Interview with Rebecca Rode, Author of Numbers Ignite

Sure. It’s the sequel to the futuristic thriller NUMBERS GAME, and it’s the most ambitious project I’ve taken on. The series follows Treena, a citizen girl who receives the wrong Rating, and Vance, an outlander slave in the military. I got the idea for these books while sitting at the bank, staring at my credit score. It was amazing to me that we all have these scores following us around, telling companies what we’re worth financially, and the algorithms are very complex. Then I thought, what if the numbers revealed everything about us—our appearance, our athleticism, our intelligence? And what if we had to wear those numbers around? What if someone got the wrong score? Thus, the world of NUMBERS GAME was born.

You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited?

Anne Tyler, Louisa May Alcott, and Suzanne Collins.

What’s rocking your world this month?

Okay, get this. I think China thought my creepy numbers-based society was kind of cool, because they just announced that they’re going to begin issuing “social scores” next year. It’s a little horrifying, how closely their new system follows NUMBERS GAME. It reminds me of a quote I saw on Twitter recently: “The best science fiction does not predict the future. It examines the present and issues a warning.” –Steve McEllistrem

Which book from your childhood or teenage years has stuck with you as an adult?

Dystopian novels have been around a long time, but I’d say The Giver by Lois Lowry. Some readers complain that the ending is too open-ended, but I think it had to be that way. Good dystopian literature makes you think and invent your own interpretation, and I think Lowry is a master of that.

What will your next adventure be?

The last book in the Numbers Game series will be called NUMBERS RAGING, and then I’m throwing myself into a YA fantasy novel with pirates and princes tentatively called MAJESTY.

What’s your favorite quote or scene from Numbers Ignite?

There’s one powerful scene near the end, the only scene that’s ever made me sob while watching it unfold on the computer screen. Vance is facing execution, and he has to confront what has been a lifetime of darkness and continual death to come to terms with his choices and what it has all meant. Treena is able to pull him out of the blackness for an emotional goodbye.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale

Rebecca Rode is the author of the new book Numbers Ignite.

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