Erin Hunter

Erin Hunter is a collective pseudonym used by the authors Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Inbali Iserles, Tui T. Sutherland, Kasey Widhalm, and Rosie Best in the writing of several juvenile fantasy novel series, which focus on animals and their adventures. Notable works include the Warriors, Seekers, Survivors, and Bravelands book series.^[1] Each of the authors play a different role: Holmes creates the plot of each book, and the others take turns writing the books.^[2] Dan Jolley, though not an official Erin Hunter author, also writes the stories for the manga published under the Hunter name.^[3]

History[]

In the year 2003, HarperCollins asked Victoria Holmes to write a fantasy series about feral cats, but, not being a reader of fantasy, she was less than enthusiastic, despite her love of cats.^[4] After writing one storyline, Kate Cary was brought in to write the book as Holmes went behind the scenes to supervise details and edit the book. Then, on the third book, Forest of Secrets, Cherith Baldry joined Erin Hunter.^[5] Later, after Sutherland wrote the first Warriors field guide, she became the fourth Erin Hunter.^[6]

The name "Erin Hunter" was chosen for several reasons. First, if the authors used all of their own names, the books would be placed in different places in a library, making them hard to find. Second, they wanted to pick a surname that would place the books very close to the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, which was, at the time, the book series with the closest plot to Warriors. One of the authors suggested "Hunter", and the others found that it was "perfect" because not only did it place the book series close to Jacques, but it evokes the image of a cat. Victoria Holmes suggested ‘Erin' because she liked the name.^[7] One of Victoria Holmes's favorite given names is Erin, and it was accepted for being a strong Celtic name and "not particularly girly".^[7]

Members[]

Victoria Holmes[]

Victoria Holmes was born in Berkshire, England. Holmes was the original author of the series with Harper Collins requesting her to write the series.^[4] After inviting Kate Cary to do the actual writing of the book, she moved behind the scenes to help edit and supervise the details.

Holmes grew up on a farm in England. She learned how to ride horses at age two. Later she attended Oxford University, whose buildings "inspired an interest in history". She now lives in London where she works as the editor for the series.^[8]

On 5 April 2011, the Bookperk website ran a special for signed copies of Warriors: Omen of the Stars #4: Sign of the Moon. Because Erin Hunter is not an actual person, these books were signed by Victoria Holmes on her behalf.^[9]

As of 14 April 2017, Holmes announced on her Facebook page that she would no longer be writing for the series as she feels she has reached the point where she can contribute no more to the story. With this, Holmes is no longer a 'Hunter', but will apparently still play a role in the development of the film.

Kate Cary[]

Kate Cary was the second author brought on board to write for the Warriors series. Holmes chose Cary to write the first book after Holmes had finished one storyline. In the first series (The Prophecies Begin) she wrote Into the Wild, Fire and Ice and Rising Storm.^[5] In the second series (The New Prophecy) she wrote Dawn.^[10] In the third series (Power of Three) she wrote The Sight, Dark River and Eclipse.^[11] In the fourth series (Omen of The Stars) she wrote Fading Echoes and The Last Hope.^[12]

She was born in England on 4 November 1967. She later moved to Scotland where she lived for 12 years before going back to England where she currently resides. Besides the Warriors series, she has also written the book Bloodline, and its sequel, Reckoning.^[13]

Cherith Baldry[]

Cherith Baldry was the third author brought in to the Erin Hunter team. She was born on 21 January 1947. Holmes invited her to join when they were writing the third book, Forest of Secrets, after seeing her writing style and feeling that it was similar to Kate Cary's.^[5]

Tui T. Sutherland[]

Tui T. Sutherland was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but currently lives in the United States, which makes her the only non-British author of the series. Her first credit to the Erin Hunter team was the field guide Secrets of the Clans.^[8] Sutherland was also an editor of the Warriors series, until she quit editing to become a full-time writer.^[14] She went on to write the novel series Wings of Fire.

Inbali Iserles[]

Inbali Iserles has written three books so far, the third, fifth and sixth books of the Survivors series: Darkness Falls, The Endless Lake and Storm of Dogs. She also publishes animal fantasy novels under her own name, including The Tygrine Cat and the Foxcraft trilogy.

Gillian Philip[]

Gillian Philip is the author of The Empty City and A Hidden Enemy, the first two books in the Survivors series. She lives in the northeast Scottish Highlands.^[15] Philip has toured the United States twice as the face of the Erin Hunter responsible for Survivors. In addition to Survivors, she has written the Rebel Angels series (Firebrand, Bloodstone, Wolfsbane and the forthcoming Icefall); the Darke Academy series, and young adult novels including Bad Faith, Crossing The Line and The Opposite of Amber. Philip no longer writes Erin Hunter books as of July 2020, after being fired from Working Partners for tweeting support for J. K. Rowling.^[16]

Works[]

Warriors[]

Seekers[]

Seekers: The Original Series

1. The Quest Begins (2008) (Sutherland)
2. Great Bear Lake (2009) (Baldry)
3. Smoke Mountain (2009) (Sutherland)
4. The Last Wilderness (2010) (Baldry)
5. Fire in the Sky (2010) (Sutherland)
6. Spirits in the Stars (2011) (Baldry)

Seekers: Return to the Wild

1. Island of Shadows (2012) (Baldry)
2. The Melting Sea (2012) (Sutherland)
3. Rivers of Lost Bears (2013) (Baldry)
4. Forest of Wolves (2014) (Baldry)
5. The Burning Horizon (2015) (Baldry)
6. The Longest Day (2016) (Baldry)

Seekers Manga

1. Toklo's Story (2010)
2. Kallik's Adventure (2011)
3. Lusa's Tale (cancelled)

Survivors[]

Survivors: The Original Series

1. The Empty City (2012) (Gillian Philip)
2. A Hidden Enemy (2013) (Philip)
3. Darkness Falls (2013) (Inbali Iserles)
4. The Broken Path (2014) (Philip)^[29]
5. The Endless Lake (2014) (Iserles)
6. Storm of Dogs (2015) (Iserles)

Survivors: The Gathering Darkness

1. A Pack Divided (2015) (Philip)
2. Dead of Night (2016) (Rosie Best)
3. Into the Shadows (2017)^[30]
4. Red Moon Rising (2017)^[31]
5. The Exile's Journey (2018)^[32]
6. The Final Battle (2019)^[33]

Survivors Novellas

1. Alpha's Tale (2014) (Phillip)
2. Sweet's Journey (2015) (Philip)
3. Moon's Choice (2015) (Philip)
4. Tales from the Packs (2015)

Bravelands[]

1. Broken Pride (2017) (Philip)^[34]
2. Code of Honor (2018) (Philip)^[35]
3. Blood and Bone (2018)^[36]
4. Shifting Shadows (2019)^[37]
5. The Spirit Eaters (2020)^[38]
6. Oathkeeper (2020)^[39]

Book development[]

In Warriors, Seekers and Bravelands, a specific order is followed. First, Holmes, the editor, sends in the preliminary script and outline to Cary, Baldry or Sutherland, depending on who writes the book. Then, the author develops Holmes' ideas into a single book which is sent back to Holmes for one last check-over and edit. After she finishes, she sends it to HarperCollins for publication.^[40]

For the Survivors series, there is a different approach taken. The whole team gets together and creates a detailed story outline and develops the characters together. Then, the writing itself is done by a single author, who is allowed to change something significant about the plot or characters if they feel that a certain character would not act a specific way.^[41]

Writing style[]

With four different authors, Holmes has said that "[the book] 'sounds' like Erin, because she has a very distinctive voice". She compares the style of the authors to a different language where a stray line or word can stick out. Holmes says that she is in charge of editing and making sure that the book sounds correct.^[40] Erin Hunter books are all told in a third person limited narrative, though the focal point character changes from series to series, book to book, and sometimes from chapter to chapter.

References[]

External links[]

• Warriors (official)
• Erin Hunter at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Erin Hunter at Library of Congress Authorities, with 79 catalogue records