Inspired by her very personal experience of the fallout after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Sherri L. Smith brings us a truly unique dystopian world, rooted very much in reality, with Orleans. Flygirl, one of Sherri’s earlier YA novels, won the California Book Award, was a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults, and made it onto 14 State Award Lists.
After a string of devastating hurricanes and a severe outbreak of Delta Fever, the Gulf Coast has been quarantined. Years later, residents of the Outer States are under the assumption that life in the Delta is all but extinct… but in reality, a new primitive society has been born.
Fen de la Guerre is living with the O-Positive blood tribe in the Delta when they are ambushed. Left with her tribe leader’s newborn, Fen is determined to get the baby to a better life over the wall before her blood becomes tainted. Fen meets Daniel, a scientist from the Outer States who has snuck into the Delta illegally. Brought together by chance, kept together by danger, Fen and Daniel navigate the wasteland of Orleans. In the end, they are each other’s last hope for survival.
YOUNG ADULT: What made you decide to start writing?
SHERRIL. SMITH: I have no idea. That’s a good question. I suppose it was reading. I loved books, so it was a natural progression to try to write one. Which I attempted at the tender age of six or seven. I kept attempting until, fifteen years later, I finally got it right!
YA: Tell us a little bit about your latest work. What is different about ORLEANS?
SLS: ORLEANS is set in a post-disaster New Orleans and follows a teenage girl as she tries to save the life of a newborn baby. In the past, I’ve written contemporary and historical YA. ORLEANS is a departure for me because it is speculative fiction. The funny thing is, I was a huge sci-fi/fantasy fan as a teen, and I always assumed that was the genre for me. It turns out, I’ve got all different kinds of stories to tell. It’s the emotional story that really matters to me.
YA: How did the idea for this book/series arise? What are your major inspirations (TV, film, other literature/stories)?
SLS: The idea for ORLEANS came out of my experience evacuating my mother from New Orleans after Katrina. I read a news article about gangs taking over the protection of their neighborhoods after the police had fled. At some point, my main character, Fen, just popped into my head and started talking, and I went from there. I was influenced heavily by the depth of world-building and some key images in Frank Herbert’s DUNE, Stephen King’s THE STAND, and some fairy tales and myths, like SNOW WHITE. I even studied video of the knife fight in the movie Under Siege as a model for a fight in the book.
YA: Take us through a typical writing day for you.
SLS: Hmm. A typical day. Well, I have a day job, so I get up in the morning and if I have an idea haunting me, I try to get it down on paper or in my computer. When I come home, after dinner and a little TV time with my husband, I’ll hole up in my bedroom or on the couch with my laptop and write for an hour or two. I try to set daily goals—so many pages, or a given scene that must be written. If I’m on fire and the ideas keep coming, I’ll stay up late. If not, I slog through my assigned work, with lots of web surfing in between, and go to bed, hoping things will become clear the next day.
YA: Besides the classic ‘never give up’, what advice would you give to aspiring young writers today?
SLS: My freshman year English teacher in High School used to say, “If it comes out of your mouth, it won’t come out on the page.” You’ve already told the story, so there’s no urge to write it anymore. So, I like to say, “Shut up and write.” The difference between a writer and an author is, a writer talks about their work, while an author finishes it and gets published.
YA: What’s next for you?
SLS: I’m currently working on my first fantasy! It’s actually an historical fantasy called DROSSELMEYER and it’s based on the original Nutcracker story, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffman. I’ve been a huge fan of the ballet since childhood, and of the book. This is my homage to my beloved Godpapa Drosselmeyer. He’s the greatest character ever.