In BREAKING SKY, Cori McCarthy’s new action-packed novel that takes place in 2048, Chase is a teen fighter pilot at the United Star Academy --- and a good one, too. America is locked in a cold war, but as actual fighting becomes eminent, she learns a military secret that might just change everything.
While Teenreads was all for learning more about Chase’s flying skills, Cori answered a slightly more interesting --- and unexpected --- question for us: “If Chase couldn’t be a pilot, what occupation do you think she would follow?”
Read Cori’s answer below, and be on the lookout for BREAKING SKY, which hits stores on March 10th!
One of the first things I knew about Chase was that she is a pilot. Full of daring and in love with speed, the career she found through the Air Force is her dream come true. Which is a little strange if you think about it…how many YA stories begin with a teen whose dream has already come true?
Chase has everything she wants in flying her streaker jet called Dragon (or so she thinks). Even more than that, she has a built-in alternative personality to keep people at arm’s length. She is The Nyx --- her pilot call sign.
In history, Nyx is the elusive Greek Goddess of the night/chaos, and I imagine that Chase chose this call sign not because she thought of herself as exceptionally dangerous, but because she attached to the idea of being on the outside of the rules. On the lonely outskirts of mythology itself.
Here’s an ancient Greek poem about the Nyx from the Orpheus hymns, which helped inspire Chase’s character:
“Dissolving anxious care, the friend of Mirth,
With darkling coursers riding round the earth.
Goddess of phantoms and of shadowy play,
Whose drowsy pow'r divides the nat'ral day:
By Fate's decree you constant send the light
To deepest hell, remote from mortal sight
For dire Necessity which nought withstands,
Invests the world with adamantine bands.
Be present, Goddess, to thy suppliant's pray'r,
Desir'd by all, whom all alike revere,
Blessed, benevolent, with friendly aid
Dispell the fears of Twilight's dreadful shade.”
So in answer to the question, “If Chase couldn’t be a pilot, what occupation do you think she would follow?” I would have to say…prizefighter! (Did you see that one coming? J) Not only would she get to use her nickname/alternative persona, but Chase is also a very physical person, particularly at the beginning of the novel when she is walled-off and rather fist-ready.
At the end of the novel, Chase is a very different person. Without wanting to give anything away, I think her non-pilot career choice post-BREAKING SKY might be something a little more mature…like an Olympic athlete. I’ve always pictured Chase as a long distance runner, and in earlier drafts of the book, she had a great falling-off-the-treadmill scene that unfortunately had to be cut.
Ultimately though, I’m sad to think of Chase as anything other than a pilot. While her dreams evolve over the course of the story, one thing never changes: Chase wants to fly. She needs to. Flying is both her escape and her home. It is her freedom and her job, and aren’t we all working toward a career that makes us sublimely fulfilled? I know I am. It’s why I love being a writer.
Cori McCarthy studied poetry and screenwriting before falling in love with writing for teens at Vermont College of Fine Arts. From a military family, Cori was born on Guam and lived a little bit of everywhere before she landed in Michigan. Learn more about her books at CoriMcCarthy.com.
