This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
After writing five books and four short stories — totaling more than 2,500 pages — Marissa Meyer had just one last Lunar Chronicles story to tell.
But when she sat down to brainstorm ideas for that tale — to be included in a hardbound collection of those short stories, previously published only online — she came up with five.
To the delight of her publisher and her readers, she wrote them all.
"I just couldn't imagine having a collection of stories and leaving any of the main characters out of that," Meyer says. "I wanted each of them to have their moment in the spotlight and show the reader who they were before 'Cinder' began."
Eight of the nine stories in "Stars Above," out Tuesday, are prequels to Meyer's best-selling sci-fi series that launched in 2012 with "Cinder," in which Charles Perrault's classic heroine is a cyborg living in New Beijing. The Lunar Chronicles further introduced Scarlet, Cress and Winter (inspired, respectively, by Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White), whose worlds collide and embroil them — along with a genetically modified wolf-human, a fashion-loving android, a palace guard and a dashing thief — in interplanetary politics and swashbuckling space adventures.
They all shared screen time in "Winter," which unfolded at a sometimes-frenzied pace. After that action-packed series conclusion, "Stars Above" is a comforting chance to revisit with Meyer's characters when they don't have their hands full plotting revolution. Each story provides new insights and depths to the heroines and their worlds and may compel readers to sit down and re-read the series from the beginning.
But first there's "Something Old, Something New," an epilogue to the series that takes place a couple of years after Winter and checks in on all the main characters, who've gathered for — naturally — a wedding.
Meyer says she loved writing that story, calling it "very much wish fulfillment on my part as an author." It was also a chance to surprise her fans, as the wedding might not be the one they're expecting.
"I always love to not give readers what they totally expect," she says, with a laugh.
But even while throwing curveballs, Meyer manages to stay true to the fully formed universe she's created, which feels wholly realistic despite the fact that it involves, among other things, a race of people who live on the moon.
"A lot of worldbuilding hinges on the author having at least some idea of the mechanics of the world, and how did it get to this point," she says. The author — and the reader — has to know the reasons people are oppressed, for example; it's not enough to be told, "Well, they just are," Meyer says.
Meyer knows the entire centuries-long histories of the societies she's created, some of which can be found on her website, marissameyer.com, along with fan art, playlists, links to the real-life science that informs the series' futuristic technology, and Pinterest galleries of photos and artwork that inspired Meyer's settings and characters.
The wealth of extras was partially borne out of her experience writing fanfiction for years and doing cosplay in her teens and early 20s, taking deep dives into other people's stories, expanding their worlds and making them her own.
"Having come from a fandom background myself, and been involved in that on the other side of the spectrum," she says, "it's really, really special to me now to see readers having fallen so in love with the story and the characters that they want to continue to live in it and create their own things inspired by it. I'm really lucky to be living as an author in this day and age when you can have so much interaction, and authors don't have to seem like these distant people you can't communicate with."
Given that mindset, it's no surprise that an event Wednesday at The King's English in Salt Lake City is a ticketed Lunar Ball, for which Meyer's "subjects" are requested to dress in their finest (due to baggage restrictions, Meyer will be leaving her ballgown at home). Bookstores started going all-out for her events a couple of years ago, she says, and fans are into it.
"They come with an expectation— we're not just going to sit in a chair and listen to her read. There's going to be food, costumes, dancing … something special that you don't want to miss."
Twitter: @racheltachel —
A Lunar Ball
Marissa Meyer will celebrate the release of the short-story collection "Stars Above."
When • Wednesday, Feb. 3, 6:30 p.m.
Where • The King's English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City
Admission • Attendees, requested to dress in their finest, must have a ticket, which may be acquired with purchase of a copy of "Stars Above" from The King's English.
Info • kingsenglish.com or marissameyer.com
Up Next
• "Heartless," fall 2016, a standalone origin story for the Queen of Hearts from "Alice in Wonderland," a normal teenager who loves to bake but whose decisions set her on the path of becoming the infamously angry, bloodthirsty queen.
• A trilogy about teenage superheroes of Meyer's creation.