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Interview with Tom Reynolds, author of Meta

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Meta’ is a Young Adult Science Fiction novel set in a world where superheroes are real, but haven’t been seen in a decade since a battle between two of the strongest killed thousands of innocent people in a major metropolitan area. Their powers came from these silver-y kind of bracelets called ‘metabands’ that granted their owners all types of different powers.

Tell us more.
The present day story follows Connor Connolly, a 16 year-old whose parents were killed ten years ago during that battle. He lives with his older brother now where he’s somewhat of an outsider since they’ve moved to the other side of the country.

Connor finds himself in the wrong place at the right time and tries to stop a horrible crime, which results in him being fatally wounded. However, he wakes up a short time later to discover that he’s wearing the first functioning pair of metabands anyone has seen in a very long time.

Tell us about these metabands. We’re assuming they’re more a bit more complicated than, say, a Pebble watch.
A little bit. There’s a lot of mystery about the wristbands themselves since no one on Earth knows where they actually came from. There are lots of theories of course, but really no proof. It really came from the idea of “What if you went back in time 100 years and showed someone an iPhone?” It would seem like magic at first, but they would be able to figure out how to use it eventually. However, even if they pulled the thing apart they would have absolutely no understanding how it actually worked. The metabands are similar to this. They’re so advanced that they seem impossible, but it’s really just technology that’s so advanced we can’t understand it yet.

Fair point. Tell us about Connor.
Connor’s smart, funny but unsure of himself. His parents died before he really knew them and while his brother has done a great job raising him; he was never a parental figure. He’s moved around a lot and I think doesn’t really know exactly who he is yet, which I think is common for a lot of people around his age, or at least it was for me.

When Connor acquires his metaband, he takes the name Omni. What else changes?
When he becomes Omni he discovers a little bit of newfound confidence in himself, but also a lot of fear about his powers and the new world that he is a part of. He comes face to face with a lot of fantastical, but very real difficult situations.

Talk to us about superpowers – which do Omni possess? Which other powers are available in this world?
The powers range from the fairly mundane to really anything you can imagine. From super strength, flight, teleportation, etc. Part of Connor’s journey is discovering what he is actually capable of. Most (but not all) metas have one or two powers at most. Connor seems to be able to harness almost any power he can imagine, which is a first.

He has a mentor to guide him, doesn’t he? Who is he?
Midnight is a non-meta vigilante who has been around since the first metahumans a decade ago. He’s well respected despite not actually possessing any powers himself and takes Connor under his wing.

Who are the other major characters?
His brother Derrick is much older (which is how he became his legal guardian) but still only in his 20’s himself. He’s a professional blogger and something of a metahuman conspiracy theorist. Not the person you’d want to share a roof with if you’re trying to keep the fact that you’re the world’s first new metahuman in a decade under wraps.

Jim is his best friend. More outgoing than Connor, but not really that much more popular.

There’s a few more major characters, but they’re surprises.

We can’t wait – but that might be because we’ve always been huge comic book fans. Who else will Meta appeal to?
I certainly hope it appeals to any one who loves comics, but I also hope it appeals to those who like pure sci-fi and/or humor as well, realizing of course that those aren’t mutually exclusive. I really tried to explore the idea of a world where superheroes once existed, but haven’t been seen in a very long time and what the reaction would be when they returned, especially given the circumstances under which they were last seen.

There’s a lot of mystery around the technology involved, how it works and where it came. The story itself is told from Connor’s perspective and he’s a pretty sarcastic, self-deprecating kid who has a very gallows sense of humor about his situation.

We’re hoping this is the first in a series. Can you tell us what the future holds for Connor?
I’m in the outline phase of a second book now actually. I don’t want to give too much away, but the biggest change isn’t so much with Connor as it is with the world around him. I hope that is sufficiently vague enough.

As clear as mud!
This next question is a cliché, so forgive us for asking it, but what would your superpower of choice be?
That’s actually a tough one, since a lot can be dangerous if you only have one, which the novel explores a lot. On paper it’d be great to be invulnerable, but what happens when you need a flu vaccine and the needle can’t pierce your skin? Missiles can’t harm you, but you wind up dying of pneumonia in a hospital bed?

We’ve never thought of it that way. You still haven’t picked one, though. You have to.
I’d probably take teleportation but just be very, very careful about where I teleported to.

In addition to being an author, you’re a successful podcaster. We love your podcast, The Complete Guide To Everything, and it’s always near the top of the charts. But, for anyone who hasn’t yet discovered it, tell us about TCGTE.
The Complete Guide to Everything is a weekly comedy podcast I do with Tim Daniels for the Splitsider Podcast Network. The premise is that every week we take on a new topic in order to usurp Wikipedia as the place on the internet to get information. Of course we rarely actually know what we’re talking about, nor do we ever stay on topic. It’s really just a jumping off point for us trying to make each other laugh.

You definitely make us laugh. We’re huge fans.
We hear you’ve also got a new venture?
We also just started a new podcast called Pop Everything, that is a little more serious and involves us just talking about all things that we enjoy regarding pop culture. Movies, music, books, video games, TV shows, etc. We’re lucky enough that some people are actually interested in our opinions on things and this is just another way for us to find things to drone on about.

Tell us about yourself.
I’m 32 and live in Brooklyn, NY where I’ve lived most of my adult life. Prior to that I went to the University of Maryland. Before that I grew up on Long Island, NY.

What is the best way to follow you on the Internet?
You can find me at tomreynolds.com or on Twitter at @tomreynolds . I’m at facebook.com/sometomreynolds and instagram.com/tomreynolds too, but those first two are where I’m most active. You can find my podcast stuff at tcgte.com.

What’s next?
Having a nice big drink, then getting cracking on the next book, continuing to tweak the new podcast and hopefully squeeze in another live podcast show somewhere in North America before the year is out. After that we’ll be back to Europe in the Spring.

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