Goodreads asked Jon Gamble:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Jon Gamble My most recent book is The Field of Hum. When we moved to our farm I told my daughter I'd write a novel about two cats. I had no idea what it would be about at that point, but in my spare time I just started jotting things down. Being of a farm, and around farm animals, is very grounding and natural. Of course you talk to your animals just like they are people. From their you see the personalities of your animals too. I knew this already, from when I grew up on a dairy farm. Each of the cows we milked had their own personalities. When you enter this non verbal communication with animals it kind of opens up another dimension of creativity. So being with nature, having time and space, are the things which allowed my inspiration to start.

Then I was reminded of the romance poets of the 19th century, how they were reacting to the industrial revolution, and attempting to rekindle with nature when they could see the old world was fast changing. It's just the same today, with the destruction of our natural world on a grand scale, and with the rapid rise of technology we don't know how that's going to ultimately affect our sense of who we are, and our ability to be grounded when confronted with day to day pressure.

So I wanted to draw on the wisdom of the romance poets and bring those threads into the real threats before us today. I asked myself, how do young adults deal with a confronting world before them? How can they find something within which will bring calm, insight and grounding. The Field of Hum is the result. I hope you enjoy it.

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