Looking ahead, I think about how my characters had to learn empathy and connection to move past their own traumas, pandemic or otherwise. All of that was harrowing to experience in real life. There are moments near the beginning of the book where someone is chastised for not wearing a breathing mask, and another moment where someone sneezes in an office and everyone tenses up. I don’t know if it’s prepared me, but it has been very surreal seeing things I wrote about come to life. How has thinking about the fictional pandemic you wrote about prepared you, if at all, for what's happening in real life? It’s only been in the past week or so that people have organically discovered that A Beginning at the End is really a book about connection and hope in the face of catastrophe, and readers (and media) have started to identify it as such for this strange time we’re in. Book reviewers often mentioned COVID-19, as did readers on social media. There was a bit of a lull where I don’t think anyone knew quite what to do. Eventually, all the events cancelled anyways, so I didn’t have to worry about it. My wife is immunocompromised from a chronic condition, so as much as I wanted to do events, it became too risky to think about. By the time mid-February came along, I started to look at my upcoming events and airport risks, and that’s when my publicist and I started discussing pulling out. I did manage to get a few local bookstore events in before everything shut down, and I started those with self-deprecating comments like “thank you for listening to me talk about a fictional pandemic during an actual pandemic.” I found that seemed to be the only way to approach this. How did plans for promoting the book change given the news? I think because trade reviews were strong and emphasized the hopefulness of the book, my mind eased a little bit-not fully, but enough for me to try and talk more about it.

I really wanted people to read my book but I started to worry how it would look by promoting a pandemic book while an outbreak was happening around the world. Some book bloggers who really loved my first book Here and Now and Then messaged me to say that their current state of anxiety with the daily trickle of international pandemic news made it difficult to jump in, and I told them that was totally fine and I took no offense. But as it gradually started moving in early January, I definitely got that “uh oh” feeling. At that point, I was just hoping it stayed contained and regional for pure safety. I think late December, just through the news like everyone else. When did you first find out about the current COVID-19 pandemic, and what were your initial thoughts?

Mike chen here and now and then