With the upcoming release of Crystal Cove Press’ inaugural title — which just so happens to be The Neverborn Thief by acclaimed author Andrew Najberg — we sat down for an exclusive interview to ask the burning questions we couldn’t wait to get answered. From worldbuilding and character creation to the inspiration behind this dark fantasy adventure, we dive deep into Najberg’s process and vision. And don’t miss the official book trailer at the end.
And don’t miss the official book trailer at the end!
What inspired you to create the Shadowlands and the concept of shadow theft in “The Neverborn Thief”?
So, Neverborn was heavily inspired by one of my favorite novels, Haruki Murakami’s Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. That novel is divided into two halves — one set in Hard Boiled Wonderland, one set in a rustic, walled and magical city called The End of The World.
Though those halves are more rigidly divided than the real world and the Shadowlands, I decided I wanted to write an otherworld narrative because of that book. In addition, in order to enter The End of the World — one must surrender their shadow. Now — I’ll say; the similarities in the stories do largely end there outside of a handful of echoes — such as Gissu being rustic and walled (though in different ways) – but that was a very direct 1:1 inspiration at the outset.
Can you tell us about the character of Connor and how his journey of self-discovery reflects the themes of light and shadow in the story?
Well, at its core, Connor’s journey is really about coming to grips with his place in his family- but not as he understands it, but as it really is. When I was in college, I learned that my parents were divorcing. Now, I knew my family had quite a few issues, to say the least, but I learned SO much more about what was really happening when I was growing up. I realized that even though I thought I was aware of many problems, there was a whole side to my world that had been right under my nose. I began to understand what my memories really meant, and that was something I wanted to create for Connor.
I wanted his story not to be a coming of age exactly, but more of a coming to reality, and that meant he needed to see things in both light and shadow. And I didn’t want light and shadow to be good and evil — sometimes evil operates in full view, and sometimes goodness is the little things you don’t see.
The book explores complex themes such as loss, fear, and the struggle between good and evil. What message do you hope readers take away from Connor’s experiences?
That being complete is messy. That there is no easy answer, no cut and dry narrative for our lives. Heroes aren’t coming to save us, and the world won’t fix itself. But this doesn’t mean that we should give up. We should know that we all have a great capacity for both light and darkness — and that we can bring out that light and darkness in others depending on our choices.
Ultimately, I suppose if there is a core moral — I do recommend choosing selflessness over selfishness, something I think gets strongly reflected in the character outcomes here and the things that I hope will lead readers to embrace those characters.
How did you develop the unique characters like the Shadow Police and the Neverborn Thief? Were they influenced by any real-life experiences or folklore?
Well, The Shadow Police as a concept began from just the logical sequencing of what follows shadow theft. Once I decided that premise, they emerged naturally. However, their corruption and the way Dandrich and Bell develop as foils — that was largely drawn from thinking about all the police movies I’ve watched; I drew from things like Training Day and The Departed to think about the murky, messy police of the Shadowlands because I did want them to feel appropriately dark for a place like that world.
I also wanted to make sure that a large amount of the agency of the narrative fell on Connor — I wanted the police in handcuffs as it were, lest they provide easy solutions or answers that undermined Connor’s journey and the role of him and the friends he makes along the way.
As far as the Neverborn – to be honest, his inception was meant to be a quintessential boogeyman, even through the initial draft of the book — but he changed significantly as Connor’s journey developed. After writing the rough draft, I wasn’t happy with the original ending — it felt too flat, and the resolution felt dismissive.
This led to the addition of what are actually my three favorite chapters: the glade scene between Connor and Mouse, the final confrontation between Dandrich and the Neverborn, and the entire cavern sequence at the end of the novel. It’s actually strange to think on my end that the book actually existed without these things, because to me now, they’re where the whole story comes together.
Your writing combines elements of fantasy and horror. How do you balance these genres to create a cohesive narrative?
Okay, so this one is pretty easy. The thing that matters most to me is making early
decisions about how I’m going to conceptualize the story. When I combine genres, the biggest step is deciding which genre comes before and after the hyphen.
If it’s fantasy-horror, that means that it’s a horror book that might dip into fantasy elements to augment the horror effects. If it’s horror-fantasy, then the story is a fantasy book that will augment the fantasy with horror elements. In the case of Neverborn, I decided very early on in its inception that the story was going to be, in a fundamental way, about the culture of another world, and so that tipped me quickly into choosing fantasy as my foundation.
At that point, I knew that I wanted horror elements — monsters, demons, cruelty, etc — but they had to be in service of the fantasy world of the story.
Can you discuss the significance of shadows as a metaphor throughout the book? What do they represent in relation to the characters’ journeys?
Well, I’ve been playing with the ideas of shadows and the loss of shadows in a lot of different ways across my career. My thinking on it was inspired by Murakami, but it’s also connected to a lot of concepts, such as yin and yang, mind-body dualism, conscious vs unconscious minds, and all of the different dichotomies we’ve created to navigate the concept of self.
In the case of this book, which is at its core a coming-of-age story, the shadow largely represents Connor’s lack of awareness about the larger world and who he is growing into, and the increasing light being shone upon those things. As such, Connor has a lot to learn about himself, about his parents, about the nature of the people around him, and the secrets they carry.
Most importantly, though, I do fully believe that our understanding of the world revolves around contrast, and without contrast, the foundations of that understanding disappear — and so the clash of shadow and light, to me, is intrinsic to how we process the world.
What challenges did you face while writing “The Neverborn Thief,” and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge to me was sustaining a plausible sense of agency for Connor.
Connor is, after all, still just a kid at his core — he’s moving towards understanding the gravity of the world, but he’s not there yet. He’s not physically powerful. He’s not intellectually powerful. But he’s in a world of beings far older than him who have extensive practice at deceit and treachery. One of the most interesting parts of drafting this book was that many of the most significant scenes for Connor were late inventions — his return to Gissu to confront Shopkeeper and the whole cavern sequence at the end being the most notable.
Now, I can’t imagine the book without them, and they’re among my favorite scenes; it’s strange to think about how different a book this was in its original draft.
The second challenge for this particular story was balancing the character narrative with the world-building. I’m not going to lie — I LOVE inhabiting the world of the Shadowlands. I found the mythos and history of the world a genuine joy to think about, and I’m enormously proud of its invention. However, one thing that readers don’t get to see is how much I WANTED to put into the story.
The simplest example is that I have half a dozen fully written myths that never made it into the book, much to my sadness. The role of storytelling in this world was heavily inspired by Watership Down by Richard Adams, and I had to work not to let myself get carried away!
In the story, Connor interacts with various characters who have their own struggles. How do you think these interactions shape his understanding of his own situation?
All the characters reflect Connor. That was very much by design. Journeyman’s relationship to his son is meant to provide a foil to Connor’s relationship with his own father, allowing him insight into the lengths a father would go for their children… and that this may not be a good thing.
Similarly, I wanted the dynamic between Quiet and Mouse to be somewhat reminiscent of Connor’s relationship with his mother — not 1:1 of course, but Connor struggles to understand his mom’s guilt and distance following his dad’s death — and this is something that he glimpses in how Quiet feels she is failing Mouse as well.
Finally, Leon is meant to provide Connor with a positive role model- someone he can aspire to be. With his own Father gone, I felt this was something that Connor desperately needed — and because the Shadowlands is such a dark and deceitful place — I wanted to show that genuine and clear goodness can exist there.
As a teacher of creative writing, what advice would you give to aspiring authors who want to explore similar themes in their own work?
Avoid moral black and whites. I know that’s an ironic statement to make about a book whose motifs center on the conflict of light and shadow, but one thing I really worked hard to do throughout is to make sure there are few elements of clear-cut good vs. evil.
The Shadow Police are corrupt and broken, but Dandrich really does represent that there is still good intent. The Journeyman makes dark choices, but we also see that his real core isn’t malicious. Even the Neverborn Thief himself is more complex than just an evil, shadowy being, no matter how deep his darkness might be. Is The Judge evil, or simply neutral to his system in a way that we can’t help hating the decisions he makes? Does the fact that we’re supposed to hate Shopkeeper mean that he only acts out of cruelty, or is there room for another side to him that we just don’t get to see?
I think that in the writing of a novel like this, by avoiding rigid moralization and crisp binaries, we get a lot of opportunity to put these ideas in conversation with each other, which is how we also fill out the substance of the text in a way that is meaningful rather than moralizing.
Are there any particular scenes or characters in “The Neverborn Thief” that you feel are especially important or personal to you? Why?
So, there’s not any one thing — but I’ll definitely say that growing up, compared to now, I have a very complicated understanding of my relationship with my father. I deliberately built a lot of my own reflections into the consideration of how Connor understands his own dad, how he understands Journeyman, and also the relationship he builds with Mr. Paxter.
All three of those reflect different aspects of my dynamic with my father. Even Connor’s relationship with The Neverborn Thief draws a bit from this as well.
I won’t get into any real ending spoilers here, but I know that last part is very fundamental to how I decided to portray the final resolution in their plotline.
