In UNBREAK MY HEART by Melissa Walker, 16-year-old Clementine has a falling out with her lifelong best friend Amanda. During their sophomore year Ethan started going to their school, and Amanda became his girlfriend. Amanda trusted Clementine when she began hanging out with Ethan alone, and Clementine loved both his attention and the way he made her feel. Rather than putting a stop to it, Clementine embraced it and couldn’t come clean with Amanda. The consequences were losing both Amanda and Ethan, as well as a number of other friends. Clementine isn’t exactly sad that she won’t be around during the summer; she’s actually looking forward to the time she’ll spend on her parents’ boat sailing up the river.

At first, Clementine is very moody and withdrawn. Her parents and sister try to respect her space, but any time they want to include her on family time, she lashes out. Clementine is unable to forgive herself for what transpired between her and Ethan, and she misses Amanda like crazy. She tortures herself even more by listening to a play list of romantic songs that Ethan gave her, and writing apologies to Amanda that she never intends to send because she can’t find the right words. Then Clementine meets James, a boy who is also on the river for the summer, and dealing with a different sort of loss.

When Clementine and James first meet while buying supplies, it was a laugh out loud moment for me. James was very warm and extremely funny, and I instantly fell for him and couldn’t wait until Clem would start falling for him, too. Through flashbacks to the previous year, I’d gotten to see what sort of character Ethan had, and I was not impressed. At first I fell for his charm, but as more about him came to light, all words that came to mind about him were not the repeatable kind. James is also charming, but more honest than Ethan could ever hope to be. Meeting James was exactly the sort of healing that Clementine needed.

I’m not at all going to say that Clementine was in the right with what happened with Ethan. She should have backed off, and she should have talked to Amanda about what was happening, and trusted in her friend to forgive her for letting her emotions get so carried away. At the same time, I could relate to Clementine. Amanda was always the one who got the guy and the attention, and Clementine wanted to feel special in that way, too. She made a poor judgement call, and it tore at my heart to see her constantly punishing herself and replaying every horrible moment of the “friendship” with Ethan. Despite that she is not without fault, I loved Clementine, and I wanted her to have a reconciliation with Amanda.

UNBREAK MY HEART is the first book I have read by Melissa Walker, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I had a hard time sleeping the night I started reading because I still had almost half of the book left to read when it was time to turn out the lights. I fell asleep thinking about Clementine, and hoping that she would find some closure and perhaps even forgive herself and move on from her mistakes.

UNBREAK MY HEART hits shelves on May 22nd, 2012!

17-year-old Maddie is the daughter of the man who introduced DS (Digital School) to the world. Maddie attends school online, only leaving her house occasionally to play soccer. Maddie’s family only knows their neighbors by their online profiles; if they walked past them down the street, it’s unlikely they would recognize one another. Two years earlier, Maddie betrayed her father’s trust when she hacked his system and gave top secret information to a group of people who want to take DS down. She is still paying for her “crimes”, and her father has eyes on her everywhere she goes.

Maddie has been interacting with someone online, who convinces her to attend an in-person study session. When she meets Justin face-to-face, she begins to have feelings for him. He introduces her to a way of life she had thought was in her society’s past, and the more she listens to him, the more she believes him. Maddie’s mother supports their friendship, but Maddie’s father might feel differently once he learns who Justin really is.

If I believed in highlighting in my books, there were a number of passages I would have marked to re-read later on in AWAKEN. Katie Kacvinksy brings up some very powerful points that are not only plausible in Maddie’s world, but also in our own. I’m definitely guilty of being one of those people who has to be connected to my online social networks at all times, or I just don’t know what to do with myself. I panic if I go somewhere and leave my phone at home because I’m cut off. I spend hours every day on my computer, and if I shut it down for a few minutes, I wander back to it because I don’t know what else I should be doing.

Unlike Maddie and the people in her society, though, I have a choice. They don’t. I can decide to call my friends and meet in person to discuss books, movie, and the arts over coffee. In Maddie’s world, places to meet in person are few and far between. In Maddie’s situation, I like to think I would have done the same things, even if it meant betraying my father’s work.

I think there are still a lot of things that haven’t yet been revealed about Maddie’s world. Maddie’s mother fascinates me because she is the exact opposite of Maddie’s father. I suspect that she may actually be working in opposition of DS as well, and that she’s more sneaky about covering her tracks than Maddie has been.

Though AWAKEN seemed to have some slow parts in the middle of the book, I loved the overall message, the romance between Maddie and Justin, and the world building. This is a solid beginning to a new series, and I’m eager for more!

Also by Katie Kacvinsky:

I don’t know how similar WENTWORTH HALL is to Downton Abbey, but I’ve seen enough Gossip Girl episodes and read a similar historical YA series that I knew this book was the perfect match for me. WENTWORTH HALL is set in 1912 London, and is centered around the Darlington family, whose home is named Wentworth Hall. The eldest daughter, Maggie, has recently returned from abroad with her mother and is not the same spirited, rebellious girl that she once was. The Darlington family is experiencing money troubles, and their salvation comes to Wentworth Hall in the form of twins Jessica and Teddy Fitzhugh. Until the Fitzhughs come into their inheritance, they will remain at Wentworth Hall. Teddy shows interest in Maggie, but try as she might, she cannot love him. Lord Darlington had hoped that Maggie would become engaged to him, and that wealth would soon be associated with the Darlington name once again.

In WENTWORTH HALL, it’s not just the entitled, aristocratic family that has colorful secrets and deep longings for a different sort of life. Lady Darlington’s new nanny, Therese, might not be who she appears to be. The well-meaning, gossipy Nora has other means of making an income so that she can one day open her own tea shop. The handsome stable boy Michael knows something about one of the members of the Darlington family. And these are just a few of the people who are the eyes and ears of Wentworth Hall; it could be any of them who are selling the family’s secrets for a profit to the newspaper.

Though the newspaper pokes fun at the aristocratic family and finds joy in seeing them brought down, I actually found myself caring about the Darlingtons–especially Maggie and her younger sister, Lila. Lady Darlington is much more than meets the eye, and Lord Darlington is every stereotype that one might think about that sort of man. Everything ties up pretty neatly in the final chapters, and I was sorry to see this book come to an end. I am crossing my fingers that perhaps there will be another book or two to catch us all up on what happens with Maggie and Michael, the Lord and Lady, and even the Fitzhughs.

WENTWORTH HALL might be extremely predictable for some readers (I figured out all of Maggie’s secrets, though not the identity of the gossip column writer), but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable of a read. The two-hour Glee episode was airing while I read, and I kept sneaking in as many pages as I could during commercial breaks. This is one you will definitely want to add to your list if you are a fan of historical fiction, scandals, and mysteries.

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In THE VICIOUS DEEP, Zoraida Córdova switches everything up and writes in 1st person from a teenage male’s point of view. Honestly, I was a little nervous about this. I’ve read other books written by females and from the male perspective, and they just never rang true to me. After just a few chapters, I breathed a sigh of delighted relief…Zoraida Córdova had done what I was beginning to think was impossible. Tristan Hart is a very plausible character; he’s the type of guy that you will love one moment and want to slap upside the head the next when he says something incredibly “guy”. Even though he has his stupid moments, I couldn’t help but have warm, squishy feelings for him–especially because of the way he talks about his best friend, Layla. Tristan is ridiculously in love with her–and chances are that she returns those feelings–but he keeps flirting and dating other girls rather than opening his heart up to Layla. They have a really sweet, innocent friendship but deep down it’s obvious that something more is going on.

Since mermaids have been such a huge part of play time, creativity, and inspiration throughout my life, very few YA mermaid novels have been very believable to me. Zoraida Córdova has obviously thought about all of the same things that I think about with mermaids: What do they eat? Where do they live? Can they transform into human form, and how is it done? What do they look like? How long do they live? And a zillion other questions that would take up far too much room for me to type them all out.

Zoraida’s mermaids exist in the same world as humans, and after a certain period of time has passed, they can alter forms and walk amongst the humans. Thalia and Kurt come to Coney Island, where Tristan lives with his parents, to inform him that his grandfather (the Sea King!) wants an audience with him. It’s here that family secrets finally come out–Tristan’s mother was once a mermaid princess, but gave up that part of her to live on land with Tristan’s father. Tristan was born with fins, but his grandfather bound him when he was a baby so that he could live as a human.

The Sea King reminds me very much of King Triton from Disney’s THE LITTLE MERMAID, and I don’t think that is any accident. He is a good and fair man, unwilling to make the same mistakes as his ancestors. He wants Tristan to inherit his throne, but Tristan must compete against other champions to find the pieces of the trident that the Sea King has thrown into the sea. Tristan is a bit of a reluctant hero, but soon begins to see that not only the merfolk, but also those that are somewhat in between, need him.

Zoraida’s mermaids are not all cheerful or full of song. Some of them are downright deadly, like Nieve, who is the sister of the Sea King. She has been haunting Tristan’s dreams and raising a mermaid mutant army of merrows that have attacked Tristan and his friends. Tristan is going to have to accept his fate, for the sake of both his human and non-human friends.

I am so impressed with THE VICIOUS DEEP–finally a mermaid novel has been done 100% right!

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Mermaid books:

• The Mermaid’s Three Wisdoms by Jane Yolen (I was so desperate to read this one again that I paid a bit more than I would normally pay for a used book just to get one in really good condition with its dust jacket that was not a library discard.)
•  The Mermaid Summer by Mollie Hunter (I actually ended up with 2 copies of this one because my dad bought it twice by accident; I’m actually really glad he did, because I lost one of my copies during college.)
• The Glass Mermaid by Susan Clymer (I read this book once a night after finding a Saban’s Little Mermaid Marina doll that I wanted to buy with my Christmas money. I was going to read it every single night in its entirety until I owned that doll–I really don’t know why I did that! My dad ended up buying the doll for me, so then that nightly ritual stopped.)

These 3 books inspired me to write my own mermaid fiction, because as much as I loved –and still love–those books, they didn’t give me as much detail as I wanted about mermaids.

Of the current mermaid fiction that has been published in the last few years, Of Poseidon is one of my favorites. I’ve been pretty harsh on some of the other titles I have read and reviewed, but I found pretty much nothing to nitpick over in Anna Banks’s debut novel.

Of Poseidon has a wonderful female heroine in Emma; she’s feisty, opinionated, and doesn’t fall instantly in love with Galen, her one and only love interest. I should also mention there are no annoying love triangles with the central characters. This makes me extremely happy!

Emma has a fairly unique look; she has extremely pale skin and blonde hair that is almost white. She attracts the interest of a male Syrena (or “merman”, but please don’t refer to him as that because he’ll get very offended) because he learned that she has the ability to communicate with fish. This means that she could have the gift of Poseidon, something that is rare in his kind, and that is necessary to pass down generations by uniting a Poseidon with a Triton.

To get closer to Emma, whom he suspects to be a full-blooded Syrena, he masquerades as a human teenage boy and enrolls in all of her classes. Finally Galen reveals his true fishy nature to Emma, who still has not shifted forms, even though she displays all of the strengths of a Syrena. In order to spend time with each other, Emma and Galen have to pretend to be in a relationship. Galen is serious about his feelings for Emma, but Emma thinks he is only pretending.

It would actually be better if Galen had not fallen for Emma; if she does indeed possess the gift of Poseidon, she is intended to mate with Galen’s brother, Grom, and it is Galen’s royal duty to bring her to him.

Anna Banks has created a believable mermaid mythology, and I especially loved that much of it tied into the fabled land of Atlantis. She also gives great insight into Poseidon and Triton and who they really were historically, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story as well. She even gets really scientific about mermaid genes and their inner workings, which is extremely cool!

Usually the background characters do not really stand out much to me, but I especially loved Rayna (Galen’s sister), Rachel (Galen’s human friend who pretends to be his mother), and Emma’s mother. Rayna is just as stubborn and feisty as Emma, and when they butt heads it gets pretty crazy. Rachel has a really intriguing history, and I am hoping that some of it will come back to haunt her to add some drama to the story. Emma’s mother is extremely hilarious when it comes to Emma dating Galen. I loved the interactions with Galen–especially when she demands to see his license and writes down its number.

There weren’t too many surprises for me in this one, but I was more than okay with that. Anna set up everything so well that things were still shocking for me when they actually happened. I kept frantically hitting the “next” button on my Kindle when I read the last page because I didn’t want the story to stop in such a tension-filled place. Of Poseidon is a terrific combination of humor, romance, mystery, and the supernatural; I cannot wait for release day so I can own a finished copy!

Of Poseidon hits shelves on May 22, 2012! 

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Earlier this month, I reviewed SUBVERTER by J. Leigh Bralick, and the first book in that trilogy will be free for about the next month.

No idea how long Claire Cook’s MUST LOVE DOGS will be free, but you might want to snap this one up for when you’re in the mood for something cute and romantic!

If you like mermaids, this looks interesting!

If you don’t mind if your men get furry at the full moon, this may be your cup of tea:

SUBVERTER picks up a year from when DOWN A LOST ROAD ended. Merelin is now 18, has graduated from high school, and longs to find a way to return to her beloved Arah Byen and the people there who have become her family. She also still mourns the death of the man she loved, Yatol, but after seeing him in visions, she knows that all is not well in Arah Byen. Eventually Merelin finds a way back, but it is not the same Arah Byen that she remembers. There is no peace in the land, and a man named Khalith is scheming for the throne. All of the blame for what has happened to Arah Byen is placed on Merelin’s shoulders, and she is determined to prevent Khalith from becoming king by restoring the throne to its rightful owner. The only thing standing in her way is Yatol, who does not remember her and is now her sworn enemy.

J. Leigh Bralick beautifully describes Arah Byen, even down to the smallest of details. I loved getting to explore it with Merelin as she meets people in the city, learns about their customs, and encounters new friends and dark enemies. Even more authenticity is given to Arah Byen through the foreign words that Bralick created. The reader will feel lost and perhaps a bit lonely, just like Merelin in the exciting (but often dangerous) new world.

I am a huge fan of Yatol, and the ending of DOWN A LOST ROAD tugged at my heartstrings. Yatol’s “resurrection” is bittersweet and heartbreaking, and I was rooting for Merelin to find a way for Yatol to remember who he was before he became an assassin for the corrupt wannabe king. There are some beautiful passages in Merelin’s own voice as she explores her feelings for Yatol and faces the inevitable possibility that she may have to sacrifice him for Arah Byen.

There are quite a few surprises in SUBVERTER; I found myself gasping as truths were unearthed that I had never even considered. Just when I thought I had everyone and everything all figured out, I discovered something new about certain characters or places. I am hooked on this trilogy, and I can say with confidence that I will not hesitate to read PRISM as soon as it comes out.

Purchase books by J. Leigh Bralick on Amazon.com

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DARK DOSES  is, as the title suggests, a series of glimpses into the dark imaginings of author Todd Thorne’s mind. If the title and stories themselves aren’t sufficient indicators, the author makes a point of proudly espousing his love for dark and twisted tales. True to his word, in DARK DOSES Thorne delivers seven stories set in bleak futures, featuring sometimes torturous circumstances, characters with darkened hearts, and occasional twists of fate or consequence reminiscent of The Twilight Zone.

Much like the classic Serling production, each story is prefaced by hypothetical questions meant to be explored and answered by the story’s end. Though these notes from the author at times smack of self-promotion, rather than rhetorical premise, they do a fair job of preparing the reader for the story to come.

First on the list is “Chaperone”, a dystopian tale set in a world in which the masses are subjugated and controlled via apparatuses that link their minds to those of the elite. The story follows Jeremy, a young student begrudgingly living under parents as coldly domineering as their society dictates, training to become one of the elite, like his father. It’s during the reader’s first look at what passes for homework in Jeremy’s world that the first “dark dose” is delivered: frustrated with his lot in life, the boy sadistically takes his anger out on his assignment. While it’s clear that the author relishes the opportunity to shock the reader, the severity of Jeremy’s behavior and attitude is off-putting, if for no other reason than its inexplicable nature. There’s little cause to sympathize with the boy’s plight in light of how casually his humanity is cast off, and that for reasons which are never really made clear. The remainder of the story is even harder on the reader’s chances of sympathizing, as the ultimate lesson is delivered to Jeremy in a senselessly cruel way. Make no mistake, these stories are meant to be dark, but one wonders if another story might have been a more intriguing introduction to Thorne’s work. By the end of “Chaperone”, it seems as if the goal is simply darkness for darkness’ sake, which is a disservice to the most of the stories that follow.

“Game Over”, the second in the collection, though the first of Thorne’s to be published, represents the first step toward a better class of story. Here the reader finds Timmy, the son of two utterly self-absorbed parents, callously dragging him along through a vitriolic separation. Timmy is engaged in a literally nightmarish battle of wits with another boy, and the story follows him as he develops what he hopes to be a winning volley. This story, despite some stylistic inconsistency, features as its strong point what could be called a very realistic dream sequence, in that it certainly mimics the confusing and frantic nature of a typical nightmare. This sequence of events is presented in a tense that called to mind the text-based adventures popular during the dawn of the home computing age, which proves quite apt and lends an immersive quality to the story. Here, as with “Chaperone”, there is an element of sadism to the part of Timmy, though it seems much more focused, and more firmly based in the character’s circumstances.

The third story, “Shadows in the Mirror”, is easily the most ambitious in the collection. An excellent example of the cyberpunk genre, the story’s arc covers far more territory, and offers a much more substantial, thorough development of character than any other. The protagonist, Rachel, struggles to free herself from a past lived in virtual reality that has spilled, and continues to spill, dangerously into the realm of actual reality. Though this premise is somewhat fanciful, despite our best efforts to blend cyber- and meatspace, it presents the most believable backdrop for several heaping doses of Thorne’s patented darkness. Rife with a sense of powerlessness in the face of pursuit by a merciless tormentor, and peppered with sexual references that leave one feeling suitably sullied, “Shadows in the Mirror” is a thoroughly rich exploration of a believably grim future. Unfortunately, this story, more than the others, is mired in enough spelling and syntactical errors to threaten the prosaic flow. Even more jarring are the confusingly common references to name-brand items and companies, with appearances by Motorola, ExxonMobile, Starbucks, Bluetooth, Google, IMDb, The Maltese Falcon, even Yosemite Sam. During one harrowing scene, frequent reference is made to Rachel’s “key lime Honda Element”. Aside from its color, the reader is left without any further description of the car, forced to rely on their own familiarity with the make and model in question. Each of these references, though clearly made with purpose, serve only to draw the reader out of the dark cyberpunk fantasy world and into recollection of the last commercial they’ve seen.

“To Soar Free” contains the finest prose of all these DARK DOSES. Alise’s is a tale of the struggle for redemption at the very boundaries between life and death. The descriptions of the desert are remarkably apt, and impart a number of sentiments, now bittersweet, now warm and vibrant. The callous antagonist serves suitable counterbalance to the long-suffering Alise, who inspires more than any of the collection’s characters a deep sense of sympathy from the reader. As the story’s resolution nears, it seems the darkness may finally be lifted, if temporarily. However, in accordance with Thorne’s love of the dark and twisted, this reprieve is but a false hope, and the reader is once more subjected to what seems to be little more than darkness for darkness’s sake.

In “Perfect Soldier” the reader is treated to the tried-and-true archetype of sentient military technology loosed upon an unsuspecting nation. From the very beginning, the story stumbles with a reference to Wal-mart as “the former low-price leader”, which sits very awkwardly amidst a battle between the human protagonist and his seemingly unstoppable opponent as the latter lays waste to its surroundings. As this lopsided battle takes place, so too does a debate over the morality of the military-industrial complex, presenting a sound, if typical, argument against the motivations and circumstances which have led to the current state of affairs. Though not as richly developed as the world of “Shadows in the Mirror”, nor possessed of the fluid prose of “To Soar Free”, “Perfect Soldier” does satisfy, particularly at its climax.

“Playing with Fire”, perhaps the shortest of the stories here collected, is a simple chain of rhetorical question, hypothetical situation, and hypothetical result. It is also, though devoid of the callousness evident in each of the preceding stories, the most egregious example of darkness for darkness’s sake. The story is too brief to allow for any meaningful character development and as such lacks any chance of sinking more deeply than the surface, and as such, there seems little purpose to its inclusion.

Finally, “The Fisherman”, notable for being Thorne’s first story to be published in a major printed periodical, is a story set, as the others, in a bleak, dystopian future. Unlike the others, this story is not bereft of all hope. It is here that Thorne’s reverence for authors who have inspired him is fully realized, the dogged persistence of humanity struggling admirably against an all-too-grim setting. The premise of a dying world is quickly established, and nowhere is Thorne’s execution better. For a collection of passable, if flawed, stories, the greatest disappointment might well be that “The Fisherman” is so brief.

In the end, DARK DOSES is, as promised, an exploration of dark places, concepts, and themes, most of which run consistently throughout each story. However, contrasting these persistent themes, such as those of progeny or otherwise subjugated characters rebelling against harsh, authoritarian parentage or rule, is the author’s stylistic inconsistency, each story seeming as an experiment in voice that apparently never produced satisfactory results. There are certainly glimpses of style and voice which could, with the help of a little proofreading and editing, very well lead to success for this burgeoning author, and it will be interesting to see which of these, if any, will set the tone for his next completed story. Todd Thorne is certainly talented enough to rise from these humble beginnings; only time will tell whether or not he manages to do so.

We hope you enjoyed James’s first review on Literally Jen of Dark Doses by Todd Thorne. Many thanks to Todd for taking the time to answer James’s questions regarding his dark short story collection.

The first of your stories to be published was “Game Over”, which I actually felt to be one of the more ambitious stories included in Dark Doses. Was it the first story to be submitted, or were there others? What was it like making the transition from simply writing to submitting and, ultimately, being published?

“Game Over” has a special place in my heart as an earlier version of it took a prize in a contest run by my writers guild. I actually submitted that earlier edition to a few markets and lucked out by receiving some feedback from a few editors. No sale. Great suggestions though, one of which led to me completely rewriting the whole VR scene in the game. The editor felt the original inner VR scene was too disassociated from the tension in the outer story, so that’s what I concentrated on tightening up. It worked. I thus had two editors to thank when “Game Over” sold: the one who bought it, and the one who took their precious, in-high-demand time to offer their insight into why the original story didn’t click for them.

I had my first two short story sales happen fairly close together. The bug bit me for sure; I wanted more. Still do.

The first story I ever wrote and submitted made the rounds through a number of markets before I trunked it. For good. Occasionally I look back on it and offer thanks to the many people who have helped me grow tremendously as a writer since then.

BTW, though I didn’t include it in DARK DOSES, that original VR scene is available in the extended edition of “Game Over” for sale on the Kindle store.

As stated in its preface, your most recent story to be published, “The Fisherman”, is your first to be accepted by a major printed periodical.  Has that experience, a major milestone for any burgeoning author, had any impact on your approach to the craft?

So I have to confess that since Dr. Henry Gee purchased “The Fisherman” every flash story I’ve written since then I’ve wondered if Dr. Gee might like first dibs. But that’s not what you asked.

Though I thought for a while my mentality, attitude, and perhaps outlook might change, I honestly can’t say I’ve noticed any tectonic shifts in my approach to writing or my styling myself as a writer. Don’t get me wrong, it was a huge milestone in my career, one I very much hoped to achieve. But I don’t find myself writing from the perspective of: now I must concentrate and sell to major markets because I’ve hit that level. No, I still keep it simple. I try to write the best story I can that will please an editor and ultimately work for a (hopefully large) number of readers. To me that’s a recipe for success in any market.

Some of your stories, particularly “Shadows in the Mirror”, feature references to many easily-recognizable brand and company names, an element not often encountered to such a degree in works of fiction. Is there a particular reason you chose to use existing products so prevalently in your stories?

A mentor I once had gave me some advice on this. He said (paraphrasing here), “People don’t drink soft drinks. They don’t drive cars. They don’t shop at stores. They don’t play a computer game. Real people drink Coke, drive Mini Coopers, shop at Trader Joe’s, play Words With Friends. Keep your characters real. It makes them real for me as a reader.”

I didn’t think to ask my mentor at the time if I should invoke a famous brand if my words were about to disparage it somehow. So I try to avoid those circumstances. Should one happen to slip through, I’ll just go on record right now as saying it should not be construed as a pointed commentary on behalf of the author. That’s my story and I’ll stick to it.

The stories involving children and teenagers feature a substantial degree of conflict with, or rebellion against, sometimes surprisingly callous parental figures.  Is this in some way a reflection of your own experience as a child, or is there another reason you favor this dynamic?

Did you ever see FRIED GREEN TOMATOES? There is a scene of conflict with two great lines in it:

(Girls) “Face it, lady, we’re younger and faster!”

(Evelyn, after wrecking the girls’ car) “Face it, girls, I’m older and I have more insurance.”

I love that scene.

The conflict and tension between generations offers so much fertile ground for a writer to plow. It can seem like an endless supply of material, though there are dangers of overuse and too much reliance on worn out cliches. I find when it’s done well, it hits home because each of us has so many ways to relate to it personally in our lives. I’m certainly no exception to that.

There are absolutely outstanding stories featuring families and different generations living in total harmony. None bear my name. Nor will they.

Though your biography is brief, you come across as a bit of a technophile. Science fiction history is, of course, riddled with technophile authors who wrote technophobic stories. What are your thoughts on this oft-repeated theme?

I’m a huge technology fanboy. You could say I expect a lot from technology. To an extent I consider it a measure of our greatness, not just what particular gee-whiz coolness we invent, but how we ultimately use it across our society. Sure, some of it is frivolous or a better distraction or a more effective escape from reality. Some technology is vital or has a direct bearing on quality of life. And, of course, some raises serious ethical or moral questions–questions that don’t have easy or appealing answers.

Personally, I think technology defines the future of our race. For good or bad. I’m pulling hard for the good. I find it all too easy, though, to write stories about the bad. I suppose that might make me seem like a pessimist. I’m not. I’m a hopeful but conscientious technologist.

To find out more about Todd Thorne, visit him on Facebook and chat with him on Twitter. 

This year I decided I wanted to commemorate J.M. Barrie, author of PETER AND WENDY (more commonly known as “Peter Pan”), for his birthday. So first things first–happy birthday, J.M. Barrie! There are a handful of stories that have touched and inspired me throughout my life, and PETER AND WENDY is one of the earliest that I remember. I grew up watching the 1953 Disney film over and over, I have seen Peter Pan on stage at least 3 times that I can recall, and I also loved to watch the Mary Martin film.

And when I was 9, a remarkable film came out, HOOK. I have always loved Neverland, the idea that there could be a wonderful island full of flowers that bloom in winter and surrounding seas filled with mermaids, and a place where one would never have to grow old. I was always a little sad that Peter Pan would decide to give up such an amazing world and grow up.

Some time after all those films and the stage plays, I finally read the actual PETER AND WENDY. This might come as a surprise to you, but I actually love those films more than I love the book. I’ve never really been able to explain why.

When I finally decided it was time to read CAPT. HOOK, I was very delighted to see that it was written by the same man who wrote the screenplay for HOOK. In many ways, this is a sort of prequel to HOOK; certain things really stood out to me, like the constant referral to “good form” and “bad form”, and an explanation for why he doesn’t like clocks and seems to have it in for the Darling family.

CAPT. HOOK begins with a young James Matthew (our future Hook) attending the prestigious Eton. Because he is different than the other boys, he is bullied, and the leader of those bullies is a an older boy named Arthur Darling. James Matthew bests the older boys, and is looked upon as a hero by his classmates. While the boys at Eton see his differences as a bad thing, the visiting Sultana Ananova becomes enchanted with him. Unfortunately because of her station in life, there is no way that they could be together. Eventually “Jas” wears out his welcome at Eton, and his father signs him up to work on one of his ships. His journeys take him to Africa, where he befriends an enslaved people and eventually takes over the ship as Captain Hook. But will he ever be reunited with his lost love again?

Captain Hook is supposed to be the bad guy, but I couldn’t help cheering him on in CAPT. HOOK, and hoping that he would reunite with Ananova so that they could live together in Neverland, the beautiful island that Jas only seemed able to find in his dreams.

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