What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?
This book grew out of a question about interstellar colonization that often circulates through my head: what happens after the starships go home? What would it really be like on another world, light-years from Earth—not immediately, but twenty years later, when the glamour of adventure has worn off and equipment starts to wear out?
After twenty years have passed, the children of the original settlers will be in their late teens. The teenage years can be difficult under any circumstances. What would they be like when there is only one town and one school on the entire planet? I saw a simmering stew of resentments, grievances, petty jealousies, feuds, remorse, and schemes for power. Spice that with an unexplained death and a disappearance, turn up the heat, and watch the pot bubble over. Ultimately, this became a story about people and how they cope (or don’t).
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?
Picking theme songs for characters is a fun exercise. This book does not have a single main character, so I thought I would pick songs for some of the major ones. For the two primary teens:
1) Thorny would be: “Welcome to Wherever You Are” by Bon Jovi.
2) Danijel would be: “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge.
Thorny’s parents: 1) Penny would be: “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. 2) Hiep would be: “Army of One” by Bon Jovi.
And Reality, who stands by herself, would be: “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift.
What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
My favorite genre for reading is science fiction, and that is primarily what I write. Behind that comes fantasy, and I write in that genre as well. I do read a lot of history and historical fiction, but I do not write in those areas.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
My current TBR comprises several piles of books in my office because I enjoy reading from a physical book when I can. The top of the list is Language for Liars by SL Huang. Immediately following that, I have A Memory of Empire by Arkady Martine, Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree, and a non-fiction, Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
It is always hard for me to pick a favorite scene, and I need to stay away from ones near the end because that would give away too much. I did particularly enjoy writing the scene where Danijel catches up to Thorny. They have, of course, known each other at school since they were small children, but they have never really spoken or had much to do with each other. Neither one fits into the other’s preconception of them. The way their relationship develops through this scene was a lot of fun to write.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
I always do my first draft in ink, with a Mont Blanc pen my wife gave me. I write them on fifty-page, wide-ruled pads. And I generally write at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee for inspiration. Is that quirky enough?
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
I am fond of quotes from literature or historical figures. I think the one from John Milton that I picked as an epigraph at the beginning of the book is particularly appropriate: “The mind is its own place, and in itself; Can make a Heav\'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav\'n.” It says to me that it is your choice how you see the world, a challenge that I think is as appropriate to my characters as to myself.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
If there is one thing I would hope stays in the minds of my readers after finishing this book, it is enjoyment in the time they spent with the characters, and seeing how these characters coped, well or poorly, with the hands they were dealt in the story.
Colin Alexander is the author of the new book A Small Town on the Planet Called Heaven (Leif the Lucky)
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