We chat with Mike Albo about his debut YA novel Another Dimension of Us, which is a thrilling science fiction story about teens from the past and the future who travel across the astral plane save the ones they love—think The Breakfast Club meets Brit Marling’s The OA! Plus read on to check out an excerpt from the audiobook!
Hi, Mike! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello there! I’m Mike Albo, I’m a writer and performer. I grew up in Virginia but have lived in Brooklyn for over half my life now, wow. For a living I am a freelance writer, but I also perform I guess what you would call comedic theater — sketches or characters or monologues. I’ve written two novels, Hornito (2000 HarperCollins) and The Underminer: The Best Friend who Casually Destroys Your Life (2005 Bloomsbury USA, co-written with my good friend Virginia Heffernan) that is based on a character I also perform. Another Dimension of Us (ADOU for short) is my first YA novel and I’m really happy to be entering this new space.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
Well, like the characters in ADOU I fell in love with poetry at a young age. I began writing poetry when I was in 2nd grade, keeping notebooks. I think I loved the musical nature of poems, how the words sang. I began to write poetry more “seriously” when I was around 14 or 15, much like Tommy in ADOU and his friend who he is hopelessly, secretly, in love with: René.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
First ever remember reading was “GO DOG GO!” At, when would that be, three years old? Later, in 5th grade I devoured fairy tales – collections of Grimm’s, Hans Christian Anderson, and others.
The book that made me want to become an author…this is a hard one to pinpoint, but Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story allowed me to think that my gay life mattered enough to write it down and out loud.
Can’t stop thinking about. Well only because I am reading it right now: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields. It’s wonderful. About the long life of Daisy, a Canadian widow, told through many perspectives, but still, stitched throughout, I think it’s somehow all still through Daisy’s perspective, as if she is imagining what all these other characters were saying about her. It’s so well done. Usually books always answer a question or point me in a direction right when I need it, and this is no different. I am beginning a new project and have been mulling (torturing myself) over its POV, and this was a great help.
Your YA debut novel, Another Dimension of Us, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
I like that Publisher’s Weekly called it “a speculative romance.” My friend said it was “bonkers” – and I take that as a compliment!
What can readers expect?
It’s an adventure. I definitely have these characters travel to the Astral Plane and face bizarre beings and demonic forces, but I also wanted these characters to have emotional lives and struggles. It was really important for me that this was told as much as possible through feeling.
And now for a quick break! Check out an excerpt from the audiobook, read by Max Meyers.
Where did the inspiration for Another Dimension of Us come from?
I have a collection of old occult books, and one is called “The Art and Practice of Astral Projection” by Ophiel. It’s still in print. I had an idea about kids who find a book much like it and learn how to Astrally Project. That was the jumping off point.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed exploring?
Imagining what the Astral Plane was very freeing. I just let my mind go.
Oona is a visitor from the Astral Plane who helps along the earth-bound characters. She was a teenager in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. I am very interested in that terrible event. I’m not sure why, but I want to understand it. I think it is the birthplace of fascist ideology and how propaganda is used for violent ends. I only touch on it a bit in ADOU, but it’s a period in time that I always want to know more about.
What do you hope readers will take away from Another Dimension of Us?
I think I want readers to feel more connected. Right now, someone in the past or the future is feeling exactly the way you feel.
Do you have any advice for those who may have set some writing resolutions for the new year?
Print it out! Take your draft with you wherever you go, away from your laptop, and work on it as you walk or ride the subway or sit in a park.
What’s next for you?
Besides the half-baked aformentioned project, I spent the last 15 years writing a science fiction novel that is finally going out to editors — It’s called Touch Anywhere to Begin, about a young woman searching for love in a metaverse that looks like a perverse, sometimes dangerous version of our consumer culture.
Lastly, are there any 2023 releases our readers should look out for?
Omotara James is releasing her debut collection of poetry, Song of My Softening that I am really looking forward to. And my friend Tim Murphy’s new novel Speech Team is going to be delicious, I can’t wait.
Mike Albo has a GIANT talent