One of the unexpected highlights of The Shadow Readers was watching two very different characters being forced to work together. Penn, the enigmatic figure who always seems to know more than he lets on, and Sam, Yas’s fiercely loyal friend, spend much of the novel exchanging sarcastic remarks while somehow becoming an effective team.
I recently had the chance to have coffee with them and find out what they really think of each other. As it turns out, getting a straight answer from either of them is about as difficult as you’d expect…
Interviewer: Book 3, The Shadow Readers, is the first time readers really get to see the two of you working together. Given that neither of you would have chosen the other as a partner, what was your first impression of each other—and has it changed?
Sam looked at Penn.
“You go first, Dragon,” he teased.
Penn tilted his head in his trademark way before turning to me.
“I’ve worked with a number of the characters in the Word Guardians and sometimes wonder if I know what they’re really thinking. I do with Sam. He’s right there, with a quip, whether it’s helpful or not.”
Sam looked from Penn to me.
“A quip?” he asked.
“You don’t know what that is?” Penn replied. “Do you?”
“I’m ignoring that,” Sam said indignantly, looking away. “I know what that is. And I’ll say this about Penn. I feel in The Shadow Readers that I got to see a different side of him. Even more so in the upcoming The Story Thief. He’s really all about hon…”
Penn cut him off immediately. “I think you’ve answered the question. Let’s not give anything away.”
Interviewer: Readers have spent two books trying to work out whether Penn is a hero, a villain, or something in between. What’s the biggest misconception people have about the other one?
“You go first,” suggested Penn.
“Can I?” Sam asked. “I mean, I don’t want to give away anything.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll stop you if you do.”
Taking the playful dig in his stride, Sam turned back to me.
“I’m not sure about misconception, but I think everyone sees something different in Penn, and I think it’s intentional.”
Penn sat listening intently, one leg crossed over the other, thumb and finger resting thoughtfully on his chin.
“Go on,” he urged.
“I’m okay to say then, am I?” Sam asked with a grin.
“Oh, I’m curious to hear.”
“Well, he’s in disguise. You never really know who the real Penn is. He’s a businessman, a villain, he helps when it suits his agenda, and that’s really how we started to get to know each other better in The Shadow Readers.”
Penn nodded.
“Let’s just say I was shooting for misunderstood.”
“Quite,” Sam echoed, borrowing one of Penn’s favourite expressions.
Penn smiled before answering.
“I think the thing that’s most misunderstood by adversaries of Sam is that he’s the son of a policeman. That he lives his life literally and to the letter of the law. That’s not true for the Sam I know. He’s much deeper than his face suggests.”
“Wow,” Sam shot back playfully.
Interviewer: The two of you somehow manage to argue, joke and solve impossible problems at the same time. If you were dropped into a crisis with no plan whatsoever, which one of you would actually get you out of it, and which one would claim all the credit afterward?
“Hmm…” said Sam, looking across at Penn. “I think I know what you’ll say.”
Penn answered first.
“I have to give Sam some credit. I can’t be the one to come up with all the ideas.”
“All the ideas?” Sam laughed. “I’m the one who changes the plan when things don’t work out.”
“But they generally do,” Penn replied. “Remember the flying car?”
“The one that dove off a cliff and then crashed into a castle?” Sam asked incredulously.
“Well… that wasn’t my original idea, no. But it was ‘falling, with style.'”
“Falling with…” Sam scoffed.
After a moment, he added, “I think I’m the one who thinks about the problems just when they’re about to happen.”
“Yes,” Penn nodded. “So we have more time to react.”
Then, surprisingly, he added,
“But I’ll give you credit. You saved us in The Story Thief when we were climbing the castle walls.”
Sam looked back at me. “So, it’s teamwork then.”
“Sure, let’s call it that,” Penn agreed, only slightly reluctantly.
Interviewer: You’ve both spent time in worlds created by readers’ imaginations. What’s one place you’d happily visit again… and one you hope never to see again?
“I think Sam knows the place I like to visit,” Penn began.
Sam smiled.
“Misty lake, always at dusk?”
“Quite,” Penn agreed, smiling. “But don’t tell anyone. I’d like to remain misunderstood.”
“I think I do understand, though,” Sam replied.
Penn’s eyebrow rose in warning.
“I won’t say anything,” Sam added quickly. “I like the Penn I know. I know where he’s at. Understood by a few, misunderstood by many.”
Penn nodded.
“Let’s just say he’s complicated.”
“Okay then,” Sam laughed. “Is that your middle name?”
“Quite.”
Penn gestured towards me.
“You need to answer the question.”
“Oh, right.”
Sam thought for a moment.
“Any realm where I’m with Yas. And ideally one where we’re not in some type of danger. I love the Country Mansion Realm because I have memories of being there with my family.”
Penn nodded appreciatively.
“The moor. The sounds and the mist.”
“What is it with you and mist?” Sam asked.
“Mystery,” Penn replied, waving his hands theatrically.
“Anyway,” Sam continued, “I also like the Forest Realm that Yas first discovered in the Battle for the Peacekeepers. It’s a safe place and I can create new memories there with Yas.”
“Young love,” Penn teased.
“What about you, though? I’ve never asked that, actually,” Sam replied. “You must have had someone special?”
“Another story, for another time.” Penn cut off, gesturing to me for the next question.
Interviewer: Last question. Describe each other in just three words. No backhanded compliments.
“I remember this from last time,” Sam said. “And I like that it’s about each other here.”
He looked thoughtfully at Penn.
“Hmm… I’ll say mystery… layers… and hon…”
“There you go again,” Penn interrupted. “Where’d you get the layers from, anyway? I’m not an onion!”
“The mist you like so much,” Sam shot back.
“Hmm,” Penn acknowledged with a smile. “The thing you need to realise about mist is that it doesn’t hide the truth, it forces you to go closer to find it.”
“Deep,” replied Sam. “Layered.”
Penn paused, smiling. “Okay, my turn. For Sam I’d say… loyalty… commitment… and hon…”
“No,” Sam interrupted, laughing. “Let’s not give anything away now, shall we?”
Penn smiled.
“Joking aside, Sam was the logical choice for me to work with in The Shadow Readers, but how it turned out… I couldn’t have made a better one.”
“You feeling alright, Dragon?” Sam teased. “You only compliment when you’re ill.”
“I’m layered,” Penn replied, smiling.
“In mist,” Sam added, laughing. “Not an onion!”
“Quite,” Penn finished, punching Sam playfully on the arm as he looked back towards me.
There may be no pair in the Word Guardians series more unlikely than Penn and Sam. One hides behind mystery, the other wears his heart on his sleeve. One always seems to have a plan, while the other is usually the first to notice when that plan is going spectacularly wrong.
Yet somewhere between the sarcasm, the banter and the impossible adventures, they’ve become one of the series’ most enjoyable partnerships. If this interview proves anything, it’s that while readers may still be trying to work Penn out, one person already has a pretty good idea who he really is.
Sam just isn’t allowed to say it… yet.
To enjoy Sam and Penn’s camaraderie and how it develops, start with Book 1 today.
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