Farsighted (Farsighted Series) (32 page)

To celebrate and promote Seedlings’ initiatives, five percent of all proceeds from paperback, hardcover, and eBook sales of books in the
Farsighted
series will be donated to this astounding charity. Additionally, a ten dollar donation will be made every time a braille edition of
Farsighted
is purchased.
^*

If you’d like to offer further help, please consider making a donation at:

Seedlings

P.O. Box 51924

Livonia, MI 48151-5924

www.seedlings.org

Thank you for doing your part to assist this great mission; you’ve already contributed thanks to your purchase of
Farsighted
. Remember, every ten dollar donation places another braille book in a child’s hands.

*The braille edition of
Farsighted
will be available for purchase via Seedlings in fall 2012.

Acknowledgements

I know every author says the exact same thing here in the ol’ acknowledgments section, but, you know what? It’s true, so forgive me for the cliché, but here goes:

This book was not the product of my hand and imagination alone. It was truly a team effort. Many people offered me support, inspiration, and knowledge along this journey.

First and foremost, I must extend gratitude to my husband, Hitesh. Without his emotional and financial support, as well as the occasional call to tell me “I’m proud of you,” Mr. Alex Kosmitoras may have very well continued to live only inside my mind. Hitesh’s patience and understanding gave me the time I needed to transfer Alex’s story to these pages—something I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to do.

Further thanks go to Hitesh and my Indian family, which includes my sister-in-law Shivani and my parents-in-law Surinder and Neeru Handa (my family’s simply too large to call on everyone by name, but please know you are loved!). They piqued my curiosity in Indian culture, which has now become a mainstay in my fiction. Shivani was the one who first heard the twinkle in my brain, the sapling of a story that would grow to become this novel. India itself has served as my muse more than any other source:  Jai Hind!

My American family must also be thanked for putting up with my overactive imagination for years and years before it proved to be of any actual use. My parents, Tom and Becky, and siblings, Sara, Jamie, Dan, and Ron—especially Jamie because as it turns out, I first saw Alex in the reflection of my oversized sunglasses en route to her wedding. Let’s not forget the entire Rayner clan and my maternal family, too (I mean you, Powlisons and Runevitches).

Moving on to a different category of helper elves:  the early readers, critiquers, and editors of
Farsighted
. My editor and close friend, Kira McFadden, is the best thing that ever happened to
Farsighted
—no, I’m not exaggerating. My best friend Rebecca McBee was the first person I called whenever I finished a chapter, and she was the one who was forced to listen to my ideas
much
more than anyone else—boy, does she have God-given listening skills! Rebecca’s niece Connor McBee was the first to really latch onto this novel and get excited about it; she gave me an added boost of confidence to get the job done.

Then there’s my biggest fan, Scott Milne. Whenever I felt defeated or grew frustrated with the characters that populate this novel, Scott was there to offer reassurance and emoticons. Rob Hart, Emily Rae Robles, Terri Giuliano Long, and Marybeth Mulhall, you all took the coal I gave you and turned it into a sparkling diamond. Your advice was spot-on. I don’t know what I would have done without any of you.

Lots of gratitude to Damon Xeda, who designed this amazing cover, which captures what lies inside with such vivid accuracy. And, of course, thanks goes to Jordan Masek, who so wonderfully portrayed Alex in the live action book trailer. Jordan, it cracked me up when you confessed to watching Daredevil and walking around your house with a wet towel over your eyes, all in the name of research—your commitment humbled and honored me; thank you!

Lastly, I’ve got to give it to the social media community. The most unlikely of heroes? Perhaps. But it was they who called me to come out and play, welcoming me with thousands of open arms when I accepted. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, GoodReads, the entire Novel Publicity network, if you are reading this, thanks for all the #amwriting love.

Book Club Guide

1. How does exposure to different cultures affect a person’s personal growth? What lessons does Alex learn from his new friends that help him deal with his powers?

2. When is it necessary for a family to step back from a situation to allow the child to deal with it on his own? Did Greg make the right decision in traveling to Boston? Should he have stayed and helped Alex more, or did Alex need to learn to fend for himself?

3. The epigraph for part two reads, “If you can look into the seeds of time, / And say which grain will grow, and which will not, / Speak.” Is it a person’s responsibility to share crucial information with the world? Should Alex have told Simmi about the danger she was in? Does he have a responsibility to inform those he loves about the insights provided by his powers?

4. How does Alex’s journey compare to Odysseus’? What elements from Greek mythology appear in Alex’s story?

5. To what extent should schools control fighting? Was Alex’s punishment for fighting with Brady deserved? What about Shapri’s?

6. Everyone has their own personal gifts, even if they’re not the psychic kind. What are some similarities between how we must come to terms with our individual talents and how Alex learns to accept his powers?

7. How can the way disabilities are viewed be changed for the better? Is it accurate for Alex to be classified as a “special needs” student? What are some ways in which the school and students discriminate against Alex?

8. Is evil a natural tendency of human nature? Does Alex have the same potential to do evil as Dax? Is Dax truly evil or merely misguided?

9. How does the story told by the runes apply to an ordinary life? Is Alex unusual in his journey, or does every person embark on a quest to discover him or herself?

10. Miss Teak says that some prophecies occur no matter what, but some can be prevented. Is this true of life? Do we have free will in our decisions, or does fate or some other higher power determine the direction our lives are headed?

11. What elements are necessary to move from fear to acceptance? How does Shapri come to terms with her powers after denying them for so long?

12. How legitimate are teen relationships? Do Alex and Simmi really care for each other, or is their relationship based mainly on teenage hormones? Do Simmi’s powers play a role in Alex’s feelings for her?

13. What role does Miss Teak play as a character? Does her lack of powers complement the powers of the others, or does it detract from her importance?

14. How do Alex’s visions differ from visions a seeing person would have? Would they be more difficult to discern because of the lack of one sense? Would they be more sensitive than one with primarily vision?

15. What role does assumption play in the story? What do you assume about Alex’s mom? His dad? Dax? Miss Teak? How are these assumptions proven wrong?

16. How does Alex’s world represent a specific culture? How are readers immersed into his world? Which aspects of his viewpoint do you take for granted, and which ones continue to surprise you?

17. The epigraph for part three is from the prophecies of Nostradamus. It reads, “One day the two great masters will be friends / Their great power will be seen increased / The new land will be at its high peak / To the bloody one the number recounted.” What do you think this means in the context of the larger story? How does it tie into the conclusion of the novel? What does it hint at for future books in the series?

Interview with the Author

Q
:  Why did you choose to incorporate psychic powers into
Farsighted
?

A
:  Everything started with a single image—my face in these tacky oversized sunglasses reflecting out at me from the car’s side mirror. I was daydreaming while my husband drove us across Michigan for my sister’s wedding. Something about my image really struck me in an almost horrific way. I felt the glasses made me look blind but found it so weird that there was still a clear image within them; it seemed so contradictory. At the time, my book club was reading
The Odyssey
, which features the blind Theban prophet, Tieresias. I started thinking about what it would be like to have non-visual visions of the future and began forming a modern Tieresias in my mind. Lo and behold, Alex Kosmitoras was born. I didn’t want him to be alone in his psychic subculture, so I found other characters with other powers to keep him company. Thank God for my poor fashion sense.

Q
:  What was the research process like for
Farsighted
?

A
:  I spent about three months trying to talk myself out of writing Farsighted.
It’s too ambitious
, my inner critic pointed out.
You’ll never get it done, not in the way it deserves to be done,
it pressed. Another part of me couldn’t resist; I knew I had to at least try before giving up. I started by reading tons and tons of books—I read about world folklore and superstitions, religions especially Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and Sikhism, psychic powers, the occult, blindness, and even Nostradamus. I learned how to cast runes and perform a ten-card Celtic Cross Tarot reading. I had nightmares for several weeks, but then they eventually stopped, and I started writing.

Q
:  Which character do you identify with the most?

A
:  This is a really tough one for me to answer, because all the characters are so different than I am. I definitely identify with Alex and his desire to be accepted but to also remain independent. His battle between the two sides of himself is another thing I understand very well. In high school, I was also that person on the periphery. I was always different, which was both a challenge and a mark of pride.

My favorite character would have to be Shapri; she’s kind of the person I wish I could have been like back then. She’s strong, always true to herself, and won’t let anyone disrespect her. Sure, she has fears, but we all do. Shapri is the kind of girl I would love to be friends with. You know she’ll always go to bat for you when you’re too tired to step up to the plate.

Q
:  Do you draw from any personal experiences for any of the incidents in the book?

A
:  Oh, gosh. The only thing I can think of is the multiculturalism. Grandon is based on my hometown; it’s small and kind of boring. I couldn’t wait to escape and move on to bigger and better things. My home town was mostly Caucasian, but somehow I ended up with a very diverse set of friends, even though they made up less than one-percent of the student body. Fast forward a few years, and I end up marrying a man from India. He’s from New Delhi, like Simmi. I’ve always been fascinated by other cultures; I even decided to pursue my master’s in Sociology for this very reason. I credit two early life influences for this attraction:  1) My adoration of A. C. Slater in
Saved by the Bell
, 2) Disney’s
Aladdin
being the best movie ever.

Q
:  What part do different cultures play in
Farsighted
?

A
:  A huge part. I don’t see why my characters all need to belong to the same culture or ethnicity. What fun is that? Culture shapes our characters in a big way, so by diversifying my cast, I was able to hit on more types of personalities and situations. Simmi, for example, is very polite and reverent. Alex is shaped by his own way of looking at the world, too—his blindness. This may not seem like a culture at first glance, but look again. How different would your world be if you couldn’t see it? Another important thing to remember is that Alex has always been blind; he’s always known the world to be a certain way. Not everyone understands that, and they have trouble talking about it with him. I gave Alex a tendency to overcompensate. He knows who he is and what he’s capable of, and he wants the world to know it, too, so sometimes he overdoes things a bit.

Q
:  What motivated you to structure the book around the runes?

A
:  Remember how I said my masters is in Sociology? It’s actually Quantitative Sociology. I’m a numbers person as well as a word person. I love things to be organized just so. If you set a stack of papers in front of me; I’m going to fuss with them until they are lined up in a perfect stack. It’s just the way I am. Shaping each chapter around a rune gave the story order, which made me feel happy and comfortable. Whenever I got stuck and didn’t know what should happen next, I was able to learn more about that chapter’s rune and get the inspiration I needed to continue. The runes themselves tell a story, one that is successfully completed. I felt that boded well for
Farsighted
.

Q
:  What do you hope readers will take from the book?

A
:  First and foremost, I hope that readers will enjoy themselves. My primary goal is to tell an interesting story that people will find entertaining and be glad they read. Secondly, I’d like to infuse contemporary Young Adult fiction with a bit more diversity and teach readers about the beauty of other cultures and other ways of life. I also hope that
Farsighted
is a book that leads to introspection—what would I do if put in Alex’s place? Did Alex ever have a choice or was this path his destiny? What would it be like to see the world the way he sees the world?