Untimed by Andy GavinCharlie’s the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, even his own mother can’t remember his name. And girls? The invisible man gets more dates.Andy was so nice to do an interview!
As if that weren’t enough, when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don’t take him seriously.
Still, this isn’t all bad. In fact, there’s this girl, another time traveler, who not only remembers his name, but might even like him! Unfortunately, Yvaine carries more than her share of baggage: like a baby boy and at least two ex-boyfriends! One’s famous, the other’s murderous, and Charlie doesn’t know who is the bigger problem.
When one kills the other — and the other is nineteen year-old Ben Franklin — things get really crazy. Can their relationship survive? Can the future? Charlie and Yvaine are time travelers, they can fix this — theoretically — but the rules are complicated and the stakes are history as we know it. And there's one more wrinkle: he can only travel into the past, and she can only travel into the future!
What was the
reasoning/ the story behind Untimed?
Untimed began from a fusion of ideas. Lingering in my mind for over twenty
years was a time travel story about people from the future who fell “downtime”
to relive exciting moments in history (until things go wrong). I worked out a
time travel system but had no plot or characters. Separately, in 2010, as a
break from editing The Darkening Dream, I experimented with new voice
techniques, especially first person present. I also read various “competition.”
One of these was The Lightning Thief (the first Percy Jackson novel),
which has an amazing series concept (if a slightly limp execution). I
love mythology and history, and liked the notion of something with a rich body
of material to mine. I wanted an open ended high concept that drew on my
strengths, which brought me back to time travel.
Some of the mechanics
from my earlier concept merged well with a younger protagonist, voiced in a
visceral first person present style. I started thinking about it, and his voice
popped into my head. I pounded out a chapter not too dissimilar from the first
chapter of the final novel. Then the most awesome villain teleported into the
situation. I can’t remember how or why, but it happened quickly and
spontaneously. Tick-Tocks were born (or forged).
the
result in a paragraph:
Charlie’s the kind of boy
that no one notices. Hell, his own mother can’t remember his name. So when a
mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they
tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don’t
take him seriously. Still, this isn’t all bad. Who needs school when you can
learn about history first hand, like from Ben Franklin himself. And there’s
this girl… Yvaine… another time traveler. All good. Except for the rules: boys
only travel into the past and girls only into the future. And the baggage:
Yvaine’s got a baby boy and more than her share of ex-boyfriends. Still, even
if they screw up history — like accidentally let the founding father be killed
— they can just time travel and fix it, right? But the future they return to is
nothing like Charlie remembers. To set things right, he and his scrappy new
girlfriend will have to race across the centuries, battling murderous machines
from the future, jealous lovers, reluctant parents, and time itself.
What is the
greatest pleasure of being an author?
Bringing
scenes that I have in my head to life is my favorite part of writing. This can
apply to first draft stuff or to substantial revision once I've done the
planning. It’s really quite a rush to pound out a scene, like making solid
something that just exists as a dream or vision.
During
the publishing process, getting art back from my artists is my favorite part.
Nothing like seeing a new cover!
What else have you
wrote/ published?
Besides
Untimed, and the thirteen video games
I’ve created (including Crash Bandicoot
and Jak & Daxter), I wrote a
historical fantasy novel called The
Darkening Dream:
1913, Salem, Massachusetts – Sarah Engelmann’s life is full
of friends, books, and avoiding the pressure to choose a husband, until an
ominous vision and the haunting call of an otherworldly trumpet shake her. When
she stumbles across a gruesome corpse, she fears that her vision was more of a
premonition. And when she sees the murdered boy moving through the crowd at an
amusement park, Sarah is thrust into a dark battle she does not
understand.
With the help of Alex, an attractive Greek immigrant who knows a startling amount about the undead, Sarah sets out to uncover the truth. Their quest takes them to the factory mills of Salem, on a midnight boat ride to spy on an eerie coastal lair, and back, unexpectedly, to their own homes. What can Alex’s elderly, vampire-hunting grandfather and Sarah’s own rabbi father tell them? And what do Sarah’s continuing visions reveal?
No less than Gabriel’s Trumpet, the tool that will announce the End of Days, is at stake, and the forces that have banded to recover it include a 900 year-old vampire, a trio of disgruntled Egyptian gods, and a demon-loving Puritan minister. At the center of this swirling cast is Sarah, who must fight a millennia-old battle against unspeakable forces, knowing the ultimate prize might be herself.
With the help of Alex, an attractive Greek immigrant who knows a startling amount about the undead, Sarah sets out to uncover the truth. Their quest takes them to the factory mills of Salem, on a midnight boat ride to spy on an eerie coastal lair, and back, unexpectedly, to their own homes. What can Alex’s elderly, vampire-hunting grandfather and Sarah’s own rabbi father tell them? And what do Sarah’s continuing visions reveal?
No less than Gabriel’s Trumpet, the tool that will announce the End of Days, is at stake, and the forces that have banded to recover it include a 900 year-old vampire, a trio of disgruntled Egyptian gods, and a demon-loving Puritan minister. At the center of this swirling cast is Sarah, who must fight a millennia-old battle against unspeakable forces, knowing the ultimate prize might be herself.
Are there any books
in the works that we can look forward to?
Yep. Right now, I’m
writing two more novels and adapting Untimed into a screenplay. The new
books are the Untimed sequel and a totally separate short novel that
involves old school fairies and iambic pentameter.
Andy Gavin is a serial creative, polymath, novelist, entrepreneur, computer programmer, author, foodie, and video game creator. He co-founded video game developer Naughty Dog and co-created Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. He started numerous companies, has been lead programmer on video games that have sold more than forty million copies, and has written two novels.
His first book, The Darkening Dream, has been well-received by fans and critics alike. Publisher’s Weekly called it “gorgeously creepy, strangely humorous, and sincerely terrifying.” Untimed is an even more ambitious follow-up. It is a lavish production with a cover by acclaimed fantasy artist Cliff Nielsen and twenty-one full page interior illustrations by Dave Phillips.
You can find Andy:
And Tribute Books is doing a giveaway!His first book, The Darkening Dream, has been well-received by fans and critics alike. Publisher’s Weekly called it “gorgeously creepy, strangely humorous, and sincerely terrifying.” Untimed is an even more ambitious follow-up. It is a lavish production with a cover by acclaimed fantasy artist Cliff Nielsen and twenty-one full page interior illustrations by Dave Phillips.
You can find Andy:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for stopping by and check out this great book!
Lucy, thanks for giving all the YA fans out there a heads-up about Andy's new release :)
ReplyDeleteSuch a fabulous interview! It's interesting that the author read up on the 'competition', I've never thought of other books as 'competition' before, although I suppose that does make sense. It's also so neat to see how much the author enjoys putting life into scenes. =)
ReplyDeleteFabulous interview, and thanks for sharing! <3