THE LOOP
by: Shandy Lawson
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Summary:
Ben and Maggie have met, fallen in love, and died together countless times. Over the course of two pivotal days—both the best and worst of their lives—they struggle again and again to resist the pull of fate and the force of time itself. With each failure, they return to the beginning of their end, a wild road trip that brings them to the scene of their own murders and into the hands of the man destined to kill them.
As time circles back on itself, events become more deeply ingrained, more inescapable for the two kids trapped inside the loop. The closer they come to breaking out, the tighter fate’s clutches seem to grip them. They devise a desperate plan to break free and survive the days ahead, but what if Ben and Maggie’s only shot at not dying is surviving apart?
The Interview
We had the opportunity to ask Shandy a few questions about The Loop, and about himself! Read on – I think you’ll be surprised by some of the answers!!
Give me your three-minute elevator pitch about The Loop.
I can do a lot of talking in three minutes, but I’ll keep it brief: The Loop is the story of Benjamin and Maggie, two teens forced to relive the last two days of their lives over and over. They don’t exactly remember that they’ve lived those days before, but they do have a sense of what’s happening to them. The kicker is that they are always murdered at the end of their two days, and in order to break out of that loop and grow old together they must figure out how to outwit Fate, who is determined to keep them on a pretty ugly track. It’s a fast-paced story, and readers have told me they’ve had a hard time finding a good spot to put the book down.
Introduce us to Ben & Maggie.
Maggie is sixteen and a little on the dark side. She’s sort of aware of the loop she’s in and how it always ends, so it’s hard for her not to have become a bit cynical and hardened by it. Her hair is dark, her eyes are dark, but underneath it all she’s actually a funny, warm person. She just tries not to let it show. She’s seriously attracted to Ben, but she can’t let that distract her from her efforts to break out of the loop– so she’s all business. At first.
Ben is the same age as Maggie. He doesn’t remember nearly as much about their trips through the loop as Maggie does, so he feels like a novice and is actually a bit intimidated by her. He considers her miles out of his league– smarter, better looking, cooler– so it takes him a little while to come out of his shell and rise to the challenge of escaping the loop. But when Maggie’s in danger and it’s on him to come to the rescue, that’s when he discovers how strong he really is.
If you could introduce one of your characters to another character from any other book, who would it be and why?
I would like to see Steve sit down over coffee with Pennywise the Clown (from It, by Stephen King), because a) Steve is a pretty confident guy and I think his bravado would ruffle Pennywise’s feathers and b) I would really just want to see Pennywise sitting at a cafe drinking coffee. That alone would be equal parts surreal, terrifying, and hilarious.
When did you write your first book and what was the title? Did you always want to write?
When I was little I used to make books out of copy paper with construction paper covers, stapled in the middle and folded in half. I must have written dozens of “books” like that, everything from a Star Wars spinoff written for the stage to a Fall of the House of Usher-inspired story about a creepy house. Of course, these books were terrible. Terrible. I don’t remember what the first one was.
I did always want to write, but it took me until I was halfway through my thirties before I became serious about it and wrote my first “real” novel, a middle-grade clue hunt/adventure called A Rosewood Box.
Do you have any interesting writing quirks or rituals?
Nothing too interesting… I do need a completely distraction-free environment though, otherwise I’ll waste the day away online, or flipping through channels on TV, or staring out the window at nothing. I have a special writing spot where I basically rent a cubicle to write in: right now in front of me there are three blank walls, a desk lamp and my laptop. That’s it.
Oh, and I can’t write a word unless I’m wearing an oversized plush panda suit and sipping from a steaming mug of dragon’s blood. But aside from that, no quirks or rituals.
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Sleepy. Curious. Sleepy.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received from another author?
He was a songwriter and not yet an author at the time, and he was talking about music rather than publishing but the advice has held up well in both fields: Expect nothing. Don’t bank on success. Write (or play) what interests you and what you can be proud of, and if success finds you, great. But don’t create art based on the assumption it will lead to financial independence because in reality that happens to so very few, and it makes for lousy, uninspired art. Wesley Stace sent that in an email almost fifteen years ago, and the original message is now long gone so it’s entirely possible that at this point I’ve forgotten half and made up the other half. Either way, it’s good advice.
What is the one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you?
That’s a hard one. One reviewer was recently surprised to learn that I’m not a woman, does that count? My first name is kind of ambiguous that way. I get lots of junk mail for “Ms. Shandy Lawson.” Not very interesting, I know.
What is the last book that completely hooked you and you couldn’t stop raving about?
I’m pretty sure my friends are sick to death of hearing me talk about House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. Or anything by Danielewski for that matter. And it’s been several years since I first read it.
Do you have any current or future projects you can tell us about?
None that I can tell you about, no. Sorry. But I am working on a novel, in the outline stage at the moment, and it will feature a collapsed civilization and a rabid bear.
There you have it guys! It sounds like Shandy and I might get along in real life… I mean… I’m sleepy and my name occasionally gets confused for a guys name so…
Make sure you pick up this book today!
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