Harrison, Kim

Harrison, Kim

(pop culture)

Kim Harrison, is a pen name used by writer Dawn Cook, the author of young adult fantasy novels, who in 2004 began a new series of books about Rachel Morgan, a witch and agent for a security force who keeps the supernatural creatures of Cincinnati in line. Cook, the only daughter among her parents’ many children, became a tomboy in self defense. She grew up near Ann Arbor, Michigan. She majored in science in college, and after graduation married and settled down in South Carolina, where she continues to reside. She has two children. In the process she became a devotee of both romantic novels, the world of fantasy and science fiction, and Clint Eastwood movies. Prior to 2009, she tried to keep the two identities Cook and Harrison separate.

The Kim Harrison novels center on a fictional Cincinnati where a science-fiction/fantasy world makes romance possible. In the not too distant future, the Inderland has become visible. It is the realm in which vampires, witches, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures have existed on the edge of human awareness. A tomato virus that proved fatal only to humans, wiped out most of the human race, and ultimately brought the Inderlanders into the open. In Cincinnati, the Inderlanders reside in an area known as the Hollows.

Rachel Morgan, the heroine featured in Harrison’s books, is a witch who works for Inderland Security. While the Federal Inderland Bureau (managed by humans) has ultimate charge of controlling Inderland-human interaction, Inderland Security (run by Inderlanders) has charge of any matters that mystify the FIB. Tired of her job, Morgan found a way to sever her contract with IS and become an independent bounty hunter, with a vampire named Ivy Tamwood and a Pixie named Jenks as her partners. As she pursues her supernatural villains, she constantly has to be alert for Ivy who really wants to bite the boss and turn her into a mere minion. She also has to contend with Kisten, her boyfriend, who is also a vampire. (Ivy got her own story in “Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil,” a short story in the anthology, Dates from Hell.) Rachel Morgan made her first appearance in Dead Witch Walking in 2004. By 2009, she had invited readers along on seven adventures that included tracking down a drug dealer and a serial killer, dealing with a war between vampires and werewolves, and facing off against a spectrum of demons (who smudged her aura). More adventures were waiting in the wings.

Still in her first decade as a published author, Harrison has won several awards for her books from both her romance and fantasy/science fiction colleagues. She maintains a Web presence at http://www.kimharrison.net/.

Sources:

Harrison, Kim. Dead Witch Walking. The Hollows, Book 1. New York: HarperTorch, 2004. 416 pp.———. Every Which Way but Dead. The Hollows, Book 3. New York: HarperTorch, 2005. 501 pp.———. The Good, the Bad, and the Undead. The Hollows, Book 2. New York: HarperTorch, 2005. 453 pp.———. A Fistful of Charms. The Hollows, Book 4. New York: HarperTorch, 2006. 554 pp.———, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, & Lori Handeland. Dates from Hell. Rept. New York: Avon Books, 2006. 404 pp.———, Lynsay Sands, Vicki Pettersson, and Marjorie M. Liu. Holidays Are Hell. Harper: New York, 2007. 384 pp.———. For a Few Demons More. The Hollows, Book 5. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. 456 pp.———. The Outlaw Demon Wails. The Hollows, Book 6. New York: Eos, 2008. 464 pp.———. White Witch, Black Curse. The Hollows, Book 7. New York: Eos, 2009. 512 pp.“Kim Harrison: Secret Identity.” Locus Online. Posted at http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2009/05/kim-harrison-secret-identity.html. Accessed on April 8, 2010.