Author Leopoldo Gout introduces this exclusive excerpt from his upcoming YA thriller, Genius: The Game.
Genius: The Game tells the story of three brilliant kids brought together by “The Game,” a strange competition founded by a young CEO from India. Already internet friends from their distant corners of the world, Rex, Tunde, and “Painted Wolf” find themselves locked in a world of suspicion, spying, and stakes far beyond the bounds of the advertised “Game.”
Lives are at stake. Something larger is in play. And the revolution has already begun.
Leopoldo Gout on Chapter 3.1 of ‘Genius: The Game’
While all of my characters are born in my imagination (usually as drawings or even paintings), they are always inspired by the people I know, the people I have an emotional connection with.
You’re about to meet Cai, who was the most difficult character to bring to life. When I started Genius: The Game, I knew that if I had a young female protagonist in it, I would have to do right by my incredible, sophisticated, super funny, and smart daughter named Inés Celestia. Challenging and powerful, Ines’s wit and intellect knock me out of my socks on a daily basis.
Creating Cai was a hell of a ride. I had to conjure her from the ether and put myself inside her head. This was doubly challenging because I am a Mexican man. Cai is Chinese, so I spent a lot of time talking with Chinese women in New York. And yet it would never have truly come together without my own daughter’s help.
It is very important for me to be able to connect with young female readers. I want them to love Cai as much as I do. She is one of my very favorite people. And I do think of her as a person. I can see her clothes and funky disguises, sense her amazing connection with technology, and feel her anger towards the foibles of society.
I hope you enjoy Genius: The Game as much as I have enjoyed ferrying these characters into our world from wherever it is they came. Thank you for reading for excerpt below.
Genius: The Game by Leopoldo Gout will be available on May 3 from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local independent bookstore.
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