THE VANISHED ONES by Chad Lucas

I was fortunate enough to feature the books in Chad Lucas’ previous series, Thanks A Lot, Universe, and You Owe Me One, Universe. When I heard the premise of THE VANISHED ONES (01/28/25), I knew another interview was in order. Have a look:

On Rhodenroode Island, a remote colony of the Homeland, there sits a Mission on the Hill, where boys are taken in and taught the ways of the faith. Darian is the only trainee of his race there, and he doesn’t remember how he came to the Mission. All he remembers are brown hands and the belly of a ship. Life among the other boys and the cantankerous Brothers is not always easy, but Darian is determined to live up to the lofty calling the leaders of the Mission have laid out for that one day he will carry the Sacred Word to places it has yet to reach. But when another trainee at the Mission disappears—the latest in a string of vanishings—Darian is determined to solve the mystery that begins to shake his faith in what he’s always been taught. When he and his friend Micah sneak away from the Mission and head east to see what they can learn about the rebel sect supposedly responsible for the vanishings, they discover that the island holds far more secrets than they ever could have imagined—and somehow, they must save the other boys at the Mission from a danger that’s even greater than they realized.

In our last interview, you said, “The most challenging part [is] trying not to think too hard about reader expectations.” What helps you from falling too far down that rabbit hole?

First, thank you for having me back again! We last spoke before the release of You Owe Me One, Universe, a sequel to my first book, Thanks a Lot, Universe. The sequel was a unique challenge because it’s the first time I returned to characters whom my readers have already grown to know and love. This time around, I pushed myself to do something completely different. The Vanished Ones deals with some timely themes, but it’s set in a fantasy world, unlike any of my other books so far. It was enough of a departure that I wasn’t sure at first how my editor and publisher would feel about it, let alone if readers would like it. Luckily, my editor loved it, and I hope readers do too. But it’s a story I felt I needed to write. I guess that’s a long way of saying I set expectations aside this time and wrote for myself, and I hope it resonates with other people too.

And setting aside the expectations of others, while difficult, is often necessary! In THE VANISHED ONES, there are many allegories to colonization, manifest destiny and hypocrisy within religion. How did you know this was a story you needed to write?

This is probably my most autobiographical book, which might sound like a strange thing to say about a fantasy. But, like Darian, I grew up in a religious environment where I tried my best to be “good,” even as I had doubts about whether I really fit, or if I should even want to fit amid the things that didn’t feel right to me. I’ve thought a lot about the ways that the stories we tell about ourselves, our faith, and our nations sometimes get twisted up in ways that are unhealthy or dangerous.

There’s a scene in The Vanished Ones where another character tells Darian that belief can expand our world and make us more open and generous, or it can become a prison. Sometimes religious leaders work alongside political leaders to exploit people’s fears and convince them that doing terrible things to “outsiders” is in fact the holy choice. It is frighteningly easy to persuade some people that evil is good if it’s framed in a narrative they want to hear. This has happened throughout history and it’s happening now. When I started writing, I had no idea this book would be quite so timely in 2025. I hope it makes its way into the hands of readers who could use it right now.

A lot of readers could (especially this reader). What are your favorite kinds of books to read and why?

I still read more middle grade than anything, since that’s my primary lane, but I try to read broadly across genres and age categories. I love books that surprise me or do something unusual. Maybe that’s using different narrative elements, like Erin Entrada Kelly’s The First State of Being, a very worthy Newbery winner. Or playing with structure, like my favorite nonfiction book of 2024, There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib, which takes the framework of a basketball game: instead of chapters there are quarters, timeouts, and intermissions. Or it could make me ask, “How is this even working right now?” like Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow, which addresses an incredibly fraught subject—the main character is the lone survivor of a school shooting—in a sensitive way while also being laugh-out-loud funny. But the other thing all three books I mentioned have in common is that the writing is fantastic. That’s what wins me over the most.

Same here. What are some of your goals for the coming year?

I’m slowly chugging toward the finish line of a draft of my next book, and I want to get it to a place where it’s ready for submission later this year. And I’ve been brainstorming with a friend and fellow writer about a co-written project that I hope to start working on this year as well. I can’t say too much about either yet, except that both projects are very different from each other. I want to keep trying new things as a writer.

Order THE VANISHED ONES