Neal Shusterman’s more than 50-book literary resume is filled with accolades, among them a National Book Award (Challenger Deep), a Printz Honor (Scythe), a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (The Schwa Was Here), and the 2024 Margaret A. Edwards Award for his body of work. The prolific author’s next work for young readers spotlights his short-story writing. Due on November 18 from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (which has sold more than 6.5 million copies of Shusterman’s books worldwide), MindWorks: An Uncanny Compendium of Short Fiction contains 43 short stories, nearly all the stories Shusterman has published throughout the years, as well as four new tales, including two set in the world of the Arc of the Scythe. The cover of this more than 700-page collection is shown here for the first time.
Long before his first novel, Shusterman began writing stories while still in high school. “I found short stories were a great way to experiment with new voices, and with new styles of writing,” he told PW. “Even now, I find them useful for trying new things—like in ‘A Unity of [Purpose],’ about a dolphin with lofty ambitions, which is probably my favorite story in MindWorks.”
Creating shorter fiction presents a different challenge than novel-writing, Shusterman noted, and can serve a useful creative purpose. “The shorter the piece, the more economical you need to be with story and language,” he said. “You have to get a lot across in a very limited amount of time. I find short stories can be a palate-cleanser between larger projects. Also, sometimes I have an idea that just doesn’t feel big enough to be a novel, so I get to explore it in a story. Both forms are rewarding in different ways.”
Shusterman, who is currently writing a prequel to Scythe, added that he is gratified to have his short fiction available in a single volume. “I wanted the collection to be as comprehensive as possible, putting together all my stories that are either out of print, or were dispersed in various anthologies,” he said. It also contains the story “Dawn Terminator,” which is currently in development as the movie Dawn with Netflix. “The most difficult part of putting together this compendium was the extensive rewriting I did of the older stories—some to the point of barely being recognizable,” he added. “I needed to update them culturally, and technologically. Plus, there were places where I thought, ‘I could write this much better now,’ so I took a shot at it.”
Justin Chanda, SVP and publisher of S&S Books for Young Readers and editor of MindWorks, views the publication of the compendium as a significant event in Shusterman’s career. “Neal has often been compared to Philip K. Dick, and it was high time we gave his short fiction the Philip K. Dick treatment!” he said. “Neal’s novels are jam-packed with mind-bending ideas, but his imagination doesn’t stop there. Fans shouldn’t have to wait for a full-length novel to get more of a taste of however Shusterman’s mind works.”
Producing a Prime Package
Art director Chloe Foglia, who has designed and art-directed many of Shusterman’s books over the past 15 years, said that designing the package for MindWorks required a different approach than for his novels, given the range of tales contained within. “We decided to use the concept of a cabinet of curiosities as inspiration for the cover so that elements from many of the stories could be featured,” she said.
And, like filling a curiosity cabinet, creating the book’s cover involved a complex assembly process. After Shusterman provided an extensive list of key elements from the stories, Chanda and Foglia whittled it down and passed it along to Max Löffler, who created the cover art and title treatment for the book.
“We gave Max leeway to choose what he felt would be most compelling to illustrate,” Foglia said. “We wanted to work with an illustrator who would bring a unique look to the table and whose style could also nod to classic compilations of short fiction in the horror/sci-fi/fantasy realm. Max took the concept and other details in the brief and ran with it to create one of Neal’s most memorable covers.”
The package creation for MindWorks was a composite undertaking, since the publisher produced three different print editions of the title: a standard hardcover; a deluxe paperback edition featuring stained and stenciled edges and French flaps (for the first printing); and a limited-edition deluxe hardcover with a ribbon marker and a slipcase with foil and embossing, signed and numbered by the author. The combined announced printing for the three editions is 95,000 copies.
“I worked closely with our production director Chava Wolin to select and proof various effects for all the print editions of the book,” Foglia said. “We used special inks, gritty and glossy finishes, the coolest black holographic foil you could imagine, and stained the book’s edges with a brick pattern referencing a cover element. On the deluxe hardcover, we have a gorgeous slipcase created by Max and some very wild endpapers. I love how different the art looks from anything else out there, especially with the print effects. You immediately know you’re in for a wild ride when you look at it!”
Chanda praised the collaboration that produced three compelling versions of the compendium. “I think everything about this package reflects not only the range of stories but the scope of imagination that could only come from Neal’s brain,” he said. “The whole package feels very indie and very crossover, and the items are off-kilter and a bit trippy, while still managing a sense of humor. Nothing really makes sense separately, but it all adds up collectively. That’s this collection in a nutshell.”
MindWorks: An Uncanny Compendium of Short Fiction by Neal Shusterman. Simon & Schuster, Nov. 18, $29.99 hardcover ISBN 978-1-66599-078-3; $19.99 paper ISBN 978-1-66593-979-9; $40 deluxe ISBN 978-1-66593-978-2
