My inspiration was I wanted to put these characters that we see so rarely into a thrilling, action/adventure story. What I believe makes SURRENDER YOUR SONS unique is that conversion therapy isn’t really the plot, it’s the setting of a mystery. What was the inspiration behind this book?Ĭonversion therapy has enjoyed some really fabulous depictions in fiction and non-fiction, with the memoir Boy Erased, and in YA–Miseducation of Cameron Post and Orpheus Girl, which is dropping in the next month or so.

SURRENDER YOUR SONS is a really cool concept that has never really been touched in YA fiction. Even in his darkest moments, Connor always finds the humor or heart in a situation. He’s resourceful, determined, and tries his best to take things in stride. He’s short and scrappy, like a terrier–always has a sharp remark for people, which gets him in trouble constantly. He has a boyfriend and a vision for his life that doesn’t include the closet.

It’s been an intense pain for both of them, and they genuinely want to get back to the way things were, although “going back” isn’t something Connor can or wants to do. But when Connor came out earlier in the year, they started radically drifting apart. His mom has had a troubled life, but she and Connor always considered themselves close buddies, taking on whatever comes. The kind of family the news likes to call “white working class.” He’s had a chaotic home life from the jump–his dad’s been out of the picture since he was 12, he lost his grandma, and then his mom tipped over from ordinary religious into hyper-conservative zealotry. I want all readers–queer or not–to see the villains in my book and be able to recognize the ways in which evil hides in plain sight in our daily lives.Ĭonnor comes from low, low, lower-income country folk. It’s a young adult mystery about how danger can hide in the friendliest-looking environments. The pitch I sold is SURRENDER YOUR SONS follows Connor Major, a gay teen kidnapped and taken to a conversion therapy camp on a forgotten island, where he teams up with the other LGBTQ+ teens to uncover the camp’s dark secrets and expose them.

What can you tell us about your debut novel SURRENDER YOUR SONS? His debut YA novel Surrender Your Sons is slated for release Fall 2020 by Flux. His short story 98% Graves was nominated by Writer’s Digest for Best Science Fiction Story of 2015. He is a Creative Producer for ATTN:, an issues-driven social media video creator. Raised in an Illinois farm town, his desire for a creative career took him to Chicago, New York, and currently, Los Angeles. He’s sorry it distracted him from making your latte. Adam Sass began writing books in Sharpie on the backs of Starbucks pastry bags.

Surrender your sons