Rita Oakes

Who is this Rita Oakes person, anyway?

Welcome to my website!

I'm a writer of dark fantasy, historical fiction, and horror. When people ask me where I'm from, I'm always stumped. Do they mean, where was I born? Where do I live now? Or where do I have my roots? I was an Air Force brat, which is why the question is so difficult. So I was born in Georgia, which makes me a Southerner by birth. But I grew up mostly in Missouri, which makes me a Midwesterner, right? But I've lived in New Jersey for the past 15 years--the longest I've lived anywhere. So that makes me an Easterner. Oh, it's just too complicated.

I've been writing at least since junior high school (and no, I have no intention of telling you how long that is--though I'm old enough to remember 8-track tapes and actually being the two-legged remote control to the television set). I took Creative Writing in college, but the instructors didn't know what to do with me--they didn't understand fantasy or horror. I tried my hand at a fantasy novel, but had no idea what I was doing and it fizzled after 600 or so pages.

So I dabbled and amused myself and never really thought about submitting stories for publication (except once to the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, who was very gracious in her rejection). At a science fiction convention I picked up a flier advertising the Odyssey Writing Workshop. I'd never heard of Odyssey, which wasn't surprising--it had only been around a couple of years at that time, but the flier clearly stated it was for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. I figured maybe I'd have better luck in that sort of a workshop than with my long ago Creative Writing classes. And when I saw that Harlan Ellison was going to be the writer in residence, I knew I'd have to apply.

But getting out of work for 6 weeks in the middle of our busiest season would be a hurdle. I could carry over vacation from one year to the next, but I thought "If I was my boss, I wouldn't give me permission to go." But they did.

So I got to meet and work with Jeanne Cavelos, who runs Odyssey (now in its tenth year) as well as guest instructors John Crowley, John Shirley, Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner, Patricia McKillip and then--a full week with Harlan Ellison. Amazing. I could go through life ever after saying, "I survived Harlan Ellison--I can survive anything."

I have a handful of short stories published now, a novel ready to shop around (featuring a Flemish vampire and Eduard Saint-Amiens, my Napoleonic soldier/artist) as well as three more novels in progress. When I give readings, people usually say afterward, "So, do you have a website?" And now I do.