It explores Hilketa, a frenetic and violent pastime in which players attack each other with swords and hammers.
No one gets hurt, but the brutality is real, and the crowds love it.
That is, until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field.
Credit: Athena Scalzi; Tor Books
The books gender nonconforming narrator made for a fascinating audiobook experiment.
Read on below, and purchase the hardcoverhereand the Audible versionhere.
AMBER BENSON:I had a blast returning to the series.
Courtesy of Wil Wheaton; Lindsey Byrnes
Theres a lot of humor in the books…plus, they both have cracking good mysteries.
How do you balance what the book originally intended with your interpretation?
BENSON: Its a collaboration so you just hope you do justice to the brilliance of the material.
Did anything inHead Onsurprise you?
Make you laugh out loud?
BENSON: I dont want to give anything away, but the cat was my favorite!
What about the near-future world ofHead Onseems prescient?
Would you want to live your life in a Threep/in the virtual world?
WHEATON: The best thing about Threeps is that the misery of air travel is eliminated.
Ill trade my stupid meat-sack body for that right now.
The idea that the gender of the protagonist is never specified is brilliant.
How do you read a first-person book differently than others?
Do you feel more freedom to make the character your own?
Its an interesting question about making the character my own.
For me, reading a first-person narrative is a lot more emotional, which makes it more enjoyable.
Did the genderless protagonist influence the way you narrated the Audible book?
WHEATON: Not really.
For Chris, I just didnt think of them as male, even though I am.
I thought of them as Chris, and I did my best to get myself out of the way.
BENSON: I just made the character my own.
I didnt think about gender.
I just went for what I thought suited the characters personality.
Was there a specific line while readingLock Inthat influenced your narration ofHead On?
What is your favorite thing about these two books?
WHEATON: I just adore Leslie Vann.
BENSON: I love that the books are talking about gender in a thoughtful and provocative way.
Are there any lingering questions you have?
BENSON: Uhm, will there be more cat in the next book?
