Author Interview: Brian Farrey

We're kicking this Monday off with an interview with Brian Farrey, author of With or Without You! This is the book formerly titled Chasers, but there will more on that at a later date on this lovely tour!

Hey, Kari, thanks so much for inviting me on to your blog. I love what you’ve done with the place!

Hi, Brian! Thanks for being here! If you found yourself in Evan's position, how do you think you'd react? Anything you'd do differently?

Ish. That’s hard. It’s one of those “hindsight is 20/20” situations. When I was Evan’s age, I probably would have made the same choices he made. Actually, I’m giving myself too much credit. In a lot of ways, I think Evan’s smarter than I was at eighteen. He’s not as naïve. If we share a quality at that age, it’s that we let fear rule too many of our decisions. Today, I’m much better at that. Today, I wouldn’t keep Erik a secret and I’d work harder, sooner to keep Davis from getting in too deep.

If Evan could plan his perfect date what would it be like?

That’s an interesting question because there was a scene I cut from the book that featured Evan planning a date with Erik. It involved a picnic at James Madison Park, where they first met. He made hummus wraps (Erik’s favorite) and brownies. He got Erik to lay with his head in Evan’s lap while Evan read Yeats, Erik’s favorite poet. Specifically, Evan read this poem:

WHEN YOU ARE OLD

By William Butler Yeats


When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;


How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;


And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

If you could pair Evan and Davis with any character from any book, who would you pick for them?

I think I’d get in trouble if I tried to pair Evan with anyone but Erik so I’m going to stick with those two. Davis… Hmm, Davis is harder. I think he needs someone patient. Let’s see how he does with Noah from David Levithan’s BOY MEETS BOY. Hopefully, Noah’s got the stamina.

You're dropped into a room full of Death Eaters! What do you do?

Pull out a map and say, “I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.” Then pull on a cord and drop a rainstorm of anvils on their heads. (No, I did NOT watch too many Bugs Bunny cartoons as a kid. I just saw the right number, thank you very much. And if you’re in that room of Death Eaters with me, you’ll be grateful for the knowledge I acquired.)

What kind of shoe would you describe yourself as?

Is this one of those Rorschach type tests where if I say I’m a stiletto it means I have daddy issues?

Do these count?

Brian Farrey’s debut YA novel, WITH OR WITHOUT YOU, will be published May 24 by Simon Pulse. He tweets @BrianFarrey and he blogs at www.brianfarreybooks.com/wordpress.


Thank you, Brian, for sharing those answers!

And make sure you guys all check out With or Without You when it comes out in just a few short weeks!