Today we are very excited to share an interview with Author Alex London (City of Secrets – Battle Dragons #3) conducted by Junior YABC staff member, Nathan Reid!
Read on to learn more about him, his book, and a giveaway!
Meet the Author: Alex London
Alex London is the author of over 25 books for children, teens, and adults with over 2 million copies sold. He’s the author of the middle grade Dog Tags, Tides of War, Wild Ones, and Accidental Adventures series, as well as two titles in The 39 Clues. For young adults, he’s the author of the acclaimed cyberpunk duology Proxy, and the epic fantasy trilogy, The Skybound Saga. A former journalist covering refugee camps and conflict zones, he can now be found somewhere in Philadelphia, where he lives with his husband and daughter or online at www.calexanderlondon.com.
About the Book: City of Secrets (Battle Dragons #3)
In a modern mega-city built around dragons, one boy gets caught up in the world of underground dragon battles and a high-stakes gang war that could tear his family apart.
Banished from Drakopolis to the desolate frontier town of Glassblower’s Gulch, Abel and his family must face a harsh new reality: life without dragons.
Far from the lights and lizards of the megacity, Abel’s new home effectively bans the great beasts. Anyone caught smuggling dragons is hauled away by the ruthless sheriff and her fearsome deputies. They have the only dragons in town, and they run the dreaded dragon rodeo, which pits those who fall afoul of the sheriff’s “justice” against a wild dragon in a competition for their freedom. It’s dragon versus human and only one can win.
Cut off from his friends and desperate to keep his fractious family together, Abel is determined not to break a single rule, even though the sheriff has it out for him. He’s going to be a model citizen.
Then he discovers the baby wyvern.
It’s a tiny, defenseless thing—and it definitely won’t survive without his help. Abel has made it his mission to aid any dragon that needs him. But what is he willing to risk for a baby wyvern in a town without mercy?
~Author Chat~
Nathan: What gave you the idea for this series?
There are endless sparks that ignite the ideas in any novel, but this one combined so many things that fueled my imagination when I was a middle schooler. I’ve loved dragons since I was little and was obsessed with Pete’s Dragon and with Falcor from the Never Ending Story. I’m deeply drawn to the relationship between kids—who don’t often have a lot of power—and dragons—who are pure power. These relationships are at the heart of Battle Dragons. Power doesn’t change who we are; it reveals us, so dragons are a great way to explore who my characters are, and who they are in the process of becoming, which really are the fundamental questions of any middle grade novel.
The series also combines my love of cyberpunk like Akira and Blade Runner with my love of fantasy, of dragon lore, and ultimately of stories set in that middle school time, when young people start to come into their own and realize how much bigger, complicated, and wonderful the world is than they ever dreamed. I wanted to write a story that would have appealed to me in middle school, but that would’ve also expanded my imagination for what kind of a world was possible.
Nathan: How many books do you plan to write for this series?
As many as my publisher will let me!
Nathan: Which book in Battle Dragons is your favorite so far?
I like them all for different reasons, but the first book, City of Thieves, started it all and helped me discover the world of Drakopolis, so that will always have a special place in my heart. I loved getting to know Abel and Karak and the city they live in. I felt like I was wandering the streets and the skies below the neon and dragons with them when I was writing that first draft. It felt magical and still, to me, does.
Nathan: Are the characters like anyone in your life?
Abel is probably more like me than anyone. Our circumstances growing up are very different, but I based a lot of his inner life—his anxieties, his fears, his dreams—on myself. And the character of Fitz is directly based on a real person, a writer and friend named Isaac Fitzgerald, who is just a larger than life character, who I had to include in Drakopolis!
Nathan: What dragon would you choose to race with?
I think Brazza, from City of Speed, if I could figure out how to get her not to kill me! She’s a lot like my absolutely stubborn, sweet, ridiculous, rescue hound dog, so I think we’d come to understand one another, just like I have with my dog. Also, Brazza’s the fastest dragon ever and if I’m gonna race, I’d want to win!
Nathan: Would you change anything about the series?
Change? No. But I’d love to see more fanfiction and fan art, to see what changes the readers would make. That always fascinates me, when an idea of mine takes on its own life in the imagination of my readers. I like to see what change my readers would make! Hopefully, I’ve created a world big enough for them to include their own ideas and daydreams in.
Nathan: How do you decide you are finished writing a series?
I’ll let you know! I haven’t decided yet!
Nathan: What was your favorite book growing up and how did it inspire your writing?
I loved the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. I loved how big and complicated and exciting and scary and heroic and magical the world of those stories is. I wanted to write that kind of book, the painted on a big canvas and tackled serious questions in really fun, exciting ways.
Nathan: Are you trying to imply something with the treatment of the dragons?
Yes, but I’ll leave it to the reader to decide what that is. I hate to come between a reader and a book by saying what I think it means. It’s not my place to get involved in the relationship a reader has with a book. I truly believe books belong to their readers. So the question is, what you think I’m implying!
Nathan: What is the main takeaway that you want readers to have from your book?
I hope they have fun, and maybe imagine their own worlds a little bigger, a little more complicated, and go out into them a little braver and little kinder. Everyone, from dragons to kinners to kids in middle school, is doing their best in a tough, confusing world. We all could use some bravery and some kindness. And maybe a dragon pal from time to time.
Nathan: Abel is bullied and pressured in the story, what advice do you have for readers in handling bullying?
Every situation is different, so I don’t have any one size fits all advice, but I will say, after childhood, none of the bullies that I knew when I was a kid thrived as adults, while a lot of the kids who endured their bullying are having amazing, interesting, wonderful lives. I suppose my advice is comes from an old saying: living well is the best revenge!
Also, becoming a writer helps. I get to feed bullies to dragons, and that’s fun!
Nathan: What plans for other books do you have?
Next year, I’ve got a new series starting called The Princess Protection Program. It’s about a school for fairy tale princesses (and one prince) who don’t like their stories and flee to real world. Of course, not everything in their school is as it seems, and the Fairy Godmother/ Headmistress might be up to something far more wicked than they can imagine!
Book’s Title: City of Secrets (Battle Dragons #3)
Author: Alex London
Release Date: March 7, 2023
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Ages 8 to 12
