Who is Cat Rambo?
Cat’s profile on the SFWA Speakers Bureau
Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Their 200+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Their most recent works are Nebula Award winner Carpe Glitter (Meerkat Press) and on-going serial novella Baby Driver. Forthcoming are And The Last Trump Shall Sound (co-written with James Morrow and Harry Turtledove, Arc Manor, September 22, 2020), fantasy novel Exiles of Tabat (Wordfire Press, winter 2020), and space opera You Sexy Thing (Tor Macmillan, 2021).
For more about Cat, as well as links to fiction and popular online school, The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, see their website. They are represented by Seth Fishman of the Gernert Agency.
Why should I invite Cat Rambo to my event?
- Experienced moderator who makes sure everyone on the panel gets a chance to speak.
- Startling combination of indie, small press, AND trad published author! (Novels coming out from Wordfire and Tor Macmillan).
- Funny and quick-witted as well as charismatic, makes a great toastmaster or emcee.
- Well read in F&SF, including dark fantasy, feminist, literary, steampunk, 18/19th century, urban fantasy, historical fantasy. Advanced degrees in writing, literature, and gender studies as well as several decades of technology training and expertise.
- Over three decades of teaching experience, including for Johns Hopkins, Indiana University, Bellevue College, Clarion West, Towson University, and the Center for Talented Youth.
- Experienced interviewer and podcaster.
- Former two-term President of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America who has worked on the board for five years and continues to volunteer with the organization.
- Former editor of Fantasy Magazine as well as political SF anthology If This Goes On.
Where can I find Cat on book sites and social media?
- Amazon
- Canva
- Ello
- GoodReads
- Medium
- MeWe
- Patreon
- Powells Books
- YouTube
That’s not enough! Tell me more about Cat.
John Barth described Cat Rambo’s writings as “works of urban mythopoeia” — their stories take place in a universe where chickens aid the lovelorn, Death is just another face on the train, and Bigfoot gives interviews to the media on a daily basis. They have worked as a programmer-writer for Microsoft and a Tarot card reader, professions which, they claim, both involve a certain combination of technical knowledge and willingness to go with the flow. In 2005 they attended the Clarion West Writers’ Workshop.
Among the places in which their 200+ published short stories have appeared are ASIMOV’S, WEIRD TALES, CLARKESWORLD, and STRANGE HORIZONS, and their work has consistently garnered mentions and appearances in year’s best of anthologies. Their collection, EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT was an Endeavour Award finalist in 2010 and followed their collaboration with Jeff VanderMeer, THE SURGEON’S TALE AND OTHER STORIES. Their most recent collection is NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, which follows NEAR + FAR, containing Nebula-nominated “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain”. Their most recent book is Nebula Award-winning CARPE GLITTER, from Portland-based Meerkat Press.
They have edited anthologies, including political SF anthology IF THIS GOES ON, as well as the online award-winning, critically-acclaimed Fantasy Magazine. Their work with Fantasy Magazine earned her a nomination for a World Fantasy Award in 2012. Cat runs the decade-old online writing school, the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, a highly successful series of online classes featuring some of the best fantasy and science fiction writers in the business. Cat has also taught for Bellevue College, Johns Hopkins, Towson State University, Clarion West, the King County Library System, Blizzard, the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Cascade Writers, and countless convention workshops.
Although no longer actively involved with the game, Cat is one of the minds behind Armageddon MUD, the oldest roleplay-intensive MUD (an interactive text-based game) on the Internet, which has been described as “like no other mud I have played before“, “the most entertaining game I’ve ever played“, “the most creative, emotionally involved mud on the Net” and “a place of astonishing beauty and detail“. They continue to do some game writing as well as technology journalism and book reviews. A longtime volunteer with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), Cat served as its Vice President from 2014-2015 and its President for two terms, from 2015-2019 and continues to volunteer with the organization. For more about Cat, as well as links to their fiction, see http://www.kittywumpus.net
Still not enough! Where are some interviews, guest posts, and so forth that Cat has done?
- Featured Guest Interview with Cat Rambo, 11/4/2019, Writing Forums
- Author Interview: Cat Rambo, 10/30/2019
- My Favorite Bit: Cat Rambo talks about ALTERED AMERICA, 7/16/19.
- Cat Rambo on Weird Westerns & Steampunk, 3/19/2019
- Sisters of Sci-fi Podcast, Interview with Cat Rambo, 11/2018
- Cat Rambo, 10/31/2018 Author magazine
- PNWA Interview, 10/30/18
- Hannah’s Bookshelf with special guest Cat Rambo, 07/04/18
- Talking with Cat Rambo about what happens if America continues down the path of Trump, 6/6/18. Seattle Review of Books.
- Getting Into Writing: An Interview with Cat Rambo, 12/20/2017, Zeroflash.
- Geekwire, So you want to write sci-fi? Tips from the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 9/8/2017
- The Write Stuff – Interview With Cat Rambo, 8/14/2017
- Grim Tidings Podcast, Interview with Cat Rambo, 3/10/17.
- Cat Rambo Interviewed By Carl Slaughter, 02/12/2017
- Artificial Inspiration: A Post From Cat Rambo, 1/4/2017, GeekMom.
- Cat Rambo: Beasts, 11/6/2016, Locus Magazine interview
- R.H. Herron, Episode 014: Cat Rambo, 9/8/2016
- silly interview with cat rambo who plays in the mud, 5/26/2016
- Neither Here Nor There: A Conversation with Cat Rambo, 5/2016, Clarkesworld Magazine
- Interview with author and editor Cat Rambo, 6/26/2015
- The SFWA Indie Program: An Interview with Cat Rambo and Maggie Hogarth, 6/28/2015, Amazing Stories
- An interview with Cat Rambo, author of The Beasts of Tabat, 4/15/2016, My Bookish Ways
- Interview with Cat Rambo (author of The Beasts of Tabat), 4/9/2015
- Interview: Cat Rambo on “Red in Tooth and Cog” 03/26/2016, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
- Cat Rambo and Beasts of Tabat, 4/15/2015, Dive into Worldbuilding!
- Edition 8: Interview with Cat Rambo, 4/14/14, SQ Magazine
- Interview with Cat Rambo, author of the Beasts of Tabat, 04/01/2015, The Qwillery
- EuropaSF, Interview with Cat Rambo, SFWA’s New Vice-President by Cristian Tamas, 7/2/2014
- Cars, Cards & Carbines Author Spotlight – Cat Rambo, 11/28/13
- Author Interview: Cat Rambo, 7/10/2013
- An Interview with the One and Only Cat Rambo, 7/5/2013
- Interview with Cat Rambo 06/27/13, Authors Spotlight.
- Interview with Cat Rambo — Near + Far, 5/25/2013
- Functional Nerds Podcast, Episode 127 – Cat Rambo, 11/27/2012
- Skiffy and Fanty, 114. Cat Rambo (A.K.A. Ms. Furry) — NEAR + FAR (AN INTERVIEW), 9/25/2012
- Far Beyond Reality, Author Interview: Cat Rambo, 9/20/2012
- [SFFWRTCHT] A Chat With Author and Editor Cat Rambo, 9/20/2012
- SF Signal, Cat Rambo on Shared Worlds and “The Fathomless Abyss”, 9/18/2012
- MOA&A INTERVIEW #9: CAT RAMBO, 7/9/2012
- Roundtable on Non-Fiction, 3/2012, Locus Magazine
- Lightspeed Magazine, 2/2011, Author Spotlight by Stacey Friedberg
- Lightspeed Magazine, 9/2010, Author Spotlight by Erin Stocks
- Redstone Science Fiction, 7/1/2010, Interview by Michael Ray
- Novy MIRror, 6/30/2009, Video interview by Rick Novy
- Onward and upward: Cat Rambo, 06/25/2009, Diabolical Plots
- Weird Tales: Cat Rambo on Early Influences
- Bibliophile Stalker, 9/2/2008, Interview by Charles Tan
- The Fix, 7/1/2008, Interview by Marshall Payne
- Ambling Along the Aqueduct, 9/4/2007, A Brief Conversation with Cat Rambo by L. Timmel Duchamp
- Interview with Genevieve Valentine for the Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight presskit
- Author Interview Series #60 – Cat Rambo, 10/1/06
Pictures:

On the Great Wall.

Photo by Cat Rambo; all rights reserved.