Official Interview: Adam Guest

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Official Interview: Adam Guest

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Today's Chat with Sarah features Adam Guest author of Worldlines, which will be an upcoming book of the month (so get your copy now in order to participate in the discussion).

To view the official review, click here.

To view the book on Amazon, click here.

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1. What do you do when you aren't writing?

Adam – I’m an IT Consultant by trade. I design and build software interfaces that allow incompatible systems to talk to each other in a non-native language. I enjoy the work, but it does involve a lot of time on the road, nights in hotels away from the family. If there’s one good thing to come out of this COVID pandemic, it’s that it has dragged a lot of companies into the 21st century when it comes to attitudes around remote working.

2. What most inspires you in your writing?

Adam – The inspiration comes from knowing I have an idea that’s fairly unique. It’s also been highly empowering to read some of the review comments from your readers. If people are enjoying your work then it motivates you to produce more. However, when a book is as well received as Worldlines, it puts a different type of pressure on the next book. It has to be comparable in terms of quality.

3. Do you remember your very first story? If so, what was it like?

Adam – I’ve been writing since I was very young, and that influence comes from my dad. I can remember being a child and seeing my dad typing stories on an old typewriter. He was attempting to create a series of children’s books about a helicopter called Choppy. He was getting them ready to send to agents, when Sarah Ferguson’s series, Budgie The Little Helicopter, came out. He felt he wouldn’t get anywhere with it after that as they were too similar, and he never pursued it further. I was born in 85, and the Budgie books came out in 89, so I’d have been very young.

4. Let's talk about your book Worldlines. How did you decide to write your book around the multiverse theory?

Adam – I’ve attempted to write stories before, albeit unsuccessfully. I’ve had the characters of Gary Jackson, Michelle Peyton and Sinead O’Brien in my head probably since my late teens, but in all my previous attempts (of which there were about four) I never had anywhere where I felt I could place them to do them justice. Then about seven years ago, I was on a lunchbreak at work, and saw a blog article linked on a science website entitled “The 10 Mind-Bending Implications Of The Many Worlds Theory”. Suddenly, it all clicked. It was at that moment when this idea was born.

5. How much research did the book take? Were you already familiar with quantum physics?

Adam – The elements around Many Worlds took a fair bit of research. I knew what I wanted to do in terms of linking the Many Worlds theory with dreams and hallucinations, but I was keen to know that there wasn’t something already in science that actively disproved what I was writing. Then you discover things whilst you’re researching that you realise you can add to the plot. I confess I was slightly concerned about my internet search history, especially after researching murder techniques and hemlock poisoning for The Futility of Vengeance. I thought I might end up on some government watch list.

One thing that didn’t require research was the near-death experiences that Gary and Sinead tell Professor Buzzard in Chapter One. Both the incident with the lorry, and the tyre blow out on the motorway are based on real events, and they occurred more or less as written (my experience mirrors the Blue Line). There’s one thing I didn’t include in Sinead’s story about when the tyre blew on me during a fit of road rage. It was raining, but it had been snowing the night before. This meant the road was very slushy and slippery.

I also had a skiing accident in Piancavallo in my teens and tore the ligaments in my knee, although no women and no selfie sticks were involved. Being escorted down a winding mountain road in a dark ambulance, having had a pain killing injection, with all the ambulance crew speaking Italian (when I don’t) is the most disorientating experience of my life.

6. Do you see yourself in any of the characters? Which one or ones?

Adam – A lot of Gary’s personalities are exaggerated forms of my own personality traits. When friends and family have read the book they claim to have read it in my voice. They also find it odd that Gary doesn’t look like me as they think he should, but he’s based on how I wish I’d looked at that age.

7. The character Gary appears in each worldline. Do you have a favorite Gary?

Adam – I have a soft spot for black line Gary. He’s the most flawed of all of the Gary’s that appear in Worldlines, and there are worlds in The Futility of Vengeance where he unravels further. He’s supposed to be difficult to like, whereas he believes he’s not a bad person and circumstances have put him in the position he’s in rather than his own behaviour. Whilst I don’t agree with a lot of his actions, the habit of blaming outside influences for own faults is very common in the world we live in today. This mean, despite his flaws, he is probably the most relatable.

8. What are the plans for the rest of the series?

Adam – Well, The Futility of Vengeance came out at the end of November, which is a direct sequel to Worldlines. However, it’s not possible to revisit all worldlines in all books, so the Red Line isn’t featured. The third book, which has the working title Between The Lines, is due out in June, and that will complete the Blue Line trilogy.

The Red Line, following on from Michelle’s pregnancy, will be featured in book four, and will be called Through The Eyes Of Children. I’m looking forward to that one as it’s the first book I planned after Worldlines, and is based on some of the strange things that children say about things they can see. It will feature children in different worldlines communicating directly, whilst their parents think they simply have imaginary friends. However, it’s set four years after Worldlines, and I wanted the other lines to catch up first.

The Brown Line from The Futility of Vengeance will also have a follow-up novel. When I planned the series pre-COVID, this was going to be book three and feature a pandemic, but I think we’re all a bit fed up of that topic, so it was pushed to book five and will get re-worked.

Finally, there’s a prequel planned. As a rule of thumb, I dislike prequels as they tend to be an afterthought, as they feature major events that are never referenced again when the series is viewed chronologically. But everything post Worldlines has been written with the prequel in mind, so there are hints to things that happen in the prequel that the reader won’t be aware of yet.

I like to end on some fun questions.

9. With the holiday season coming up, I have to ask. Which holiday is your favorite?


Adam - Christmas and New Year. Christmas for the kids, and then New Year for me as it’s a lot more relaxed than Christmas, which can be massively stressful. We don’t have Thanksgiving in the UK, but on 5th November we have Guy Fawkes night, which I always find enjoyable. For those that are unaware, Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder in 1605 and assassinate King James I. For reasons I don’t fully understand, we celebrate this, and we have bonfires and firework parties. The fireworks all state they must be lit by a responsible adult, but as I don’t know any, it usually ends up being me.

10. What one superpower would you want and why?

Adam – The ability to turn my senses off. I’m medically certified as ASD, and I have a lot of sensory problems. It means if we’re ever at something like a family party, and an elderly relative just turns off their hearing aid when the kids make too much noise. I envy their ability to do that so much!

11. What's your favorite way to spend your free time?

Adam – Watching sport. Pre-COVID me and my 5-year-old son would go to watch Walsall, our local football team, every week. The home games are fun, but the away games are better. Getting in the car on a Saturday morning and going off to some random part of the country is great fun, and I love the enjoyment he gets from it too. I also enjoy playing darts, although don’t let that trick you into thinking I’m any good. Never has so much enthusiasm been rewarded with so little ability.

12. Do you have a favorite food?

Adam – Probably lasagne. As I mentioned above, my ASD causes a lot of sensory problems. This means I find a lot of tastes, and especially combinations of tastes, very overpowering. I don’t drink coffee, for example, as the smell and taste is just too pungent. Also, if Sarah, my wonderful other half, cooks herself something with chilli in it, or peppers, then I usually end up eating in another room to avoid the scent. Lasagne, and Italian food in general, manages to get the correct balance between the right amount of flavour without it becoming overpowering.
A book is a dream you hold in your hands.
—Neil Gaiman
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Post by Bigwig1973 »

I was soooo incredibly confused about the tire incident. I tried to figure out the lanes to determine why anyone would go around someone to then end up back in the lane you started in. I ran my logic by one guy, I know and he didn't think it made sense, then I asked another friend. What he said was that you can't just go by someone on the right (or left) because that is their blind area and that would be dangerous. You drive on snow (dangerous), you drive in the rain (dangerous), you somehow manage to get a flat (potentially dangerous), go skiing, run across streets into traffic, etc., but you can't just drive past someone because they are less likely to see you. I couldn't believe it! My friend drives semi and he says he sees people in the U.S. do this quite often. I had no idea... Not understanding that scenario bothered me a few days after reading it because I was never taught to go around another car.
"...I'd discuss the holy books with the learned man...and that would be the sweetest thing of all...would it foil some vast, eternal plan..." Hamick Fiddler on the Roof

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Post by Mtibza eM »

Wow! This was a beautiful interview, I didn't know that some of the scenes in the worldlines were drawn from real life incidents. I enjoyed your book and your style of writing. Can't wait to read more of your work.
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Post by Stanley Bhembe »

Great honest interview and love The futility of vengeance as I watch it too!
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Post by Ramon Scott »

I never knew IT guys could make great authors. Learnt something new today.
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Post by Ramon Scott »

Incredible interview. I love the honesty.
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Post by Chandelier Eden »

Your idea is actually really unique, I really like how you think and how straightforward you are with your answers.
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