Steven Gould on working with James Cameron: In this case we’re reading about a kid who’s run away, and I think it’s a valuable thing for people to know that maybe if you run away as a young teen, you might be subject to predation, and so you might want to think about this.” But I don’t know, for some reason some parents look at something in a book, and see something awful happening, and think if their child reads that it’s going to happen to them, which to me just doesn’t make sense. So on page two we have a scene of impending child abuse by a parent, and then on page nine we have a scene of impending sexual assault by a group of people on that same child, and so in both cases these are the impetus for jumping. So they’re able to just pick up this book that their child has brought home from the library and turn to something that they found awful. “The two most objectionable scenes, for a parent, are on page two and on page nine. Then stick around after the interview as guest geeks Alison Haislip, Matt London, and David Wexler join host David Barr Kirtley to discuss the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Listen to our complete interview with Gould in Episode 116 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above). “And if it comes from someplace, where is that, and what’s happening there?” “I’m curious about where the energy comes from for jumping, for tearing holes open between various areas,” says Gould. The answer is yes, which only leads to more questions, and presumably more books. The fourth Jumper book, Exo, explores the question of whether jumping can be used to travel into outer space. Why do Davy’s clothes come with him when he jumps? What happens if he jumps while chained to a wall? What happens to his orbital velocity when he jumps from one latitude to another? The rules laid down in Jumper form the basis for much of what happens in subsequent novels. “Or, ‘This book let me get away, in a way that wasn’t physical, but it let me know there are other people who are having things happen that are comparable to mine, and that they got through them, and they survived, and they had a life afterward.'”Īnother thing that sets Jumper apart is the rigor and consistency with which it explores the idea of teleportation.
“I’ve had kids with abusive home lives email me and say, ‘This book saved my life,'” Gould says in Episode 116 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.