Enhancements, Finding Your Identity and Belonging with YA author Candace Kade

Episode Transcript:

Introduction

CJ Milacci:

What would it be like to grow up in a world where everyone has incredible genetic enhancements…except for you? And what can a story about this teach us about loneliness and finding our identity? Find out in today’s episode!

Welcome, my friend. You are listening to Read Clean YA with CJ, the podcast for teens and young adults who want to explore exciting worlds, deep themes, and epic stories without the objectionable content. I’m your host, award-winning young adult author CJ Milacci. And in this episode, we are going to dive into an author interview with my good friend and fellow young adult author, Candace Kade.

Author of the incredible young adult sci-fi novel Enhanced, Candace Kade is also a recovering overachiever who spends her time dreaming up stories typically involving tech, psychology, culture, and sometimes swords. She’s a certified Krav Maga assistant instructor and loves writing action-packed martial arts scenes.

A third culture kid, she considers Chengdu and Austin to be her homes. When she’s not exploring new countries, she enjoys hiking in national parks, moving, again, teaching her husband Mandarin, and keeping a baby human alive. She can be bribed with boba tea, fluffy puppies, and breakfast tacos. Candace, welcome to the show.

Candace Kade

Thanks for having me, I’m so excited to be here.

CJ Milacci

I am so excited to have you today for two reasons. One, I love Enhanced. It is such a great story. And two, I just love that I get to talk with you since we are friends. So it’s just an extra bonus benefit that it’s getting to interview one of my own friends for this show. So I’m looking forward to our conversation today. Before we dive into it, though, could you just do a little definition of what it means to be a third culture kid for anyone who doesn’t know?

What is a Third Culture Kid?

Candace Kade

Sure, so a third culture kid is someone who has grown up in a culture other than their passport culture. So for example for me, I was born in the US, so I’m technically an American citizen, but at the age of four my family moved to China and that’s where I pretty much grew up until 18. So…Growing up in a culture that is not your passport country for the majority of your developmental years makes you a third culture kid. And it can take on a variety of different forms and factors, but for me, that’s what my experience was as a third culture kid.

CJ Milacci

Thank you so much for explaining and for sharing that. I’m excited to talk about your story Could you just give us a little synopsis of what it’s about without any spoilers because people need to just experience the twists and turns of your book without any spoilers.

Let’s talk about Enhanced

Candace Kade

Absolutely, no spoilers. I love surprising people along the way, so I won’t do that. So it’s a young adult sci-fi novel, first in the hybrid series, and it’s set in the Asian Federation in the year 2123, where everyone has genetic enhancements, at least everyone who can afford them. And so in this world, society is really split sharply between those who have these incredible enhancements, which are sort of like superpowers. Some people can breathe underwater.

Some people have enhanced intelligence or they’re super-sized and have this amazing strength. And then you have those who are born naturally and they live in the outskirts where there’s pollution. The only jobs left are really AI training jobs. There’s a lot of violence and crime and they’re really at a disadvantage at life. And our story follows Lee Urban, who was born naturally but then is adopted into the high society of the enhanced and has to hide her lack of enhancements, which of course gets harder as she enrolls in Pecking University, which is the most prestigious school for the enhanced elite. So there’s a lot of fun hiding and figuring out who she can trust.

There’s mysterious hackers, there’s futuristic motorcycle races, AI games, but ultimately it’s a story about a girl finding herself in a society where really your DNA determines everything.

CJ Milacci

That was such a great description. And everything you were describing just was bringing me back into the story. It’s such an immersive world. You did a great job just bringing me as the reader into this place where people have enhancements and you just start assuming everyone does. It was hard to put the book down and go back to a life with unenhanced people because it was such an absorbing world.

What are the deeper themes in Enhanced?

You already kind of touched on this a little bit, but What is like a deeper theme in this story that you think that got woven in, whether you did it intentionally or you found it later as you were looking back on the book and doing edits and everything?

Candace Kade

Yeah, I would say the deeper themes are really more about home culture and identity. And I think those are really important themes for me personally, having grown up in China. I struggled a lot with that of, you know, I went to a local Chinese school part-time and then I was homeschooled part-time. And so for most of my life growing up in China, I felt like I should belong there. But obviously I didn’t because I don’t look Chinese and people always knew like, oh, she’s a foreigner.

Even though I spoke the local language, you know, I did everything that the locals did But I never quite fit in because I looked different and that was always very challenging And then when I came back to the US for college at 18 It was also very challenging for me because I hadn’t grown up in the US. And so even though I spoke English and my parents did a good job of educating us like, here’s the Pledge of Allegiance — I remember memorizing that in third grade like I’m about to go to public school What’s how do I say the pledge of Allegiance? you know just basic things that like most people take for granted, you know, I had to sit down and learn. And there were just a lot of things that still fell through the gaps. And I just didn’t know. And I felt like I didn’t fit in, in the U S even though this is my passport country, this is technically where I was from, but I hadn’t lived here.

And so I think I wrestled a lot with themes of culture and which culture do I belong to and who am I? Am I Chinese? Am I American? Am I neither? Where do I belong? And so I think this theme of belonging in culture and home are very important themes to me personally. And so they’re themes that you see throughout the Hybrid trilogy, but in Enhanced as well.

CJ Milacci

I was born and raised in America, in the same part of America. So it’s harder to envision. But then I think one of the neat things about story is that now I can enter into Urban’s life and see the world through her eyes and imagine just even for a moment, catch a glimpse of what that must have been like for you living that way, like feeling, wait, do I fit here? How do I fit here? I should fit here, but I don’t feel like I do.

And I think even if you’re not a third culture kid. I’m sure so many can resonate with that theme because we all in our hearts wanna belong somewhere and it’s hard to fit in certain places. And I think we’ve all probably experienced that moment where you walk into the room and you feel like, this is not where I should be right now and I want to fall through the cracks and what do I do with that feeling? So I love that you tackled that because I don’t know that we see it handled all the time in young adult fiction. So I just love how head on you hit that issue, and especially for other third culture kids, I’m sure this is like really resonant for them.

Candace Kade

Yeah, it was such a fun issue to tackle. And I totally agree. Like third culture kids have reached out and said, hey, I really resonate with this. But so have other people. We’ve all been in a place where we’re the new person at a party or the new person on the block and we feel lonely and we feel like, ah, everyone’s in this clique and they all know each other except me. And I’m just here awkwardly eating my nachos. We’ve all been in situations like that.

And so I think we can all to a degree resonate with just this feeling of being an outsider and wanting to belong, but just not getting that acceptance or, or maybe getting that acceptance, but still putting it on ourselves and feeling like, Oh, they’re just faking it or I don’t actually belong. And I just think that feeling of belonging is so important to all of us. And all of us at some time have struggled with that.

CJ Milacci

Yeah, for sure. I can think of multiple times in my own life where I’ve, that’s been me. I’ve been that person with the nachos in the corner feeling like I should not be even in this corner. What am I doing here right now? So it is, and I think it’s because we were created to belong, to fit somewhere. And so it’s in every human being, like that longing for something where I know I have a purpose. I know I fit, I know I belong.

And when we feel like that’s not true, there’s something I think deep within us, in the fabric of our being that feels like it’s something’s off, you know, until we figure out what that actually means and what that actually looks like for us. So it’s a it’s an important theme. I love how you’re tackling it.

Have you found in the writing of the story and the series in general, have you found it to be therapeutic for you at all as you’ve dealt with this scene that’s been such a personal one for you?

Candace Kade

That’s such a funny question that you asked that because I think writing it, I was thinking, Oh, these are like things I struggled with in high school, in college, even a little bit as a young adult. And here’s my lessons learned. Like I want to pass it on to people, you know, not in a preachy way, but here’s some of the things that have helped me.

But it’s funny because, when I had finished the book, I don’t remember what it was that was happening in my life, but I remember as I was editing like getting to a point in the book where, and I don’t wanna spoil things, but some of the things Urban was wrestling with and learning, I was like, this is me again, I’m back here. And so I think that’s the thing too, is like our lives go in different phases and in different stages in our lives. Sometimes we wrestle with different themes.

And so for me, I think I’ve wrestled with a lot of this theme of belonging at an earlier age, but there’s still elements of it that come up. And so, yeah, I think it has been therapeutic. Cause I remember one day thinking, Oh my gosh, these words I wrote a year ago were actually very helpful to me right now. I need to, I need to read these and apply these to my life again.

CJ Milacci

I feel like God can use stories in a therapeutic way as we craft them and as we read them. And I because like I said earlier, I can read, Enhance and experience maybe just a tad bit of what you went through, because it’s a story that I can immerse myself in. So I learned something in a way that maybe us just having a conversation, I couldn’t fully understand all that you experienced, but I can feel Urban’s emotions pulsing through the story, which allows me to experience it deeper.

And then when we write the stories too, I think sometimes we can, I don’t know, sometimes for me I write something down that I didn’t even realize I was thinking or I didn’t, you know, and like you said, later a year later, you’re like, oh, that fits still. I needed to read that. So it’s just crazy how our, how stories can be such an impactful part of our lives on both sides of the page.

Candace Kade

Yeah, absolutely. And stories are different than most forms of media in that, you know, unlike TikTok or Instagram, you’re reading this book, you’re with the main character for many hours. And so you have that chance to go deeper. That’s so much different than most platforms, you really get to dive into those emotions and those themes and wrestle with them in a way that I think most other forms of, I guess, storytelling, you don’t have the opportunity. But in telling and writing books, you really get to go deeper and address those themes. And I love that.

CJ Milacci

Yes, I agree completely.

We’ve talked about this theme of belonging and how you wove that into your story. But when a reader closes the book, because we almost have talked more about how this is a longing in us and we want to belong and that’s an important theme. But when the reader closes the book, is there something about that theme that you want them to take away from the story in a deeper way? Not just, oh, I want to belong to you, but does that come to a conclusion or is there something, whether it’s in this story or in this series, that you’re hoping to convey to the reader?

What determines my worth, where I belong, and my acceptance?

Candace Kade

I would say the first thing is I just want people to feel seen and heard. I think the thing about loneliness or feeling like an outsider is you feel like you’re the only one and you feel like you’re just isolated and alone and so I don’t want people to feel that way. I want people to recognize that there are other people like them and they’re not alone in this journey. So I would say that’s the first thing.

And then the second thing is I think it’s so tempting to equate belonging with what people say about us, so we try so hard, and I’ve struggled with this for much of my life of, you know, trying to gain people’s acceptance by looking like the culture around me. When you jump between cultures a lot, that’s been very much a part of my life is figuring out, okay, how do I look American now? Okay, now how do I look Chinese? How do I look like the people around me? How do I get their acceptance? And that’s hard. But realizing, you know, I don’t need the people around me to have, you know, to accept me for me to accept myself.

I think that’s a hard lesson is sometimes we just feel like, oh, it’s the people around us that determine our worth, that determine whether we belong, that determine our acceptance. And it’s really not, you know, God created everyone in the world and we all have worth and value and purpose because we reflect his image. And so we don’t have to look to other people to find that acceptance.

We already have it.

And so sometimes I think the hardest thing is just accepting ourselves because we already have been accepted. And so I would say that’s the second piece is just, you know, not looking to other people necessarily for that acceptance, but realizing we already have it in the form of a God who created us and therefore we can accept ourselves.

CJ Milacci

I love both parts of what you said, but specifically first the second part. I love the point you brought out that God created each of us and we were made in His image. And I think He gave each of us a part of Himself. He’s a God who is bigger than we can comprehend. And each of us have something specific that we can reflect of His image. And it’s something that only I can reflect or only you can reflect.

And if we are trying to, if I’m trying to be you or you’re trying to be me, then we can’t belong because we’re not actually embracing who God made us to be and reflecting that part of His character that He wants us to reflect. So it does leave us feeling lost because we’re trying to be someone else. And God’s like, no, I have a purpose for you individually.

And I know like for me, I can remember when that truth started to become a bigger part of my life and how it changed my life because I was very much not trying to be in a different culture because that wasn’t my life. But for me, it was trying to be this friend or that friend or have that calling or this calling and almost drum it up within myself rather than just be who God had made me to be. And it always left me feeling at a loss because I can’t be Candace Kade as cool as you are. I have to be me, you know? And so that is something that I think is so vital to learn.

And I love that that’s something that you’re, you know, even if it’s not fully said in the pages, it’s something that you’ve brought out in the story that we can learn in our own lives. Such a powerful truth.

Candace Kade

Yeah, I just agree with that so much. I think so many people spend so much of their time trying to be like someone else, or like what our society idolizes. We wanna be prettier, stronger, faster, smarter, more successful, or like whoever of our friends is like that, or whoever in the media that we admire. But the truth is every single person has so much beauty and strength and just them being uniquely who they are have so much worth. And so I love it when people embrace their own unique calling, their own unique identity and they live that out. It’s just so beautiful and I love to see that.

CJ Milacci

Yes, I love that too. And can you remind me of the first thing you said? Because I had a thought and now I’m forgetting of that belonging package. You had like a first point and then that second point that we just discussed.

Candace Kade

Oh yes, so the first part was just I want people to see, I want them to feel seen and heard and like they’re not just an outsider or lonely on their own.

CJ Milacci

Okay, yes. And I think that is so vital, especially in a culture where everything is kind of social media is such a huge part of it, which we’re not here to discuss the merits or the woes of social media. But I think that can definitely have an impact because we see all these other people and it can be so easy to feel unseen, like, oh, I didn’t get as many likes, or no one cared about this post that I did, or whatever the case may be, and just to feel like I’m the only one who feels this way or like this.

And I think when we realize in stories or when we’re talking to people that, oh, other people feel that way too, it can break down some of those lies in our minds that I’m alone and no one else understands and no one else is like this. And when we start to realize, oh no, this is an actual thing others struggle with, we can start to overcome that because it’s like, well, no, I don’t think that way about them. So maybe it’s not true about me too. Which is I think a really powerful thing for our lives when we can break past that and realize, okay, God made me, I am seen, and I matter to other people around me, even if I don’t feel like it in certain moments.

Candace Kade

Yeah, absolutely.

CJ Milacci

When you sit down to write a story, do you have a theme like this in your mind as you’re writing or do you have a story and then the theme kind of finds you later and you discover that this got woven in?

Candace Kade

That’s a good question. I think it depends on the book. I think for Enhanced, I had always had this, I don’t think I even thought of it in terms of a theme. I think I just always had this sort of feeling of this tension between worlds of West and East and where do I belong, that I knew I wanted to include in a book.

But yeah, I don’t think I ever thought of it, sat down and thought, okay, this is the theme and it’s about belonging. And eventually I did get to a point, you know, in the revisions, the multiple edits, where I’m like, okay, we need to fine tune this a little bit. But I think when I started out, it wasn’t, oh, I have this clear theme that I want to put in the book. I’m definitely more of a, I start with the plot and the world building.

So I knew that I wanted to have a plot that centered around gene editing because it exists today in the form of CRISPR. Obviously we are not that advanced. People cannot breathe underwater yet, unfortunately, or do a lot of these things that are semi-terrifying. But we are getting there. There are some gene editing things that are happening today on the scientific front that are crazy and absolutely insane to look at and so I knew I wanted to write something about that and just what that could look like in our world if people had the ability to get gene edits.

But then I also knew having grown up in China that I always wanted to write something set loosely on Chinese culture. And at the time, I hadn’t seen any sci-fi or fantasy novels set loosely in China. Since then, I have seen some fantasy novels come out, but I hadn’t seen any sci-fi ones. And so as I was thinking about this plot of gene editing, I was living in Beijing at the time and I had put aside my fantasy novel and I wanted to write something new. And that’s really when the idea came to me, you know, what if I made this a sci-fi novel set in Asia, but with these gene editing abilities? Like, what would that look like?

And so for me, it’s definitely, I love world building. I love mind blowing plots. I love plot twists so much. So for me, I usually start there. And then the themes sometimes just kind of seep in naturally. Sometimes I think in the editing, especially, I have to sit down and really polish those themes, but yeah, I’m definitely a plot and real building person first.

CJ Milacci

Yes. I think that’s why the theme flows so beautifully through your story, because it’s not like you’re preaching it, but it’s woven into it. And I know that was through, I’m sure, countless hours of editing and rewrites, but it’s done so well because the world is so real that you feel like this is a real person experiencing these real issues in it. And otherwise, it just feels like a paper world with this, you know, paper doll character who we can’t relate to because it’s not real enough. So you’ve given such a deep world, which makes sense that would be the way you went.

Do you have a favorite character in your story?

Candace Kade

Yeah, I think Coral is probably my favorite character. She, you know, in this world where everyone cares so much about their social score or their soc, and they’re all playing, you know, these games to try and link with other people so they can boost their social and they don’t want to offend anyone. And, you know, they’re all playing these games, but Coral just really isn’t playing the game.

She doesn’t wear the latest trends. In fact, she seems to wear things that people don’t like. She just doesn’t care.

So I really like her a lot. She’s a camo. So she has like chameleon abilities so she can blend in with her surroundings. Um, she’s like on the sort of military spy tracks. So she’s really good at climbing and escaping and hacking into things. So she’s just a really fun character. So probably, I probably really enjoyed coral.

CJ Milacci

Yeah, I loved her too. She’s very, I didn’t know what to do with her at first, but I loved her once I got to know her more. Very cool character.

Are there Easter Eggs in Enhanced?

Are there things that you hide in your stories, which I kind of know the answer to this question anyway, but secrets that only you know or Easter eggs or whatever, things that are hidden within the book or on the cover?

Candace Kade

No, I’m glad that you asked because I love talking about it and I don’t actually think I’ve shared this on a podcast before. So you guys are the very first ones. So this is very exciting. But yeah, there are Easter eggs, both on the cover and then also in the book as well. So on the cover, you’ll notice there are two sets of characters, one on the left hand side or four characters, I should say on the left hand side. And those are actually a Chen Yu or a Chinese saying. And it says Shui Luo Shi Chu, which means as the water begins to recede the rocks begin to show.

And it’s really hinting at Urban’s whole struggle with trying to fit in, but also hiding her identity, hiding her genetics, hiding the fact that she’s a natural and will the truth come to light eventually. So basically one of the themes of the book. And then on the right hand side are the characters wushu, which means martial arts. One because that plays a role in the book and two just because I love martial arts and I’m obsessed and any time I can mention martial arts I will.

Then also inside the book in the chapter headings, you’ll notice there’s two sets of characters.

And at the beginning of the book, most of the book actually, they start with zi wai, which means self and then sort of outsider. So feeling, hinting at like not accepting yourself or feeling like an outsider. And then partially, towards the end, those characters actually changed to zi ai, which means like self love or acceptance, hinting at Urban’s journey throughout the book. And so, yeah, those are some of the big Easter eggs.

There’s also just little things in Mandarin. There’s a lot of pinging in there that if you speak Mandarin, you might pick up on. If not, you probably won’t. But yeah, there’s a little, a few smaller Easter eggs for anyone who’s fluent in Mandarin as well.

CJ Milacci

I didn’t know that about, I knew there were Easter eggs, but I didn’t know the depth of them and through the story. I love the chapter header thing. That’s so cool.

Candace Kade

Yeah, the chapter header is so fun. Most people don’t notice it because the first character stays the same, za. And so they don’t even notice that the last character actually changes at the end of the book, which I thought was really fun.

CJ Milacci

Yes, that’s fantastic. Has anybody caught that? Any of your readers, have they seen it?

Candace Kade

I don’t think anyone has reached out and been like, hey, this is strange. Why does it change at the end? I mean, I have told people and so those people are like, oh, so cool. But I don’t think anyone on their own has noticed it yet. Yeah, we’ll see if someone notices on their own someday.

CJ Milacci

We’ll see. I’m glad you got to add that in. That’s so cool.

Candace Kade

Yeah, I’m super grateful to my publisher because yeah, the initial cover of Enhance, it was just random characters. I think it was like a noodle shop or a wedding shop or something. And so I begged the cover designer, can we please make these, you know, characters significant? And then same for the typesetter. You know, she asked me, she was like, hey, do you want to do anything with these characters? And I was like, hey, actually, can we change it halfway through? And she was super willing to work with me.

I’m very grateful to my publisher for allowing me to work with my cover designer and typesetter to do that.

CJ Milacci

Yes, so cool. Now, as we kind of wrap things up, can you just share a little bit about you? So maybe something quirky or different, unique about yourself that you don’t, not everyone might know from your bio or something fun, fun facts about Candice.

Candace Kade

Yeah, something quirky. I feel like I have so many quirky things about me. Which one? I’ll just rattle off a couple. We’ll see which one’s the most quirky. I enjoy brewing my own kombucha, making my own sourdough bread. I love Spartan races. One time I did two Spartan races back to back within like a week. I frequently still, even now, mispronounce many American words.

My husband probably on a bi-weekly basis has to correct some word that I’ve been saying my whole life. And then he’ll be like, no, that’s not how you say it. And I’m like, what? I’ve been saying it for so long. Are you kidding? No one corrected me. But I think people just either, you know, you feel bad correcting someone or they just think, oh, you know, it’s a one time thing. She just kind of slurred her vowels or whatever. And it’s like, nope, definitely have been mispronouncing it. I realize I say “kinner-garten”. I’ve been saying it wrong. Like my whole life, it’s kindergarten. My husband was like, no, it’s not kindergarten. There’s a D in there, it’s kindergarten. I was like, oh, okay. I mean, I know how to spell it. I don’t, yeah, pronunciation. I still, yeah. So there we go.

CJ Milacci

Those are so fun. I had no idea you brewed your own kombucha. That’s so cool. I love kombucha. I’ve never even considered making it myself. How fun.

Candace Kade

It’s really fun except when you have a snowpocalypse like we did in Texas, I think it was two years ago. And then you’re supposed to keep the kombucha at like a general temperature. And of course our house was freezing. And so after like two weeks later, when we finally had power again, I, thankfully, I thought to open the kombucha outside because it just exploded. I never found the cap.

CJ Milacci

Oh no.

Candace Kade

It like went flying… I don’t know where it went flying. The whole thing was just fizz. Like by the time it was done, there was nothing left. It was all fizz, it all went away. So all of them exploded. It was great. So if you do decide to brew kombucha, make sure that you’re not gonna have a snowpocalypse and that your house will always be the same temperature. And just to be safe, maybe always open them outside to make sure they didn’t over-ferment and they’re not gonna explode.

CJ Milacci

Oh my goodness, these are fun facts and tips for anyone who is considering brewing kombucha. I love it. Oh, wow, that’s fantastic.

Where can readers find Candace Kade?

CJ Milacci

And can you just let everyone know where they can find you online or social media?

Candace Kade

Sure. So you can go to my website, CandaceKade.com. That’s C-A-N-D-A-C-E. And Kade is spelled K-A-D-E. You can get book one anywhere on Amazon, anywhere books are sold. And then book two is currently available for preorder. So yeah, you can go to my website and you can get those. You can sign up for my newsletter. I’m also active on Instagram @CandaceCadeAuthor.

CJ Milacci

Wonderful, and I will put all of those links in the show notes so people can grab them nice and easy and go read this fantastic book. I think you guys will all really enjoy it.

Thank you, Candace, so much for coming on Read Clean YA with CJ. I loved having you. I loved getting to have this conversation.

Candace Kade

Thank you, I had so much fun as well. Thanks for having me.

Wrapping things Up

I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Candace Kade. Candace is a great friend and a wonderful author, and if you’re looking for an exciting Sci-Fi read with an awesome story world, incredible tech, and some very cool Hunger Games type vibes, then Enhanced is for you.

There are epic twists and turns, high-stakes, and mysteries to be unravelled in this story, and book two, Hybrid is also available for pre-order now

Note for Sensitive Readers

I do want to give a quick content warning for sensitive readers. As I just mentioned, Enhanced has high, life and death stakes, as well as a sweet romance. The violence isn’t graphic, but there are some scary scenes and very bad bad guys that are worth notice if you or a younger friend or family member might be a little more sensitive to these things. And, to coin a phrase from Princess Bride, this is a kissing book. Nothing excessive, but as I mentioned there is a romance in the story, so if you’re not quite ready for that, it’s something to be aware of.

Don’t Forget The October Goodies Giveaway!

Candace Kade has also graciously agreed to include an early ebook Advanced Reader Copy of Hybrid, book two in the series, in this month’s giveaway, so don’t forget to check out the October Giveaway for Read Clean YA with CJ and find her book along with some other great Young Adult books.

You can find the episode show notes at readcleanya.com.

Coming Next Week

Next week I’ll be talking with YA author Jamie Foley, author of Emberhawk. If you’re a lover of fantasy stories, then you’re going to enjoy this interview and love the book. And even if fantasy isn’t always your thing, you’ll love hearing from Jamie. She’s humble, sweet, and a lot of fun. Don’t forget to tune in.

Thank you so much for listening to Read Clean YA with CJ. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend so they can discover exciting, clean young adult books too.