Author Archives: Kate

Kage Baker, as I have often noted, was heavily in favour of voting.  The exercise of one’s franchise was a dearly bought privilege, as her studies of history taught her: she appreciated that. And we were in the first batch … Continue reading →

Kage Baker regarded writing as a natural art, one she was compelled to follow. Whether or not she had had any talent, whether or not she had ever collected an audience, she would have been a writer. She started writing … Continue reading →

Kage Baker was a firm believer in the use of domestic magic. She said she didn’t care what other people thought. (Which was a modest understatement.) Nor did she care for cute or soulful systems of cantrips and prayers. She … Continue reading →

Kage Baker actually enjoyed the processes of editing and re-writing. She had expected to hate them. (I had expected her head to explode.) But what happened was that she happily accepted direction, correction and changes. In fact, she said she … Continue reading →

Kage Baker was,  in her heart of hearts, an illuminator. Barring the problems of being the wrong nationality, the wrong gender and being born half a millenium too late, she’d have loved the life of a book-making Irish monk. When … Continue reading →

Kage Baker, as I have frequently observed, was fond of heat. What she preferred was a dry, moderate heat; mid-90’s, maybe a breeze off the sea, low humidity. The exhalation of the desert, as a dear friend once called it … Continue reading →

Kage Baker loved fire. Anything that blazed or leaped or exploded – especially in colours! – she adored. We usually kept a brazier in the back yard, and we would light fires just to sit beside them and talk and … Continue reading →

Kage Baker hated change. She loathed it with a deep and personal loathing, and the requisite heat of a thousand suns. She went to truly insane lengths to try and avoid it. This required her to cling to favourite garments … Continue reading →

Kage Baker wrote that line referenced above to describe Mendoza’s reaction to Joseph’s initial lecture about what lay ahead for her. Of course, he was talking about her fate as a mortal – but the line has stayed with me … Continue reading →

Kage Baker liked designs. And pictures. She really liked stories with pictures, and would   rather have been writing comics, I think. Her first books – written in her early teens, typed and bound by herself in the incense-scented eyrie … Continue reading →