Kelley Armstrong - An Author With Bite!

If ever there was an author forging a new path in fiction, it’s Kelley Armstrong; bringing a whole host of incredibly strong female characters to the fore in her Women of the Otherworld series. It’s rare to see such well-defined characters in books that really do span across several genres to create something entirely new & completely gripping.

Never one to follow the herd, Armstrong is more a wolf than a sheep, and, indeed, the first instalment WOTOW series focuses on wolves. Well, werewolves actually, but don’t let that put you off! Whether or not you’re a fan of horror, Bitten has far more to offer than a bit of a thrill, so you shouldn’t take it at face value – there’s a wonderful twist right there at the start in that the lead character is a woman. Not only that, but she’s unique – the only female werewolf in the entire world.

Then we get out of the horror genre & kick into a bit of chick-lit. This is a woman desperately trying to fit in. All she wants is to be normal; find someone who loves her & settle down. In short, she wants a family.

From there, we get into all kinds of other genres – murder & mayhem, & then, with Stolen, you get a bit of espionage thrown into the mix, along with a bit of myth & magic & the introduction of other “creatures of the night” (vampires & witches & demons, oh my!).

As the series progresses, the focus shifts, in Dime Store Magic, to the Magical community – that of Witches & Sorcerers, but we still have a strong, if flawed, female character in the hot-seat. This trend continues in Industrial Magic, where we get a tantalising glimpse of corporate politics & a mafia-style family (is there anything this writer cannot do?).

Haunted, moves again & takes us into the afterlife, to a realm which isn’t all angels on clouds with harps, nor is it little devils with pitchforks. There are most definitely demons, but they’re firmly fixed in the world of the living & wreaking havoc.

The most recent instalment, Broken, is a welcome return to the werewolf Pack as they try to unravel the mystery surrounding the From Hell letter, supposedly written by the notorious Jack the Ripper, which just may have a supernatural aspect to it…

Whether or not any of this has piqued your interest, you should seriously consider taking a look at Kelley Armstrong’s official website as not only can you read info on the books (complete with character details & prologues), but you can also read the short stories she’d been writing in the meantime, which slot in between the various books & give even deeper insight into the backgrounds of the characters (it’s worth mentioning here that Armstrong takes the ideas of her fans into consideration on these!). There’s also an active discussion board & a journal to keep everyone up to date on her progress.

So, go along, have a look, & find yourself drawn into the Otherworld; a place populated by feisty women who know what they want & how to get it. It’s also worth signing up for the e-newsletter to keep you fully informed!

The next installment of Kelley Armstrong’s WOTOW series (as yet untitled) is due to be published in Spring 2007 and is set to star Jaime Vegas, the Necromancer. She is also working on a new novel outside the WOTOW series, called Exit Strategy – expect it to hit the stores soon!

by Kell