‘Oblivion: A Nevermore Book’ by Kelly Creagh is out today!
“I hope that [readers] gain a deeper understanding of the stereotypes people place on one another and I hope it gives them a keener eye to see past labels.”
The ‘Nevermore’ series tells the story of a goth and a cheerleader paired together for a school project on Edgar Allen Poe, to put it simply. To not put it simply it’s a fantasy young adult book series about Varen and Isobel, an unlikely pair, who find themselves on a mysterious adventure inspired by the circumstances surrounding the life and death of Edgar Allen Poe. Fans of the series are hooked. As the author, Kelly Creagh gears up for the launch of the final book, ‘Oblivion: A Nevermore Book,’ YE got the chance to talk to her about the series, her writing process, her fans and more!
It’s a few days before the book is set to release and Kelly’s already getting excited tweets from fans who got their copies early. “It kind of hit really quick but I’m really excited!” And she’s got plenty of reason to be. In addition to the book release the official ‘Oblivion’ release party sounds like it’s going to be quite a hit.
“My good friend, who is the director of the Barr Memorial Library in Fort Knox, is having the official ‘Oblivion’ release party there. We’re going to have a costume contest. People can dress up as characters from ‘Nevermore’ or characters from any of Poe’s works. The grand prize will be the dress that is on the front cover of ‘Enshadowed’ and Isobel’s necklace too.” How fun does that sound?
So what about the new book? Kelly is sure that fans of the series will get a lot of their questions about Valen answered in this installment, but it will also keep in line with the first two books. She assures us that there are plenty of twists, turns and surprises even she didn’t see coming, which has been a theme of her writing since the start.
“I like to leave that window open because I find that my subconscious is a far better organizer than my conscious mind. And I get really great things. Fans are familiar with the character of Penfeathers. Well, I wrote a scene early on in the ‘Nevermore’ book and it was Isobel being chased through the park. At the time when I wrote the draft I didn’t know who was chasing her, but later on Penfeathers invited himself onto the scene. I didn’t even know who this character was. I just thought, ‘ Well okay, I’ll let you hang out here and we’ll see what’s up with you.’ And later I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, he was the one responsible!’ I really like when I surprise myself with my writing. Plus if I’m surprised then surely my readers going to be surprised.”
On the topic of her readers, Kelly is extremely grateful for her fans.
“I would love to say to my fans that I am an author because of them. I get to have my work published because of them. There’s hard work involved but an author isn’t an author until she has readers. I’m their fan. I appreciate when they go buy my book. I appreciate when they get them from the library and when they respond to my work. There’s no better feeling in the world.”
That’s the constant as we continue to talk to Kelly. She’s excited by the work she’s doing and thrilled by her fan’s enthusiasm. She’s passionate about authors she loves as well. She talks about JK Rowling, Steven Pressfield and Holly Black as some of the many people she draws inspiration from. She hopes that this series will inspire people to look past the labels society puts on them and draw inspiration from their surroundings.
Stay tuned to see what’s next from Kelly. She has a couple of really interesting projects on the way including a Harry Houdini inspired novel and a book about a teen belly dancer, a young adult Muslim-American boy, and a fugitive genie called “Smoke, Fire, and Iron.” If the creativity of the “Nevermore” series is any indication, we have a lot more to look forward to from Kelly Creagh.
Read one of Kelly’s favorite passages from “Oblivion” below:
Isobel started forward, keeping her sights on the still visible line of his angular shoulders. Sleek and jaggedly cut, his jet hair caught a gleam from the fluorescent light fixtures as he passed beneath them. That detail, so minute, so real, prompted her to second-guess herself.
Sparing a quick glance at the walls, she checked for the hallway clock that would confirm what she already knew— that she had to be asleep.
That there wasn’t one at all gave her the last shred of evidence she no longer needed.
When her eyes found him again, however, she saw that he’d traveled twice as far down the corridor as before, as if time had skipped while her gaze had been diverted.
A jolt of terror spurred Isobel to stumble after him on shaky legs. Then her mind caught up to her actions, commanding her to stop, to slip into the crowd so he wouldn’t see her.
Wake up, wake up, wake up, she told herself, even while her feet kept moving, following the thrumming command of her heart.
A deep ache pulsed inside of her, urging her to yell out to him. To repeat the words she’d written that morning, and make him hear what he’d already proven he couldn’t.
But then he vanished around the next corner, into the stairwell.
Isobel stopped, her chest constricting with a debilitating mixture of sorrow and fear. Sorrow that he’d once again evaporated. That this glimpse of him had happened within the realm of her imagination, and not in that mid-region
where she knew he truly dwelled.
The sensation of fear welled higher. It consumed her longing and warned her not to let him discover her here—in his world.
Wake up, she told herself again, before he finds you.
