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True Community and Connection
Godspeed, Cedar Key follows a group of people stranded on an island after a mainland is destroyed who now have to learn to rely on one another without any technology to survive. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Godspeed, Cedar Key is my debut novel. I have primarily been known as a playwright for the past decade. My last two plays premiered off-Broadway in New York City, and those two plays and several others continue to be produced regionally. There is a running joke among people that follow my writing, and I’m happy to be in on it. I only ever really write about one thing–the power and deep relevance of the extended families we create for ourselves. For this novel, I wanted to create a premise that would give me a vehicle to write about the incredible community I have witnessed living in Cedar Key. I am fairly obsessed with the island’s wild history and the common theme that runs throughout it–community. True community and connection that is so often promised in the modern age but seldom delivered. Wars, natural disasters, and calamities of all kinds have laid siege to Cedar Key over the past 180 years or so; no matter the challenge or the age, the little island persevered because folks looked out for one another. I like to call Godspeed, Cedar Key an anti-dystopian novel because, as your sharp review pointed out so compellingly, this story is about love and friendship pushing back against the darkness.
What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
Because I began my writing career in the theater, I learned quickly that any artifice in the characters I create and in the things they say or do would be exposed. Audience members and readers are too smart to accept anything that doesn’t ring true to them. Of course, I hope to create elevated characters that face meaningful trials a reader can see reflected in their own lives, but if the characters ever move outside of their fundamental motivations, even for a small bit of dialogue or a passing moment, the whole world I have created will tumble around them. I respect the reader’s time and interest in my story too much to give them anything but the truth–good, bad, ugly, or indifferent.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The essential need for human beings to live in true community with others.
Love and friendship as the only reasonable response to a world gone crazy.
The beauty of people living in close harmony with the natural world.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
There is a one-paragraph Epilogue at the end of the book that portends a continuation of the story. I have another novel in the works now called Trailer Park Elegy. I wrote a play of the same title and was so drawn in by the world and characters of that story that I wanted to flesh it out in novel form. Just after the release of Trailer Park Elegy, I intend to complete the second of a hopefully three-part series set on Cedar Key in the wake of societal collapse.
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Cedar Key is an island dangling off the western coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. On a chilly February morning, the horizon across the bay is enveloped in a microsecond of piercing light, and in an instant the old world is gone forever. Fires burn on horizons around the planet but the heat eventually gives way to the creeping monotone of the skies. The gray sets in overhead and all around, determined to keep the sun away from the land and waters.
In the new world, 300 islanders must learn to survive in the footprints of their forebears, battling invaders from the mainland, disease and natural disasters, and the compounding dread of hearing almost nothing from the wider world. This anti-dystopian novel is a quiet ode to the essential need for humans to live in true community with one another. Despite the loss of most technologies and modern comforts, the islanders persevere in the face of hardship and death– burying their loved ones in the morning and planting spring vegetables in the afternoon.
The deep friendship between the island’s mayor and an eccentric clam farmer underpin a story spanning three centuries of Cedar Key history. The triumphs and failures of past generations echo into the new world, as the islanders learn to lean on each other and their shared history.
The Gulf’s rich bounty and destructive power are a thrilling setting for a life-affirming story where love and friendship push back against the darkness.
LITERARY TITAN 