Please help me give a big Hoosblog welcome to Adam Sass!

Adam Sass began writing books in Sharpie on the backs of Starbucks pastry bags. (He’s sorry it distracted him from making your latte.) His debut YA novel, Surrender Your Sons, was named a best book of the year by Kirkus and Foreword INDIES, best first novel for young readers by ALA Booklist, and won the Gold Medal for YA Fiction at the IPPY Awards. He even collaborated with Born Perfect, the leading organization fighting conversion therapy, which promoted Surrender Your Sons to raise money for LGBTQ causes.

99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers is his forthcoming second novel. Adam has been featured in Teen Vogue, Buzzfeed, the Savage Lovecast, and once, he was even blocked by Roseanne. Proud of that one. He is also a recurring co-host on the popular podcast Slayerfest98, where he recaps Marvel shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and other pop culture alongside guests such as drag superstar Trixie Mattel and The New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum. He lives in North Carolina with his husband and dogs. Find him on Twitter at @TheAdamSass and on Instagram at itsadamsass.

Tell us about your book!

My debut Surrender Your Sons is a YA about queer teens leading an uprising against the conversion therapy camp where they’re trapped. That one is now available, but my second novel, 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers, is a YA romcom that comes out in Fall 2022. It follows Micah, an Instagram artist who sketches imaginary boyfriends while dreaming of actually asking someone out one day. So, when a meet-cute with the much-anticipated Boy 100 goes wrong, he embarks on a Prince Charming-like quest through Chicago to find true love. My first two books are very salty and sweet.

Here’s the blurb for Surrender Your Sons:

Connor Major’s summer break is turning into a nightmare.

His SAT scores bombed, the old man he delivered meals to died, and when he came out to his religious zealot mother, she had him kidnapped and shipped off to a secluded island. His final destination: Nightlight Ministries, a conversion therapy camp that will be his new home until he “changes.”

But Connor’s troubles are only beginning. At Nightlight, everyone has something to hide—from the campers to the “converted” staff and cagey camp director—and it quickly becomes clear that no one is safe. Connor plans to escape and bring the other kidnapped teens with him. But first, he’s exposing the camp’s horrible truths for what they are—and taking this place down.

“An edge-of-your-seat queer adventure story so full of twists and turns that it’s not until we catch our breath that we come to realize the depth of the story we’ve just been told.” –Abdi Nazemian, award-winning author of Like a Love Story and The Authentics

Buy Surrender Your Sons: Amazon | Barnes & Noble  | Bookshop

 

 

Now for the fun stuff!

What’s your favorite genre? Do you read what you write?

Comedy. If a book is funny, if I’m laughing, you’ve got a fan for life in me. That’s why comedy is the consistent throughline in my work. Whether it’s thriller or romance, I have to bring humor and interesting characters to the table. As for reading what I write, I actually don’t read YA for pleasure. I do it for business, to blurb, to support, to know what’s happening in the field, but for pleasure-reading, I go for non-fiction. Essays (humor!) and history and stuff like Mary Roach’s unique looks at science.

That’s great that you read so broadly. I try to branch out from young adult but I don’t vary my genres as much as I’d like.

What’s your favorite part about writing?

Creating interactions between characters. As an extrovert, it becomes very difficult to be social and do the intense amount of solo work needed to write an entire book, so for me, creating scenes with lots of friendships, banter, and discussions fills that void in my life!

Writing friendships is one of my favorite parts of writing as well. The best friends always end up being my favorite characters!

What’s the hardest part of writing for you?

Setting and description. I love the scene descriptions in SURRENDER YOUR SONS, but only because I HAD to spend a ton of time on them because it doesn’t come naturally to me. I actually draft in really sparse chunks, where it’s a basic scene skeleton and dialogue, but then I include like [INCLUDE CHARACTER CLOTHES HERE] or [DESCRIBE WHERE THEY ARE HERE] for me to fill in later on my second pass.

I use brackets a lot in my writing as well, and I have to confess that when I read first this answer, I thought you didn’t answer the question! 😛

What’s an activity unrelated to writing that you love?

During normal times, I love going to events and chatting with folks, BUT during COVID times, more day-to-day, I’m a walker. When it’s bright and warm, I can walk for up to two and a half hours with just my music. I actually get my best ideas on these walks. When I’m focusing on other things, little fragments of ideas swim up and story problems seem to naturally untangle themselves.

Walking and exercising work so well for me too! I keep wondering when we’ll go back to “regular” events, but I’m not sure I’m fully ready for that.

Who’s your biggest cheerleader?

In many different ways, it’s my agent, Eric Smith. He’s the reason I’m able to take risks with every single book I do. I’m a Gemini, so I’m a risk-taker, but also extremely self-conscious the next minute. Many, many times I’ve relied on Eric’s belief in me and my work to really fuel me up to keep going. You need a TON of energy to work consistently in this industry, and Eric is responsible for up to 75% of my energy on any given day.

I’m so happy for you that you have such a supportive relationship with him. Eric is great! 

 

Now I’d like to play a fun little game called This or That. As a writer, I find that a lot of interviews ask the same questions, so I always appreciate sharing something new about myself. I’m super excited about these questions—and I hope you enjoy them!

Introvert or extrovert? Extrovert!

Morning or night person? Morning!

Coffee or tea? Coffee! (sense a trend?)

Sweet or salty? SWEET

Eternal summer or four seasons? Summer forever

Mountains or beach? Mountains 100%

Dogs or cats? Dogs

Over 5’5” or under? Just made it over by an inch!

Left or right-handed? Right-handed

Hoodie or yoga pants? ooooo, I want both! But if I have to pick, I’ll say yoga pants. I don’t like a lot of pant material.

I’m very much an exclamation pointy extrovert, so I feel you!

 

Adam, thank YOU much for spending this time with me and my readers. I’ve enjoyed this so much! Readers, you can find Adam at these links—and be sure to check out Surrender Your Sons and add 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers on Goodreads!   

Website  |  Twitter  |  Instagram

 

Surrender Your Sons: Amazon | Barnes & Noble  | Bookshop

If you missed the previous interviews, you can read them here.