Shared Experiences | LITERARY TITAN
The Arbiters follows a group of teenage friends who discover a development project is threatening their favorite wilderness area, and they are determined to find a way to save it. Why did you want to combine a coming-of-age story with an environmental conflict?
I think it is important for young people to care about the planet and their local environment. Anyone, including a young person, can make their voice heard in various ways when it comes to injustices against nature or otherwise. I remember development near my home during my childhood and the sense of loss I felt. Through my stories, I want to inspire people to take action.
Friendship is just as important to the story as the environmental conflict. What did you want to capture about teenage friendships during this stage of life?
Some of my greatest friendships were forged during my childhood and teen years. Shared experiences created and tightened those bonds. We had incredible, unforgettable outdoor adventures together. I’m sure the friendships of many people have a similar genesis. I want to celebrate and showcase the joy, sometimes bittersweet, of those connections.
The novel shows different ways of making a difference, including research, writing, art, observation, and direct action. Was it important to show that activism doesn’t have to look the same for everyone?
Yes. We all have different personalities and strengths. Each talent can be harnessed in ways big and small. Everyone can contribute. You may not realize the difference you make, but it all adds up to good.
Is The Arbiters intended as a standalone story, or do you see possibilities for following Reily and his friends into the next stages of their lives?
The Arbiters was written as a prequel to my earlier novel, The Restorers. In that book, my main character, Reily, and his friend, Wil, are in their 40s. I enjoyed going back in time and writing the coming-of-age tale, imagining what Reily was like as a 15-16 year-old with his nascent environmental convictions. I’m currently writing the third book in the trilogy, which takes us to the present day and features some of the same treasured characters.
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Together they fight back with their own form of frontier justice and realize new things about themselves in the process. Ben Kabumba lets his feet, and inquisitiveness, do the talking. Wil Wisnoski plays defense–with and without a pen. Eddie Knisely improves his jaded world through watercolors, while Reily yearns for the neighborhood dream girl and wet and wild extracurricular pursuits.
In this coming of age story, an adventuresome coed crew, and enterprising dog, discover love, acceptance, and the importance of making a difference. Words and research matter, along with proper reconnaissance, covert deeds, and a fed-up bureaucrat named Billy Tilghman. Armed with knowledge and a little bit of serendipity, they disrupt–if not, disassemble–the devious plans of a bumbling developer, and protect their sacred lands. Stirring environmental passions, spiritual connections, and a dose of 1970’s nostalgia, The Arbiters has readers cheering for a knotty tree and falling for the charms of a few timely snakes . . . of one kind or another.
