The Nerd Daily recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Cale Dietrich, author of The Love Interest and the upcoming July release The Friend Scheme! We got to ask Cale all our burning questions about his new star-crossed lovers, inspirations and future projects!
You can find Cale on Twitter and Instagram!
Hi, Cale! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! Thank you so much for this interview, I’m so happy to be here! I’m a YA writer and nerd from Australia who has written two books. The first is called THE LOVE INTEREST, which came out in 2017, and the second is called THE FRIEND SCHEME and it comes out this July!
Now tell us about The Friend Scheme!
Sure thing! The Friend Scheme is about Matt Miller, who is the closeted (and very nerdy!) gay son of a powerful criminal. At the start of the book Matt meets a super charming guy, and the pair start getting really close to each other, seemingly a first for both. But then Matt starts to get suspicious that this new friend has ulterior motives, and the plot goes from there!
I loved the mafia vibes in The Friend Scheme! What inspired you to write this story?
Thanks so much! I’m really glad you liked it! I really wanted to write a book about the son of a villain, as I thought it would be a fun way to explore gay issues through a genre lens. While brainstorming with my editor, we ended up landing on mobsters, which I thought sounded so fun and dark, and I went from there!
Another thing that stood out to me was Matt’s struggle to follow into his family’s footsteps because he’s never wanted any part of that life – what kind of future did you envision for his brother Luke, who seems to be much more suited to the criminal lives of the Millers?
That is a GREAT question! I definitely see Luke following more after his Dad and the rest of Matt’s family, but I think he has his own way of doing things. Hopefully he would be more compassionate and less ruthless than his father. But the life of crime is definitely for him! I just think he might find a better way to do it. I think that’s the future I see for him. I’m also very curious about his relationship with Matt after the book ends, but I might have to save that for a bonus short story or something.
Matt and Jason discuss a lot of their favorite movies and books in the novel – if you could only read one book (series), watch one movie and listen to one band for the rest of your life, what would be your choices?
That is SO tough! I love so many series so it’s incredibly hard for me to choose just one. Up until recently my answer to the book question would’ve been Harry Potter, but I strongly disagree with things J.K has said about trans people, so it’s not that anymore. I’m going to cheat a little and say A WHEEL OF TIME because I haven’t read them and I know there are a bunch of them so I’d get a lot of new (and apparently really good) content. I also adore Becky Alberalli’s Simonverse. As for movies, I would pick THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, and as for bands, I would pick THE KILLERS!
Matt and Jason also have a star-crossed lovers thing going on! Who are your favorite star-crossed lovers across literature or in movies?
For sure! I love Katniss and Peta from THE HUNGER GAMES for so many reasons. I think they’re both incredible characters, and I remember being so invested in their relationship. They’re the gold standard for me, but I also love Steve and Peggy, as well as (the less starcrossed now) Ian and Mickey from SHAMELESS.
The Friend Scheme is your second novel! How did your writing process differ from your debut The Love Interest?
IT WAS SO MUCH HARDER! Everyone always says the second one is the toughest and that was totally the case for me! But I’m sort of glad it was so hard because I feel as if it’s really helped me grow as a writer, which is something I always want to be doing! But yeah, it’s kind of wild how much harder it was, and it wasn’t something I was expecting to hit me as hard as it did.
Without giving too much away, what was your favorite and least favorite scene to write?
I can’t recall any scenes that were my least favourite to write, but my definite favorites were the kissing scenes! I just really like writing those. I also really liked the rooftop scene with Matt and Jason, I love it when characters get vulnerable with each other.
With The Friend Scheme releasing in late July, are you already working on another project? If so, could you share a few tidbits with us?
I am! So I have another book slated with Feiwel & Friends (who published THE LOVE INTEREST and THE FRIEND SCHEME) although they’re waiting to lock in a concept. I really the idea I have with them, and I hope it goes ahead! In the meantime I’m working on a few different projects, all of which I’m very hyped about! One of the manuscripts I’m writing now is easily the nerdiest thing I’ve ever written, and I love that about it.
And last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for our readers?
I sure do! Some of my absolute favorites (which are out now) are: CAMP (L.C. Rosen), BLACK WINGS BEATING (Alex London), DEATH PREFERS BLONDES (Caleb Roehrig), DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY (Adib Khorram) HOW TO BE REMY CAMERON (Julian Winters) ONLY MOSTLY DEVASTATED (Sophie Gonzales), TYLER JOHNSON IS NOT OKAY (Jay Coles) and KEEP THIS TO YOURSELF (Tom Ryan).
Some of the books I’m really looking forward to are: SURRENDER YOUR SONS (Adam Sass) WHITE TRASH WARLOCK (David R Slayton) and THE SECRET BLADE (Tricia Levenseller)!
