Author Kim Catanzarite: An Interview
The fifth and final installment of the Jovian Universe Pentalogy
With the release of The Cold Light of Fate in May 2025, the Jovian Universe series concludes its spirited and suspenseful sci-fi adventure. One of Kim’s early readers from this and the fourth book in the series, The Moon Children, had some questions for the author at this commendable writing milestone. This informal interview brings to light (with a touch of delight!) what brought Kim to write this series, surprises she encountered along the way, and advice she has for other writers.
Kim, congratulations on finishing the series! Have you always been a fan of science fiction? Did a specific event, a spark of an idea, or an overarching theme or message lead you to create the Jovian Universe? Tell us a bit about your journey getting to the final book in the pentalogy.
Thank you so much, Katy! I’m excited to be at the end of the series, but I’m also sad about it. It is definitely a bittersweet time in my writing life. I’ve really enjoyed escaping into the Jovian world for the past four years.
It’s funny because for a long time I didn’t realize how much I loved science fiction and all things stars, moons, and planets. I guess that was because it was so close to me that I sort of took it for granted. One day it dawned on me that my favorite movies and TV series were sci-fi (ET, Star Wars, The Martian, Gravity, The Eclipse, 3-Body Problem, to name a few), and I loved so many books and short stories that were sci-fi as well. I’ve always found the night sky captivating and ideas about the universe mesmerizing. So, it took me a while, but I finally recognized it!
As for the spark for this series, the show Ancient Aliens wormed its way into my head around the same time I’d read Rebecca (by Daphne Du Maurier) for the first time, and They Will Be Coming for Us was the result of those two things coming together. The sci-fi aspect of the series grows greater with each book.
This last installment of the Jovian Universe series, The Cold Light of Fate, brings in some new twists but stays true to building out main characters Dmitri, Natasha, Svetlana, and Caroline. Did any of these (or other) characters in the series take a different turn than you originally intended (without revealing any spoilers, of course!)?
Caroline’s character arc came as a huge surprise to me. She starts out so big and dominant that I figured she’d be the villain all the way through.
Svetlana begins the series as a young woman in love and somewhat naïve, and by Cold Light, she’s much more adult and realistic. She’s very human in that way, so her arc was more predictable.
I adore Dmitri. He’s a disabled child when he enters the scene, and he may seem meek, but it's clear that he's supersmart and possesses underlying Jovian power. I can thank my sensitivity editor for his character arc. Because of her input, I came up with something very not stereotypical for him.
As for Natasha, I had little planned for her, so everything about her turned out to be a surprise—and she’s one of my favorite characters as well. I think my readers like her a lot, too, because several of them reached out to me to say, “Please don’t kill Natasha” in the middle of reading the book.
As a follow-on, how much of the plot did you have in mind before reaching this final book? Did you have a general sense of the characters and what would happen, or did this unfold as the stories progressed?
I have never outlined a book as much as I outlined this one—I’m not a big outliner, so, yes, I outlined this one but not to the detailed extent that some authors outline. I’m an intuitive writer. My brain does not like anything that tries to tie it to a certain path. So, I loosely outline.
I had to plan more than usual in order to stay true to the story and tie up all of the different characters' endings. The last book in a series has to be and do so many things: 1) It has to bring the big moments to fruition, 2) The stakes have to be raised to incredible heights, 3) The conflicts have to come to a climax, and 4) all resolutions, large and small, have to satisfy readers.
I started thinking ahead to the end while writing Book 4, The Moon Children. That said, in some cases, I knew what I wanted to happen and in other cases, I had faith in the characters to show me the way. I never plan everything, and I really didn’t know how it was going to work out until I started writing it. I find that leaving a lot to the imagination works best for me.
Determining story endings can be tricky. How did you know it was time to close out the Jovian Universe series?
That’s a great question. It was a combination of deciding I would write five books and then taking cues from the story, which showed me how I could do it in five books. So, I guess you could say it was nature and nurture working together!
Topics like the endurance of nature, its vulnerability in human (or Jovian!) hands, the preciousness of Mother Earth, and protecting the environment are covered in your books. Can you expand further on the significance of nature in your stories?
For me, the destruction of nature is the prevalent theme of our lifetime, and it has come on strong for a few decades now. When I was very young, the general public didn’t think we (humans) had the power to ruin the planet simply by living on it. Pollution was an issue, but the idea of global warming wasn’t an idea in the population’s mind.
The issue is so simple and it’s so complicated. We need the planet in order to survive as a race. There’s nothing more natural than nature, and yet we can’t stop the harmful things we’re doing, even if that’s what we need to do in order to save it. There’s a major disconnect in our thinking and being that makes for a huge amount of conflict.
On a personal note, I love the sounds, scents, and overall calm and connected feel of the woods and the shore and all natural places, and I think that learning to live harmoniously on the planet is what we should be concentrating on as human beings.
From a writing craft perspective, what suggestions do you have for other writers starting out? For example, do you use draft outlines or create character sketches to draw from when writing the book? Any techniques or wisdom you can impart for those of us mulling over a seed of a novel in our heads?
As an editor who reads many indie books, I think there are a few things newer writers need to do. First, they need to write a lot and read a lot. After that, they need to get a feel for story structure and take note of how the classic/well-written novels unfold. They should pay attention to the frame upon which their favorite novels stand, and then use story structure as a guide to their own storytelling. K. M. Weiland’s Structuring Your Novel has taught me many invaluable lessons.
On a playful note, what is something on your desk we might find intriguing or surprising?
At the moment, I have sitting on my desk a little Lego Shakespeare figure that I found floating around my house somewhere. I also have a quote-a-day Shakespeare calendar, so it’s very appropriate.
As fans of your work, your readers want to know: will you be promoting your book and the Jovian series in person in the coming months? And what other creative projects are up next for you?
I’m looking forward to doing book-signings at the Marlton, NJ, Barnes & Noble and a couple of nearby bookstores this summer, but the dates are not set. I will take part in two book festivals slated for this fall. On Saturday, September 27, I’ll be at the MCLS Book Festival in Lawrence Township, NJ, at the Lawrence Library. On Saturday, October 4, I’ll be at the Collingswood Book Festival in Collingswood, NJ.
As far as projects go, I will work on Book 2 in my dark fantasy Angel of Death trilogy, which begins with Staked: A Vampire’s Tale, and then I’ll move on to something completely new—I have no idea what that will be—but I am looking forward to it very much. I am also looking forward to giving myself more space and time to write and publish in between each book now that this series is finished.
Thanks so much for talking with me today, Katy. It has been a pleasure!
Katy Keffer is a Kentucky native and writes poetry, nonfiction and fiction inspired by her Bluegrass childhood. Some of her work appears in Freshwater Literary Journal, A Plate of Pandemic, Hare’s Paw Literary Journal, The RavensPerch and Sad Girl Diaries. She holds an MBA, an MFA in Writing, and is founder and editor of the online literary journal The Bluebird Word. She writes and lives in Virginia.
