Hi everyone!
I am so excited to introduce this next book to you by one of my favorite authors, Neal Shusterman!
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1. One thing I noticed in most of your work is how you consistently bring up fascinating ethical dilemmas. Particularly, the UNWIND, SCYTHE, and the recent 2021 GAME CHANGER come to mind. What comes first, the characters and story, or the moral/ethical dilemmas in these scenarios? How does the story grow from there?
It always starts with the ethical dilemma. The things I can’t stop thinking about, for which I don’t have a solution. I grapple with an ethical question by creating a story that studies the problem from as many perspectives as possible. It becomes a hall of mirrors, because once you start down that path, you realize the issue goes deeper than the simplistic ways we tend to approach problems as a society. Our “solutions” always lead to unintended consequences that are often worse than the problem we were trying to solve. Once I know the questions I want to pose, then I have to figure out the story in which to ask them, and populate it with compelling characters that act on their own, and don’t necessarily follow the story I wanted to tell. That’s the fun part – when the characters come to life and really drive the story.
2. You have written two books with your son, Jarrod, DRY and ROXY. He also contributed a story to GLEANINGS. What was that collaboration like? What was the most surprising aspect of that journey?
Collaborating with Jarrod has been great. He’s a talented writer, and we are pretty much on the same wavelength when we write together. The books we’ve written together have both first-person, and third-person narratives, but we didn’t divide it up by voice. We both wrote in all the narrative voices. I was able to match the voices of characters he started, and he could match the voices of the characters I came up with. It got so you couldn’t tell who wrote what! Often collaboration can take as long as writing a book alone, even though the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. But with Jarrod it actually did go much faster! In fact, we delivered DRY six months early. I never deliver books early! Our latest collaboration, a story called “Persistence of Memory,” in GLEANINGS, includes a third collaborator—Jarrod’s partner Sofi, who really imbued the story (which takes place in her home country of Spain), with an authentic Spanish flair.
3. In GLEANINGS, we return to the amazing and fascinating world of SCYTHE. How were the authors chosen for participation in the anthology? What was your biggest goal with the anthology?
I love the opportunity to work with author friends. I’m a fan of David Yoon’s writing, and was thrilled that he wanted to work on a story for GLEANINGS. Mike Payne is in my writing group, is a master of his craft, and his stories always wow me. His specialty is writing about sentient animals, so I pegged him right away to write a dog story—because so many fans have asked if pets get to live forever in the world of Scythe, too. Michelle Knowlden is a good friend who I’ve written with many times before, and, after writing with my sons Brendan and Jarrod, My daughter Joelle wanted a chance. She contributed a free verse piece that was perfect to open the book with. (My other daughter, Erin, is an artist – so one of these days we’re going to do a graphic novel together!) As for what my goal with GLEANINGS was – it was to explore characters and story lines that I didn’t get the chance to before. I mean, fans wanted to know what Scythe Curie and Scythe Goddard were like when they were younger—but I wanted to know, too! I was curious about the Thunderhead’s experimental regions—particularly the communal dreaming that takes place in Antarctica. And for every story that made it into the collection, there’s another than I wanted to write, but didn’t get to! There is an extra story, though, in the Barnes and Noble special edition. A new take on the idea of a game of chess with Death!
4. SCYTHE is one of my favorite trilogies of all time. Was it always intended to be a trilogy, why or why not? What was the hardest part about writing the trilogy? The most rewarding?
First of all, thank you! The most rewarding thing is to have people tell me that it’s one of their favorite trilogies of all time! I knew from the beginning that it would be a trilogy, and I knew where it was going – but how it got there was an adventure! I had no idea, for instance, that Loriana – who only appears in one scene in THUNDERHEAD, and isn’t even given a name – would become a crucial character in THE TOLL. The hardest part for me is wrangling all the elements of a story in, leaving nothing hanging, and making sure that the conclusion is satisfying – but also leaves the reader wanting more.
5. Who is your favorite character in the SCYTHE universe? Why?
Without question my favorite character is the Thunderhead. The god-like sentient Artificial intelligence having an existential crisis. What must it be like to be almost-all-powerful and entirely benevolent? A being whose sole purpose, and greatest joy is to love and serve humanity. How it must suffer to realize it can’t save us from ourselves. The Thunderhead is beautiful, and also tragic in a way, because it must sacrifice its own happiness for the sake of humanity. We fear what AI could become… but I hope it doesn’t become a thing of nightmares. I hope that when Siri, and Alexa become self-aware… that they’re like the Thunderhead.
6. What will you miss most about writing SCYTHE?
The characters. I’ll miss Citra, Rowan, and Grayson. I’ll miss Scythes Curie and Faraday. I’ll even miss Goddard, Rand, and Xenocrates – the scythes you love to hate! And I’ll miss Kevin Tong’s amazing iconic covers! I think they’re the best covers of my entire career!
7. What can we expect next from you? Any exciting works in progress?
So many things in the works! A Holocaust-themed graphic novel called Courage to Dream, will be out in 2023, with artwork by Andrés Vera Martinez. I’ve been working on it for about ten years now. Also in 2023 there’s a new middle grade humorous sci-fi series that I’m co-writing with Eric Elfman called The N.O.A.H. Files – the first book of which is entitled I AM THE WALRUS (All the books in the series will be song titles with animals in them). And on the horizon after that, toward the end of 2023, the first book of a brand new YA series. Can’t talk about it yet, but I promise, it’s full of more big questions, compelling characters, and a whole new mind-bending world!
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