I enjoy
books where people actually eat.
One of the
things I’m giving thanks for right now is Chimes of Midnight, Seanan McGuire’s
latest October Daye book. I bought it at Windycon, a few weeks ago, but I had a
few library books to finish, so I only started reading it last night.
It’s a great
book, of course. Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors, But one thing I
really appreciate about her is the fact that, as busy as the heroes get, they
manage to get something to eat. Burritos and sandwiches so far, but at least
Toby Daye and her friends actually pause to have a meal from time to time.
It happens
in books and movies and on TV all the time: The hero sits down to breakfast, or
lunch, or dinner, takes one bite, and then the phone rings and he/she is off to
deal with some emergency. Anytime someone (usually Mom, right?) makes a big
breakfast with eggs and bacon and sausage and pancakes and even scones, the
hero—whether it’s a cop or a high school kid—grabs a piece of toast, muttering
“Sorry, no time for breakfast, gotta run,” and leaves.
Really, he
or she should should get hit by a metal frying pan on the way out of the
kitchen.
I’m not
saying I’ve never wasted any food at any time I my life. But I always make sure
my fictional characters eat.
*****
In other
news, I’m working on a new novel, which some of you have read a chapter of. It
features a demon-fighting ex-cop named Leo Burden, who’s sort of based on the
mafia vigilantes I used to read about in high school.
(Some days I
think I’m doing nothing but recycling my ideas from my reading in the 1970s.)
I need to be
writing something all the time. I’m waiting to hear about A Bar Called
Revelations (my other urban fantasy novel) that I’ve got out at a publisher—which
reminds me, I need to send them another e-mail reminding them about my query
from June. But I don’t want to start a sequel to that book until I know something
definite about this one. I’ve done that before, and I’ve decided it’s better to
go on to something completely different while I’m waiting. Having a story to
work on is just generally conducive to my mental health, so I’m happy to have
something going.
I did a
thing where I broke the full document of Revelations into two documents,
because at 600+ pages, Microsoft Word apparently can’t handle a complete spellcheck,
and I keep finding typos. Some of them are mistakes that Word wouldn’t find
anyway (“hair red” for “red hair”), so I need to go through it again.
So my
challenge for the rest of the year is balancing those two out, at least until
I’ve done a semi-thorough edit on Revelations again.
My other
challenge is keeping up with this blog more consistently. And posting a new
Prodigal Prince chapter at least once a week, or more often. So look! Over there!
It’s a new chapter! Enjoy!