Quantum Coin: The Superb Concept Art Works of Sam Weber
Sam Weber began his studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary before relocating to New York to further his illustration career and attend graduate school at The School of Visual Arts. He is now based in Brooklyn, New York, where he works professionally as an artist and illustrator.
Quantum Coin: The Superb Concept Art Works of Sam Weber
Sam Weber began his studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary before relocating to New York to further his illustration career and attend graduate school at The School of Visual Arts. He is now based in Brooklyn, New York, where he works professionally as an artist and illustrator.
These authors will be doing a meet+greet and signing at the West Windsor Public Library in Mercer County on July 19th from 3:00 to 4:30 PM so stop by if you can and meet these great people!
~ E. C. Myers - Fair Coin and Quantum Coin
~ Kit Grindstaff - The Flame in the Mist
~ Alissa Grosso - Popular, Ferocity Summer, and Shallow Pond, and
~ Evan Roskos - Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets
I'm a bit late in posting this (that this interview slipped between the cracks is entirely my fault) but here we have E.C. Myers, author of the fantastic Young Adult sci-fi adventure Fair Coin. He took the time to answer some questions so lets see what he had to say.
1. In one sentence how would you describe Fair Coin to a potential reader?
A boy finds a magic coin that grants his wishes when he flips it—as long as it lands on heads.
2. As an author what would you consider your greatest influences?
This is always a tricky question. I believe that everything influences me as a writer and as a person, from a random short story I once read to a conversation with a stranger on the bus, even (or especially) if I don’t remember it. But I also assume that my greatest influences date back to my early childhood, when I probably wasn’t aware that I was being influenced. So I’ll name check a bunch of authors I loved when I was younger, not by any means a comprehensive list: William Sleator, C.S. Lewis, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, Robert C. O’Brien, Beverly Cleary, Diane Duane, Hugh Lofting, Diana Wynne Jones, and Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene (whomever happened to be writing under those pseudonyms). Cartoons were also a huge part of my life, particularly He-Man, Thundercats, and Duck Tales. And there’s no denying the impact of some of my favorite films, including Back to the Future and the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, and TV shows like Quantum Leap, The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and Get Smart.
3. Fair Coin features quite a bit of complexity, was it ever difficult to keep track of everything?
Oh boy. Yes! Especially once I began revising and I had to remember what I had changed from one draft to the next, which made the whole process a little meta. One challenge was making sure that the coin worked consistently throughout the book, and that I was keeping track of whether the coin landed on heads or tails whenever Ephraim flipped it. I also had to keep tabs on shifting personalities and what each person knew at any given time, and sometimes even what they were wearing in a particular scene. Finally, the ending required me to actually work my way backward through the manuscript and account for every wish that Ephraim had made. I also had to make sure that I was foreshadowing everything as well as I could; as a Star Trek fan, I know how much of a stickler science fiction fans can be for details. I approached it a little like The Sixth Sense, so that you could go back and find something to reinforce what happens later in the book, except that I prefer to trust readers to follow along or hope that they will trust me to be as thorough as possible.
4. Say you are buying a recently released book for a dearly beloved friend and an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, what would it be?
I’ve just learned that Philip Reeve’s excellent YA novel Mortal Engines is being re-released in the U.S., so I think I’ll be giving out lots of copies of that. It’s the first book in a series that has been out of print here for a while, so chances are many people haven’t read it yet, but I hope they will. In the U.S., the quartet was originally titled “The Hungry City Chronicles,” but it has been rebranded as “Predator Cities” with fantastic new covers. The premise is that there are “traction cities” which roam the countryside and chase down smaller towns and cities, then consume them for their raw resources and technology. It’s post-apocalyptic and steampunky, and it has some of the best characterization and world-building of any science fiction I’ve ever read.
5. How and why did the concept of Fair Coin first originate?
As far as I’m aware, there wasn’t one particular thing that inspired the idea. The premise of a boy with a magic coin that changes reality whenever he flips it popped into my head like a scene from a movie. It almost came from nowhere, but in a way it came from everywhere. We talked about influences earlier; well, stories about magic coins and wishes have been appearing in fiction for a long time, so it was all there for my subconscious to draw from and mash up with other stories and ideas and transform into something new, which I hoped would be interesting and original enough to interest readers. As for why… I guess it was Fate?
6. If Fair Coin were an ice cream flavor what would it be?
Vanilla with peanut butter swirl. Hopefully its potential readers don’t have peanut allergies!
7. Do you have a sequel to Fair Coin and what might we expect?
The sequel is called Quantum Coin. We recently revealed the brilliant cover by Sam Weber, and the book should be out in October 2012. Nearly a year after the events in Fair Coin, Ephraim finally seems to have a handle on his life. Then an old friend turns up at the worst possible moment and tells him that he could lose it all if he doesn’t help her stop whatever is threatening the multiverse. I set up some rules for myself in Fair Coin which I intentionally broke in Quantum Coin, and I basically tried to give Ephraim a really tough time. I had a lot of fun doing it and I think readers will have fun with it too, especially if they liked Jena, Nathan, and Zoe, who all have a lot more to do in this one.
8. What is your dream story project?
There are two projects I’ve wanted to work on for a long time: a short film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” and a screenplay for Robert C. O’Brien’s The Silver Crown. But there are film options and estates and expenses all tied up with those, so I don’t know if it will ever happen.
I started out wanting to be a screenwriter, and on some level I’d still like to write for a television series, to be able to build a big story and tell it episode-by-episode, season-by-season, to a (hopefully) large audience. It would be incredible to have my words transformed by actors, director, cinematographers, and visual effects guys into a visual story. I don’t have what it takes to work in Hollywood though, and right now I am pretty happy just devoting my limited free time to my own books and occasionally short stories. But program distribution is evolving, and I could see myself tackling a web series one day.
Since we’re dreaming here, I’d also be thrilled to write a script for one of those Star Trek fan series, like Phase II! And deep down, I really want to write a Hardy Boys book, a Choose Your Own Adventure, and a Star Trek novel.
9. Are you a fan of The Butterfly Effect starring Ashton Kutcher?
Actually, yes. That film really took me by surprise when I first saw it in theaters years ago; it ended up being much smarter and more interesting than I expected, and Ashton Kutcher was decent in a dramatic role—with the exception of one scene that is meant to be scary and shocking but always makes me laugh. I prefer the alternate cut of the film, which is a bit darker and has a more tragic ending than the theatrical version. I was intrigued when a few reviewers compared Fair Coin to The Butterfly Effect, but then I thought it over and realized I can totally see the similarities. If you like The Butterfly Effect at all, do not under any circumstances watch the direct-to-DVD sequel, even if you like Erica Durance. I would love to go back and erase that one from my personal timeline.
10. Say Fair Coin were to be picked up by a major film studio and turned into a Hollywood summer blockbuster. What three songs would you absolutely require be put on the movie soundtrack?
You put together a terrific playlist for the book (thanks again for that), and I’d pick one of the songs from that: “This Is Not the End” by the Bravery, which is doubly awesome because there are two versions of the song, the “sun” and “moon” recordings. How awesome is that? Natalie at Mindful Musings featured Fair Coin on her “Tune in Tuesday” feature and I like the song that she picked for the book, “The Walk” by Imogen Heap; I heard an excellent cover with male vocals that would be perfect for a film from Ephraim’s POV. Finally, I figure any film version of Fair Coin has to include some of Iron & Wine’s “Boy With a Coin.”
11. And final words for readers?
If you haven’t read Fair Coin yet, I’d be honored if you gave it a try. If you like any of the books, authors, or shows I mentioned in this interview, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy my book too. Well, a fifty-fifty chance at least.
And here is a big thanks to Mr Myers for taking the time to answer our questions and a big apology that this interview was posted so late in the game. Cheers!
So get this, E.C. Myers (author of the best YA Fiction book of 2012) is doing this super awesome giveaway to promote his sequel Quantum Coin. Winners will receive a signed hardcover copy of Fair Coin, a swag pack of bookmarks - postcards - and coin cases, and the first signed ARC of Quantum Coin. This is a great and I suggest all of my three followers give it a shot. Contest rules can be found here.
