Skywake by Jamie Russell

Skywake: Invasion is a sci-fi debut by Jamie Russell. Published on 1 July, we are pleased to share a guest post from Jamie about his inspiration for writing his book.

Reluctant Readers Level Up: The Inspiration Behind SkyWake: Invasion

In 2021, reading is hard.

I’m not talking about the ongoing global pandemic (although that definitely makes it difficult to get lost in a book). I’m thinking instead about the constant demands on our attention in the twenty-first century.

Today’s young readers are the first generation to grow up with the siren call of our always-on culture. The temptations are many: the endless scroll of social media; the soporific allure of Netflix’s autoplay feature; the just-one-more-match addiction of videogames like Fortnite and Rocket League.

We’re surrounded by devices that promise us instant dopamine hits. No wonder then, that young readers sometimes feel that opening a book comes second, or third, or even fourth to staring at a screen.

Fiction may offer deeper, more satisfying highs, but the truth is we have to work for them … which requires adamantine will power in a world filled with other, easier pleasures.

When I started writing SkyWake: Invasion, I wanted to reach out directly to readers who were distracted by all these diversions. I knew that my competition wasn’t other books so much as PlayStations and iPhones.

SkyWake: Invasion is the story of Casey, a girl gamer who discovers that the videogame she’s been playing with her friends is actually an alien training simulator.

When the aliens gatecrash an eSports tournament in a London shopping centre and start abducting players to fight in a war on a distant planet, Casey and her teammates realise they are the only ones who can fight back.

The adults don’t play SkyWake and they don’t know how to use the invaders’ plasma rifles and energy swords. But Casey and her team do. They’ve trained for this moment online and, if they can stop squabbling with one another for long enough offline, they might just be able to save the day.

There’s just one problem: in real life, there’s no respawns.

My aim was to write a story that would capture the breakneck pace and all-encompassing immersion of games like Fortnite or Overwatch. I wanted it to be a propulsive page-turner that would mimic the visceral power of gaming.

I also wanted to write a story that would reflect today’s gaming culture – eSports tournaments; the cult of celebrity streamers; how virtual play can forge real-life friendships – back to readers.

The world of play has changed so much in the last decade with the virtual blocks of Minecraft now as popular as the real ones of Lego. It felt like it was time to start recognising that in middle grade fiction too.

Most of all, though, I wanted to write a story that treated videogames not as a threat but as an equal. SkyWake: Invasion is about how videogames work and why they matter. It’s a story that centres on the relationships that playing online together can create, and about the ways in which videogames can help us navigate real life.

Instead of competing with videogames, I wanted to celebrate them. In doing so, I hoped to write a book that would appeal to even the most reluctant readers.

If SkyWake: Invasion tempts just one gamer to put down their controller and remember how satisfying reading for pleasure can be, I’ll have achieved my aim.

Bio

Jamie Russell is a former contributing editor of Total Film magazine turned screenwriter and author. He has written several non-fiction books, including Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema and Generation Xbox: How Videogames Invaded Hollywood. SkyWake: Invasion is the first in a planned trilogy and is Jamie’s first book for children.

Links

Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/4873/9781406397512

Twitter: @jamierussell_74 Website: www.jamierussell.co.uk