Happy Thursday guys! Today I am super excited and lucky to have a Q&A for you with Eric Walters. The author of The Rule of Three and it’s upcoming sequel The Rule of Three: Fight For Power!
If you haven’t checked out my review for The Rule of Three hop to it! I seriously loved this book and am crazy excited to share my review for the sequel soon! If you’re new to the series NEVER FEAR! A SYNOPSIS IS HERE! (I’ve been itching to say that!)
One afternoon, every single machine in sixteen-year-old Adam’s high school computer lab stops working. Outside, cars won’t start, phones are down, and a blackout is widespread. Soon Adam will discover that the problem has paralyzed not just his town but the whole country and beyond. As resources dwindle, crises mount, and chaos descends, he will see that his suburban neighborhood must band together for protection.
Violence will erupt and Adam will understand that having a police captain for a mother and a retired government agent living next door are not just the facts of his life but the keys
to his survival.
Set in the here and now but with a distinctly dystopian feel, this is Eric’s most exciting and commercial title yet!
1. When I first read The Rule of Three my thoughts instantly went to the blackout of 2003. Was that some of the inspiration that lead you to write The Rule of Three? If not where did the inspiration come from?
I remember that blackout so vividly. We all sat around our pool, eating melting ice cream and staring up at the stars in the sky that were always there but only visible because of the black. We all wondered how long this was going to last. This episode, and things like Hurricane Katrina were very vivid examples of how quickly society can degenerate. For me there’s also my trips to Kenya. I’ve seen, very close up, how things can not only break down but how close to the edge things are when there is a limited supply of the essentials. People begin to act in ways that you could never image when water, food and shelter are limited.
2. It is rare that we find a YA book written from a male POV. It is especially hard to find one written in a male POV that feels tangible! Did you find it difficult to write from Adam’s view?
I think being 16 or 17 is one of the most powerful times of human development. You’re certainly not a child but not yet fully treated as an adult by those around you. Those times, those feelings and emotions are strongly something I can identify with, still feel, still understand. Adam lives in my house, in my neighborhood, goes to the school where my children attended, drives the car my son drove that belonged to his grandfather. I strongly identify with him and feel the same emotional, moral struggles that he’s going through. Could I kill somebody? If my family was at stake I have no question. I could do what needed to be done.
3. In The Rule of Three we are introduced to an amazingly strong set of characters that are not only surviving in this unknown disaster but thriving in it! Which character do you think you’d most be like in the event of a similar blackout fiasco? Why?
I really like the quiet strength of Herb but what I really admire is his ability to understand human nature, to problem solve situations, to figure out what was going to happen. My background is in social work and psychology. I spent a great deal of my professional life trying to figure people out – first as a social worker and now as a writer. I hpe that I could bring a little bit of Herb’s understanding to a situation.
4. How many books are left for Adam and his community to survive through?
A third – called Will to Survive – is scheduled for January 2016. Don’t tell my publishers yet – it’s just our secret – but I really have a fourth partially thought through. The end of the third book takes us to the fall – how will these people survive in the winter? How will they survive when the greatest enemy they face is nature?
5. Challenge time! Blurb The Rule of Three: The Fight for Power in one tweet!
When it couldn’t get any worse, it does. Friends betray and become the worst type of enemies. Danger isn’t just outside but within.
AREN’T YOU JUST EXCITED!?!?! And to spread this excitement around I’m giving away my ARC of The Rule of Three: Fight for Power (US ONLY)! To enter just leave a comment below stating if you’ve read The Rule of Three or not (not a determining factor) and how well you think you would do in a world where all electronics died suddenly, tensions were running high and resources were running slow. A winner will be picked and emailed on the 16th!
