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Thomas Wheeler is the author of the new middle grade novel Everwhen: The Doomsday Vault. His other work includes the novel Cursed. He is also a showrunner, screenwriter, and producer, and he lives in Los Angeles.
Q: What inspired you to write Everwhen: The Doomsday Vault?
A: The idea hit me in a meditation, which doesn’t happen often (and I’m a sporadic meditator) but when it does usually good things happen.
Initially, the words The College of Space Machines, Multiverses and Other Odd Sciences – C.O.S.M.O.S. – wouldn’t leave my brain, so I brought it up to my wife and she said straight out: “Write that.” So, that’s what I did. Bertie’s story came along shortly thereafter, and I was off to the races.
It answered a few yearnings I’d been having, wanting to write something as a science enthusiast that might tickle the curiosity of younger readers about the wonders of science without being too lecturing.
But the other need it filled for me personally was the tone. One of my favorite authors was the late great Douglas Adams and this felt like a love letter to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, something both absurd and fun, emotional and mind-bending.
Q: How would you describe the dynamic among your three protagonists, Bertie, Zoe, and Amelia?
A: A necessity that grows into a family. At first our heroes are forced together by circumstance. They’ve been plucked out of their regular lives and brought to this impossible school. Everything is frightening and bewildering, exciting, but all of it is different.
On top of that you’ve got the classic first day of school vibes and speaking from experience – I had seven new schools growing up – you grab onto whoever you can!
Lucky for Bertie, Zoe and Millie, while very different people, share that rare quality (that I so admire) in that they just don’t care what others think of them. Whereas Bertie is constantly judging himself against his peers and doubting himself. But Zoe and Millie have their own issues and over the course of the story, they become a support system for each other in ways their families haven’t been.
Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the novel said, “Via alternating perspectives, the intersectionally diverse protagonists face and embrace the chaos throughout their wildly inventive adventure.” What do you think of that description?
A: Works for me! I loved the idea of putting kids together from different times, backgrounds, cultures, and experiences and watch them contend with the same problems in this extraordinary world.
In our divided times I wanted to see young people working together, strengthened by their differences, attending a school dedicated to solving the problems of our future.
As a writer, I relished the challenge of seeing Everwhen through three different sets of eyes and interpreting its challenges through the lens of their unique time periods.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: First and foremost, I want them to go on a thrilling ride and have fun!
Second, I hope they feel something for Bertie, Zoe, and Millie and hopefully, are able to see some of their own dreams, creative instincts, or even anxieties reflected back at them.
And third, if young (or older) readers come away with a curiosity about primordial black holes, Schrodinger’s Cat, time paradoxes, the real mathematical concepts behind the Haunted Formula, cosmic strings, or historical figures, that’s awesome.
Q: This is the first in a series--can you tell us what’s coming next?
A: In addition to the continuing adventures of Bertie, Zoe, and Millie, I am beginning the work on some new characters from the future coming to Everwhen, who I suspect will be reader favorites. As for a tease I’ll offer three words: Tim the Dolphin.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Everwhen is about the intersection between imagination and scientific inspiration. I approach this subject matter as an enthusiast, not an expert, which will be clear to any true scientist reading Everwhen!
But I think science needs us creative types and, my goodness, we need scientists, so I hope Everwhen can lure the science-wary into seeing how wondrous, bizarre, and fascinating the worlds of chemistry, biology, and physics can be. To build a safe and thriving future we need each other.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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