip K. Dick
Award.
What my official biography won't tell you is ...
My philosophy is, there's no point in having kids if you can't embarrass them.
One Halloween, my younger daughter wanted to know if I was going to dress up in a costume to go to work at the library. I
told her I was going to put my hair back in a bun, wear my reading glasses, and go as a librarian.
My favorite authors are Parke Godwin, James Clavell, Orson Scott Card, and Jane Austin. My favorite musical artists are Billy
Joel and the Harry James Orchestra. (What do you mean, you never heard of Harry James? How old are you? Okay, okay,
neither am I, but I have these CDs of Big Band music, and his "Velvet Moon" is the best.) My favorite food is good
Sonoran-Mexican cooking (which is very different from Chihuahuan-Mexican, New Mexico-Mexican, and chain-store
Mexican), and I don't eat vegetables. I have hot tea every morning to jump-start my day, I prefer sun tea with my meals, and I
can't abide coffee.
I'm a desert rat by adoption (or absorption), and no, I really don't miss snow. Not one little bit.
My ethnic origins are pretty muddy, having one ancestor who came over on the Mayflower (he's the guy that fell overboard and
had to be rescued) and the rest of that line weaving its way through assorted communities across the country to reach North
Dakota. But my mom is a full-blooded Finn (second generation American), which makes me half finished. Uh, half Finnish.
I recently wrote an historical fiction novel set in 11th century Scotland, and it required a lot of fascinating research, not only on
the Scots of that era but on the Vikings. I discovered that most of what passes as history is really opinion. But don't get me
started. Macbeatha, I will vindicate your name! Even if I don't spell it right.
Books:
Mother Grimm
Beyond the Gates
The Earth Is All That Lasts, 1991
Children of the Earth, 1992
The Earth Saver, 1993
Author's Homepage:
http://www.flash.net/~cjwells/
Email:cjwells@flash.net
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