CV

Kat Richardson

Writer of Mysteries, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and the gritty fringe in between. Freelance fiction editor, game writer, screenwriter. Western Washington snarkbot and walker of two large, ridiculous dogs.

Agent: Sally Harding

CookeMcDermid Literary Management

 

Novels

Blood Orbit: a Gattis File novel, Pyr, May 2018. The mass murder of sixteen members of an oppressed underclass in a ghetto gambling den leads an unlikely pair of detectives to defy the corporate owners of the planet Gattis. Winner of the 2019 Endeavour Award for best SFF novel by a Northwest author.

Indigo, a multi-author novel co-authored with Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden, Kelley Armstrong, Jonathon Maberry, Seannan McGuire, Tim Lebbon, Cherie Priest, James A. Moore, and Mark Morris; St Martin’s Press, June 2017. Investigative reporter Nora Hesper spends her nights cloaked in shadow. As Indigo, she’s become an urban legend, a brutal vigilante who forges darkness into weapons and travels from shadow to shadow, unseen as she pursues the murderous criminal cult called the Children of Phonos—worshippers of a Murder God. But the trail will lead her to confront her own mysterious past, as well as a nightmare future.

Revenant: A Greywalker novel, Roc, August 2014. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel featuring P.I. Harper Blaine. Blaine pursues an ex-spy to Portugal in an effort to save the world from his plans to unleash an ancient evil.

Possession: A Greywalker novel, Roc, August 2013. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel featuring P.I. Harper Blaine. Blaine and her friends scramble to discover why coma patients in Seattle are suddenly talking, painting, and writing about the same mysterious events of the past.

Seawitch: A Greywalker novel, Roc, August 2012. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel featuring P.I. Harper Blaine. When a “ghost ship” returns after being lost at sea for two decades, Blaine is forced to work with a suspicious Seattle Police Detective to discover what really happened to the ship’s passengers and crew.

Downpour: A Greywalker novel, Roc, August 2011. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel featuring P.I. Harper Blaine. Blaine’s routine pre-trial investigation leads to a tangled web of magic and murder in the Olympic Mountains.

Labyrinth: A Greywalker novel, Roc, August 2010. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel featuring P.I. Harper Blaine. Blaine follows a trail of mayhem back to Seattle in search of a solution to the problems of her past.

Vanished: A Greywalker novel, Roc, August 2009. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel featuring P.I. Harper Blaine. Blaine faces a crises born of her own forgotten past that may be the key to her abilities as a Greywalker. The solution will take her from Seattle, to Los Angeles, to London and put both herself and her friends at a terrible risk.

Underground: A Greywalker novel, Roc, August 2008. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel featuring P.I. Harper Blaine. Blaine searches for a monster that is eating the homeless of Seattle’s Pioneer Square. But a magical monster is not the only thing stalking her.

Poltergeist: A Greywalker novel, Roc, August 2007. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel featuring P.I. Harper Blaine. Blaine is on the trail of a “fake” poltergeist that may have murdered members of the research group that created it.

Greywalker, Roc, October 2006. Paranormal Detective/Urban Fantasy novel. Seattle Private Investigator Harper Blaine dies for two minutes and awakens with the ability to see ghosts, monsters and magic. But they can also see her….

Collections

Through the Grey, Falstaff Books, January 2022. Collection of short fiction and novellas by Kat Richardson, featuring the previously unpublished stories “Single edged,” and “Shatter.”

Short Stories & Novellas

“Chasing Chimera,” Joe Ledger: Unbreakable, JournalStone Publishing, Nov 2023

“Ghost Image,” A Grifter’s Song, Volume 8, Episode 26, Down and Out Books, Sept 2022

“Finger Food,” A Bag of Dick’s:  a 509 Anthology, Original Ink Press, Nov 2021

“Kid Charlemagne,” A Beast Without a Name: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Steely Dan, Down and Out Books, Oct 2019

“Card Sharp,” Blood Business: Crime Stories From This World and Beyond, Hex Publishing, November 2017

“Drafty as a Chain Mail Bikini,” Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling, Apex Book Company, December 2016

“Peacock in Hell,” Shadowed Souls, Roc, November 2016

“Valley Girl,” Fast Women and Neon Lights: Eighties-Inspired Neon Noir, Short Stack Books, November 2016

“Chemotherapy,” Revised, Limited Edition Chapbook, Kathleen Richardson, March 2016

“Spite House,” with C.E. Murphy, Urban Allies, Harper Voyager, July 2016

“Heart’s Desire,” Unbound, Grim Oak Press, December 2015

“The Hollow Hounds,” Clockwork Fairy Tales, Ace, June 2013

“Chemotherapy,” Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, Down and Out Books, October 2012

“Cutlass,” Damn Near Dead 2, Busted Flush, November 2010

“The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog,” Mean Streets, Roc, January 2009

“The Werewolf Before Christmas,” Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, Ace, October 2008

“Pigeons,” Crime Spree Magazine, September 2001

Fiction Editing

Freelance developmental editing, 2018 to present

The Death of All Things, co-edited with Laura Anne Gilman, Zombies Need Brains LLC, August 2017

Games

Katanas and Trenchcoats, Ryan Macklin, 2019. Wrote short opening fiction pieces for each section of Kickstarted d20 game manual.

Moon Elves, Dark Quest Games, 2002. Wrote all background, demonstration, character, and supporting fiction for d20 race supplement.

Thief 2 Expansion: Shadows of the Metal Age, Dark Engineering Guild, 2005. Coordinated plot and character development for fan-built 13-mission expansion to popular Thief 2: the Metal Age game.

Screenplays

The Glove, short horror spoof, co-written with Mark Walling, Beer & Smokes Films, 2003.

Workshop Leader, Speaker, Instructor

Workshop Leader/Developer, Layer Like an Onion 2-hour workshop, Cascade Writers Workshop at Norwescon April 2019: Expanded and solo taught 2-hour workshop on integrating worldbuilding information in Science Fiction and Fantasy fiction.

Novelist Guest of Honor—Jet City Comic Con November 2018, Tacoma WA comic book and pop culture convention.

Workshop Leader/Developer, Layer Like an Onion 2-hour workshop, Cascade Writers Workshop at Norwescon April 2018: Expanded and solo taught 2-hour workshop on integrating worldbuilding information in Science Fiction and Fantasy fiction.

Critiquer, Milford-style crit sessions, Fairwood Writers Workshop at Norwescon April 2018. Small group Milford-style crits of SFF short stories and novel samples + synopses.

Novelist Guest of Honor—Bellingham Comic Con October 2017, Bellingham WA comic book and pop culture convention.

Guest of Honor—SpoCon July 2017, Spokane, WA area Science Fiction and Fantasy convention.

Workshop Leader/Developer, Layer Like an Onion 1-hour workshop, Cascade Writers Workshop at Norwescon April 2017: Developed and solo taught 1-hour workshop on integrating worldbuilding information in Science Fiction and Fantasy fiction.

Critiquer, Milford-style crit sessions, Fairwood Writers Workshop at Norwescon April 2017. Small group Milford-style crits of SFF short stories and novel samples + synopses.

Workshop Leader/Developer, A Matter of Character, Clarion West 1-Day Workshops March 2017. Created and solo taught 6-hour intensive workshop on Character Development for genre fiction writers.

Team Teacher/Co-Developer, Writing Noir and Mystery Fiction, Cascade Writers Workshops November 2016. Co-created and team-taught one-day workshop for beginning writers wishing to learn basics of Mystery structure, plotting, character, clue integration, and POV techniques. With Brian Thornton and Tom Wright.

Critiquer/Panelist, Two-Day Critique and Writing Workshop, Cascade Writers October 2015. Co-Critiqued with Ellen Datlow SFF and Horror short stories and novel excerpts+synopses for one day of two-day workshop; “What Now?” panelist on second day of workshop with John A. Pitts.

Workshop Leader/Developer, Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone, Pacific Northwest Writers Summer Conference July 2015. Solo 90 minute workshop on techniques and goal setting to advance genre writers to the next level of their writing and their careers.

Speaker, Introduction to Screenwriting, taught by John Lovett, Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA May 2015. Spoke to screenwriting class for one hour on realities of professional writing.

Keynote Speaker, Holding Open the Door: the Value of Reading Aloud, Annual Century Club Luncheon, Washington Talking Book and Braille Library May 2014. Wrote and delivered keynote speech to centenarians and staff.

Workshop Leader/Developer, Setting Exercises, Foolscap February 2014. Solo 90 minute workshop on improving setting technique and description within character and POV.

Team Teacher, MWA University Seattle Sessions, Mystery Writers of America August 2013. Taught Plot and Dramatic Structure segment as part of an all-day seminar on Mystery basics. With Jess Lourey, Reed Farrel Coleman, Brian Thornton, Daniel J. Hale, Hank Phillipi Ryan.

Workshop instructor, The Creature Within, Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention May 2013. Developing non-human characters for Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Team-taught 9 minute lecture and workshop with Nicole Peeler.

Novelist Guest of Honor—Bellingham Comic Con October 2012, Bellingham WA comic book and pop culture convention.

Workshop Leader/Developer, Build a Better Villain, Foolscap September 2012. Solo 90 minute workshop on developing complex and unique antagonists for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Comics.

Workshop Leader/Developer, Zombies, Werewolves, and Vampires, Oh My!, Pacific Northwest Writers Association Summer Conference July 2012. Solo 90 minute workshop on developing supernatural characters for Fantasy, and Horror stories.

Workshop Leader/Developer, Worldbuilding for Urban Fantasy, Clarion West 1-Day Workshops March 2012. Created and solo taught 6-hour intensive workshop on developing worlds, magic systems, and characters for Urban Fantasy stories.

Workshop Leader/Developer, Find Your Voice, Foolscap September 2011. Solo 90 minute workshop on POV and developing unique authorial voice.

Speaker/Leader/Developer, Voice and POV and Modes of Setting in Storytelling, Rainforest Writers Retreat February 2011. 60 minute small-group discussions for intermediate writers.

Track Leader/Designer, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Pacific Northwest Writers Summer Conference July 2009. Designed workshops and panels, recruited speakers, and moderated four team-taught workshops and panels for Science Fiction and Fantasy Track due to sudden illness of previous track lead.

Reader/Speaker, Sunday Funnies weekly recorded show, Washington Talking Book and Braille Library Radio Network 2001-2006: Description and character voices for weekly recording for the blind and hard-of-sight, with senior reader and show manager, Jeff Cavanaugh. Narrowcast to Washington State area.

Awards & Nominations

Endeavour Award, Winner, 2019, Blood Orbit.

Best Urban Fantasy World Building, Romantic Times Book Review Award, Nominee, The Greywalker Novels, 2018.

Education

Bachelor of Arts, Print Journalism (Magazine, Editing), California State University, Long Beach, December 1990

Professional Associations

International Thriller Writers—member

Mystery Writers of America—Northwest Chapter President (2020-2021)