In case you’ve been wondering what we’ve been up to lately Maureen Johnson has kindly provided a report. I can neither confirm nor deny any of its contents. Except to say that Maureen is way more famous than I am. And, um, no, Magic’s Child is not entirely finished yet. But it’s close. So very, very close. (Update: if you want to comment on Maureen’s post do it here. We’re going to shame her into turning the comments on.)
Turns out me and Scott are going to WorldCon in Ananheim on account of he won a prize and his publishers are flying him down. Cool, eh?
Since starting Magic’s Child a year ago (aarggh!) I have now written the beginnings of (and notes on) eight other novels. Which one should I write next?
- The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel (update: will include most, but possibly not all of these things.)
- The compulsive liar book (update: yes the liar is the narrator)
- The beginnings of cricket historical romance
- The baby killing ghost novel (update: the ghost does not kill babies nor do babies kill ghosts)
- The plastic surgery running away from Hollywood novel
- Werewolf snowboarding epic
- Northern Territory multi-family multi-racial lots of killing epic
- Kid who grows up in a Vintage Clothes Shop which her mum runs who can pick the best buys at fifty paces (much more interesting than this description makes it sound—honest!)
Let me know which one you reckon I should write next in the comments. (At a future date when MC is truly done I will figure out how to make a proper poll with ticky boxes and stuff. All you ljers have given me a major case of ticky box envy.)
Oh, and I’d be curious to hear reasons for your choices.
I’m hoping to be able to resume normal blogging, as well as actually responding to comments and emails in the next week or so. Really, really hoping . . .
cricket mangosteen fairy ya of course; though if i can have a second vote it’s definitely the werewolf snowboarding epic!
Ooh! Ooh!
“The baby killing ghost novel”
But I bet you knew I was going to say that …
“The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel”
I like all of those words you put in a row there, especially “monkey.”
hey! anaheim is a hop skip and a jump away from L.A. will I get to meet you?
also my vote is
“The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel”
Either “The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel” or the Compulsive Liar book, because I used to know a compulsive liar and their lies can get ridiculous. And ridiculousness makes a funny book and I luuuuuurve funny things. So they are both a tie. SO MUCH POTENTIAL.
The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel, definitely. Since you’ve been alluding to that one for ages now, and I want to read it, dammit.
And a clear ‘no’ on the baby killing ghosts. Or does the baby kill the ghosts? because ghosts killing babies is just evil, dontchaknow. i bet it would get you great ranting coverage in Salon, though.
The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel, because I love monkey knife fights and Elvis and mangosteens and ladies and ESPECIALLY AUSTRALIANS.
Though I am just so-so on fairies and cricket.
Or the vintage clothes one, because it sounds like she’d be quirky and funny, and I love quirky-funny-girl stories.
*insert ticky box here* The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel. Clearly.
The obvious solution to choosing between the other books is to mash them together in an unholy slurry. Who wouldn’t want to read about a baby-killing, facelifted compulsive liar? Just because she’s a ghost doesn’t mean Hollywood isn’t out to get her . . . so she goes on the lam with her boyfriend, the werewolf. He invented cricket hundreds of years ago but has since branched out into snowboarding. He is, understandably, less than impressed at getting dragged to the notably snowless Northern Territory, but he soon has bigger concerns: a multi-family, multi-racial killing spree. And it’s heading straight for the vintage clothing shop that’s their only refuge . . .
A chilling tour de force. Five stars!
By which I mean, hi, I’ll be over here now. *hides*
OK, well, now YOU have to win a prize so your publisher sends you to WFC! *pleads*
Guess i’ll buck the trend and go for the werewolf snowboarding epic…I mean, come on, the film potential alone makes it worth it!
P.S. No fair, Maureen has no commenting on her blog! Where’s the fun in that?
Have fun at Worldcon!
I’m going to be a rebel as well and vote for the compulsive liar book, but only if the compulsive liar is also the narrator. Because imagine what you could do with that! By the way, when you say cricket, are you referring to (it only now occurs to me) the sport? I’ve been picturing a knife-wielding cricket with a white jumpsuit and Elvis pompadour.
Thanks for all the opinions!
The compulsive liar is, in fact, the narrator. And the ghost does not kill the babies. Of course, I’m referring to cricket the sport. Bloody Americans! Also, Innle, you made me giggle.
I wish Maureen’s blog had comments, too. You could comment here and thus we could shame her into activating comments . . .
“The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel”
because I’ve been hearing about it forever, and I want to finally hear more about mangosteens, Australia, and cricket. And the fairies are a big plus too.
Although, I also like werewolves….
Are babies killing ghosts, or are ghosts killing babies? Or are ghost babies killing living babies who appear to be poltergeists but really are changelings from the Underworld?
Go with the vintage. Natch.
Maureen’s post is hilarious. Westeralestiers is the buzzword.
what if some one steals these ideas? I am not joking.
elvis mangosteen fairy, dewd, and you KNOW it.
why? because that’s really the only one you’ve been talking about on this blog, and that with much desire and longing and in-love-sounding noises.
plus, i got to hear you read a preview of it in san francisco and i’m ready to read the thing already.
I vote for the great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel – as long as it’s a serious treatment…
as an aside – any comment on the whole Pakistan-Hair fiasco?
I’m going to go with the gasfmk-fcemf novel, because fairy tales rule, whatever format they take. But I’d also love to see the vintage-clothing story, because hey, what an awesome talent.
Another vote for “The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel”, because i can’t wait to see how it all comes together. (unless there’s a way to combine vintage clothing store with werewolf snowboarding–in which case i might vote for that as even more mind-bendingly combinatory.)
Umm…I’d vote for either the compulsive liar book or The great Australian feminist monkey knife-fighting cricket Elvis mangosteen fairy novel…but if it was between both of them I’d probaly pick…compulsive liar book for i am unfortantly one…HAHA HAHA HAHA:)
John H: Do not get me started or I’ll froth at the mouth. Hair has to be sacked immediately. He’s a disgrace. Almost as big a disgrace as the obnoxious New York Times article about the incident. Gah!
Redknight: No, I’m not worried. See my full answer here.
Feminist mangosteens, always.
I am agnostic on the whole voting thing. As in, I believe that these possibilities exist but refuse to tie myself down. Just to be tricky.
And I have an important message for Maureen: SHAME! Shame, shame, shame. She’s too funny to not let us comment. Plus she sounds like she has some great dirt on the westerestiers. That could come in handy, you know.
On the Hair issue, I admit I haven’t followed cricket enough to know Hair from a hole in the ground.
I think it was a bit silly of him to stand by his forfeiture ruling if both teams are willing to continue playing. But then again, he did warn the Pakistanis that they would forfeit if they didn’t return to the pitch. They should have come out and finished the match and filed a protest later. By refusing to continue they made a mountain out of a molehill…
All i’ll say is… picture Samuel L. Jackson saying, “i’m sick of these motherfucking werewolves on their motherfucking snowboards.”
Snowboarding werewolves… how could it *not* be brilliant.
If the babies don’t kill ghosts and the ghosts don’t kill babies, then what is it REALLY about? Hmmm? Mangosteens killing pomegranates? Hmmm?
Little Willow: If I told you the answer to that question it would be too massive a spoiler. You’ll just have to wait.
😉 I was just being silly.
We had dramatic storytelling yesterday at lunch. It consisted of me reading portions of blogs (namely, yours, Scott’s and Maureen’s) to my coworker Claire.
cricket historical romance.
hot.
Surely you could get all those topics in one book!:) I’m in large trouble with the students at my school. I’ve been promoting books that will arrive soon in the library, and of course they’re dying to read the Magic or Madness trilogy. How cruel of me to put the covers of books that are not-yet-arrived new releases on computer desktops! I’m just going to have to break down and go to the book store…when’s payday?:)
Going out on a limb to vote for the vintage clothing girl as I spent all of Saturday and a good bit of Friday shopping and it was so dreadful I like the idea of someone with a good relationship to clothes!
(All dreadful but for the shoe-shopping part, I should say. That was only dreadful because I didn’t have $200 to spend on the cutest pair of shoes in the entire universe.)
cricket historical romance.
it is hot.