Cycler Interview

Posted on by scott

Early last year, I got to read the unfinished manuscript of a book called Cycler, by Lauren McLaughlin. It was about a girl named Jill who has a problem: she changes into a boy four days a month.

Obviously, this isn’t the best way to go through puberty, what with all the identity issues and stuff. So with the help of her parents, she’s managed to keep her transformations hidden. In fact, she’s repressed her memories of being a boy to the point where her male self, Jack, has developed his own personality–and he’s very much a boy.

A boy who’s getting really tired of being hidden . . .

Needless to say, the book was really awesome, and I wound up blurbing it:

Artfully fractured and wickedly smart. A brilliant screwball comedy about love, self knowledge, and the secret identities inside all of us.

The book has taken a while to come out, as first novels do, and in the meantime I’ve become pals with Lauren and her husband Andrew. So now that Cycler is on shelves, I thought I would convene with her and do a quick IM interview.

Here’s our conversation, unedited and in its original IM-y format! (Argh, so many typos.) I’m on the right side and Lauren, for reasons that will soon be revealed, is the cat.









By the way, Lauren’s husband (Andrew, mentioned above) is a fashion photographer, and he did the photo for the cover:

You can buy Cycler at Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. Or at many fine real-life bookstores across the land!

If you have any questions of your own for Lauren, feel free to ask them in the comments, and I’ll see if she’ll answer them.

All best to everyone going back to school!

112 thoughts on “Cycler Interview”

  1. Hey Lauren! Your not missing much, at least not anything good. My English teacher seems to be a strong believer of the whole “all teens hate to read anything but magazines and therefore must be forced to” misconception. (Although with all the fun-sucking work we get assigned just to read a single book, it’s no wonder some teens do feel that way.) So we have genrue requirements, page and nighly reading minimum’s, literature letters, weekly logs, and on top of all that we need to have the book approved by her before we read it. Apparently it’s to make sure that all the books we read are on a good level for us. I don’t think the thought occured to her (or my school board) that some students might want to read extra and NOT get credit for it. I’d ask, but I’m almost positive I’d be discouraged from it, lol. By the way, extremely random, but it is SO cool to actually be talking to a real author (they’re like celebrities to me)!

  2. Thanks, PrettyxMindedxRusty. I’ve never been seen as a celebrity before. I feel as if I should be ferried around in a limousine now or something. Well, I do think it’s a tad odd that your reading habits are so closely monitored by your teachers. I guess they’re trying to do their best to encourage reading, but I’m not sure I agree with their methods. Sadly, there is much in our education system that discourages genuine curiosity and learning. But it sounds to me as if you remain a free thinker despite this. Keep that up. The world needs free thinkers.

  3. wow that sounds interseting i will look for it when it comes out … or has it already come out i don’t remember i read the interview couple of hours ago well anyway great interview scott i wish i could do that i would interview tons of authors inculding you 🙂 can’t wait for your next book and i’m not typing its name for the fact that i may buture it

  4. Lauren– Well, maybe not exactly Emmy-attending kind of celebrity. More the kind who has to be creative, unique and perserverive to get what they deserve, and who you learn more about from what they say then what others say about them. Those are way cooler. It’s not too odd, (they’ve been using similar tactics for years) I should probably be used to it by now, guess I was hoping that this year my school would finally loosen their literary cholk-holds, instead of pulling tighter. Thanks. A lot of people who know me probably think of it more as stubborn-oddness than free thinking, but I’m glad you see it that way.

  9. A few comments, even though I’m obviously late to the party:

    1) I’m more than halfway through Cycler and am enjoying it. The ski lift scene in particular had me laughing. That, and the phrase “Am I emboogered?”

    2) I am amazed… AMAZED that the two cover models are not twins. Their noses and mouths are so similar!

    3) I’m still smiling at Htebezele’s comment about the James-Victoria-Laurent MBWF in the Twilight movie. XD I notice MBWFs everywhere now – for example, during the election coverage.

    4) Just throwing in another plug for Ranma 1/2. It is SO much fun. 🙂

  10. Hi there,

    I was wondering how I could contact Lauren? My friend and I run a YA Lit review website and we’ve reviewed Cycler. We were hoping to get an interview with her for the website. I’ve looked on her weblog but there are no contact details there at all.

    Kind regards,
    Nikki

    http://www.yareads.com

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