PARMA, Ohio — New York Times bestselling crime writer S.A. Cosby’s idea of coming out of his comfort zone involved changing genres.
The move proved successful when, three years ago, the Virginia resident teamed up with six-time Grammy Award-winning musician, Academy Award-winning filmmaker and bestselling author Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for the middle-grade science fiction “Rhythm of Time” trilogy.
“Quest’s people reached out to my agent years ago,” said Cosby, calling from his Virginia home.
“He was interested in writing a fiction book, something for kids.
“So I went up to New York. He liked to call it an adult play date. We hung out at ‘The Tonight Show’ in the dressing room and talked.
“I’ve always been a fan of his music, but this was something new for me, to work with him one on one. He’s just an amazing guy, like a Renaissance man — so intelligent, so creative.”
The pair eventually landed on a time-traveling adventure book that ended up being 2023’s “The Rhythm of Time.”
This leads us to the recently released second book in the series, “Time for a Change,” which finds best friends Rahim and Kasia further averting disaster while safeguarding the flow of history.
As the exciting characters pinball through time, they must navigate a treacherous path, exploring the world of multiverses.
“With the multiverses, it was really fun to just kind of let our imagination go crazy,” Cosby said.
“In the book, there’s a multiverse where everybody has a superpower, there’s a multiverse where everyone’s a primary color — red, blue or green.
“There are all these different worlds. We didn’t feel constrained by anything. We were making the rules up as we go, so that kind of created a spark of creativity.”
The Sari Feldman Auditorium at the Parma-Snow LibraryJohn Benson/cleveland.com
Promoting “Time for a Change,” Cosby is set to visit Greater Cleveland with a Feb. 18 appearance at the Cuyahoga County Public Library Parma-Snow branch’s Sari Feldman Auditorium.
The author said they’re already looking ahead to the final book. And there’s a distinct possibility that the intellectual property could become an animated or live-action series.
Despite being an award-winning and very successful author, Cosby noted that the entire “Rhythm of Time” experience was equally eye-opening and emboldening.
“When you get to a certain level as a crime writer, there are certain things you feel like you lean on,” he said.
“My books are very dark and very violent. I was able to sort of prove to myself that I don’t need those things to tell a story.
“So it’s been fun to sort of stretch these different muscles and prove to myself I’m a storyteller, regardless of the genre.”
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