Cathy McCrumb graduated from Biola University with a degree in English Literature and a love for stories. She and her husband, whom she met while writing letters to soldiers, have five children and currently live within the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. While writing is one of her favorite things to do, she also enjoys reading, long hikes and long naps, gluten-free brownies and raspberries, and crocheting while watching science fiction movies with friends and family.
In this interview, Cathy shares some of her thoughts about her new book, Guardian, book number 3 in her Children of the Consortium Series.
FF: What inspired the story in your book?
Years ago, a friend gave me a ride home from work. She and I talked about current events, technology, and the way society sometimes dehumanized people who weren’t “normal.” (As if Normal is an attainable state, rather than a city in Illinois.) What if people forgot that value of life itself, of each individual human? What if being God’s creation no longer mattered, in and of itself?
A few days later, I dreamed of standing on a moon, looking up at the stars that spread across the inky blackness of space. A sense of wonder and belonging connected that dangerous, cold beauty overhead to the love of the Maker of the universe. Then, I followed the others—a serious young woman, Jordan, Alec, and a young man named Timmons—into tunnels.
I jotted it down and told my friend, and she said, “Keep going.”
I did.
FF: What can you tell us about the main characters in your book?
The series revolves around a young woman with no name. She has defied the Consortium, the organization that raised her, by developing feelings and opinions the governing members of the Consortium will not tolerate. After discovering friendship, freedom, and love, disaster threatens the people this Recorder cares for. Despite the potential consequences, the Recorder will risk anything and everything she can to save them.
Her friends, however, are not willing to lose her.
And, yes, she must find her name.
FF: Which character surprised you the most?
Kyleigh Tristram surprised me the most this time. After losing her family and almost everything she loves, Kyleigh’s faith seems to waver. Grief is a tangible force for her, but allowing it to distract her could lead to more deaths. Since Kyleigh was the one person willing to admit her faith to the Recorder in the first book, her trust in an “unquantifiable God” is pivotal to the Recorder’s understanding of belief.
Having lost family members, Kyleigh’s struggle was very real to me. How do you hold fast when someone’s absence leaves a gaping hole? I hadn’t anticipated the way writing her would affect me.
FF: Why do you think storytelling is such a powerful way to share truth?
We learn in many different ways—visual, aural, verbal, physical, logical, social—but I believe we also learn through imagination. This is one of the reasons children have been told fairy tales about avoiding gingerbread houses in the woods or speaking words like diamonds instead of like toads. Well-crafted stories sink deep into our hearts and minds. They can inspire courage and illustrate the consequences of folly.
FF: What can readers expect from the rest of this series?
Recorder’s very first line hints of a promise:
“I did not have a name—none of us did—but once, when I was young, I had a friend.”
Since Guardian is the end of the series, I will keep that promise. (I know. That is a little obscure, but you’ll see what I mean.)
FF: What kind of research did you do for this book?
For all three books, I spent a lot of time reading articles from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. For Guardian, I studied brain function and the effects of certain types of trauma. Occasionally, history would become my focus, including articles about early Soviet experiments with the removal of marriage as an institution. (Note: That didn’t end well.)
Some of the more fun topics included idioms, the development of slang, and Victorian mourning jewelry. Since long hair is a status symbol in this world, in part because members of the Consortium are bald, different ways of styling hair was another topic that was fun to read about.
Funny thing: I wanted to have a solid naming system for various ships and decided that one class should be named after British prime ministers, even if only one of those ships appears in the novel. I decided on Attlee, then panicked and called a friend in the United Kingdom to make sure that it would be all right. She and her husband found my concern amusing.
FF: What do you want readers to take away after reading your book?
When I started writing the Children of the Consortium trilogy, I said that it was a love song to those who felt left out. I still hold to that.
You are valuable and unique. Hold fast to hope, for you are not alone.
And you are loved.
FF: What are the biggest challenges for you as an author writing in your specific genre?
One of the biggest challenges is wanting to be as accurate as I can be, but I am writing science fiction, not science fact. Even though I am writing very character-driven stories, the imagined world needs to be extrapolated from and grounded in what we know now. The trick of it is that I can be a detail-oriented person, so I can’t let my fear of missing something distract me from the story.
FF: What authors or books have inspired you as an author?
So many books have inspired me, but it wasn’t until last year that I realized which ones had some of the biggest impacts. I read some of my favorite books from childhood to my youngest. Narnia, of course. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. But then, we reached Charlotte’s Web, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, The Chronicles of Prydain, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. We haven’t yet read At the Back of the North Wind, A Wrinkle in Time, or The Giver. I might need more tissues for those.
These books shaped the way I experienced fiction. The ones that made me laugh, cry, and think left an indelible mark on my heart and mind.
FF: How has your faith or world view impacted the way you tell stories?
With God, we have hope.
In John 16:33, Jesus tells us that we will have trouble but to take courage, for He has overcome the world.
Troubles and sorrow will come. Heartache will come. But beyond all that pain is the solid conviction that the One who made the world has overcome. He shall never leave us or forsake us.
God is bigger than what we face—and what a joyous thought! This is at the heart of my stories, whether they are science fiction, fantasy, or something else entirely. That is the core of what I write.
Guardian
Children of the Consortium Series #3
Cathy McCrumb
Enclave Publishing
Genres: YA/Teen, Sci-Fi, Fairy Tale & Folklore
Release Date: February 20, 2024
ASIN: B0CDZWLHG9
ISBN-13: 979-8886050943
Book Summary:
The Recorder’s fate has been sealed, but the Consortium is not the only enemy.
Labeled an aberration by the Consortium, the Recorder is not yet free. Time is running out as an engineered bioweapon wreaks havoc on friend and foe alike.
Stopping both the biological agent and the people who created it is no easy task, especially since the Recorder and her friends are trapped on a research station infested with behemoth insects. Without Consortium technology, the probability of neutralizing the threat falls to nothing. In order to save her allies, the Recorder must activate a drone, but her success might destroy any hope for freedom, a future, and a name.
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