The Next Big Thing: A Global Book Tour

My wonderful illustrator friend and fellow SCBWI mentee Christina Forshay asked me to participate in a  global book tour called „The Next Big Thing“. The idea originated in Australia, I get to answer questions about a recent or upcoming book and then pass on to another author or illustrator friend. Here are my answers:

1) What is the title of your next/most recent book?

The title of the latest book I illustrated is „The Broken Lands“ by Kate Milford.

2) Who is publishing it?

Clarion Books

3) When does it hit the book store shelves?

It’s in stores now.

4) What genre does your book fall under?

middle grade novel for ages 10 and up

5) Please give a one-sentence synopsis of your book...

„The Broken Lands“ is a suspenseful historical fantasy about two kids fighting to protect a struggling city of New York from falling into the hands of the devil.

Sam and Jin sailing underneath the almost finished Brooklyn Bridge

6) Which part of the illustration process stood out for this book?

For this book a lot of time went into research before I even started sketching to understand what New York, Brooklyn and Coney Island looked like in 1877, what people wore, how the Brooklyn Bridge was built and what it looked like in different stages. The author Kate Milford sent me a fantastic children’s book about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, „The Brooklyn Bridge“ by Elisabeth Mann and Alan Witschonke , which was very helpful, thank you, Kate!

The gangs of Five Points wore absolutely flamboyant clothes

I love doing research like this, and for this book we decided to include a map, because the characters move around the city a lot, so I really needed to understand were everything was. 

The map I drew of New York and Coney Island in 1877

Once I had put all this information together, I could start sketching.

7) How long did it take you to complete the finished artwork?

Several months once I had the research squared away and got to sketching, revising, finishing....

8) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Hm...great question, but tough! I don’t think I have any specific actors in mind to play Jin and Sam, although I think a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt might have been perfect for Sam. And I am a big fan of Gary Oldman, I think he’d be great for Walker, one of Jack Hellcoal’s henchmen.

9) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Hmm... another tough one. No book comes to mind immediately, but if I had to draw comparisons I would choose a big one. Kate Milford creates her own world that is touching reality, drawing from historical facts, but weaving fantasy and folklore into it. The characters and places and stories she writes about are very distinct and even though she writes series as well as stand-alone books they all connect together, very much like Tolkien’s books do.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

I already mentioned that this book is not stand-alone but a prequel, and there will be more. Also, Kate Milford self-published a novella „The Kairos Mechanism“, at the same time „The Broken Lands“ came out, to tie together the two books and lead on to the next. I was honored that she asked me to illustrate the cover for this novella too, this book is another fantastic read, please check it out!

Thank you so much for asking me to participate, Christina! Please go take a look at Christina’s beautiful bedtime story „Goodnight Baseball“, in stores now!

Next I am tagging my superbly talented artist friend Catia Chien, who’s book „The longest Night“, written by Laurel Snyder, just hit the shelves:

Catia, you’re up!