Hypable has an exclusive look at the dazzling cover art for Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider, a quirky story of love and other diseases.
Schneider’s latest novel, The Beginning of Everything, also notably blended dark humor with illness and deadly misfortune. But the author levels up in Extraordinary Means, which finds two modern protagonists fighting an old-fashioned killer: Tuberculosis.
The timeless cover for Extraordinary Means – enhanced with some sparkly animated action – is revealed exclusively right here!
Synopsis
Up until his diagnosis, Lane lived a fairly predictable life. But when he finds himself at a tuberculosis sanatorium called Latham House, he discovers an insular world with paradoxical rules, med sensors, and an eccentric yet utterly compelling confidante named Sadie — and life as Lane knows it will never be the same.
Interview with Robyn Schneider
Tell us five random facts about yourself.
1. My freshman year of college, I caught Scarlet Fever off my roommate. I should note that I in no way went to college in the Victorian Era. We had Facebook. And I had Scarlet freaking Fever.
2. Sometimes, when I get ready in the morning, I pretend I’m shooting a YouTube makeup tutorial.
3. I fall over a lot. Usually while exercising, which is why I should just stay home and eat pizza.
4. I drink too much coffee.
5. While I write, I listen to The Mountain Goats on repeat.
What is your favorite element of the cover for Extraordinary Means?
Probably that it also comes in a secret GIF version! When I was little, I remember reading Harry Potter and being so impressed that wizards got magical, moving pictures but GUESS WHAT, PAST ME? IT’S 2015 AND YOU GET A MAGICAL, SPARKLING BOOK COVER.
What inspired you to write Lane and Sadie’s story?
While I was in graduate school for medical ethics, I started to wonder what would happen if people fell ill with a long-term, contagious illness that modern medicine had no ability to treat. And then I wondered how a teenager would be transformed by the experience of being sent away from society without knowing if they’d be able to return.
Lane and Sadie are characters who are sent away to a tuberculosis sanatorium, and who grapple with the question of what exactly counts as living one’s life. For each of them, their illness symbolizes a deeper issue.
But theirs isn’t a story of what it means to be sick so much as a story about how it feels to be an outsider. It’s a story about second chances, and how easily we could miss them. And it’s a story about what it means to have hope that you’ll figure out your place in the world, and that you’ll be strong enough to get there.
Which do you find easier to write: The first line or the last line?
The last line, definitely. I agonize over the perfect first line for months. I write chronologically, so until I have the first line locked in, I can’t keep going. But the last line is already set up from the hundreds of pages that come before it, and almost seems to happen on its own.
What are you working on now?
Watching less Netflix and eating less pizza. But, if you meant in terms of writing, I’m working on my next YA novel. Hence the pizza. And I’m attempting to write an original screenplay. Hence the Netflix.
For more information…
Learn more about Extraordinary Means at EpicReads.com, and follow Robyn on Twitter at @robynschneider for all her latest literary updates!