Author Kevin Emerson Visits Middle School

Last week, science fiction author Kevin Emerson visited Overlake, entertaining and enlightening middle schoolers at an assembly. He first talked about his own path to becoming a successful writer--all the years and rejection involved, along with a dramatic excerpt from his first published horror story, written while he was in middle school (it was a big hit with Overlake students). Emerson then talked more specifically about his latest book, Last Day on Mars, about a near-future in which the sun has gone supernova and all of humanity has to leave the solar system, after a brief stay on Mars when Earth became uninhabitable. Needless to say, the last day on Mars doesn't go as planned. Emerson talked about the writing and the research behind the book, as he has always been fascinated by science. He then took questions from the students, one of whom wanted to know if he ever thought about giving up, given all the hard work and rejection that goes into being an author (Emerson answered honestly, yes, but he's glad he didn't!).

Photo by Joe Mabel