Nathalie Mallet: The Princes of the Golden Cage

Title: The Princes of the Golden Cage
Author: Nathalie Mallet (http://www.nathaliemallet.com/)
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher:  Night Shade Books
ISBN: 978-1597800907

1. First off, congratulations on the big novel sale! Give us the elevator pitch. What’s your book about?

Thanks! The Princes of the Golden Cage is the first book in the Prince Amir Mystery Series. The story revolves around Amir, a scholarly and reclusive prince who lives inside a luxurious section of the palace called the Cage with over a hundred of his brothers. They are all imprisoned there until one of them becomes the next Sultan. Put in place to control fratricide and reduce civil uprising brought on by warring princes, the Cage is the most beautiful, lavish part of the desert palace; but for the power-hungry princes confined within its gilded walls it is a deadly trap. Amir doesn’t want to become Sultan, he just wants to survive the process and be free. So he tries not to be noticed and stays out of his brothers’ scheming paths. But when his brothers begin to die from supernatural causes, Amir has to get involved and solve the mystery before he is killed himself.

2. Most new novelists have an interesting story to tell about their journey to publication. What’s yours? Did you use an agent? Make sure to tell us about the day you found out you’d sold a book.

I always wanted to write. I made a few attempts throughout the years, but only really became serious about it recently. I told myself, “If I don’t do it now, it will never happen.” So I got to it and wrote my first novel, The Digging Crew, a sci-fi action adventure, which ended up being published by a small Canadian publisher. Sadly, they closed down right after the book was out. Still, it gave me the confidence I needed to approach agents to represent my second novel, The Princes of the Golden Cage. I was lucky and soon signed up with Jenny Rappaport, now of the L. Perkins Agency. And it wasn’t long before Jenny called me with the news that Night Shade Books, a wonderful publishing house from California, were not only interested in buying The Princes, they wanted a sequel. This was one of the happiest days of my life.

3. Do you have another book in the pipeline? What are you working on now?

I’ve just finished the third book in the Prince Amir Mystery Series, and I’m now busy plotting the fourth. I also have a couple other novels in different stages of development. I like to keep busy.  The second book of the Prince Amir series, titled The King’s Daughters, is coming out in July. I’m very excited about this one because it has a fun Russian-inspired setting that is totally different than the first book, which is Middle Eastern.

4. What’s your writing process like? Morning writer, night writer, or something in between?

I’m a morning person and also a morning writer. I write almost every day-that’s what works best for me. So, I normally start at 6:00 am and sometime work until 3:00 in the afternoon. But on most days I’m done by noon and spend the afternoon doing research, reading or making revisions.

5. There seems to be an unusually high percentage of writers who own cats. Here at the The First Book, we’re doing a study to find out if there’s a direct relationship between writing success and cat ownership. Do you own a cat? If so, tell us about him or her. If not, tell us what you have against cats.

No. I don’t have a cat. I like them, but my husband is allergic. We have a dog, though. She’s very old (seventeen) and doesn’t do much besides eating and sleeping-so in that sense, she’s a little bit like a cat.