Goodreads asked Austin Aslan:

Who is your favorite fictional couple, and why?

Austin Aslan This question really tripped me up! I had to seriously think about it. And the more I did, the more frustrated I became that so few candidates were coming to mind. I think the problem is that fiction demands so much tension between couples that they become hard to relate to as a real person. Their flaws eventually interfere with the "Happily Ever After" dream, and sour my affection for them (think Han and Leia).

I would LOVE to see more couples like myself and my wife in fiction; stalwart supporters of each other who have figured out how to communicate and talk through their differences, thereby avoiding further drama, misunderstanding, and disaster. Couples that would never think of betraying each other, who, while quirky and individual, march in lock step on the important things. But how freaking BORING is that?

The couples that have come to mind since I started considering this question are not traditional couples. R2-D2 and C-3PO, Indiana Jones and his father, Frodo and Sam, a brother and sister pair from an unpublished novel of mine. The closest I can get to a traditional couple are Mulder and Scully and maybe Rick and Evelyn (from The Mummy). I'm also a huge fan of the relationship between Katsa and Po from "Graceling."

I think this interestingly points to why I chose to write ISLANDS AT THE END OF THE WORLD as a daughter-father adventure with only a hint of outside romance. Lei and Mike as a "couple", per se, embodies how I like to think of real world love: strained and tested during moments of adversity and outside tension, but the strength of their bond is never really under suspense.

Thanks for bringing this thought-provoking topic up!

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