Brian Zepka is an award-winning author and environmental scientist born and raised outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His debut young adult novel, The Temperature of Me and You, was a Brazilian bestseller and honored as the best translated young adult stand-alone novel of 2022 at the Tres Cantos International Festival of Children’s and Youth Literature. His second young adult novel, Within These County Lines, will be released in February 2026.
“Within These County Lines” shifts away from the romantic-sci-fi vibe of your debut and introduces a more magical, small-town coming-of-age tale. What inspired this tonal and thematic shift for your second novel?
I’ve always been fascinated by the emotional weight of small towns, especially in Pennsylvania, where I grew up. There’s something deeply personal about places where the simple arrival of a new store or a stoplight becomes major news. Small things seem big, which makes big things, like moving or coming out, seem monumental. In these towns, people are tightly rooted. Everyone knows each other or at least feels like they do. So, leaving doesn’t feel like just a move to the next city over; it feels like a betrayal. I remember once touring an apartment, and the leasing agent proudly told me she’d never crossed the state line. That stuck with me too when I was writing this book. It said so much about place and identity.
For queer people, especially, there’s often a push and pull with their hometowns. We grow up wanting to escape the place that didn’t feel safe or accepting, but we also carry the emotional connections of the people and places that shaped us. Within These County Lines grew out of that tension. I wanted to explore the idea of what it means to leave, and whether healing, or even belonging, is still possible in the places we thought we’d outgrown. Shifting from romantic sci-fi to something more magical and introspective felt like the right way to tell that story.
The premise involves a curse – erasing names carved in a tree, invisibility, and a mysterious boy only the protagonist can see. What draws you to mixing queer romance with supernatural or speculative-fiction elements, and what do those elements allow you to explore differently than “normal” romance?
Honestly, I just think it’s fun! I love how speculative fiction can turn emotion into something visual, cinematic, and high stakes. But beyond the fun, I think queer teens often experience emotions on a heightened level because of societal pressure, internalized shame, or the fear of not being accepted. So, adding supernatural elements allows me to reflect that emotional intensity in a way that feels both entertaining and true.
In The Temperature of Me and You, the boys’ fiery powers were a metaphor for the rush and anxiety of falling in love for the first time. It can feel overwhelming, even dangerous. In Within These County Lines, Stetson’s impending invisibility represents how he might feel worthless if he stays in his hometown. The mysterious boy only Stetson can see reflects his own reluctance to see new love or hope again, even when it’s standing right in front of him!
How has your background in public health and environmental science influenced your storytelling – especially in “Within These County Lines,” which deals with identity, invisibility, and connection to home/town?
My background in public health and environmental science helped shape a big part of this book! Stetson works as a pool inspector for the county health department and that’s a job I actually had during college. I spent a whole summer driving around to pools tucked away in the middle of nowhere behind churches, in old schools, and down winding rural roads. Each spot had its own vibe, its own stories, and its own quirky little community. It really left an impression. That job gave me a window into how layered and personal small towns can be, and it felt like the perfect way to connect Stetson to his hometown on a deeper level. It also helped reinforce the idea that there’s always more going on under the surface, whether that’s in a place or in a person.
Many readers loved the emotional intensity and vulnerability in your debut’s romance. With “Within These County Lines,” what emotional journey do you hope to take your readers on? Are there new themes – like grief, loss, belonging – that you’re especially interested in exploring?
I really wanted to do something different from The Temperature of Me and You, which focused on the excitement and intensity of falling in love for the first time. Within These County Lines shifts into what happens after that. What does it feel like to go through your first real heartbreak? We see so many stories that end at the moment love begins. But in real life, especially for queer teens, love can feel very fragile or rare. So when it ends, it can hit especially hard. Like maybe that was your only shot and you should feel lucky you got to experience it once.
This book is about that pain and learning how to let go. But it’s also about the hope that comes after. It explores how grief and loss can actually make room for new kinds of belonging, friendships, truths, and love. I wanted readers to know that heartbreak isn’t the end of the story, even when it feels like it. Sometimes it’s the beginning of something even better. There can be second chances, and a better love story out there.
As you prepare to release your second book, what have you learned as a writer since working on your debut? Has your writing process or approach to character-building changed, and how do you hope that growth shows up in this new story?
I’ve definitely learned to be more patient and intentional with my writing. When I was working on my debut, I was so focused on finishing everything. Finishing a scene. Finishing a chapter. Finishing the book. Just so I could move on to feedback or the next project. Finishing things felt like the only way I was being productive. But I think I was rushing the process, caught up in the excitement of just getting a book out into the world. Now that I’ve been through the full publishing cycle, I’ve realized that checking boxes doesn’t make anything happen faster, and there are other ways to be productive.
This time around, I really gave myself space to slow down. I treated Within These County Lines more like a close reading assignment. I analyzed it chapter by chapter, sentence by sentence. I felt productive just sitting with the story. It was a more holistic approach, and I think it helped me connect with the characters and their emotional arcs on a deeper level. I also think my prose has grown because of that close attention to detail. Hopefully readers can feel that growth in the final pages too! insert nervous sweating emoji
INTERVIEW: YA SH3LF