Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: Today we’ll talk to Dewi Hargreaves about his new release, Eyes on the Blue Star. Tell us about your experimental dystopian novel!

Dewi: My new book, Eyes on the Blue Star, came out a week before Christmas! It’s a short dystopian novel set in far-future America, long after the fall of the United States. Our modern world is little more than myth, and the US has been replaced by regional successor states, some democracies and some dictatorships, with the anarchic Ganglands lying between them. We follow the stories of an ex-mercenary, a teenager, and a freedom fighter as they make their way east to Bostonia in search of a better life.

Sabitha: That’s such fascinating world building. Can you tell us about your writing process for a novel?

Dewi: My process changes between stories depending on the project, but right now I’m having the most success with writing out a scene-by-scene outline before I begin and then following that – it keeps things on track and minimises the need for rewriting.

Sabitha: Do you have a “fan-cast” – do you have actors you’d cast as your main characters?

Dewi: Ooh, that’s a fun question. I don’t think much about how characters look when I’m writing – beyond the general details like build, hair colour, age etc—but I think Henry Cavill could play a brilliant Housen—the ex-mercenary character who wants to settle down and start a family. I could see Kirsten Dunst doing a good job as Ryley, too—the tough, witty rebel who is working underground to overthrow the Governor-General’s dictatorship. They spend a lot of the book together, and I would love to see those two actors traversing a post-apocalyptic world together.

Sabitha: What book do you tell all your friends to read? Besides yours of course!

Dewi: There are so many—too many, probably! At the moment it’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R R Martin, which is a collection of three heroic fantasy novellas—they’re brilliant examples of how to write neat, tidy short fantasy fiction, so I recommend it for that reason alone—though the Games of Thrones-ness is an added bonus.

Sabitha: How did you choose the title?

Dewi: It took some choosing! For most of the drafting process it was known as Bostonia, which is the name of one of the successor states. When it was finished I brainstormed a few names, including We, the People, but in the end I settled on the Eyes on the Blue Star because it is the catchphrase of the rebel group in the story who are trying to restore democracy, and I liked the sense of hope in bleak times that it evokes.

Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Dewi: Night Beats readers can find purchase links for the book over at my website, and from there they can find the Amazon link for their country! And they can find me across the internet in various places. This link collects my website, social media, and book links all on one nice, neat page.