C. S. Pacat

C. S. Pacat is a bestselling Australian author, best known for the Captive Prince trilogy, published by Penguin Random House in 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/erotic-fantasy-trilogy-catherine-pacats-captive-prince-finds-niche/news-story/045292fb1cceafc208df07545f5e15a5|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170124040317/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/erotic-fantasy-trilogy-catherine-pacats-captive-prince-finds-niche/news-story/045292fb1cceafc208df07545f5e15a5|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-01-24|title=Erotic fantasy trilogy Catherine Pacat's Captive Prince finds niche |website=The Australian}}{{cite news|title=C.S. PACAT|url=https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/cs-pacat|publisher=Penguin Books Australia|access-date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063522/https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/cs-pacat|archive-date=6 January 2018|url-status=live}}

Early life

Pacat was born in Melbourne, Australia, and was educated at the University of Melbourne.{{cite web |last=Bartlett |first=Myke |date=9 June 2015 |title=C.S.Pacat, Melburnian author of Captive Prince |url=http://www.theweeklyreview.com.au/meet/c-s-pacat-best-selling-melburnian-author-of-captive-prince/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203115108/http://www.theweeklyreview.com.au/meet/c-s-pacat-best-selling-melburnian-author-of-captive-prince |archive-date=3 December 2016 |access-date=30 January 2016 |publisher=The Weekly Review}} She{{efn|Pacat uses both she/her and he/him pronouns. This article uses feminine pronouns for consistency.}} lived in several different cities including Perugia where she studied at Perugia University, and Tokyo, where she lived for five years.{{Citation |last=Pacat |first=C.S. |title=About C.S. Pacat |url=http://cspacat.com/about/ |access-date=30 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121233604/http://cspacat.com/about/ |url-status=live |archive-date=21 November 2015}} Pacat wrote the Captive Prince trilogy around her day job as a translator while training as a geologist.

Literary career

Pacat's first novel Captive Prince began as an online serial of original "slash" fiction on LiveJournal, where it garnered viral attention. Self-published in February 2013, Captive Prince was then acquired by Penguin Random House, and published commercially in April 2015 in multiple territories. The sequel Prince's Gambit was released in July 2015, and the final novel in the trilogy Kings Rising was released in February 2016.{{cite web|last1=Russell|first1=Stephen A.|title=All rise for the 'Gays on Thrones'|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/article/2016/02/10/all-rise-gays-thrones|publisher=Special Broadcasting Service Corporation|access-date=4 January 2018|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=10 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105070250/https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/article/2016/02/10/all-rise-gays-thrones|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=live}} The series was short-listed for the Sara Douglass Book Series Award, part of the Aurealis Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://aurealisawards.org/2019/03/03/2018-sara-douglass-book-series-award-shortlist/|title = 2018 Sara Douglass Book Series Award shortlist|date = 3 March 2019}}

In 2017 she revealed that she was working on a new comic series Fence, about the world of fencing.{{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=Tracy|title=C.S. Pacat announces new comic series 'Fence'|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-fence-cs-pacat-20170817-htmlstory.html|newspaper=LA Times|access-date=4 January 2018|location=Los Angeles, California|date=17 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121105149/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-fence-cs-pacat-20170817-htmlstory.html|archive-date=21 January 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Johnston|first1=Rich|title=Fence, the New Comic By CS Pacat and Johanna The Mad is Now an Ongoing Series|url=https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/01/04/fence-new-comic-cs-pacat-johanna-mad-now-ongoing-series/|publisher=Bleeding Cool|access-date=4 January 2018|date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123182628/https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/01/04/fence-new-comic-cs-pacat-johanna-mad-now-ongoing-series/|archive-date=23 January 2018|url-status=live}} The series has since been expanded to include a series of novels by Sarah Rees Brennan{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-goldie-vance-fence-original-novels-20190702-story.html|title = New 'Goldie Vance' and 'Fence' novels announced by Little, Brown and Boom! Studios|website = Los Angeles Times|date = 2 July 2019}} and was nominated for a GLAAD award in 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.glaad.org/mediaawards/30/nominees|title=GLAAD Media Awards Nominees #glaadawards}}

In 2019 she announced a new trilogy, Dark Rise, a YA fantasy novel series. The first installment hit the New York Times bestsellers list in October 2021{{cite tweet|number=1445899750557904897|user=cspacat|title=#DarkRise is a New York Times bestseller! Thank you so much to everyone who supported, preordered, championed & lov…|date=6 October 2021}} and was awarded the 2021 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel.{{cite web | url=https://aurealisawards.org/2022/05/28/1204/ | title=2021 Aurealis Awards Winners | date=28 May 2022 }}

Personal life

Pacat is queer and genderqueer, using both she/her and he/him pronouns.{{cite tweet|number=926729376690995200|user=cspacat|title=Heya all, I’m out as queer, and genderqueer. I’ve been out for almost twenty years (since the 90s!).|date=2017-11-04|accessdate=2019-02-23|language=en}} She identifies as "a proud wog,"{{cite tweet|number=770149563193708544|user=cspacat|title=I'm a proud wog, though the Australian minority-ethnic identity "wog" can be difficult to explain to non-Australians|date=2016-08-28|accessdate=2019-02-23|language=en|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506145138/https://twitter.com/cspacat/status/770149563193708544|archivedate=6 May 2017}} and states that this played an influence while writing the Captive Prince trilogy: "As for the influence on Captive Prince, I'm a bisexual wog, and Damen is a bisexual wog - so there's that{{cite tweet|number=770153811105030144|user=cspacat|title=As for the influence on Captive Prince, I'm a bisexual wog, and Damen is a bisexual wog - so there's that|date=2016-08-28|accessdate=2019-02-23|language=en}}....There's a lot of wog-politics in the series, although its rarely read from that perspective outside of Australia{{cite tweet|number=770156112783867904|user=cspacat|title=There's a lot of wog-politics in the series, although its rarely read from that perspective outside of Australia|date=2016-08-29|accessdate=2019-02-23|language=en}}".

Bibliography

=''Captive Prince'' trilogy=

Captive Prince (7 April 2015)
Prince's Gambit (7 July 2015)
Kings Rising (2 February 2016)

The fantasy series centres around a romance between two princes of rival countries. Damianos killed Laurent's beloved elder brother in battle when he was younger, but then he finds himself sent to Laurent's country to be his slave several years later, as a result of his own brother's plot for the throne.

==''Captive Prince'' short stories==

The Training of Erasmus (published only in the US print edition of Captive Prince)
Green but for a Season (20 September 2016)
The Summer Palace (5 January 2017)
The Adventures of Charls, the Veretian Cloth Merchant (3 May 2017)
Pet (6 January 2018){{cite web|last1=Pacat|first1=C. S.|title=Pet (Captive Prince Short Stories #4)|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37413230-pet|publisher=Goodreads|access-date=4 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105180310/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37413230-pet|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=live}}
The Summer Palace and Other Stories: A Captive Prince Short Story Collection (20 October 2018) (Includes four of the short stories, excluding The Training of Erasmus)