Sam Subity is the author of The Last Shadow Warrior, an action-packed middle grade novel inspired by the Norse myths and the epic poem Beowulf. The Nerd Daily recently got the opportunity to chat with Sam, and in the interview he tells us about his favourite scene to write in the book, his writing process, and more! If you are a fan of mythology-based middle grade fantasy novels, The Last Shadow Warrior is a book you’d definitely want to check out!
Hi Sam! Thanks so much for being here! Would you tell us a little about yourself?
Awesome to be here! I was one of those kids who read almost everything I could get my hands on, which in a small town in Ohio included everything from a well-loved set of The Chronicles of Narnia to a nearly complete collection of World Book encyclopedias missing the So-Sz volume. I also wrote short stories and plays about my favorite characters, but the idea of writing an entire novel always seemed next to impossible. Then when my brother passed from cancer in his thirties, that was a sort of wake-up call about the brevity of life, and I knew if I didn’t try, then I might never get the chance. So I took this idea I’d had for Percy Jackson meets Beowulf and over the next few years gradually built it into a full middle grade novel.
The Last Shadow Warrior, your debut novel, is out now! What can readers expect when they pick up the book?
The story is packed with Vikings, hidden worlds, creatures from Norse mythology, and even an epic Ping-Pong battle! My main character, Abby Beckett, is the typical modern-day twelve-year-old—she loves cookie dough ice cream and struggles with complex fractions—except she’s descended from an ancient line of Vikings and knows her way around a battle ax. I really had so much fun writing it, and I hope readers have just as much fun reading it. It’s just the sort of story I loved most when I was growing up, with a combination of heart and humor, and where kids go on fantastical adventures and face huge, impossible odds.
What inspired you to write Abby’s story?
The core of Abby’s story started as a humorous short piece that I wrote for a magazine years ago about a kid whose parents sent him to middle school dressed like a Viking (horned helmet and all) and had a Norse longship parked in their driveway. But even as I finished that story, my brain was already starting to build a bigger world where a fierce, twelve-year-old Viking finds herself at the center of this struggle between good and evil going all the way back to Beowulf. It’s a clash of an older world of myths and monsters with a new, modern age where Abby finds herself caught in the middle and perhaps doesn’t fit in either.
Vale Hall, the school Abby and her friends go to, is also the place where the Vikings have their secret headquarters. Was Vale’s creation inspired by any other famous schools in literature?
I’ve heard Vale compared to Hogwarts on a few occasions already, which I think is inescapable for anyone writing fantasy these days. But I actually started out from the historical research that I did on the Viking Age to construct a school with its DNA rooted in the structures that real Vikings would have used but updated for the modern age. For example, the main gathering hall with its sweeping timber frame and enormous fireplace is based on medieval mead halls like Heorot from Beowulf. And the sports arena behind the school is nicknamed “The Longhouse” and is modeled after the actual dwellings called longhouses where people in Scandinavian countries spent most of their time a thousand years ago.
Without spoiling anything, can you tell us about any particular scene in The Last Shadow Warrior that you had the most fun writing?
I’ve always loved stories that drop you right into the action, so I really wanted my first chapter to do just that and give readers a flavor of the fast-paced and exciting adventure ahead. In that scene readers get their first glimpse of Abby in full-on battle mode. She and her dad have developed a really close connection after Abby’s mom died several years back, and there’s this tension where Abby wants to be seen as grown up and able to handle herself, but at the same time she’s internally dealing with a mountain of self-doubt. And it all quickly comes to a head when she gets the chance to prove herself and…well, readers will just have to check out the book and find out what happens!
What does your writing process look like?
I can really write in any quiet, sunny spot. Early on, I used to do my first drafts in longhand with pencil and notebooks, but my handwriting has unfortunately become so bad that I was spending too much time trying to decipher what I wrote, so I switched to drafting on my laptop instead. But I still like to return to pencil and paper when I’m really struggling with a scene that isn’t working, and that often helps me rediscover some sort of visceral connection with the story that is harder to get sometimes with a keyboard. I’ll usually start with a rough draft of my first chapter or two then plot out chapter titles or concepts as waypoints to help guide me through the rest of the draft so that I know where I’m headed.
What’s next for you?
If enough readers connect with The Last Shadow Warrior, then I’d love to have the chance to write the next book in the potential series. I’d originally imagined it as a trilogy to map to the three-part structure of the original Beowulf epic, so hopefully I’ll be able to carry that out and complete Abby’s story.
And finally, what are some upcoming middle grade novels you are excited about?
My reading list has been full of stories about animals this year. My daughter and I just read an advance copy of the most adorable and adventurous story called Journey Beyond the Burrow by Rina Heisel which comes out in July. It’s about a mouse named Tobin who adventures into the woods to rescue his baby brother. I’m also really excited to read The Wolf’s Curse from Jessica Vitalis which comes out in September about a boy who’s been cursed since he witnessed a wolf stealing his grandfather’s soul.
