[Amelia]

I just finished reading The Fort, and I am very surprised at how dark this book is. It was great. I loved the symbolism at the end with the blooming cactus, reflecting the boys, how they're growing into something beautiful despite their situations. My questions are

1. Where did you get the inspiration for Mitchell's character (a kid with OCD)

2. Since The Fort is your 100th book, was it intentional that C.J and Mrs. Delacroix were also names used in Masterminds? 

Thank you

Hi, Amelia,

I'm pleased with your reaction to THE FORT. I'm very proud of the way that book turned out.

Questions: I've known people with varying degrees of OCD, and I wanted to describe the way they are driven by their condition. I was pleased with the way Mitchell's problem fit the story. And if there's a CJ and a Mrs. Delacroix in MASTERMINDS, I'm the most surprised person! I wrote MM so long ago that I honestly don't recall. Sorry. I certainly doubt there was any meaning to the use of those names.

Thanks, Amelia!                                                                                                         --GK--

Hi, Enthusiast!

Sorry -- I bumbled around and lost your email. But I remember all that stuff about what do the clones look like.

You can't go by the book covers, because I think there was more than one artist and things got a little messed up. My impression (which is the impression of someone who wrote it several years ago and has moved on!) is that:

Eli is fair-haired, but has darker eyes than most blonds. Malik is dark-skinned and dark-eyed as the name might suggest. Tori is medium brown-haired with pale eyes. Hector is just as you describe him, dark curls and all. And Amber was fair, maybe even red-haired, but dyed her hair dark. She has probably cut out the dark part and is reddish again.

And that's as much description as I have the time to look up for you. Sorry for the delay.                              --GK--

[Amelia]

Not Enthusiast but still: 

I am so glad that you envision Malik as having dark skin, because I could not for the life of me imagine him as anything else, despite the book covers. I remember being really shocked at the cover art because it looked like every single one of them was blond.  Also, on the topic of Masterminds C.J is the name used for Rackoff and Delacroix is the last name of the criminal Tori is cloned from 

... proving that when an author gets over the 100-book mark, he runs out of people and starts over!                        --GK--