Ely author Caty Clark has published a book that has hit best selling author status on Amazon in three different categories.
The book is “Pay the Magic Beast in Venison: An Epic Clash between Evil Stepmother and Magic Cougar” by Cat Helm.
Amazon lists it as the number one best seller in Nature Literary Criticism.
Clark explained the pseudonym “Cat Helm is my byline for writing fantasy books. That was my nickname when I was a kid.”
Amazon lists the book’s description as: “To defeat the evil stepmother, the gods didn’t send a fairy godmother—they sent a wild beast.
“His evil stepmother’s first attempt to murder Crown Prince Andray left him disabled and his older sister dead. The gods granted the ghost of his sister the ability to protect him—as a magic guardian in the form of a cougar. But the gods demanded a price for the boon to guard her brother. She will remember all her education as a princess but will have no knowledge of who she once was, because a wild beast who loves romantic poetry could be fun.
“Join the mage prince and his spirit beast protector in this lighthearted medieval fantasy with elven allies, goofy goblin socialists, and misunderstood monsters. As a write-a-thon winner on Royal Road, Pay the Magic Beast in Venison spent three months on the rising stars list for comedy and two months for fantasy…read this irreverent adventure of the magic cougar and her boy.”
Clark said this is a new genre for her.
“I’ve done other books but this is my first piece of fiction. It was the pandemic and I was working remotely at the Idaho Business Review. We couldn’t go out, couldn’t go anywhere so I joined a write-a-thon and it was a winning entry. It was on the RoyalRoad.com website contest for web novels for people who like fantasy.
“While it was on there it became a high ranking web novel in the comedy and fantasy categories. It got really good reviews.
“That led me to think maybe I should publish this. I figured out how to self publish. I had the writing skills and the newspaper editing skills. I did all of my own editing and formatting. I researched how to market to book and after a lot of work it’s now an Amazon bestseller.”
The book retails for $12.99 on Amazon but it is also available locally.
“I think there is still a couple of hard copies at Piragis,” said Clark.
A former Timberjay writer, her bio online lists her as a retired geophysicist. “After the warranty on the knees gave out, Cat switched to a career with far less field work and became an award-winning reporter and newspaper editor.”
