eSpecs Books Focus #10: Ty Drago
Tell us a bit about your latest work.
Dragons is a young adult science fiction thriller set at the end of this century. By now, space travel has been wholly privatized. Mining colonies have been established on the moon, Mars, and some of the asteroids, all of them controlled by the powerful Coffin Solar Exploration (CSE) and its billionaire founder, Charles Coffin.
In this world, Andy Brand, an eighteen-year-old high school senior from a small town in New Jersey finds himself a prisoner in a strange, hi-tech cell. His captors want no ransom. Instead, they seem interesting in compelling Andy to do the seemingly impossible: to create fire without benefit of a match. Andy, having been trained nearly from birth to do so, denies and resists them at every turn—that is, until his captors push him too far and force him to reveal what they already know.
Andy is a Dragon, a member of a vanishingly small subspecies of humanity capable of generating enormous amounts of thermal energy at will. Dragons have been hidden among us since the dawn of time, living quiet lives, trying to stay under the radar, because they know full well what can happen when they don’t.
But there are always those who feel they can control the uncontrollable. Charles Coffin needs a Dragon to help with a rescue effort, and he’s stolen Andy from his home and family to make that happen.
All is not as it seems, however, and Andy soon finds himself embroiled in a complex web of deceit and betrayal, a political and scientific puzzle that will test not just his considerable power, but his courage and intellect as well. Lives are at stake, and only a Dragon can save them.
That’s all you get.
What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?
I’ve always been a writer. At the age of three, before I could read, I wrote stories. This usually involved me sitting naked on the living room floor, scribbling with a crayon (I’ve seen the pictures). But, in my head, I was telling a story. Later on, I “graduated” to drawing comics books. These I shared with the kids in the neighborhood, my first readership. But it was clear from a young age that I’m no kind of graphic artist. So, in high school, I embraced the written word and it’s been my religion ever since.
What inspires you to write?
Author David Morrell once said that every writer should ask the question, “Why do I write?” For me, that’s easy to answer. I want to be a hero. I wish I was a hero. But I’m not. So, instead, I write about heroes. These heroes vary drastically, from the “super” to the “anti,” from the surprisingly ordinary to the over-the-top. I enjoy finding new ways to tell their stories, and I absolutely love it when my readers appreciate them. In fact, I guess you could say that I write for two reasons, the second one being the audience. As I write largely for children, I know firsthand how enthusiastic they can become about my tales and characters. It’s a joy to write for them.
What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?
Most of my novels deal with some kind of “kid empowerment,” the idea that children make the best heroes—that they can be, and sometimes are, so much more than we give them credit for. Whether my protagonists are twelve, sixteen, eighteen, or twenty, the story always revolves around their struggles. Sometimes those struggles are against evil, invasion, or oppression. Sometimes they deal with growing up or coming into one’s own under complicated and often dangerous circumstances. But, in every case, they are in the middle of it, relying on themselves, their own courage and ingenuity, to see them through.
That’s the heart of children’s fiction.
What would be your dream project?
Well, I don’t know if this is a “dream project” exactly, but it’s a deeply personal one. I recently completed a rare adult novel, one based on a rough outline that my father left for me on cassette tapes before he died in 1992. Called The New Americans, this long family saga is a huge departure for me. It doesn’t focus on speculative elements (science fiction, fantasy, and horror), which have been my bread and butter all these years. Instead, The New Americans tells the story of three young men from rural Sicily, who are forced by circumstance to emigrate to the United States in 1915, at the heart of what is now called the “Great Arrival,” the single largest influx of immigrants in this country’s history. It’s a story of family, betrayal, and redemption. As of now, it’s out in the market, looking for a home.
If you’d to know more, you can check the podcast that my wife and I did about this novel and the tapes that inspired them. Look for “Legacy: The Novel Writing Experience” wherever you get your podcasts!
What writers have influenced your style and technique?
Wow. That’s a tough one. I have authors I love: Yann Martel, Lee Child, Eoin Colfer, Jonathan Maberry, Heather Brewer, A.S. King, Stephen King, and others, but I’m not really sure how any of them may have influenced me. They certainly inspire me; reading their work often gets my own creative juices flowing. But I’ve worked hard to find my own voice, to tell my stories as best I can with my own style.
I guess, if I’m as honest as I can be, I’ve been touched to some degree by Maberry’s wit, Martel’s irony, and A.S. King’s truth. But I like to think that’s more about motivation than influence. Read more:
https://seanhtaylor.blogspot.com/2021/08/especs-books-focus-10-ty-drago.html
