Today we are chatting with Matt Wallace, author of
The Supervillians Guide To Being A Fat Kid!
Read on for more about Matt and his book!
Meet Matt Wallace!
Matt Wallace is the Hugo–winning author of Rencor: Life in Grudge City, the Sin du Jour series, the Savage Rebellion series, and BUMP. He’s also penned over one hundred short stories in addition to writing for film and television. In his youth he traveled the world as a professional wrestler, unarmed combat, and self-defense instructor before retiring to write full-time. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Nikki.
Meet The Supervillian’s Guide To Being A Fat Kid!
Max’s first year of middle school hasn’t been easy. Eighth-grade hotshot Johnny Pro torments Max constantly, for no other reason than Max is fat and an easy target. Max wishes he could fight back, but he doesn’t want to hurt Johnny . . . just make him feel the way Max feels.
In desperation, Max writes to the only person he thinks will understand: imprisoned supervillain Master Plan, a “gentleman of size.” To his surprise, Master Plan wants to help! He suggests a way for Max to get even with Johnny Pro, and change how the other kids at school see them both.
And it works! When Master Plan’s help pays off for Max in ways he couldn’t have imagined, he starts gaining confidence–enough to finally talk to Marina, the girl he likes in class who shares his passion for baking. With Master Plan in his corner, anything seems possible . . . but is there a price to pay for the supervillain’s help?
Amazon * B & N * Indiebound
~ Author Chat ~
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
I’d been thinking about writing something with a fat protagonist that captured the experience, or at least my experience, of being a fat kid in middle school. Then I saw Vincent D’Onofrio’s brilliant performance as Kingpin in Netflix’s Daredevil series. I was struck by how he played the character like a fat kid who grew up to be a supervillain. The character had gained immense power, but he still struggled with the insecurity and feelings of exclusion and isolation that come from being a bullied fat kid throughout your youth. It was a completely new and different take on a villain, one I empathized with deeply, and that made me think, “What if I could’ve had this guy as a mentor when I was a fat kid?”
YABC: Which came first, the title or the novel?
I actually had the title as soon as I came up with the basic premise, and I knew it was a winner. I actually half-expected some pushback at some point from my agent or publisher, but everyone was entirely supportive and enthusiastic about it right away.
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
It’s kind of a cheat, but the entire concept of the book was that most of it is written as emails being exchanged between Max, our protagonist, and Master Plan, the imprisoned supervillain giving him advice. That was a risky device and structure, especially for a middle-grade book, and I really feel like I pulled it off? That’s subjective, obviously, and I’m sure there are many people who will disagree, but I’m proud of how that all came out.
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
Everything. Kat Fajardo is an amazing artist who also did the cover for my first middle-grade novel, BUMP, and I hope she does every MG I write. I love her style. I love that she uses bright, lively, vibrant colors. My MG covers really pop and stand out from the pack on a bookshelf. And for this book in particular, my agent, DongWon Song, had the idea that the cover image should echo a particular Daredevil comic book cover where Kingpin is hovering over Daredevil like a puppet master, and Kat completely and perfectly captured that idea, while still making the cover its own thing that represents my characters and my story. I can’t say enough good things about it.
YABC: What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2022?
Greg van Eekhout’s FENRIS & MOTT is at the top of my list right now. Greg writes some of my favorite middle-grade fiction, and we both love dogs, and this is a book about a girl who finds the actual Fenris the wolf from Norse myth and raises him as her own pet, then they have to save the world together. So I anticipate it is going to be the ultimate “a kid and their dog” story.
YABC: What’s a book you’ve recently read and loved?
DUST & GRIM by Chuck Wendig is a banger. It’s Chuck’s first middle-grade novel, about estranged siblings taking over their family’s funeral parlor for literal monsters. And I’m in the middle of SERVANT MAGE which is the newest novella from Kate Elliott, who is one of my all-time favorite writers of adult SFF and a living legend as far as I’m concerned.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
I’m working on my next middle-grade novel, which is based in large part on spending my earliest years growing up in the remote desert near the Southern Californian/Mexican border. It’s going to be very different than my other MG work, a little darker and more grounded, but still set in a very weird and unique world. Katherine Tegen Books will be publishing that in 2023. I’ve also got the final novel in my adult epic fantasy Savage Rebellion trilogy, SAVAGE CROWNS, coming out from Saga Press some time in the next year or so.
YABC: What is the main message or lesson you would like your reader to remember from this book?
I wrote this book for fat kids because I want them all to know they are fine the way they are and they can be the hero of the story, and that they deserve to be happy and accepted and treated with respect and kindness regardless of how others feel about being fat. I hope non-fat kids and adults will learn the same lesson from reading it.
YABC: What would you say is your superpower?
I can stop bullets with my calf muscles. Fat people will get that joke.
YABC: What advice do you have for new writers?
Learn as much about the business of being a writer as possible. Everyone, everywhere, whether you ask or not, will give you limitless advice on how to write. Ninety-nine percent of it is subjective at best and useless at worst. But there is woefully little education offered on how to navigate the industry as a professional once you start publishing your work. Being a published writer is running your own small business. You need to treat it like that, and you need to know how that business works.
The Supervillian’s Guide To Being A Fat Kid
Author: Matt Wallace
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publish Date: January 25th, 2022
