STARVED is the sequel to the humorous young-adult science fiction novel by Alethea Eason and will be offered free as a Kindle book on February 1st and 2nd. We had the opportunity to talk with the main character, Deborah about her life.Deborah, welcome to Macaroni Kid Davis- Woodland. You have an unusual history, even for a fictional character. Tell us about what it's like to be a ‘tween AND a flesh-eating alien?Kali, it's a pleasure being here. My parents came to Planet Earth to prepare it for my species from the Home World to conquer and eat. Most of my kind believe if we eat anything other than sentient beings, we'll die. NOT TRUE. Plus, we really enjoy “essence,” the taste that only fear can create. I really like my Earth friends. I'm sort of a junior “resistance” fighter, helping my Aunt Susan and others fight Home World consumerism. In the meantime, I've developed these tentacle buds which mean I am a candidate to possibly be the Supreme High Matriarch. I HATE the idea. There's this girl from back home I call Yolanda. I've got to battle her, and she wants the job a lot more than I do.It must have been hard to live in disguise all of your life. A theme of STARVED seems to be accepting who you really are, beyond “skin” deep aspects. Can you tell us more about that?My real name is Dbrrrksh of the House of Mpfld. You can see why my Earth name is Deborah Jones. Yes, underneath the California girl overskin, I'm really a wrinkly face green skinned tween with really weird fingers. I don't know that “me” yet, because I've lived on Earth all of my life. BUT from what I see of my species without their overskins...yeech. BUT that's who I am underneath, and I'm struggling to accept it. I'm working hard to make up for my past eating binges. Aunt Susan is my hero. She is brave and strong and good and even works for the FBI. She sees a future for us Home Worlders that does not include deplete every planet we come to of its people and resources. Veggies rule!You mentioned that you're currently a candidate to possibly become the next Supreme High Matriarch, but you're not thrilled with the idea. Why not?First of all, I'm no longer into blood and guts, and that's pretty much right at the top of the job description. I want to be a professional snowboarder, to tell you the truth. And then, Supreme High Matriarchs live almost forever. The current one is so old she's practically mildew, but a very very mean type of mildew. Then, there's the matter of Gerald, who would have to be my consort. We're going to have to do this arrange marriage sort of thing if the Home Word really does succeed in conquering Earth...and he, like me, is cut out for other things. He's this brilliant techie. I think having to wave at parades and all that royal stuff would bore him silly.
STARVED has quite the surprise ending. Not to give it away, but can you hint what the future might hold in store for you?Well...looks like leadership one way or another is something I'm fated for, even if I bungle it a bit. Willy, my best friend, will be there for me. But...so will Gerald. And that might be a problem since Wily's the one I really want to kiss.Thank you, so much Deborah, for sharing your time with us! Or should I call you Dbrrrksh?Deborah, please, for as long as I can hold on to being her. Thank you!I then spoke with Ms Eason about her book-Tell Macaroni Kid readers about the history of STARVED.The HUNGRY books started quite awhile ago. I was fortunate enough to attend a writing conference with Bruce Coville as my teacher. He liked my writing and asked me to submit stories to a series of anthologies he was putting out. “Deborah's Choice” appeared in ALIEN VISITORS. Several years later I wrote HUNGRY, which was published in 2007 by HarperCollins. The novel took the story of Deborah, aka Dbrrrksh of the House of Mpfld, into the world of 6th grade, first crushes, and her evolution from a flesh-eating alien to a fledgling freedom fighter, all in a funny tongue-in-cheek sort of way. STARVED continues her story. This time, she is avowed non-human eater, but she is under virtual imprisonment as she has been selected to be a candidate for Supreme High Matriarch through a whim of fate. She's up against her nefarious grandmother and former 6th grade teacher, both in new overskins, a vicious Home World opponent, and the fact that only dark chocolate can quiet the urges of her DNA.Why flesh-eating aliens?While I was writing Hungry, I thought about the battles I have with avoiding carbs. Carbs = alien desire for sentient beings. Go figure. How did the character of Deborah emerge? I started writing possible story beginnings one day. First sentences. And I wrote something... I can't even remember what it was now...that made me feel...uh oh. I've learned to pay attention to that sense “uh-oh”. I kept writing, and most of what became the first page of Hungry emerged with Deborah's voice. I loved her tween-ness...I could hear her rolling her eyes as she spoke...but also go a sense she was a girl with a good heart.Why do you think young people will identify with Deborah?All of us feel alien at times. I know I still do. But I think young people especially are dealing with fitting it and finding their identity. Deborah literally (well...she's fictional, but you know what I mean) is not who she seems to be, down to the overskin that disguise her alien identity. She wants very badly to be Deborah, the good student in seventh grade with the crush on Willy, not the wrinkly green girl underneath whose species is the most flagrant consumers in the galaxy.Will there be another HUNGRY book?Yes, there will be. Working title right now is STUFFED. Deborah will need to be very brave.Ms. Eason's books can be found on
Amazon
