Never Too Far by Thomas Christopher
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publication date: May 10th 2012
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publication date: May 10th 2012
Synopsis:
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A harrowing story of love and survival.
In a future of scarce resources, where the possession of gas and diesel is punishable by death, a teenage boy and a pregnant girl must save their impoverished family. They risk their lives on a terrifying journey to sell stolen fuel on the black market.
In a future of scarce resources, where the possession of gas and diesel is punishable by death, a teenage boy and a pregnant girl must save their impoverished family. They risk their lives on a terrifying journey to sell stolen fuel on the black market.
Thomas Christopher grew up in Iowa. He received his MFA from Western Michigan University. His short stories have appeared in The Louisville Review, The MacGuffin, Redivider, and Cooweescoowee.
Tell us about Never
Too Far?
Well, it’s set in a future that is much hotter and where gas
and oil are running out. In fact, it’s illegal and possessing it is a capital
crime. The hero is a sixteen-year-old boy named Joe, whose family is very poor
and live in Dust Bowl-like conditions on the plains. One day, he finds a
wrecked vehicle that belongs to the authoritarian city-state of Chikowa. And
against his family’s wishes, especially his older brother Frank, Joe siphons
the vehicle’s diesel and takes off on a treacherous journey to sell the fuel on
the city’s black market. Fuel is worth a tremendous amount of money because it is
so scarce. Joe takes along a pregnant orphan girl named Mary that his family
recently took in. They use a cover story about Mary’s baby being breech and
needing a hospital to throw off suspicion. She barely talks at first and hides
beneath a big hat she always wears. The relationship that develops between them
is one of the big themes, especially after she gets sick. The whole journey
leads through a hostile landscape of desert and forests until they reach the
city, where they get caught in a dark world of fear corruption they might not
escape from.
Where did the idea for
the novel come from?
The idea for Never Too
Far came from two sources, really. Several years ago, my wife gave me a
book called The Long Emergency by James
Howard Kunstler about the consequences of running out of oil. Around the same
time, I also read The Road by Cormac
McCarthy. I really loved it. It was dark and ominous, but also full of
tenderness between the boy and his father. I started thinking about a future
where oil was scarce, and global warming had heated the planet, and some kind
of desperate journey, like in The Road.
I first wrote it as a short story, but I liked it so much that I turned it into
a novel.
The environment is
wide raging in the story— arid plains, deep forests, and a city on a lake. Is
it based on any specific area?
Yes. Although the country in the novel is a fictional one
called the Meshica Union, it’s really based on the geography of the U.S. that stretches
from eastern Iowa to the shores of Lake Michigan. I didn’t want to be bound to
actual places and cities because I wanted the story to have more of a universal
and timeless feel.
Who is the audience
for Never Too Far?
I would say that both adults and young adults would enjoy
this novel very much. Fans of dystopian fiction, coming-of-age stories,
adventure and suspense would like it as well.
Tell us a little about
yourself?
Sure. I grew up on an acreage near Grinnell, IA. As a kid, I loved roaming all the fields and
creeks that surrounded us. We also raised sheep, and I helped birth the lambs.
I remember very fondly feeding bottles of milk to orphan lambs in our
basement. After high school, I hiked the
130 mile Adirondack Trail in upset New York. And after I graduated from
college, I lived out west for a while in Seattle and Montana. I did a lot of
hiking in the mountains out there. Then I went to graduate school in Michigan
to studying writing and that’s where I was lucky enough to meet my wife. She
was the manager of the hotel I was working at. I taught writing and literature
for a while at Western Michigan University, Creighton University, and a few
community colleges. Then came the birth of our son. I now split my time between
writing and chasing after a very active 18 month old boy.
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