Hi everyone –
I have been deluged with questions since Spy School Revolution came out, and while I have been doing my best to answer them, I have noticed that there are categories of questions that come up again and again. So rather than answering them repeatedly, I figured I’d try to address them in a blog post.
Category One: Questions about what is going to happen in future books
This is the type of question I get asked the most and there’s a simple reason why I feel it would be better not to answer them: Because it will ruin future surprises in the books for you — and this ruin some of the fun of reading those books.
You hate spoilers, right? Well, asking me to tell you who Ben Ripley will end up with — or whether or not a character you like is going to reappear in a future book — or really anything about the future of any series — is asking me to spoil something for you. I know you want to find out what’s in store, but I promise you, the less you know about what’s coming, the more fun the read will be.
Category Two: Questions about things that didn’t get answered in the books
If I didn’t share a piece of information with you in the book, that wasn’t an oversight. It’s because I didn’t want to share that piece of information. Often, this is because I’m saving it to reveal in another book.
For example, I know there are some questions left at the end of SSR. But if I had wanted to answer those questions, I would have. I promise, they will eventually be answered — although I think most of you could probably make very educated guesses about what happened.
Category Three: Questions about obscure things
An author can’t possibly tell you every single thing that happened to every single character over the course of their lives. Honestly, we can’t possibly even imagine all those things. We have to leave many things out of the story. So if you’re writing to ask what happened to a character after the Moon Base Alpha series ended — or what a character likes for breakfast — or when a character’s birthday is — or whether someone likes cats or dogs better — the answer is honestly: I don’t know. Whatever you imagine the answer to be is good enough for me.
Category Four: Questions about what my characters look like
I get a lot of requests to specifically describe characters which is because I didn’t specifically describe many of them in my books. That’s because, frankly, I don’t think extremely specific character descriptions are very helpful. My own experience is that, no matter how specifically a character is described, I probably imagine them the way I want to anyhow. So I’m pretty sure that you do the same. Therefore, whatever you imagine a character to look like is what they look like.
Now, this doesn’t really work for graphic novels or movies. You will very obviously see the characters in the graphic novels, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that is the only way they can look. It’s just one version. The chances are very slim that any character will look exactly as you imagined them in the graphic novel — or the movie. There is nothing i or anyone else can do about this. That’s just the way things are. Try not to be disappointed.
And finally, this is probably the question I get asked more than any other, even though it is answered elsewhere on this site:
Category Five: Questions about how many books will be in each series
I can’t answer a question I don’t know the answer to. And right now, I do not know how long each series will go. Sorry.
Hi Mr. Gibbs, I was wrapping up the latest book in the series, Spy School blackout and I was wondering if you would write another book in the series. If yes, what is the new book going to be called? If not, why not?
Spy_School_Is_The_Best
It would be pretty uncool to end the most recent book like that and NOT have another book, wouldn’t it?
Look in the Upcoming Releases box on every page of this website.
Books are not titled until closer to the release date
Ok. I get some of it, but first of all, I LOVE spoilers, and well, I had a question since the beginning of Spy School, first book, and it still isn’t answered, but I guess that’s partly because I haven’t read the graphic novels. and where can you get Blackout?!? I looked everywhere in target, Walmart, local libraries, the Barnes and Nobles where I live, etc.
Ineedhelp
You haven’t found Blackout in any of those places? Blackout is everywhere books are sold.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Spy-School-Blackout/Stuart-Gibbs/Spy-School/9781665956512
Would you ever consider doing an 18+/mature version of this series? As a college student I’d really appreciate it. You know you want to ?
Ethan-
The problem with aging the series up is that it still has books targeted at young readers.
There is only one series that has successfully aged up within the series, and that is Harry Potter. Even Percy Jackson hasn’t done it, because of the constraints of our audiences.
Dear Stuart Gibbs,
I have a question about your new book: What made you think of these titles for your books? Also, did those conflicts like the blackout, really happen? Same with your other books? Or were they part real and part not real? I am asking this because sometimes I ask about history about different things that have happened like in movies or in books too! I also ask these things because I want to know why it’s happening or how that problem started. Just a heads up, I started to read your new book and only read up to chapter 5. But what I’ve read so far seems really interesting! I can’t wait to read more and find out who is the culprit and if they make their journey out okay.
Bye, Amina Jallad.
Amina –
The titles are the only parts of my books that are a group effort. I might come up with a few possibilities, but so might my editor or other people at my publisher, and I might ask friends for suggestions as well. Then we discuss the one that we like the best.
Nothing like Blackout has ever happened, but there is a real threat of hackers taking out power grids, which is what drove the creation of this story. That is often the case with my books. Something real drives the creation of the story.
Dear Mr Gibbs,
I have a few questions.
1) What spy school book did you have the most fun writing?
2) Did you ever work very hard on a book that you couldn’t get published?
3) What kind of books do publishers usually decline and why?
4) What was your favorite subject in school?
Thank you for your patience
Malorylover –
1) I have enjoyed writing all the SS books.
2) I worked very hard on LOTS of books that didn’t get published.
3) I don’t think there is a specific type of book that publishers decline. They are just looking for good books. If they reject one, that probably means they didn’t think it was good enough to publish.
4) My favorite subjects were creative writing and biology.