Author Gretchen Wing, shown right, will be having a book launch party for her book “The Flying Burgowski” at the library on April 15 from 7- 8:30 p.m. There will be a reading/ signing at the Lopez Bookshop on April 19 at 5 p.m.

1. What made you decide to write about a girl who can fly?

I have tremendous bird envy. Airplanes don’t count as “flying,” unless maybe you have your own plane, but even then…no. I always wanted to feel the wind right against my skin. Since the magic never came to me, I had to learn to fly on paper.

2. So would you characterize this book as fantasy?

I’d better issue a warning here: This Book Contains No Vampires, Zombies, Wizards, Elves, Unicorns, or…what have I left out?

This is not to say anything against true fantasy books. I’m a complete Potterhead, which you’ll notice on reading page one. I was raised on Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, the “Earthsea” series and “The Last Unicorn.” I love well-written dystopian fantasy like “The Hunger Games,” sci-fi thrillers like “Jurassic Park,” and theologically speculative books like “The Sparrow” and “Children of God”. (I am, I must admit, a teensy bit tired of vampires.)  But I prefer to consider the possibility of magic and superpowers in this world, where the hero has to deal with problems that we all recognize.

So the short answer is, I call this book “low fantasy,” or “magical realism for kids.” Jocelyn Burgowski can fly, but flying itself cannot fix her life.

3. The story is set on “Dalby Island” in the “Santa Inez Islands” of Washington State. Is it meant to be Lopez?

Dalby is not Lopez. Local readers will notice some obvious parallels in scenery and community. I wanted to write about a girl who lives apart from the dominant American society, and what author wouldn’t want to use our distinctive ecology as a setting? But I wrote this book before I ever moved here or knew anyone, so any similarities with real people are truly accidental.

4. Is the main character, Jocelyn Burgowski, based on anybody real?

Yup, she’s me. Kidding! No, Joss is a product of my imagination, which of course contains quite a bit of me, since…duh, right? But she’s her own person. I did borrow my niece’s name for her, though.

5. What is your background as an author?

Being a teacher is the best prep for authorship that I can imagine. All you do is try to figure out how other people view the world. I was also luckier than most teachers; I’m married to a professor who got paid sabbaticals every seventh year. I used our first sabbatical to write a “starter book,” before I knew what I was doing. I used our second one to write a much better novella, and to take writing classes and join a writers’ group. After that, I tried the Stephen King method of getting up at five to write for an hour before work. I hated that, but I did produce the first draft of this book. When my husband and I moved to Lopez after his retirement, I quit teaching to focus on writing.

I’ve had two stories published in the online journal Shark Reef, and I write the monthly Spotlight column for Islands’ Weekly, which also has a link to my blog, Wing’s World.

6. This book is aimed at a middle grades audience, but it contains some pretty grown-up themes, like divorce and alcohol dependency. Isn’t that a little “dark” for kids to read about?

As opposed to kids killing each other? I don’t have much patience with the idea that fantasy can be as bloody and disturbing as adult literature, but real-world “horrors” like substance dependency, sexual assault, racism or homophobia are somehow taboo for adolescents. Books are the safest place for kids to process their thoughts about these issues. Of course these topics have to be handled delicately. But if thoughtful kids are what we want, labeling these topics as “dark” and therefore off limits, while winking at fantastical violence, is hypocritical and counter-productive.

7. What made you decide to publish this book yourself?

Until recently, I had an agent and was still trying to break into the traditional, New York-centered publishing world. But all major publishing houses are controlled by only six companies, and the business is so competitive that none of them are willing to take a chance on something that isn’t the next blockbuster. I’m not interested in blockbusting; I just want my book in people’s hands. Luckily, technology is on the writers’ side these days, and I have wonderful, resourceful friends who have helped me along this do-it-yourself process.