Neal Shusterman has been in my top five favourite authors for a VERY long time! I read my first of his novels when I was pretty young – I believe I was still in elementary school, and I really fell in love.
Some History
Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 3.0
Shusterman was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and was an avid reader from a very young age. He even wrote to E.B. White when he was only 8 years old, telling her he thought Charlotte’s Web needed a sequel! That’s pretty gutsy for an 8 year old haha! She responded too, saying that she thought the book was fine without a sequel, but she encourage him to keep writing.
He double majored in psychology and theater at the University of California, Irvine. While attending he also wrote a very popular humour section for the college newspaper.
As well as his many books, he’s also written for TV. He wrote on a Disney movie called Pixel Perfect as well as on episodes of Goosebumps and Animorphs.
He currently resides in Southern California with his four kids.
My Experience With Neal Shusterman
There are a lot of authors that I’ve grown to love, and have sought out their work because I’m interested in what else they’ve written – but Neal Shusterman was the first of such.
I would often read a book and love it, but leave it at that, because finding another awesome book was as easy as heading over to the bookstore!
But once I read Everlost, and finished the trilogy by buying and reading the other two, I just HAD to find out what else this man had written. So for the first time, I walked into my local bookstore with a different goal: find more books by this author.
And I did. I found a novel called Unwind. I read the back, but it didn’t really matter because I knew I was going to buy it no matter what. In fact, I bought the sequel at the same time, knowing I wanted it regardless of how the first one turned out. In the end, I was NOT disappointing. The Unwind series very quickly jumped to the top of my list of favourites, along with Everlost. I went on to buy as many of his books as I could, and have enjoyed each and every one of them.
Conclusion
Aside from being an exceptionally good writer, he just has such an incredible imagination! From the immersive world of Everlost, to the dystopian like future he envisions in Unwind, I only wish I knew where the inspiration and ideas come from,
If there’s ever an author I’d like to not just meet, but sit down and actually have a conversation with, it would be Neal Shusterman. I have so many questions I’d love to have answered.
You can find my review of Everlost HERE
You can find my review of Unwind HERE
Complete List of Works
Fictional Series
The Accelerati Trilogy (with Eric Elfman)
- Tesla’s Attic (2014)
- Edison’s Alley (2015)
- Hawking’s Hallway (2016)
Antsy Bonano
- The Schwa Was Here (2004)
- Antsy Does Time (2008)
- Ship Out of Luck (2013)
Dark Fusion
- Dread Locks (2005)
- Red Rider’s Hood (2005)
- Duckling Ugly (2006)
Shadow Club
- The Shadow Club (1988)
- The Shadow Club Rising (2003)
Skinjacker Trilogy
- Everlost (2006)
- Everwild (2009)
- Everfound (2011)
Star Shards
- Scorpion Shards (1995)
- Thief of Souls (1999)
- Shattered Sky (2002)
The Unwind Dystology
- Unwind (2007)
- UnStrung (2012) (digital novella)
- UnWholly (2012)
- UnSouled (2013)
- UnDivided (2014)
- UnBound (2015) (short story collection)
The X-Files Universe
- The X-Files Young Adult Series
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- 3) Bad Sign (1997) [writing as Easton Royce]
- 10) Dark Matter (1999) [writing as Easton Royce]
- The X-Files Young Readers Series
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- 8) Voltage (1996) [writing as Easton Royce]
Novels
- Dissidents (1989)
- Speeding Bullet (1991)
- What Daddy Did (1991)
- The Eyes of Kid Midas (1992)
- The Aliens Approach (1996) [writing as Easton Royce ]
- Mutiny (1996) [writing as Easton Royce ]
- The Dark Side of Nowhere (1997)
- Downsiders (1999)
- Full Tilt (2003)
- Bruiser (2010)
- Challenger Deep (2015)
Picture Books
- Piggyback Ninja (1994)
Short Stories
- Resurrection Bay (2013) [published only as an ebook]
Short Story Collections
- Darkness Creeping: Tales to Trouble Your Sleep (1993)
- Darkness Creeping II: More Tales to Trouble Your Sleep (1995)
- Mindquakes: Stories to Shatter Your Brain (1996)
- Mindstorms: Stories to Blow Your Mind (1996)
- Mindtwisters: Stories To Shred Your Head (1997)
- Mindbenders: Stories to Warp Your Brain (2000)
- Darkness Creeping: Twenty Twisted Tales (2007)
Games
- How to Host a Murder: Roman Ruins (1997)
- How to Host a Murder: The Grapes of Frath (1997)
- How to Host a Teen Mystery: Hot Times at Hollywood High (1997)
- How to Host a Murder: The Good, the Bad, and the Guilty (1998)
- How to Host a Murder: Tragical Mystery Tour (1999)
- How to Host a Teen Mystery: Barbecue with the Vampire (1999)
- How to Host a Murder: Saturday Night Cleaver (2000)
- How to Host a Murder: Maiming of the Shrew (2001)
- How to Host a Teen Mystery: Roswell That Ends Well (2002)
- How to Host a Murder: An Affair to Dismember (2003)
Nonfiction
- Guy Talk (1987)
- It’s Ok to Say No to Cigarettes and Alcohol (1988)
- Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story (1989) with Cherie Currie
- Kid Heroes: True Stories of Rescuers, Survivors, and Achievers (1991)
Poems
- Shadows of Doubt (1993)
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