Twelve-year-old Patrick Newberry lives for gaming. That becomes a serious problem when he develops a sudden, peculiar allergy to electricity. Every sneeze makes electronics explode. One encounter with the neighbour’s cat knocks out the whole neighbourhood’s Wi-Fi for a week. That’s the setup of InterVille, the first children’s novel from Trompoppie filmmaker and Man in die Maan author Etienne Fourie. Turning childhood insecurities into superpowers Patrick’s allergy is borrowed from Fourie’s own life. “I had terrible allergies and hay fever as a child, and I still do. If I so much as think about a cat, I’m likely to sneeze. My sneezes were also incredibly loud, which made me terribly self-conscious because other children would tease me about them,” said Fourie. And in InterVille, he flips that. “I wanted to take something a child might find embarrassing or regard as a weakness and turn it into something extraordinary. Patrick’s allergy causes endless chaos, but it also has the potential to become a kind of superpower. Many of the qualities we feel most self-conscious about when we are young can eventually become assets. Not necessarily because they change, but because we learn to see and use them differently,” said Fourie. The cover of Etienne Fourie’s debut children’s book, InterVille. Picture: Supplied A hit with readers and critics Published by Penguin Random House South Africa as the first in a planned five-book series, InterVille is aimed at 9- to 12-year-olds but already has grown-up fans too. Children’s author Jaco Jacobs calls the book “monstrously entertaining”, adding: “I loved every page.” Helena Spring, producer of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and the Oscar-nominated, says, “It’s an outrageously original story. It sweeps you into an adventure so full of heart, wicked humour and delicious scares that you can’t help but fall in love with it.” Julia Ruchman hails it as “Funny. Fearless. Fantastically freaky.” And that’s from someone whose credits include The Walking Dead and Goosebumps. Patrick’s parents worry about his gaming. Their solution will be familiar to many South African families. “His parents mean well, but they keep trying to interest him in things that make sense to them, particularly sport. My own parents tried wrestling, boxing, karate, cricket and rugby with me, but I wanted to read, watch films, paint, write, sculpt and build things,” said Fourie. Then comes the worst birthday present imaginable: a stay at Crooked Creek Canyon Camp, a mosquito-infested wilderness. An adventure he can’t pause Patrick is fairly certain he won’t survive. Even before he discovers a glowing creature stalking the forest at night, a wanted giant with an enormous butterfly net, and Verdigris Island: home to a magical Gate leading to InterVille, where impossible worlds and terrifying creatures await. “There is a lot of me in that character, especially at the beginning. I loved escapism and wanted to disappear into story worlds rather than confront reality. But some of the best stories from my own life began when I allowed myself to be genuinely frightened and went on real, physical adventures with people I cared about,” said Fourie. He admits he found making that leap difficult. “I wanted Patrick to experience something similar. He’s forced into an environment he cannot pause, restart or escape. He has to participate in the adventure himself, and discover that real friendship, fear and courage feel very different when there is no controller in your hands,” said Fourie. Still, he’s grateful for the imaginary worlds he connected so intensely with as a child. “That feeling – the excitement of discovering somewhere impossible and wanting to live there for a while – is something I have been chasing throughout my adult life. It lies at the heart of InterVille,” said Fourie. From screen to page The first image of InterVille came to Fourie in 2009, during his second year at AFDA. Before writing the novel, he explored the story as a TV series and painted its characters. Fourie won Best Screenplay, Director and Film at Silwerskerm for Die Windpomp. He also won a SAFTA for directing Tydelik Terminaal and was nominated for another for writing Trompoppie. “My experience in film and television shaped InterVille enormously. I tend to see stories visually, so the scenes, characters and world unfolded quite cinematically in my imagination,” said Fourie. The biggest challenge was freeing his imagination from South African film budgets. “As a screenwriter, you constantly ask whether something can be afforded, scheduled or filmed. With the novel, I had to stop worrying about feasibility and allow the story to decide how large, strange or ambitious it needed to become,” said Fourie. InterVille is available now from Amazon, Bargain Books, Exclusive Books, Takealot, and all good bookshops. “Seeing my novel on bookshelves is a genuine dream come true. The geek in me – by far the biggest part – is happier than I can possibly express,” said Fourie. HAVE YOU READ THIS ONE?: Why Psychological Safety Deserves a Bigger Place in the Workplace Conversation Post navigation KAMO_WW Unleashes New Track “NGO’ 7 (UFUN’ UKWENZANI)”
