The following is an interview with Peter Tieryas regarding the upcoming release of the illustrated novel, Kill or Be Killed, through AWA Studios. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Tieryas about his shared creative process in working with artist Mike Choi to bring the story and its characters to life on the page, the themes that he hopes will resonate with readers, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the upcoming release of Kill or Be Killed! What can you share with us about the premise of this new dystopian thriller, and what inspired its narrative?
Peter Tieryas: Thank you so much! The story starts off with a guy coming home from work to surprise his wife for her birthday. He’s near his house and sees his neighbor watering the plants. He says hello and is about to go into his home when he gets a call on a social media website called Chingu (which is “Friend” in Korean). His wife is screaming for help and a stranger tells him he either has to kill his neighbor and stream it live, or his wife will die. What would a person do in that situation?
That extreme dilemma becomes the launching point for an exploration of the tech industry, AI, and a whole lot more as more people get faced with this impossible dilemma. This novella, though, is less Saw and more something like Se7en or another of my favorites, Memories of Murder. It’s a whodunit, except we know who did the killing. The characters are trying to find out why.
The novella takes inspiration from my time in the tech industry. It also was my way of exploring deeper questions about what it means to “be human” in a world where AI is becoming more and more prevalent.
BD: How would you describe your shared creative process in working with artist Mike Choi to bring the story and characters to life on the page?
PT: The first time I saw Mike’s art work for the cover, it was so haunting, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. I’ve been a huge fan of Mike’s art for some time now, so to see him bring this world to life was a great honor. Part of the challenge of the story was creating a fake social media site, “Chingu,” that feels familiar, but also is its own thing in that Chingu was started with AI chat friends built-in as an integral part of the experience. I thought Mike’s idea of illustrating the story like it was a bunch of social media posts was brilliant and very relevant. It was also super interesting in the way it blurs the line between what’s real and artificial on several different layers.
BD: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. How do you feel that the story’s themes may connect with and impact readers?
PT: I love this initiative! There’s so many existential themes I think a lot of us have on our mind these days with so much changing so rapidly. The future seems both super exciting and super terrifying depending on which direction things go. And I think one of the aspects I’m curious about is how AI will affect everything from friendships to storytelling. If AI dominates and everything becomes generated, what’ll that do to the human experience? One of the difficult parts about AI are the “hallucinations” where it’ll confidently talk about completely fictional “facts.” But that also got me thinking about the concept of truth. If a bunch of AIs were all that’s left and they were all making up stories about human history, would that artificial history become the true one? How would one distinguish it from the true past? In the novella, I used one of my favorite genres, a mystery thriller, to investigate these questions, but also do it in a way that I hope is entertaining and will impact readers.
BD: What makes AWA Studios the perfect home for this story?
PT: AWA has been an awesome publisher. They really got the story on a deeper level and I’ve been very grateful to them through every step of the process, including the editorial suggestions and notes they gave which I feel made the story much better. I really love the crew here!
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
PT: Kill or Be Killed is part of a “Future of Fear” anthology done in collaboration with Vertigo Entertainment and Roy Lee, a producer whose work I love. So, I recommend checking out some of the other books in the series. I saw another of the anthology books, Look Out, at my local comic book store earlier this week, and it looked great!
For me personally, I have several projects that I hope to share about soon, but Kill or Be Killed is the main one I’m focused on now. I actually wrote it almost two years ago, and to know it’ll get published soon is an awesome feeling.
BD: Lastly, what is the best way for our readers to find more information about Kill or Be Killed?
PT: The official website is probably best!
https://awastudios.com/series/kill-or-be-killed/
The book comes out on August 20th. And just one little bit of trivia. The original title for the novella was The Friendship Killer, but we changed it to match the hashtag that goes viral within the story, “Kill or Be Killed” which I liked a lot better.
