Lab Rat follows a captured teen with powers that can be forced on against his will, who is stripped of his name and turned into a numbered experiment inside a ghost-realm prison. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I pulled inspiration from many sources that sparked my imagination when I was growing up. I loved reading books by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, Alexandra Bracken, Cinda Williams Chima, Christopher Paolini, Suzanne Collins, Julianna Baggott, Susan Ee, etc. as well as watching television shows and movies like X-Men, Danny Phantom, Static Shock, Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Blue Exorcist, Attack on Titan, Spiderman, MCU movies, and more. My sister and I were obsessed with the Sly Cooper video games when we were young, which likely added an “honor among thieves” type of influence, too. I loved fantasy and dystopian books but was drawn to shows/movies featuring characters with superhuman powers. I’m also a sucker for found family stories and fugitives on the run. Essentially, the Chronicles of Avilésor was a culmination of my favorite story elements blended into a series that crosses genres by taking place in a version of our world with ghost hunters and sci-fi weapons juxtaposed with the fantasy Ghost Realm inhabited by paranormal beings and mythical creatures.

The tenderness between prisoners feels fragile but powerful. Why does found family matter so much in this story?

Despite the threat of a society-ending war, a top-secret government agency conducting morally reprehensible experiments, and humankind trying to survive against supernatural adversaries, this is very much a character-driven story. Cato survived his torture because of the connections he forged during the darkest time of his life—not because of his powers or physical strength. Readers have seen the resilience of the lab-family’s bond throughout the other three books, but Lab Rat was an opportunity to reveal the root of their relationship and provide a new perspective of just how meaningful that bond really is.

The book treats bodily autonomy as something that can be “managed.” Why was that theme important to you?

That theme was an organic inevitability when exploring Cato’s incarceration. He’s been suffering from PTSD for almost as long as fans have known him, and Lab Rat explores the cause rather than just the effects. The Agents view Cato as sub-human and therefore deny him basic human rights, including bodily autonomy. He has very little control over any aspect of his life, which is one of the primary foundations of his lasting trauma.

What will the next book in the series be about, and when will it be published?

The Demikan will be the next installment in the series. Without giving too much away, it will directly pit the Agents against Azar’s new alliance. The lab-family will have to grapple with a new power dynamic within the group, and the two societies will clash and collide. I don’t have a publication date set yet.

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