About the Book
- In exactly 184 words, what’s Zodiac Pets about?
- Wendy Zhou has just lost her father and is off to a brawling start in the hard-luck hamlet of Pennacook, Massachusetts, where wild boar roam the streets and dumpster living is the next big thing. She finds a new sense of mission after joining the other middle-schoolers staffing the town paper, the Pennacook Beat. But when dark forces aim to sell the town (“some assembly required”) and plunk a giant dome over it, can a still-shattered Wendy find the strength to fight them? And why does Graham Bundt—the supposed John Adams descendant who rules the Beat like some sloppy Perry White—keep tormenting Wendy with picayune assignments and inane Fun Fridays?
Wendy tells the tale as a college senior rewriting Zodiac Pets, her account of the Pennacook Dome debacle. She’s inspired to add new chapters in which she travels down the East Coast with Lena Ko—not only her chauffeur but her troubled and much-loved girlfriend—to interview her former Beat colleagues for the book. In the process of rewriting, she takes a fresh look at Pennacook, herself, and even the rascally Graham. - Is this a sequel to your first book, Ring On Deli?
No. There are a few recurring minor characters. But it's a different story and Wendy Zhou, our protagonist, is entirely new. In keeping with the “trapped in the eighties" theme of Zodiac Pets, here's a non-literary analogy to illustrate the relationship.
RING ON DELI : ZODIAC PETS
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Licensed to Ill : Paul’s Boutique.- Zodiac Pets focuses in part on democratic dysfunction in the small town of Pennacook, Massachusetts. Where does that come from?
Recent events reminded me of a passage from Lincoln’s Lyceum address (1838). Lincoln warns of the threat that mob rule poses to American democracy and analogizes democratic suicide to personal suicide in that it’s a choice.
If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
Wendy Zhou grapples with suicide in unexpected and personal ways, but the book also asks what would happen to Pennacook if Bounty Bag, its chief employer, disappeared, swept away by floods. Would it self-destruct, by selling out, or resist that urge? Strange to say, Zodiac Pets is a comic novel about personal and democratic suicide.
- From drone-birds to domes, life in Pennacook has turned deeply absurd and has a comic sci-fi flavor. Why?
- The depiction of Pennacook reflects how it feels lately in America, as old pillars are crumbling or being subjected to spectacular pressure. In tandem with the real world’s dilemmas, those facing Pennacook are outlandish: should we sell our local democracy and let some nut plop a giant dome over us and rule us? Should we try to drain the flooded roads or give up and frolic in them? These things—wild boars attacking men on balance bikes, machine-gunning hobbyists laying waste to an ancient forest, robots drafting homicidal municipal codes—that’s our crazy times in motion. Though part of this is just wanting to try new things—characters, jokes, situations, or ideas.
- Is this a YA novel?
- No. A typical YA novel would be from the perspective of a child or adolescent and resolve matters while the protagonist is still "young." Wendy is an adult telling a story from her childhood. We know this from the very first paragraph, where she states that she is in college. She is dealing as an adult with issues of mourning and anger that remain from her middle-school years, when she lost her father. That said, I do play around with kids’-book and YA elements, with homages to Nancy Drew, Tintin, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and an eighties-style “can kids save the world?” plotline. And readers who grew up reading YA fiction and are nostalgic for it may enjoy Zodiac Pets. I hope they will.
- Should other writers be writing more political fiction?
- I have a background in government and law and was naturally drawn to this subject, which I consider urgent. But I think it’s unfortunate when writers who are not politically inclined are issued mandates like this. There is plenty else to write about!