IN THE PIPELINE:

“Ten million is a number I still find hard to fathom,” chuckles Victoria Holmes, a.k.a. Erin Hunter, as she swiftly signs her name in her trademark purple ink inside the stacks of “Warriors” books on the table beside her. As hundreds of young fans gather upstairs at the Bella Terra Barnes & Noble, my 13-year-old daughter Claire and I are with Holmes in the store’s private conference room, listening as, in a proper British accent, she takes stock of the phenomenon she has created.

“Each night on this tour, I’m waiting for someone to come in, point at me and say, ‘That’s it, dream over, back to your day job!,’” she says. But this is her day job. And her night job: Presenting her “Erin Hunter” persona to thousands of fans around the country as she travels to talk about the latest title in her mind-bogglingly popular series that deals with life, love, conflict — serious adult themes presented in a world of cats.

The new book is called “Warriors: Omen of the Stars #2: Fading Echoes” (from HarperCollins Children’s Books) and if you’re not familiar with the Erin Hunter phenomenon, the books, the online forums, the cat-costume fan dress-ups for bookstore appearances, no problem. For this column, I recruited my daughter, a dedicated “Warriors” fan herself (and a reporter for Time for Kids magazine) to help get you up to speed. If you have any “Warriors” fans in the family, you may want to share this.

Destinies, prophecies and special powers — those are the main themes in Hunter’s new installment in her popular “Warriors” series. But just who is Erin Hunter? For the purposes of my interview, it’s Victoria Holmes, the visionary behind the series of “Warriors” books. She writes many of the titles herself, but also oversees three other writers, presenting them with story lines to follow. “Erin Hunter” is a pseudonym created back at the start of the book series in 2003, a name chosen to represent the group of writers. But when it comes to touring and talking and bringing the books to life in front of people, it’s Holmes whom we see as “Erin Hunter.”

Born and raised in London, England, Holmes lived around a lot of cats, but never expected to write books on them. She was surprised, years ago, when her publisher asked her if she would write a book on cats. The story line became so complex that they decided to make the book into a series, and “Warriors” was born. Today, there are dozens of books in the “Warriors” series, but Holmes’ favorite is one called “Bluestar’s Prophecy.” “That’s the best of the lot for sure,” she says. “I think it’s the most interesting, and the most intense.”

Out of the four clans of cats she’s created, I asked Holmes which she would most like to be a part of if she were a cat. “I love Windclan,” she said. “It would be so wonderful to run as fast as they can.” What can fans expect from the new series? “There is some sibling rivalry between Dovepaw and Ivypaw that will help shape Thunderclan’s destiny, but that’s all I can say for now,” she said. “You’ll have to stay tuned!” Holmes takes great joy in what she does and seems to truly appreciate all the fans who turn out to meet her. As her biography states, “Erin Hunter is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical explanations for animal behavior.”

That’s what I think makes these four series so special: the fact she appreciates nature so much and uses it to help tell her stories. Holmes adds, “It would be hard for me to write about people doing all of these things because for children’s books, it would get too dark and serious. But when cats are your characters, it allows me the freedom to tell stories that really make kids think, which is what I enjoy most.”

I had the chance to chat with Holmes, too, and I found her fascinating. She seems genuinely awestruck at how popular her series has become, yet she takes her storytelling seriously and realizes the impact it has on kids. “Parents come up to me often and tell me how their children embrace the stories, and how the books inspire deeper conversations about life and death, about coping with things that happen to us, about understanding conflicts,” she says. “It gives me such great pause to know that, because that’s when I realize that the books have another life beyond the page.”

These kind of publishing phenomena don’t happen often, and while I suppose that the “Harry Potter” series may be the natural comparison here, the “Warriors” series (as I can attest to firsthand by watching Claire) is particularly gripping for young readers, presenting serious epic situations that resonate with great purpose.

Watching Victoria/Erin tell stories to the packed house at Barnes & Noble, it reminds one of the power of good, rich storytelling, and the magic of a series that always leave one hanging at the end for more, craving that next provocative tale.

As for the 10 million books sold? “Not bad for someone who actually is a dog person,” chuckles the delightful Ms. Holmes.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 17 books, including the new “Huntington Beach Then & Now.” You can write him at [email protected] .