We chat to Aiden Thomas, author of the beloved Cemetery Boys that became the first trans-centered fiction book by an openly trans author to make the New York Times Bestseller list. Discussing their upcoming Peter Pan reimagination Lost in the Never Woods, we got to ask Aiden all our burning questions about their favorite fairy tales, plans for the future and more!
Hi, Aiden! So nice of you to join us once more! Why don’t you start off by telling our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I’m Aiden Thomas and I am the New York Times bestselling author of Cemetery Boys and soon to be Lost in the Never Woods! I’m a queer, trans, Latinx author and, unfortunately, I’m also a Disney Adult. I was born and raised in Oakland, CA but moved up to Portland, OR about 4 years ago. I love anime, I’m afraid of wolves, and I’m a night owl which is when I get most of my writing done!
Now tell our readers about Lost in the Never Woods!
Lost in the Never Woods is a dark, contemporary reimagining of Peter Pan! When Wendy and her two brothers were little, they went missing in the woods behind their house. While Wendy was found, her brothers never were. The story begins on Wendy’s 18th birthday. There’s a string of child disappearances in her small hometown of Astoria, OR and people are starting to wonder if Wendy and her brothers are somehow connected, but since Wendy has no memories from the time she was missing, she has no idea.
On her way home, she nearly runs over a boy lying in the middle of the road. He claims to be Peter Pan, a make believe boy from the stories Wendy used to tell her brothers. He tells Wendy he knows what happened to her and where her brothers and the other missing kids are. But, in order to get them back, Wendy has to help Peter find his shadow.
How did you come up with this dark reimagination of Peter Pan? Was there a particular moment where inspiration struck?
Honestly, the inspiration for Lost in the Never Woods was definitely the slow and creeping kind! I loved the Disney film as a kid (I’ve recently learned kinship with Peter is a very common experience among trans masculine folks!) and had the BIGGEST crush on Jeremy Sumpter in the 2003 adaptation. There’s also some incredible lines in that movie, but the one that really stuck out to me was when Peter says, “I want always to be a boy, and have fun.” And Wendy replies, “You say so, but I think it is your biggest pretend.”
That concept that Peter was trapped in Neverland, that he had some sort of duty to the Lost Boys when he was clearly so drawn to Wendy, stuck in brain. I wanted to know why he was in Neverland, what it meant for him to be afraid of his feelings, and what this concept of growing up really meant to him. I read the original Peter Pan quickly after that and learned how really dark the canon is how, and how deeply troubled and traumatized Peter was. I was really interested in his mental and emotional turmoil, which led me to wondering, “What happened to Wendy after Neverland?” and that was the real beginning of Lost in the Never Woods!
With Peter Pan getting the reimagination, are there any other tales you’d like to put your own spin on in the future?
Oh my gosh, SO MANY! I have a file where I just jot down random plot ideas, and right now there’s one in there that’s a retelling of Icarus and the sun, but as a gay romance. I was a hardcore Jack (from Rise of the Guardians) and Elsa (from Frozen) shipper back in the day, so I’ve got an alternate universe idea for that lying around. I think the most random one is a Point Break reimagining, though!
I loved the dark vibes and aesthetic of Lost in the Never Woods! What inspired you to choose that setting for Wendy’s adventure?
I set Lost in the Never Woods in Astoria, OR, after my friend took me there to visit her hometown! I fell in love with the coastal small town vibes, but what really made my imagination run wild were the woods. There’s a sizeable forest dropped right into the middle of Astoria, with downtown and suburban areas surrounding it. There’s logging roads that cut through it that are near impossible to navigate, and the trees are so dense and spooky, especially in the Pacific Northwest fog and rain, that I knew it had to be the atmospheric setting for Lost in the Never Woods!
We did this question with Cemetery Boys last year and I absolutely loved your answers, so here goes: if you had to choose one meme to represent Peter and Wendy, which ones would you choose?
This is SERIOUSLY one of my favorite questions!
These are long-suffering Wendy:
And Peter with his singular brain cell:
Also, if Yadriel and Julian were to meet Wendy and Peter, how’d you imagine that introduction to go over? Smoothly or would there be some tension?
Oh gosh, I think Peter and Julian would hit it off IMMEDIATELY, and keep themselves occupied enough for Wendy and Yadriel to drink some iced coffee and maybe take a nap. However, Julian would be OBSESSED with getting Peter to show him his magic, and Peter would absolutely THRIVE on the attention which would inevitably lead them to getting into a mess of trouble which Wendy and Yadriel would need to rescue them from.
Speaking of Cemetery Boys, your debut novel has been devoured and loved by so many readers all over the world! 2020 was a hard year to debut in, so how has the writing and publishing process changed for you with this ongoing pandemic?
I actually wrote and sold Lost in the Never Woods before Cemetery Boys, as the latter was my option book! So it’s been sitting around, waiting to be published for what feels like ages! It’s funny because while my 2020 debut author friends have been going through the turmoil of writing their second book, mine was already done. It has its ups and downs, but it’s really been nice to feel like I have some sort of understanding of how to go through the publishing journey. At this point, I feel like a pro at book publishing during a pandemic haha
With Lost in the Never Woods releasing soon, are you already working on other projects? If so, can you give our readers a bit of a sneak peek?
I am! I wrote a trans romcom during the early months of the pandemic, and I sold an additional 3 books. The first two of a duology that’s Percy Jackson meets the Hunger Games, and the third is a sci-fi story which I currently call “Gay Titanic in Space”! I’m nearly completed with the first draft of the first book in the duology and I am SO excited to share more soon!
Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for our readers?
ALWAYS!
She’s Too Pretty to Burn by Wendy Heard is coming out in March 2021, which is a YA thriller I absolutely fell in love with. Also be on the lookout for Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa (my new ultimate favorite queer romance!) and Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee (if you like romance tropes, you’re going to LOVE this book!).
