Elyse asked Stephanie Saulter:

Why did you choose to set Binary several years after the events of Gemsigns? Will we ever learn more about what happened during the time in between the two books?

Stephanie Saulter I wanted to let some time pass so that we could see how the events of Gemsigns had affected the lives of the characters and the world that they live in. It enabled me to write Binary against a backdrop of continuing social change, and it also allowed me to alter the tone a bit from Gemsigns - Binary reveals a lot more about the histories of Aryel and Zavcka, and there's a sense of the past needing to be reckoned with in a more direct way than was possible in the immediate crisis of Gemsigns. Setting Binary three and a half years later also let me bring in new characters in a more natural way; and not have it be too weird for some old characters to not be around. As for what happened in between: the 3rd book, Regeneration, sheds light on where some of them went and what they were up to!

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