Wild, Kate 1954-

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Wild, Kate 1954-

PERSONAL:

Born 1954, in Leicester, England; partner's name Henri (a designer and video producer); children: two sons.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Leicester, England. Agent—Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary, TV, and Film Agency; Estelle House, 11 Eustace Rd., London SW6 1JB, England. E-mail—kate@katewild.co.uk.

CAREER:

Author and filmmaker. Has also worked at a casino and for a video production company.

WRITINGS:

Fight Game (novel), Chicken House/Scholastic (New York, NY), 2007.

Also author of scripts for videos and documentary films.

SIDELIGHTS:

British filmmaker and screenwriter Kate Wild is the author of Fight Game, a "dark, action-packed tale," according to Paula Rohrlick in Kliatt. The inspiration for the novel came to Wild in 1996 as she worked on a documentary about gypsies and travelers. "Whilst filming two boys whose great uncle was a fighter called the Gypsy King," she noted on her home page, "I had an idea for a story about a traveller boy and fighting."

Fight Game centers on Freedom Smith, a fifteen-year-old Gypsy with superhuman strength and incredible combat skills, which he inherited from his ancestor, Hercules Smith, a legendary bare-knuckles fighter. After defending his family against a group of skin-heads, Freedom is arrested but avoids prison by agreeing to go undercover and infiltrate a shadowy, illegal fighting organization run by Darcus Knight. Freedom soon discovers a subterranean complex known as the Bear Pit where brainwashed, steroid-enhanced runaways battle one another for the amusement of wealthy bettors. Freedom, "a truly peculiar yet likable character, should hold in readers' memories," noted Booklist contributor Ian Chipman, and a Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that the author "imbues her roguish hero with an appealing voice …, and despite the far-fetched elements, the tension produces some authentic thrills."