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Ask K.A. Applegate Q&A

Before the Official Website held it's "According to K.A" monthly Q&A sessions with the fans, Jeff Sampson from the Animorphs fan site Morphz.com had kept in personal touch with K.A herself by showing off his fan website to her. K.A agreed to his request of answering questions from the fans on his website. Unfortunetly, due to legal reasons, K.A soon had to stop doing this on a fan website, and it was from there that the Scholastic began holding "According to K.A" Q&A sessions once every month on the official site instead. These are the columns of questions that K.A answered to before moving to the Official Website.

Column #10

Hello, I am an absalute fanatic of Animorphs and have all your books 1-16 and have read all at least 60 times each. My questions are as follows: Will Marcos mother ever come back and why didnt they take and hide Alloran after Visser baled out. What happened to the little blue box, did the the yeeks grab it or what.
Sincerly, your biggest fan,
Geoff a.k.a. Gremlin

I have (more or less) agreed to do a third "Chronicles" book after "Hork-Bajir Chronicles." That third one will be the "Visser Chronicles." I expect it will be the story of Vissers One and Three. Of course we've seen some of Visser Three's backstory in Andalite Chron and will see more in H-B Chron. But we know little about Visser One (Marco's Mom.)

As for the blue box, read the "new Animorph" trilogy, books 20-22 and you'll see. You think I'm just going to spoil all the surprises for you? Hah! What fun would that be for me? I like surprising you guys and girls.
--KAA

 

Some readers have been voicing concerns over whether or not the new character will be an Andalite or human, male or female. Come on, can you give us any hints? Also, quickie about Otherworld. Will you use the system for writing you do in Animorphs, switching the POV each story? And, I DO dress up in costumes and goto Trek conventtions. Thanks...
-Dragon

I can't tell you much about Otherworld because as of right now I have not written a word. I'll have to wait and see what comes up on the old page when I start typing. As for the new Animorph, I'll go so far as to say . . . human. But that's it.
--KAA

 

Hi KA!

I love your books and hope a MOVIE as well as a TV Show comes out! There is this thing that has been going through the minds of a few fans. Where are the female Andalites?! What do they look like?! From the very beggining till now (for me, it's Animorphs#17) no female Andalite has ever been written about. Sure, they are mentioned here and there, Elfangor's mother, Ax's "distraction" in class, but we've never really met one. What about the average Andalite? All the male Andalites we've met are in the military. (Ax, Elfangor, Arbron, Alloran,The Captains of the Dome Ships, all in the military.) Are Andalites like a lot of species that are sexist? Or are they like our military, which still has has a few more men than women? (But that is changing real fast!)
CROCODlLE

I am very sorry to report that the Andalites are rather sexist. They apparently believe that females belong in the sciences and in the arts, but not in the military. However, in Hork-Bajir Chronicles we will meet our first female Andalite, and she has different ideas. In fact, it will turn out that she is one of the greatest . . . Hey, hey, wait a minute! Are you trying to get me to divulge secret information?

Suffice it to say that all who have longed to meet a female Andalite will get their chance in about six months.
--KAA

 

I'm just wondering what you think about the other authors that seem to be copying you and doing a really poor job of it. For example, the new Minstrel books called Mindwarp, about some kids that get superpowers by aliens and fight evil. This author has his kids acting... not like kids their age would. He writes down to kids and makes us seem like we're unintelligent and don't think things through. They're also extremely predicable. Kid brings expensive comic to school and the typical bully knows his locker combination. Gee, I wonder what's going to happen to that comic book? Where as Animorphs can leave you guessing right 'till the end in almost every minor detail. So my question is, what do you personally think about these copiers?
Your fan
Melissa

Well, I'd have to go a long, long way to be as cloned as R.L. Stine was. I mean, how many Goosebumps clones were there? 20? 30? 100? They were everywhere. Personally I don't mind. In fact, its kind of flattering.
--KAA

 

Hello. I love your books (millionth time you've heard that I know. But hey, the truth is the truth.) I have always loved the idea of kids changing into animals. I am also glad you write in a noncondescending way. Most "young adult/children's" book series and T.V. shows are convinced that all children/teen-agers are morons(power rangers,goosebumps). But you don't think that, and it's a nice change of pace. Here are my questions:

1) Will we ever hear more from Ket Halpek and Jara Hamee? WIll we ever get to meet their off-spring, even if it's just a cameo appearance.

2) Have you ever considered letting the animoprhs more a domestic or black-footed ferret, or maybe even both.

3) How about a chimpanzee morph. I know Marco has a gorilla and they have all "morphed" monkeys(book 11). However, chimpanzees are different from both species. They are the smartest animals next to humans and share a lot of the same emotions. Brings up the morality question again, but it also sounds like a fun and interesting morph.

4) What happens when your contract with Scholastic for the thirty books and the 4 megamorphs is up? WIll the series end? And if the series is renewed, will there be a lull of a few months before #31 is published?
Thanking you in advance for your time, effort, and opinions,
Margaret (Anitobias3)

1) Yep. The Hork-Bajir Chronicles is basically "told by" Jara and Ket, with some help from Tobias. And the child will make a very late, very intriguing appearance.

2) Ferret? Could be good in the right circumstance. I'm givin Marco a cobra morph. Would be a nice antidote. I gather ferrets and snakes aren't exactly buddies.

3) I have wanted to do chimpanzees for some time, and for a particular reason. Chimps are used in medical research. I don't object to this as long as it is done as humanely as possible. But that's not always the case. I'd love to come up with a story line involving medical experiments on chimpanzees.

4) Well, there's some news on that. I am currently signed up through Animorphs #30. But I also signed just for Megamorphs #3, plus 6 "specials", which means things like the Chronicles books. I also assume Scholastic and I will reach a deal to go beyond book #30. So there won't be an Animorphs shortage any time soon.

I'm glad you appreciate writing that does not condescend. As I've said before, I was worried about that. I was concerned readers would think Animorphs was over their heads. Turns out instead that the readers are smarter than I am and are constantly busting me for mistakes I make. So much for me needing to write "down."
--KAA

 

KAA-

I just want to say, I LOVE your books. I have a couple of questions.

1. Do you think OTHERWORLD will be as good as Animorphs? And let's see. by the summer of 1999, I'll be going into 6th grade. Do you think that's a good age level? I mean, I'm reading Animorphs and I'm in 4th grade.(I'm NOT trying to brag).

2. My last one's kind of corny, but do they have Animorphs stuff? I mean, I know there's the posters and stickers and waterbottles and stuff, but you kow how there is Rugrats Stuff? I mean like that. Shower curtains, clothes and night clothes, tooth brushes and tooth paste etc. Okay. That's enough. Sorry to bore you.
#1 fan(as everyone says, but I'm TRULEY #1),
Allison

I don't know how good Otherworld will be. Haven't written it yet, and, not to be superstitious, but I start getting nervous announcing too much in advance. Let's see how well I do before I announce what my grade will be.

As for stuff, yeah, I guess there will be stuff, but it's a year away. I think there will be t-shirts and so on, at least. That's all handled by people I don't know. One of the weird things about doing a series like this is how much it spreads out beyond your control. There are people out there writing TV scripts, and making promotional deals, and designing logos and so on. I gather there's a deal with the company that owns Pizza Hut/Taco Bell /Kentucky Fried Chicken. I don't know what's involved. Extra Crispy Fried Yeerks or something.
--KAA

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