Koja, Kathe 1960–

PERSONAL:

Born 1960; married Rick Lieder (an artist); children: one son.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Detroit, MI. Agent—Christopher Schelling, Ralph Vicinanza Ltd. 303 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011. E-mail—kathe@kathekoja.com.

CAREER:

Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Locus Award for Best First Novel, and Bram Stoker Award for Best First Horror Novel, Horror Writers of America, both 1992, both for The Cipher; KIND Award, Humane Society of the United States, and Henry Bergh Award, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, both for Straydog; Blue Ribbon Award, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Best Book for Young Adults, American Library Association (ALA), Children's Book Award for YA fiction, International Reading Association, and Children's Fiction Award, Society of Midland Authors, all for Buddha Boy; Best Book for Young Adults, ALA, for The Blue Mirror; Gustavus Myers Book Award, 2005, for Talk.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

The Cipher, Abyss (New York, NY), 1991.

Bad Brains, Abyss (New York, NY), 1992.

Skin, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1993.

Strange Angels, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1994.

Kink, Holt (New York, NY), 1996.

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

Straydog, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Buddha Boy, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2003.

The Blue Mirror, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Talk, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Going Under, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Kissing the Bee, Frances Foster Books (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

Extremities (short stories), Four Walls Eight Windows (New York, NY), 1998.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kathe Koja, a Michigan novelist living in metropolitan Detroit, is viewed by critics as bringing new blood to the horror genre. "Koja is that rare writer who has not only cultivated a distinctly original approach to horror fiction, but whose unique style is a natural outgrowth of her horror themes," wrote a St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, and Gothic Writers, contributor, who went on to note: "Most of her characters are painters or sculptors on the avant-garde fringe. They live bohemian lives," adding: "Forever striving to perfect their artistic self-expression, they are constantly at war with themselves and their colleagues. A fine line separates their creativity from insanity, and their self-absorption and obsessive devotion to their artistic vision frequently pushes them across that line." The contributor also wrote: "Koja has perfected a sensual narrative style that projects the intense emotions of these characters" and noted: "In Koja's fiction any endowment that sets one apart from others is potentially alienating, and those who appear most gifted are often those most cursed."

"Most horror writing is about working through the fear of death, rot, and decay," wrote Richard Gehr in the Voice Literary Supplement. "Koja's pitiful heroes, on the other hand, are transformed by it, turning into something even uglier and weirder than the everyday mutants they were before." Koja updates her horror by drawing upon her familiarity with the counter-culture of the 1980s and 1990s. As a Locus contributor noted, she "appears to know what's happening down there on the street-level frontiers of guerrilla culture and she's unafraid to pass it on." Yet, even though it is set in the world of urban grunge, "her fiction is both tough and tender, strong streaks of romance reined in by a hard-edged sensibility that rarely flinches," commented another Locus contributor.

Published in 1991, The Cipher is Koja's first novel and the first in Dell's Abyss horror series. In the Bloomsbury Review, Edward Bryant termed it "a brilliantly crafted portrait of disintegrating reality in a grungy contemporary city much like Detroit." The novel follows Nicholas Reid, a video-store clerk and aspiring poet, and his lover, Nakota. The two discover a black hole of sorts in a storeroom in Nicholas's run-down apartment building. The "Funhole," as they call it, intrigues and obsesses them; there appears to be no bottom, and light does not enter it. Things that go in the Funhole disappear or come back changed. A video made by suspending a camera inside the hole yields a tape that is seen differently by different viewers. Eventually, Nicholas's obsession with the hole forces him to spend day and night by its side. This constant proximity to the hole changes him, and his changes affect those around him.

"Koja tells her story with extraordinarily precise language, often lyrical, sometimes brutally direct," wrote a Locus contributor. "There is humor here, but it is designed to saw at your ribs until you wince." "The fear Koja taps into in The Cipher," according to Gehr in the Voice Literary Supplement, "is less that of the body dying and rotting (as in [traditional] horror) than an infinity spent contemplating the absence of that which we imagine will complete us." The Locus contributor wrote: "The Cipher is an adventurous work for similarly adventurous readers."

Koja followed The Cipher with the 1992 publication of Bad Brains. Like her previous work, this novel is concerned with transformation and mental anguish. The main character, a painter named Austen, slips and falls in a convenience store parking lot, receiving a head wound. Not only does his injury cause seizures, Austen is plagued by strange hallucinations, including a recurring image of a mucous-like slime creature. Hoping to move ahead of his problems, he embarks on a journey to Texas. His problems follow him, however, and the book climaxes in violence.

With Skin, announced a Kirkus Reviews contributor, "a strong stylist" creates "a savage hymn to industrial culture … whose breakthrough originality is unique but will leave many fighting off its overload." The 1993 publication tells the story of Tess Bajac, an artist/welder who creates sculptures made from metal scraps, and Bibi Bloss, a performance artist whose work is her own tattooed, scarified, and pierced body. The book follows their relationship and their individual and joint efforts to find expression through mechanized steel and pierced, cut skin. The author of Skin shows "considerable talent for evoking atmosphere, but," faulted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, "her style … distances the characters from the reader and hampers the novel's already minimal movement."

When assessing Skin, reviewers theorized on Koja's focus in the novel. As a Locus contributor pointed out: "[Koja's] real subject is obsession: the passion to create an artwork, a new self, something transcendent. And the horror of it is how people will keep striving till they break." "For all the breathless sensation of out-of-control art and visceral squirming of human flesh transformed by knives, needles, and manic machines," commented a Locus contributor, "the center here is ineluctably human. Tess and Bibi's relationship (as well as each's relationship with the other characters) carries both the fragility and toughness of flesh rather than the cold alloy of machinery." As Miller recognized: "Skin is also passionate, deeply informed, and genuine, particularly as it portrays the artist from the inside out."

Koja delivered her fourth novel, Strange Angels, in 1994. As with her previous books, the confluence of artistry and madness plays a central role. The book's protagonist is a frustrated photographer named Grant whose girlfriend works as an art therapist. Through her, Grant is introduced to the drawings of a mentally ill man named Robin, whose anguished, twisted art gives the photographer hope for his own struggling talent. Grant convinces Robin to leave therapy and cease his medication, which, while heightening his artistic output, only exacerbates his mental condition. Robin persists in a fixation with seraphim, and this, coupled with other signs, convinces Grant that Robin is being transformed into an angel. Reviews were mixed for this novel. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the characters "one-dimensional monomaniacs" and felt that the author "whines unremittingly in a single-pitched, overwrought stream of consciousness that will probably alienate most readers." A Kirkus Reviews contributor praised parts of the book as "sensitive" while labeling the work "gratuitously bizarre" as a whole.

Although "a brilliant stylist" who writes "unembellished sensory impression" which "perfectly express … emotional devastation," Koja, in Kink, maintained a Publishers Weekly contributor, falls short of previous work. "In this stab at transgressive mainstream fiction" involving a love triangle, Koja's usual character types seem like "self absorbed bores," contended the critic. Comments by a Publishers Weekly reviewer for Koja's next publication, Extremities, were similarly unflattering. The critic called the collection of seventeen stories "daring but unsatisfing," indicating that Koja's "gift for sensory description" was used ineffectively.

In Washington Post Book World contributor Paul Di Filippo's view, Koja uses her prose to surgically reveal her vision of horror. "Koja is intent on undercutting and discarding all the unthought and unfelt scaffolding and properties of her chosen form and resurrecting it bright and bloody." She is also uncovering the character of counter-culture art. "Koja is both creating the kind of radical new art she advocates and simultaneously detailing the methods and penalties attendant on such creation," wrote Di Filippo. "A clever trick, by any standards."

After Kink, Koja turned to writing fiction for young adults, including Straydog, her first book for young adults, and Buddha Boy. In Straydog, the intelligent, angry, and isolated Rachel befriends a fierce feral collie at the animal shelter where she volunteers. She becomes determined to tame and adopt the dog, whom she calls Grrl, but the collie is euthanized for attacking shelter workers. Horn Book critic Jennifer M. Brabander called Straydog "a fast but semi-sophisticated read for teens who haven't outgrown dog stories." Writing in Booklist, Gillian Engberg made note of the book's "strong characters, rich detail, and well-articulated emotions." Buddha Boy tells the story of Michael, who has just transferred to a new school and who attracts attention and derision as he walks around with a shaved head and a begging bowl during lunch time. He is quickly named "Buddha Boy" by a group of bullies. While Michael, who is also an artist, remains true to his Buddhist beliefs by remaining calm against his bully classmates, he eventually needs the help of his new friend, Justin, to overcome the harassment. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that the author "does show how loving one's enemies rather that hating them often makes them crazy." A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Buddha Boy a "a compelling introduction to Buddhism and a credible portrait of how true friendship brings out the best in people."

In the The Blue Mirror, Koja features sixteen-year-old Maggy, an artistic loner who spends time at the Blue Mirror Café. When she falls in love with a street kid named Cole, Maggy soon finds herself under his control and learns that Cole is a sexual predator. "Readers will be enticed by Koja's original voice and fast-paced tale," wrote Jennifer M. Brabander in Horn Book Magazine.

Kit Webster is another of Koja's classic, shy loners. Talk features Kit as he lands a leading role in the school play opposite the narcissistic Lindsay Walsh. The story is told by both characters in alternating chapters as the play, titled Talk, rouses a local debate because of its controversial nature. Michael Cart, writing in Booklist, noted that "the author's nicely realized denouement is both life-and self-affirming."

Going Under features siblings Ivan and Hilly, who tell their story in alternating chapters. Discord develops between the homeschooled duo when Hilly joins a literary magazine at the local high school. When a new friend of Hilly's commits suicide, she enters therapy with a disreputable therapist. "The myths of Persephone and of Narcissus figure powerfully in the matrix of the story," wrote GraceAnne A. DeCandido in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that the author "crafts some striking moments in connecting the two siblings' chapters."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, and Gothic Writers, St. James (Detroit, MI), 1998.

PERIODICALS

Bloomsbury Review, December, 1991, Edward Bryant, review of The Cipher, p. 27.

Booklist, April 15, 2002, Gillian Engberg, review of Straydog; February 15, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of Buddha Boy, p. 1064; February 15, 2004, Debbie Carton, review of The Blue Mirror, p. 1051; March 15, 2005, Michael Cart, review of Talk, p. 1284; September 1, 2006, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Going Under, p. 110.

Horn Book Magazine, May-June, 2002, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of Straydog; May-June, 2003, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Buddha Boy, p. 350; May-June, 2004, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of The Blue Mirror, p. 331; March-April, 2005, Marika L. Hoe, review of Talk, p. 203; September-October, 2006, Claire E. Gross, review of Going Under, p. 590.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 1993, review of Skin, p. 86; March 15, 1994, review of Strange Angels, p. 325; January 1, 2003, review of Buddha Boy, p. 62; February 15, 2004, review of The Blue Mirror, p. 181; February 15, 2005, review of Talk, p. 231; September 15, 2006, review of Going Under, p. 958.

Kliatt, March, 2002, Paula Rohrlick, review of Straydog; March, 2004, Claire Rosser, review of The Blue Mirror, p. 12; November, 2004, Claire Rosser, review of Buddha Boy, p. 18; November, 2006, Myrna Marler, review of Going Under, p. 12.

Locus, January, 1991, review of The Cipher, p. 21; December, 1992, review of Skin, pp. 17-18; April, 1993, review of Skin, p. 21.

New York Times Book Review, January 19, 1997, Karen Angel, review of Kink.

Publishers Weekly, February 15, 1993, review of Skin, p. 212; April 4, 1994, review of Strange Angels, p. 59; April 29, 1996, review of Kink, p. 53; September 14, 1998, review of Extremities, p. 46; January 6, 2003, review of Buddha Boy, p. 60; February 14, 2005, review of Talk, p. 77; November 6, 2006, review of Going Under, p. 63.

School Library Journal, February, 2003, Coop Renner, review of Buddha Boy, p. 142; March, 2004, Kelly Czarnecki, review of The Blue Mirror, p. 216; March, 2005, Hillias J. Martin, review of Talk, p. 213; November, 2006, Rhona Campbell, review of Going Under, p. 138.

Voice Literary Supplement, July-August, 1992, Richard Gehr, review of The Cipher, p. 5.

Washington Post Book World, March 28, 1993, Paul Di Filippo, review of Skin, p. 9.

ONLINE

Kathe Koja Home Page,http://www.kathekoja.com (September 9, 2007).