1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A diverse group of teens from around the country find themselves in the remote wilderness – having been sentenced to attend a wilderness reform school for criminally “troubled” youth. Upon their arrival they find that, in addition to the danger attendant to the remote wilderness landscape, there is a sinister truth about this reform camp which will test the limits of their abilities and will to survive.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
These kinds of reform programs for kids on the wrong path – the kind where you’re snatched out of bed and sent away to the mountains for months at a time – were very familiar to us growing up. Our misbehavior was never severe enough to have us sent to a camp like this ourselves – or perhaps we were just better about not getting caught – but we had a lot of friends who dealt with this and came back with stories about these environments and the counselors who run the show.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes, though would he want to hang out with us?
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Perceptive. Tough. Precocious.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
There is a real literary application for that chapter in life that can often feel so wayward and directionless – those angry, sometimes enraging teenage years where you want to rebel against virtually everything, sometimes for no discernible reason. That chapter felt like a storm that most of us simply have to endure until its passing – but this book really made use of those emotions and perspectives and rendered them into something more valuable than they had been before.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
It varies. Sometimes a chapter will be sort of agonized over, pontificating and playing Mr. Potato Head with the exact verbiage over and over – while other sections will come out in a breeze without looking back and only then editing once it’s all out. It’s a combination.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Fried shrimp with lemon and cocktail sauce. And a really excellent burger with government cheese.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
Matt has more discipline and structure – he will write from a more formal office setting and usually with a stricter schedule and regimen. While Harry is kind of more of a free-for-all. Might be the kitchen counter. Might be an airplane. Might be in bed at 2 in the morning. There’s no rhyme or reason.
10–Who is an author you admire?
It’s a cliche answer – but anyone writing in this genre has to give their flowers to Stephen King. He’s just so good at what he does, and what so many of us are trying to do. In different lanes – Cormac McCarthy. Harlan Coben.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Rules for Old Men Waiting, by Peter Pouncey.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
We had just had a wonderful meeting with Emily Bestler who was so enthusiastically supportive and totally on the same page with us creatively – and our agent called us and told us – it’s happening, we’re doing two books with Atria / Simon & Schuster. We were over the moon.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Historical fiction.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
Impossible to truly answer, but – to name a few: Shotgun Stories, Thin Red Line, Tell No One, Take Shelter…
15–What is your favorite season?
This summer’s been pretty hard to beat.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Quickly.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Civil War was disturbing in a way I didn’t expect. It Comes at Night from a few years ago – terrifying.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Seafood.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Read and watch the movies we talked about earlier (HQ). Hunt, fish, explore the mountains and foothills of Colorado (MQ).
20–What can readers expect from you next?
Our second book with Atria / Simon & Schuster is currently underway. We couldn’t be more excited about it.
WILDERNESS REFORM by Matt Query, Harrison Query
The authors of the “impossible to put down” (The Guardian) thriller Old Country return with a terrifying novel about a wilderness camp for troubled teens that is plagued by mysterious events and disappearances, taking survival and discipline to a frightening extreme.
Thirteen-year-old Ben is sent to a remote reform program for troubled teens by a juvenile court judge. But when he arrives at the camp, located on the edge of the vast wilderness of northwestern Montana, he immediately recognizes that there is something off about the counselors. They’re too friendly and upbeat…yet Ben can tell there’s an undercurrent of menace.
As he gets to know the boys in his cabin, he soon discovers that they each have far more going for them than whatever crime landed them there. And each has a different critical skill, one that could help them unearth what is really going on in this place—and how to make it out alive. They are inching ever closer to the truth, and the hidden evil beneath the camp’s surface will make itself known in order to deter them.
Young Adult Suspense [Atria/Emily Bestler Books, On Sale: July 2, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781668024133 / eISBN: 9781668024157]
Buy WILDERNESS REFORM: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Walmart.com | Target.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Matt Query
Matt Query, born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, is a litigator who focuses on legal issues related to water rights, natural resources, public lands, and fish and wildlife management. Matt and his wife Sonya have a little ranch in Southern Oregon, where they live with their dog, sheep, chickens, and bees.
About Harrison Query
Harrison Query is a Colorado native whose work as a writer has spanned multiple genres. He has developed screenplays for a variety of film companies and has worked with Ridley Scott, Chris Columbus, Robert Zemeckis, and more. He and his brother are the authors of Old Country and Wilderness Reform.
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