Cate Tiernan

Author profile

born

in New Orleans, The United States

July 24, 1961

gender

female

website

http://catetiernan.org/

twitter username

CateTiernan

influences

Barbara Hambly

About this author

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"was born in New Orleans, LA, in 1961. New Orleans is one of the most interesting American cities, and it has an incredibly rich and exotic culture that had a profound influence on me. Kids in other cities have lemonade stands; we sold voodoo gris-gris and made wax dolls in the likenesses of our enemies. It's a very beautiful city, and the constant heat and humidity make gardens grow out of control. There's an air of lassitude there, a general acceptance of eccentic or flamboyant behavior--the heat simply makes people do crazy things.

I went to school in New York, and after school went back to New Orleans. Then I went back to New York (Manhattan) and got a job in publishing and started writing. My first book, a young, middle-grade chapter bo...more "was born in New Orleans, LA, in 1961. New Orleans is one of the most interesting American cities, and it has an incredibly rich and exotic culture that had a profound influence on me. Kids in other cities have lemonade stands; we sold voodoo gris-gris and made wax dolls in the likenesses of our enemies. It's a very beautiful city, and the constant heat and humidity make gardens grow out of control. There's an air of lassitude there, a general acceptance of eccentic or flamboyant behavior--the heat simply makes people do crazy things.

I went to school in New York, and after school went back to New Orleans. Then I went back to New York (Manhattan) and got a job in publishing and started writing. My first book, a young, middle-grade chapter book, was published in 1990.

Living in Manhattan was incredible, even though I didn't have a lot of money. There was so much to do and see, and so many interesting people to watch. There was a lot of frenetic energy there, and sometimes that felt very wearing and hard to live with. After eight years I was ready for a change, and my husband and I moved back to New Orleans. (Are you seeing a pattern here?)

(While I was in NY, I helped edit "The Secret Circle" by L.J. Smith. I thought it was great.)

We stayed in New Orleans five years. By the time we had two small children we knew we had to find someplace safer to live. I was glad my children were born in New Orleans--I had been born there, and my father had, and his father had, and his father had and so on. There was something about the connection of generations of blood coming from one place that I found very primal and important.

Now I live in a cohousing community in Durham, NC. This is the most suburban place I've ever lived, and it's very different from living right in the middle of a city. For one thing, there aren't enough coffee shops. However, it's incredibly safe, and the community is very important to me. There are a lot of strong women here, and I find them inspiring.

Am I a witch? Well, no. Even Wicca is too organized a religion for me. I'm much more idiosyncratic and just need to do my own thing, which is kind of new-agey and pantheistic. It's not that I don't work or play well with others, but I need to decide for myself when I do a certain thing, and how I do it. However, I can really relate to Wicca, and I so appreciate its woman-centeredness and its essentially female identity. I love those aspects, among others.

I have several favorite writers. Barbara Hambly has been the biggest influence on how I describe magic. She's an incredibly imaginative and empathetic writer with a gift for creating a rich, sensual world. I love Barbara Pym, an English writer whose books came out mostly in the fifties. She was a master at describing the thousand tiny moments that make up a woman's day; how the seemingly small and inconsequential thing can suddenly take on a huge emotional importance. I greatly admire P.D. James. She's one of the very few writers who makes me actually look up words in the dictionary. She has a beautiful, precise, educated command of the language that leaves me in awe. I love Philip Larkin's poetry. I read a lot of nonfiction and also have some favorite romance writers. Before anyone groans, let me say that these women write really well about women trying to achieve emotional fulfillment, and that's kind of what we're all doing, right? I also just like reading about sex. Anyway, Jennifer Crusie, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and early Linda Howard are my faves.

And then of course there's my dark side, but more on that later.

" -Source

Cate Tiernan is a pseudonym for Gabrielle Charbonnet (less)

36 posts
Cate Tiernan's Blog

Cate Tiernan isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but she does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from her feed.

Saturday, January 28th, 2012!

I'll be at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC this coming Saturday at 3:00pm. Do come out and say hello! I'll talk a bit, read a bit, and sign books for a bit. If you're in the area, I'd love to see you!

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Cate Tiernan's Books

Average rating: 4.16 · 108,178 ratings · 4,616 reviews · 34 distinct works · Similar authors

	Book of Shadows (Sweep, #1) 4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 9,538 ratings — published 2001 — 25 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Coven (Sweep, #2) 4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 6,936 ratings — published 2001 — 23 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blood Witch (Sweep, #3) 4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 avg rating — 6,442 ratings — published 2001 — 24 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dark Magick (Sweep, #4) 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 6,064 ratings — published 2001 — 21 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Immortal Beloved (Immortal Beloved, #1) 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 5,791 ratings — published 2010 — 30 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Awakening (Sweep, #5) 4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 avg rating — 5,783 ratings — published 2001 — 22 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Spellbound (Sweep, #6) 4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 avg rating — 5,524 ratings — published 2001 — 15 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Calling (Sweep, #7) 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 5,221 ratings — published 2001 — 16 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Changeling (Sweep, #8) 4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 avg rating — 5,082 ratings — published 2001 — 13 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Strife (Sweep, #9) 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 4,791 ratings — published 2002 — 14 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Cate Tiernan…

Series by Cate Tiernan

Sweep (15 books)
by Cate Tiernan
4.139287274542845 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 80,115 ratings

Immortal Beloved (3 books)
by Cate Tiernan
4.193190586419753 of 5 stars 4.19 avg rating — 10,368 ratings

Balefire (4 books)
by Cate Tiernan
4.042513863216266 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 5,410 ratings

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Quotes by Cate Tiernan

“There is darkness in light, there is pain in joy, and there are thorns on the rose.”
― Cate Tiernan

tags: cate, magic, poetry, romance, tiernan

294 people liked it

“Yes. Reyn is our resident horse master. He has an excellent seat."
I grinned. "I've noticed."
Reyn's face tightened and Nell flushed, looking embarrassed. "It's an equestrian term."
"Really? I thought you were talking about his ass.”
― Cate Tiernan, Immortal Beloved

tags: humor, sarcasm, teasing, witty

140 people liked it

“Fire is a fragile lover, court her well, neglect her not; her faith is like a misty smoke, her anger is destructive hot.”
― Cate Tiernan

114 people liked it

See all Cate Tiernan's quotes »

Polls

What randomly selected book would you like to read in May??

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

9 votes, 31.0%

A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies

7 votes, 24.1%

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King

4 votes, 13.8%

Choker by Elizabeth Woods

3 votes, 10.3%

Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn

2 votes, 6.9%

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

2 votes, 6.9%

Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyr

2 votes, 6.9%

Hearts at Stake by G.L. Giles

0 votes, 0.0%

Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman

0 votes, 0.0%

Sweep, Volume I by Cate Tiernan

0 votes, 0.0%

29 total votes

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Cate Tiernan

Author profile

36 postsCate Tiernan's Blog

combine editionsCate Tiernan's Books

Series by Cate Tiernan

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Cate Tiernan

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

36 posts
Cate Tiernan's Blog

combine editions
Cate Tiernan's Books