Kathie: Welcome to MG Book Village, Kevin and Basil! I am so glad I have the chance to talk to you about your upcoming book, NIGHT OF THE LIVING ZED, which comes out on January 16th. Please tell our readers a bit about it.
Basil and Kevin: This is an escape room, mystery, ghost story, maybe love story… with laughs and thrills. Zed and Gabe are challenged to spend three nights in a haunted house, built a century ago by a mysterious opera set designer and costumier.
There’s a reward for anyone who can make it to midnight on Halloween – but no one has ever been able to do it. Zed, who loves ghosts, is sure they can get the money – to help pay for Sam and Jo’s wedding!!!
Along the way they have to solve mysteries, puzzles and codes or they could wind up as ghosts themselves!
And they discover that the house is hiding a big secret.
Kathie: This is the sequel to THE FABULOUS ZED WATSON, which came out in 2021. What sort of feedback did you get from readers about your first book, and does that influence you when you sit down to write a sequel?
Kevin: We were blown away by the response, both from “critics” (awards baybee!) and readers. Zed and Gabe develop a relationship in the first book that anchors the second – a friendship based on humour, understanding and open-ness.
There have also been, of course, not so nice responses – some from parents in specific schools. That just made me sad…and the only real response was my dedication To People who Don’t Ban Books.
Basil: I don’t think we had any specific ways we responded to what people were saying. Most of the feedback we got was really positive, so we wanted to keep that train going! I think the way it influenced us was getting to write a sequel at all–I’m very touched readers wanted Zed back for a sequel, that’s pretty awesome.
Kathie: Basil, how did the process of writing with your dad again change from your first book together?
Basil: This one was weirder because we wrote more together in the same physical space, but a lot of the book was written separately. The first book, we wrote our own section drafts and got together and workshopped them a lot together. This book, we sort of trusted each other to write more independently. The letters, for instance, I wrote without any input from Kevin, and there are a few scenes he wrote that changed very little from draft to finished product.
Kathie: The treasure-hunting and mystery-solving return in this book, but it’s also got a spooky side to it. Where did that inspiration come from, and how do you gauge the right amount of spooky for middle-grade readers?
Kevin: If you go to my public Facebook page you will see that Halloween is a big deal in our house. And, as you can imagine, it’s Zed’s fave holiday as well. Monsters AND candy?
In fact, that’s one of the main tensions in the book. In order to complete the quest, Zed has to sacrifice Halloween.
Basil: I was a kid who loved thrills and chills. Not outright horror, but I think kids can have a dark and serious side that we don’t often bring out. There’s a lot of talk right now about what’s appropriate for middle-grade and other children readers, but you know, I was obsessed with The Titanic as a kid, and the French Revolution. So we tried to strike that balance between chilling and silly. I think a lot of the scariness is undercut by Zed’s enthusiasm, too. In some ways, the ghosts are a red herring. What I’m more worried about is making kids too sad!
Kathie: What’s one thing you think Zed might like a young reader to know about them that isn’t in the book?
Kevin: Hmm… Zed is a total over-sharer, so there’s not a lot of mystery about them. But, maybe how much they have secretly loved the operas that Gabe listens to – and sometimes makes them listen to.
Basil: You can only fit so many illustrations into a book, and a lot of those are Zed in pyjamas or ugly sweaters. I want people to know that they also wear dresses and skirts and paint their nails, when the occasion calls for it. They are not afraid to mess around with gender presentation.
Kathie: I know your family loves games; do you have one you’d recommend for readers who enjoy your books?
Kevin: We were very lucky to test-play the Ticket to Ride legacy game during the pandemic! It’s a blast, and we got it for Christmas. It involves travel, like the books, as well as surprises and secrets.
But the game Betrayal at the House on the Hill shares a lot of the features of the house in the book.
Basil: I’m not sure this game even exists anymore, but 1313 Dead End Drive was a huge favourite growing up. It’s all about killing people off in various mouse-trap-like ways in this haunted spooky mansion, so you can inherit it all. In that vein, I think Mouse Trap and Clue are ones that influenced my love of contraptions and houses full of secrets. Also, get your friends together for a murder mystery dinner party. Those can be a total blast.
Kathie: Can you tell us anything about possible future Zed stories?
Kevin: Well, like anything in the real world (ours) that depends on how well the book sells. We have a lot of ideas for how Zed and Gabe can continue to solve mysteries that involve monsters and ghosts…. They might even make a few connections in this book that would lead them down different paths…
Kathie: Where can you go to learn more about each of you?
Kevin: My website is the best
But I’m also pretty active on Bluesky, twitter, and Instagram.
Basil: I’ve taken a step back with social media, to be honest. But please send any queries or anything at all to basil.sylvester.author@gmail.com. I’m thinking of making a website, but I’m a chronic procrastinator (sorry to my co-author!)
Kathie: I am SO excited to get my hands on this book, and I wish you both a very successful release.
Basil and Kevin: THANKS!!!! And continued success with your books as well! We hope you enjoy!
BASIL SYLVESTER is a non-binary writer and bookseller. Their first book, The Fabulous Zed Watson!, co-written with Kevin Sylvester, was a finalist for the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award, the 2021 Lambda Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. Night of the Living Zed is their second novel.
KEVIN SYLVESTER is the author/illustrator of more than thirty books, including the MINRs trilogy, The Almost Epic Squad: Mucus Mayhem, the Neil Flambé Capers and the Hockey Super Six series. Sylvester has won awards from across Canada, among them the Silver Birch Award and the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award. His latest novel, cowritten with Basil Sylvester, is The Night of the Living Zed. Kevin Sylvester lives in Toronto.
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