A Slice of Cake With... Catherine Mesick

This week I am delighted to be having a slice of cake with Catherine Mesick.

Catherine Mesick is the author of Pure, Firebird, Dangerous Creatures, and Ghost Girl. She is a graduate of Pace University and Susquehanna University. She lives in Maryland.

What kind of books do you write?

My favourite thing to do is to take a character who has no knowledge (or very little knowledge) of magic and drop him or her into a situation in which she/he is suddenly faced with the supernatural and must learn very quickly how to deal with it. And, of course, there is always a mystery or secret that my character alone has the ability to solve/unravel!

Can you describe your writing why?

I write because—apart from spending time with people I love—writing is the most enjoyable activity in the world. I love creating new people and places and new magical things. Through writing, I hope to add just a little bit of wonder to the world, and I hope that readers feel inspired after finishing one of my books—I hope they feel like they can do anything and be whoever they want to be.

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

This scene was a lot of fun to write—it’s from Ghost Girl, and it appears at the beginning of the book— Katie, the main character, is having a birthday party. She realizes that a vampire is lurking outside, and she has to go out and convince the vampire to go away before anyone notices her. (GM is Katie’s grandmother, and William is Katie’s boyfriend. And there’s more about Ghost Girl in the next question.)

Dinner resumed, but I didn’t hear much of the conversation. I kept casting furtive glances out the window to see if I could spot what had caught William’s attention.

And then I saw it.

I caught a flash of white cloth and golden curls—someone was outside the house and was lingering near the window.

I stood up quickly.

“I’ll be right back,” I said.

GM looked up at me. “Where are you going?”

“I—just have to leave for a moment,” I said. I began to hurry around the table, and then I headed toward the curtain GM had hung up.

GM looked after me in concern. “Are you ill, Katie?”

“No!” I said quickly. “Yes! I—I’m not sure. I just have to leave for a moment. Please don’t follow.”

“All right,” GM said doubtfully.

I plunged through the curtain and ran for the front door. I wrenched the door open, and standing on the other side was a girl who looked to be no more than nineteen years old. She had long, blond ringlets and pale white skin, and she was wearing a white summer dress and silver sandals on her dainty feet. The entire effect was one of fragile, angelic beauty, but the girl in front of me was far from angelic—and she was much older than nineteen.

Her lips curled into a smile when she saw me. “Hello, kitten.”

I stepped out of the house and closed the door behind me firmly.

“Hello, Veronika,” I said.

Tell us about your latest project

My latest book is titled Ghost Girl, and it’s the fourth book in my series, Pure. In the previous book, a vampire named Veronika had given Katie’s true love, William, a cure that had saved his life. She had also told Katie that she would return later to demand payment. In this book, Veronika returns and demands that payment. She wants Katie to find the infamous “ghost girl,” or else she will take back the cure that she gave to William, and William will die. The only trouble is that the ghost girl doesn’t exist.

What is your favourite cake?

Like Lizzie Page, whom you interviewed back in November, I have celiac disease, so I can only eat gluten-free cake. Back when I still ate gluten, I used to love anything fruit-flavoured—especially a lemon cake with jam filling. Plain yellow cake with vanilla icing is also one of my favourites. I found a lovely recipe for a plain yellow cake here that includes both metric and imperial measurements. (I believe they omitted the conversion for the temperature. 350 degrees Fahrenheit is approximately 177 degrees Celsius.) And you do have to scroll down a bit to get to the recipe!) And, of course, you can ice it any way you wish. 

Thanks for the gluten-free recipe, I'll be sure to pass it on to my mum. You can find out all about Catherine on her website, follow her on Facebook and Twitter. 

Join me next week when I'll be having a slice of cake with Alexa Whitewolf.

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Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.