This content was originally posted on www.thebooksummaries.com as part of the Stitch Blog Tour in 2012.
Alessa: Hey guys – Alessa from Stitch here, along with the other star of the book, Isaac.
Isaac: Hi everybody.
Alessa: The past few weeks on the Stitch Blog Tour, there’ve been a lot of readers asking for more about Isaac, so I’m here today to conduct a quick interview to help you get to know him and the world we come from a bit better. We’ll start with an easy one – you ready, Isaac?
Isaac: Ready as I’ll ever be, Less.
Alessa: Okay, here we go. Question number one: what makes our relationship special and unique?
Isaac: Whoa! That’s an easy one??
Alessa: (one eyebrow raised intently, waiting patiently)
Isaac: (sighs) You love to keep things interesting, don’t you?
Alessa: (smiles, still waiting)
Isaac: Alright. What makes our relationship special? Well, for one thing, even though I think we’re both pretty independent people, I feel like we really depend on each other, and as a result, the bond between us runs deeper than you see in a lot of young relationships. Like our love goes way beyond infatuation and love at first sight and all that stuff.
Alessa: (nods approvingly) And why do you think that?
Isaac: Well, I think it’s because we started out as friends first, and we were friends for a very long time before we became involved romantically. I don’t want to spoil anything from the story for readers, but the basic background is that we shared a great loss that affected us both very strongly, and given our situation, we didn’t really have anyone else we could talk to about it. So you were always the person I turned to when I felt alone or scared, and also when I wanted to celebrate a successful mission or just talk about the future. So before we were ever in a relationship, I really depended on you to be there for me.
Alessa: (nods) I felt the same. You were always there for me, through everything, and I felt like you were the only person who could really understand what I was going through. Even though you were a couple years younger than me. (laughs)
Isaac: (rolls his eyes playfully) You love to remind me of that, don’t you?
Alessa: Hey, it’s not about the number – it’s about what we’ve been through together. (smiles)
Isaac: (grins) Yeah, exactly. We just… we’re both dealing with a lot from our pasts and a lot of challenges in the present too, and after a while, it just almost felt like you were part of me. Like if something happened that I wanted to share with you and I couldn’t talk to you right then for whatever reason, it was like half my brain was shut off or something, like my right half couldn’t connect with my left. I never feel right anymore unless you’re around. (grabs her hand)
Alessa: Yeah, same here. I guess I almost think of you as my best friend first, even before my boyfriend. “Boyfriend” just doesn’t seem like a strong enough word to describe our relationship.
Isaac: Agreed.
Alessa: Though that’s not to say there’s not physical chemistry between us.
Isaac: (smiles wickedly) That’s for sure. (pulls Alessa into his arms and plants a long, steamy kiss on her lips)
Alessa: (eventually reluctantly withdraws from the kiss) You are so inappropriate.
Isaac: (smiles wider) You love it.
Alessa: (laughs him off and sits up) Okay, next question. What is it about the world we come from that makes it unique from other dystopian settings?
Isaac: Seriously, Less? What about, what’s your favorite ice cream flavor? Or favorite sport?
Alessa: Well you can answers those too, if you’d like.
Isaac: (thinks for a moment) Chocolate, and soccer.
Alessa: Okay, great. Now answer my question. How is our world different?
Isaac: Hmm, well in my opinion, I think the big thing that it comes down to is that our world isn’t done yet.
Alessa: What do you mean by that?
Isaac: I mean that in most dystopian stories, you come in and everything’s all set up already – usually there’s some glossed over backstory of how the society came about, there are neat rules in place about how things work, and everyone who lives there seems to be bought in and accepting of the way things work. In our world, things are just… a mess.
Alessa: How so?
Isaac: So first off, we live in a new society. This is not some place that has been around for a 100 years following some war and everything is all established. When we were kids, things for us were pretty damn close to the way they are for readers now. We actually lived through the war – and through the end of life as we knew it – and it’s only in the past few years that we even realized that we were even living in what one might call a dystopian society. As far as we and everyone else living in our compound knew, we thought we were just surviving, still recovering from the effects of the outbreak and figuring out how to move forward.
Alessa: But that’s not really what was going on.
Isaac: No, not at all. Well, we were still recovering from the war and the outbreak, but we didn’t know that there was a set of people behind the scenes guiding that recovery and manipulating it to their liking. And that they still hadn’t quite figured out what the rules should be going forward.
Alessa: So how does that impact our daily lives?
Isaac: Well, basically, it means that they’re making mistakes, and we’re suffering the consequences. As they try to figure out the best way to make their grand scheme work, we’re the guinea pigs. Hence the entire plot of Stitch.
Alessa: Okay perfect – let’s stop there before we give too much more away.
Isaac: Okay. Yeah. The short answer is that this is a different kind of world than what readers have seen before. You guys are just going to have to read the book to find out how!
Alessa: And there are PLENTY of more details coming in book two, including the full breakdown of how our world ended up so messed up, after starting out just like yours.
Isaac: I can’t wait for book two… In the meantime, I hope this answers some of your questions about me and Alessa. Stick with the tour to learn more! You can find the full schedule here – looking forward to seeing you guys again soon.
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