Ethan is my 10 year old son. He is a fan of manga, loves drawing and reads a great deal. One of his favourite recent reads is Changeling
by Steve Feasey.
Changeling tells the story of Trey, a teenage boy who has no idea that he is actually the last hereditary werewolf. That is, until his dorm room is mysteriously trashed one night and he slowly discovers how it got to be that way. Cue a fantastic adventure full of vampires, demons, socerers and more, much more.
Steve recently gave a talk at Ethan's school and kindly agreed to answer some questions once Ethan had finished the book.
The results are below.
EP: Hello Steve, thanks for letting me ask some questions. Here goes.
What books did you read when you were my age? I am 10.
SF: Hi Ethan. Thanks for putting together a great bunch of questions.
At your age I was reading classic adventure stories. I was a big fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and really enjoyed the Barsoom
series, but the Tarzan
books were my favourites. I also read Treasure Island
and The Jungle Book
at about the same time. One book that I remember reading, which I’d recommend having a squint at, is The Machine Gunners
by Robert Westall – terrific stuff.
EP: And what books do you read now?
SF: I read a bit of everything. I always have a big pile of books waiting for me to read, and I like to mix up the types of book that I read. I’ve recently read Let The Right One In
by John Ajvide Lindqvist (excellent vampire story), Blood Brother
by J. A. Kerley (serial killer thriller), and I am currently reading The Equivoque Principle
by Darren Craske (a Victorian adventure romp).
EP: Why did you choose to make Trey a werewolf and not something else like a vampire?
SF: I think that there are more than enough vampire books out there already, don’t you?. And besides, werewolves are the next big thing! Seriously though, I’ve always had a thing about werewolves, and I really liked the idea that a boy could live out his entire young life without knowing that he was born with his ‘curse’, only for it to rear its ugly head when he enters his teens. Plus the transformation scenes are so much fun to write.
EP: My favourite bit in the book is when they are looking for Alexa and go into the mansion where Tom starts shooting the spiders. What was your favourite bit to write?
SF: My favourite scene is where Lucien has to force Trey to change into a werewolf by using a cattle-prod. It’s not necessarily the most exciting scene, but it was the seed from which the entire Changeling series grew, so it’s special to me. The fight scene on the London Underground with the Shadow Demons was good to write too. I like the action-stuff. It’s not easy to write, but it’s the most fun to visualise and try to get down on the page.
EP: And who is your favourite character? I like Tom because he swears and is funny.
SF: LOL. Tom is my go-to character when I need to relieve the tension a bit. He’s quirky and comedic, but has a rough and ruthless side to him too. I use him as a release valve when I want to lighten the mood a bit - which is important when writing horror. But my favourite character is probably Lucien - he’s just so cool. Or maybe Trey…or Alexa…or…
EP: Does the drawing on the cover of Changeling look like you imagined Trey would look when you were writing the book?
SF: Not really. I think that the cover of the second book - Changeling: Dark Moon
- is more how I imagined Trey in full-werewolf-mode. Having said that, I think that Kev Walker has done an amazing job on all of the covers (I got to see the artwork for book 3 this week, and it is stunning – seriously scary).
EP: If you could have a quote from anyone in the world for the front of your book who would it be?
SP: Stephen King. For me he’s the best pound-for-pound storyteller out there, and I love his early books. If Mr King was too busy I’d go for Clive Barker – that guy can write like hell too.
EP: I loved Changeling, what other authors would you recommend that I read?
SF: I’m sure you’d love the Artemis Fowl
books by Eion Colfer, and Horowitz’s Power of Five
series is supposed to be good (I’ve not read them myself yet). The Black Book of Secrets
by F. E. Higgins is great stuff, so I’d recommend that as a must-read.
EP: And finally, you must be selling lots of books, can you lend me a fiver?
SF: I tell you what; I’ll lend you a fiver if you promise to use it to buy a copy of Changeling: Dark Moon when it comes out in August. How about that? (Shameless plug, or what?)
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Ethan and I both want to thank Steve for taking the time to answer his questions. I can report that Ethan was completely wrapped up in Steve's book while he was reading it and he cannot wait to read the next one in the series. That may be a useful recommendation if you have kids of a similar age.
Steve Feasey has a very good website and also a blog which is well worth checking out. Changeling is published by Macmillan and is out now. The second volume follows in August.