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Interview: David Simms Interviews S.A. Barnes

S.A. Barnes is the author of the terrific Dead Silence, out earlier this year. Monster Librarian reviewer David Simms had an opportunity to interview her this summer.

 

David: Dead Silence is space horror at its best. What was the inspiration for this novel?

 

S.A.: I’ve been obsessed with the Titanic for as long as I can remember. I pored over the photos from the wreckage when it was found. And I’ve visited several exhibitions of the artifacts that have been recovered. However, I am a big chicken and afraid of small spaces so you’d never get me in submersible to see it in real life. So I brought the wreck to space instead.  

 

David: Claire is an interesting protagonist. Introvert and damaged. Why do you think flawed/broken characters work best for books in this genre?

 

S.A.: I prefer all stories to have a flawed/broken character because I find it more relatable! And I think it gives the character a clearer growth arc.

 

But I think it’s more prominent in horror because the stories often focus on the character’s flaws, specifically creating their worst nightmare. That’s what makes it horror, you know? I’m terrified of birds and small spaces, so forcing me to belly-crawl into a tunnel filled with flapping wings and scaly feet…I’m shuddering right now. But someone else who’s afraid of heights and spiders might not be bothered. It’s about confronting your own dark terrors in the process of growing as a character, I think.

 

David:  The book has been referred to as The Shining meets Titanic. What’s your opinion on this?

 

Haha! That was actually part of my original pitch line for the manuscript, so I guess it must have been seen as accurate enough. I do hear that Aliens or Event Horizpn would have been closer, and both of those were certainly influences as well.

 

David: The Aurora is a memorable character in itself. Can you describe your process in writing this novel?

 

S.A.: Again, Titanic! I wanted to bring to life that contrast of wealth and gross inequity. I wanted the Aurora to be an object of desire, greed, even, but also for the eeriness to be the most prominent feature. Things are frozen in time, as if the Aurora herself is just waiting for new passengers to arrive.  I wanted that feeling of bated breath, the haunted house that seems to react to your presence.

 

David: Since this is a horror novel at heart, are you a big fan of the genre? If so, what are your favorites?

 

S.A.: I love horror. I grew up reading Stephen King, Dean Koontz and V.C. Andrews. As far as favorites, I adored Strangers by Koontz, Flowers in the Attic by Andrews, and I’ve never been able to finish Pet Sematary by King because it scared me too much! More recently, I adored World War Z by Max Brooks, and anything by Mira Grant, particularly Into the Drowning Deep and the Newsflesh trilogy.

 

David: Dead Silence is chilling in its depiction of the supernatural. What’s your take on beliefs in the paranormal, supernatural (super-normal)?

 

S.A.: I’m sort of an open skeptic. I believe it’s all possible, particularly ghosts and extraterrestrial life. However, when presented with evidence, I’m more inclined to doubt first. Mainly, I think, because I don’t want to get my hopes up!

 

I’ve only had one supernatural experience in my life (a ghost turned a light on for me), and that was more than enough for me!  

 

David: You’ve been successful in writing YA fiction. The Paper Dolls trilogy is great. Do you have a preference– adult, or writing for teens/children?

 

S.A.: Thank you! I love telling stories, for any audience! I think, however, teens and high school have changed enough from my own experiences—in mostly good ways—that I would have a harder time writing for that audience now in an authentic way.

 

David: Speaking of horror, you’re also a teacher. Thank you– this year has been full of horrors! How has that experience helped you cope with writing dark fiction– and vice versa?

 

S.A.: The two help me find balance. Writing is a very isolating profession, especially in the last few years! Going to school, working with students, helps me get out of my own head. Plus, helping a student connect with the right book for them is an amazing feeling. But, as you know, schools are not always easy place to work, especially for the last few years, so writing is a way of exerting control over my environment in a way that doesn’t exist otherwise. But mainly they—writing and school—make me feel like I’m contributing in two very different ways, and I love that.

 

David: Adding on to that last question: you tackle mental health in a strong, adroit manner. This is something that’s coming to the surface more and more in horror, but not science fiction. Any thoughts on this topic in fiction?

 

S.A.: I suspect we hope that mental health will be better addressed in coming years, which is why we don’t see it as much in science fiction, which is frequently set in the future. I’m thinking of Star Trek where poverty and world hunger have been solved by the 24th century. Which is wonderful and optimistic.

 

But I find I’m more drawn to stories with characters I relate to, especially when those stories are set in an unfamiliar environment, like space. And I think as long as people are people, we’re still going to struggle with the issues that come along with being human and imperfect. (Once we’re all uploaded consciousnesses on a computer, I make no guarantees!)

 

 

David: Deep space holds many terrors. What do you think is out there? (sorry– massive X-Files fan here!)

 

S.A.: The truth! (Sorry, also a massive X-Files fan!) In all seriousness, I’m fascinated by deep space. I think most of us have a tendency to forget that we’re on this rock, floating out in the middle of nowhere. And we’re one rock of billions. Who knows what we’ll find out there? I hope it will be friendly intelligence, but, as I believe, Stephen Hawking pointed out, anyone who can reach us is probably more advanced than we are and that usually doesn’t end well. Meanwhile we’re just blithely broadcasting our location for anyone—or anything—to hear.

 

David: What’s next for you?

S.A.: I’m working on another sci-fi horror novel! Set on an exo-planet this time.

 

David: Do you have any recommendations for your readers? Any favorite new authors or ones you think your readers would enjoy?

 

S.A.: Oh yes, I loved Dead Space and Salvation Day by Kali Wallace. Salvaged by Madeleine Roux is also excellent.

 

David: Why do you think space horror is such a draw for readers/film buffs?  Do you have a favorite?

 

S.A.: I think it’s a draw because it projects a future in which space has become a relatively normal environment in which to work, suggesting a hopeful outcome, but also that human arrogance, frequently a flaw that comes into play in these stories, is still around. I also think space horror offers the same appeal science fiction does—the chance to learn about our society and its issues at a distance that allows discussion rather than immediate heated emotion.

Posted on August 8, 2022 by , Reply

Vault Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins (#1 Crank, #2 Glass, #3 Fallout)

Boxed set of the Crank Trilogy by Ellen Hopkins  The Crank Trilogy by Ellen Hopkins (  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

We are revisiting our reviews of the Crank trilogy today, due to a recent challenge to Crank in my own school district (you never REALLY think it will happen in your area until it does).  Yesterday we published an interview of Ellen Hopkins from our vault, which I hope you’ll read. Today, we present our reviews of The Crank Trilogy, consisting of Crank, Glass, and Fallout. 

 

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010 (Reprint edition)

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416995135

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook. ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

Crank is Ellen Hopkins’ controversial, and sorely needed, verse novel. Kristina Snow’s life changes forever when her father and the boy she’s crushing introduce her to meth. Unlike Impulse, which is raw and shredding in its emotion, Crank is almost cold at times, brutally showing a girl on the edge of being a woman, who should have the kind of life that discourages drug use, choosing to ride with the monster time after time. Likewise, the people in her life who should be able to step in, fail, leaving Kristina alone to fight a beast that defeats most adults.

 

Crank is a difficult book to handle, but it’s far closer to reality than any drug awareness program I went through in school. Hopkins’ books are strongly positioned to be of great value as fiction, as poetry, and for their educational value, as they boldly strip away pretenses and sensitivities to show addiction as the cruel master it is. Highly recommended for public collections as well as recommended reading material for those whose lives have been scarred by the real life monsters on our streets.

Contains: sex, language, drug use, rape

 

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009 (Reprint edition)

ISBN-13: 978-1416940913

Available: New and Used  ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

Glass is the direct follow up to Crank. Glass continues the story of Kristina Snow after she’s had her baby, and kicked meth and nicotine, shortly before her eighteenth birthday. It follows her relapse in her struggle with the meth monster and goes farther than Crank imagined. Sharp and painful,  Glass is hard to read. For one, Kristina seems to not even care that she’s making such horrible mistakes. Almost on autopilot in her quest to fill simple needs, this reader more than once wanted to reach into the lines and try to shake some sense into her.

 

While Crank goes very far to combat drug use as an introductory tale, Glass is Anti-Drug 201, a hardcore look at more of the nasty side effects of addiction, as good as an uncut marathon of Intervention with viewers thrust, uncomfortably, inside Kristina’s head. There’s no doubt it will be too much for many readers, either too brutal, or too close to home. Hopkins savagely slices through any illusions of “normal life” with beautiful poems and style that makes the story she’s telling all the more horrific. Highly recommended.

Contains: sex, drug use, language, domestic violence

 

Reviewed by Michele Lee

 

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010

ISBN-13: 978-1416950097

Available: New and Used  (  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

In Fallout, the third book in the series that started with Crank, centered on meth addict Kristina Snow, Hopkins moves on to show the effect Kristina’s selfish ways still have on her children, and covers a wide spectrum of emotional and psychological problems. Fallout is told through three narrators: Hunter, Kristina’s first child, born of rape and trying to deal with rage; Autumn, who struggles with OCD and turns to alcohol to get her through a major life change; and Summer, who is unaware that she has siblings, and has been raised by a series of abusive foster homes and her own addict father.

 

Fallout is raw, as can be expected from Hopkins, sharp and yet beautiful as well. Hopkins manages to bring new sympathy to the subject, even to characters readers are already familiar with and have started to hate. While the full scope of the story would be missed if readers started the series here, this is the book that will most call to the loved one or friend struggling to support (or justify not supporting) an addict. Highly recommended.

Contains: drug use, sex, language

 

Reviewed by Michele Lee

Posted on August 9, 2021 by , Reply

Vault Interview: Michele Lee Interviews Ellen Hopkins

Some books never get old. Or at least, the challenges some books face keep coming.

Ellen Hopkins is the author of  several YA novels dealing with frightening issues and situations faced by teens today, Reviewer Michele Lee interviewed her in 2010 as part of Banned Books Week when she was disinvited from the Humble, Texas Teen Lit Festival after a middle school librarian shared concerns with some parents who went to the district superintendent. Although he had never read Hopkins’ books, and other librarians lobbied to keep her as a speaker, he still canceled her appearance. At the time of the interview, Ellen’s titles included Crank , Impulse, Glass, and Fallout.

It’s 2021, and at a school board meeting in Carmel, Indiana members of a “grassroots activist” called Purple for Parents attended a school board meeting where they read from books purportedly in the district’s school libraries supporting LGBTQ+ students and, in addition, explicit passages from, among other books, Crank by Ellen Hopkins. At the meeting a gun fell out of a man’s pocket and he had to be escorted out by police. The administration building has had to install metal detectors, and one of the faces of the group appeared on Fox News to throw the school librarians under the bus. As I watch commenters on Facebook tear down teachers and librarians, break into schools, and dox high school English teachers, I think my head is going to explode.

I will say there are also good people here who believe in our, and our kids’, freedom to read. But we’re not the ones getting national attention.

So I think, as much as things have changed since 2010, they haven’t changed for the better.  It’s time to revisit this interview of Ellen Hopkins.

 

Michele Lee Interviews Ellen Hopkins

*********************************

 

ML: While some people joke that they wish their book was banned because it would be great for sales, what actually goes through your mind when someone labels your books inappropriate for their audience?

EH: Either that they haven’t actually read my books (but rather pulled content out of context), or that they have a seriously warped view of the contemporary teen experience. Unfortunately, few enough young adults live healthy, scrubbed lives. And what’ might be deemed “inappropriate” for them is necessary for many others.

ML: What tools have you used to approach a teen audience about such serious topics authentically, but also at a teen level rather than an adult level?

EH: I spend a lot of time talking to teens, both online and through primary outreach. They talk freely to me, so I truly understand many of their issues and concerns. It’s hugely important to walk where they live, rather than assuming what that place is.

ML:  Do you think that teens are different from adults after all, or do we have a skewed idea of the average teen’s worldly knowledge?

EH: Everyone’s story is different. Personal. Many teens are forced to grow up much too quickly, but even those who are allowed an “average” childhood observe peers who have been touched by issues like addiction, depression, abuse, etc. Surely they know these things exist. Why not allow them some sort of perspective?

ML: You mentioned at the forefront of Crank that this book came, more or less, from your real life. Combined with the censorship issue, do you feel that there’s a segment of people who want to just hide all uncomfortable issues from public view?

EH: Of course. Or they just don’t want to look at these things themselves. And what this does is to make them feel somehow superior than, or at the very least apart from, those who are affected by them. Empathy is critical. But ignorance won’t lead you to understanding.

ML: How do you think this affects individuals coping with these issues and how we as a society handle them?

EH: They feel alone in their problems. I can’t tell you how many readers I’ve heard from who really believed that, until they saw themselves between the covers of a book. Mainstreaming them is huge, and they deserve to be considered “just a regular person,” albeit one going through difficult times.

ML: All the individuals in your books have both environmental issues and their own bad decisions to cite for their circumstances. What role does society and the people in supposed support positions play in addiction and depression, among other issues?

EH: Actually, they don’t all have environmental issues. Some do have support, but choose the wrong path anyway. There is a big chunk of choice involved in every bad decision. Learning by example is valid, but when you have the information to know that turning in a certain direction can lead you to a very wrong place, most of the “blame,” if you want to call it that, is on the individual.

ML: As you point out in the upcoming third book in Kristina’s life, Fallout, the damage of addiction is never isolated to just one person. How do we, as individuals, best help those struggling? And is there ever a time when we just have to let go, for our own sa

EH:  There absolutely comes a time when you have to realize there is nothing more you can do to convince someone you love to turn their life around. You simply have to say, “Look. I love you, but I cannot stand by and watch you kill yourself slowly. When you want help I’m here. Until then, goodbye.” That may sound cruel, but self-preservation is paramount to helping someone else. If you’re a wreck, you’re useless to them, anyway. And if they refuse help, despite knowing the likely outcome, they will head down that path anyway.

ML: Likewise, how do we reach to each other as the friends, parents, children or loved ones of addicts? How do we support each other while we’re struggling to support the people struggling with the monster?

EH: First, we refuse to judge them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called a bad mother because of my daughter’s actions. At some point, her choices were completely hers, as they are for everyone. We offer an ear. A shoulder to cry on. Resources, which we can help them find. And mostly, we prop them up when they fold.

ML: Where is the line in addiction (or with those struggling with mental illness) between choices the addict is responsible for, and choices they make as a victim themselves? How do the people on the sidelines resolve issues of forgiveness and personal responsibility in a situation where the person damaging them is also a struggling victim?

EH: Mental illness is much different than choosing a path that can lead to addiction. The former isn’t a choice. The information to make positive decisions is available. Too many people believe they can control their drug of choice. But the drug is almost always in control. Forgiveness is easy. Trust is much more difficult, and should never be given lightly. If an addict truly wants help, it is available, but it is a rocky path. The monster always calls, something people in support positions must always remember. Never give an addict money. Clothe them. Feed them. Make sure their children are safe. But enabling them is the quickest path to watching them fade away completely. This may seem harsh. But I’ve watched my own child relapse, after six years sober. I love her. Always. But I can’t help her die.

ML: This is the question where I usually ask about other releases the author has, or exciting projects they’re working on. While I’d definitely like to hear yours as well, do you think you could also list some great resources (other than your books) for those struggling with these issues?

EH:  Addiction is rarely conquered alone. Many people find the way out through Alcoholics Anonymous (which, for some reason, most addicts find more helpful than Narcotics Anonymous). And for family members, Al Anon will not only help you through, they will offer local resources you might need.

My next young adult book is Perfect (about the drive for the unattainable goal of perfection), due out Fall 2011. And I’m currently writing my first adult novel-in-verse. Triangles (also 2011) is about midlife freakouts.

 

 

 

Posted on August 8, 2021 by , Reply
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