PH Pierce Brown's new Sons of Ares comic book is out now

Who is Pierce Brown's favourite character and who does he regret killing? What does he have planned for Darrow and his friends in the new Irongold trilogy? Which famous actors does he want to see cast in the upcoming film and how does Ryan Reynolds fit in? How important are his beloved Howler fans to the writing process and how will the huge support from the gay, lesbian and transgender community be reflected in the next trilogy? So many questions and so little time with the blue-eyed Golden boy of YA fiction...

EX Pierce with his better looking friend (and Express Online Arts Editor)

Pierce Brown has rapidly become one of the most popular authors on the planet with his new book, Morningstar, bowing in at No1 on The New York Time Bestseller list.

Fans really do affect the story and make the next book better which is why there are more gay characters Pierce Brown

The Red Rising trilogy also made him the most popular Sci fi author on the mighty Goodreads site and my favourite author of the past few years. I really, really wanted to like him. From writing the first book over his parents' garage where he fully "expected failure" to relocating to Los Angeles to work on the film scripts AND develp new TV shows, it has been a meteoric rise. With the new comic preques: Red Rising: Sons of Ares debuting this month, it's time to look ahead to Irongold and the exciting Red Rising film plans.

PH Where the magic happens...

PH The ladies love our Pierce...

During his last UK visit, fans queued for book signings across the country and bloggers and invited guests had flown in from across Europe and were upstairs eagerly awaiting a special evening with their hero after our interview. I already knew that he was cute and a little goofy from his Facebook posts but the giddy staffers who welcomed me on my arrival at Hodder Publishing in London made it very clear that his appeal would be hard to resist. I didn't stand a chance. Intensely charming, witty, self-depracating and apparently unspoiled by his meteoric rise he had me at "bloodydamn." The devoted fans, or Howlers, stay constantly connected online with their author, post fan art of the characters and even have tattoos of the House emblems from the books. It's something that authors didn't have to face before social media and I ask Pierce if his writing is affected by the fans, themselves.

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'Hugely," he says. "People are so engaged and that is a compliment. If you're not influenced, then you are lying. "I was able to see which punches connected with the readers. It can teach you to be a better writer. I could see readers' perspectives of Darrow evolve and was able to mould him to evolve with that. "I also don't want to take away from the reader's imagination. I don't talk too much about how most of my characters look, I want them to have a tonal quality where the reader creates the image for themselves."

PH Pierce Brown Sons of Ares comic book is out now

Many readers, muyself included, would have felt quite satisfied with the resounding wallop of Morningstar's epic finale, so the news that another trilogy is on the way is almost a (very welcome) surprise. Even to the author, himself. "The next trilogy is going to be called Irongold and takes place ten years after Morningstar," Pierce tells me. "I didn't think I would write more but I stared seeing so many plots, particularly with the Ash Lord and the chaos that happens when an empire falls. "The main theme of the next series will be, "What is better, rule and order or chaos and freedom? But this time there will be multiple points of view, not just Darrow's. I want to expand the universe and also see how others perceive Darrow."

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This expansion also incldes the inclusion of more sexually diverse and fluid characters. Again, some of this has been influenced by the readers themselves. "Several of the main characters in the next one will be gay," Pierce reveals. "Darrow's heteronormative outlook has been changing after leaving the mines. He began embracing sexual fluidity and gay characters like Tactus. Orion will be such a fun character to work with in the next books. "One of my favourite things about this tour has been seeing how popular these books have been with the lesbian, gay and transgender community. It's amazing that they have found a home in these books. One reader almost made me cry. He's transgender and identifies as male and he told me that he found a home in Sevro and feels like Sevro was the friend he never had. "All these lost souls in my books have connected with people and I find it incredibly moving." WARNING: MAJOR MORNINGSTAR SPOILERS AHEAD

PH Every hero needs a sidekick

Dear old Sevro is the character that Pierce wold most like to hang out with "as long as it wasn't in my own house," but even he has a very close shave in Morningstar. Pierce has merrily bumped off some of our favourite characters in the books and, while he says that he doesn't regret any of his choices, there is one death that he still wishes hadn't happened. "Pax's death was capricious and bothered me," he admits. "I needed the Jackal to demonstrate his nature in Book 1 so I put all the names in the hat except Darrow and Mustang. When I pulled out Pax's name I stood there thinking, 'I could just put it back in, no-one would ever know.' "I had a huge story arc planned with Darrow being with the Telemanuses against the Bellanos and that changed everything. But it was better, ultimately, that Darrow didn't have that shelter to hide behind."

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I have to know who are Pierce's favourite characters to write and I'm a little surprised by the answer. "Victra," he says without hesitation. "And the Jackal because he's that little dark part of me that is lonely, the jealous part. He just always wants what he can't have. "Victra is dark and broken, too, but she finds her way back." I tell Pierce that one my favourite moments was Mustang's final mercy towards her brother, that it unexpectedly made me cry. "Me too," he says. "Some readers have been very vocal that they didn't think that he deserved any mercy, but I always felt he was as much a victim of his own life, and even if redemption was not possible, someone showed him love at the very end."

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I admit that I was happy about the rebuilding of bridges (sort of) with Cassius and that his informal adoption of Lysander felt like the closing of a circle that started with the awful death of his brother, Julian. Pierce, however, reveals that Cassius almost bit the dust as well. "Cassius' taking care of Lysander also gave me a reason to save him," he says. "Darrow would have killed him otherwise. Ultimately, he didn't kill him because he felt guilty. Which plays into the next series…" Speaking of the future, I want to know what's happening with the film adaptation of Red Rising which was bought by Universal in a seven-figure deal and will be directed by Marc Foster and produced by Joe Roth. "I have written the first two drafts of the film and now we're on the third. Hopefully it will be greenlit this year. The vision from the film makers ins 'Lawrence of Arabia in space,' which is terribly exciting for me as it's my favourite film." I point out that it's not that usual for writers to stay so closely involved with film adaptations but it seems Pierce may have picked up some tricks from his own characters. "I've built friendships with everyone involved which is keeping me closely involved with the project, too," he smiles. How very Jackal of him…

PH Who's a pretty boy, then?