A letter to the Great Pumpkin.: seanan

A letter to the Great Pumpkin.

Dear Great Pumpkin;

It has been some time since I last wrote to you, but you have never been far from my thoughts. I just thought you might like me to do my own planting for a change. Since our last correspondence, I have not started any political movements or debunked any major scientific theories for my own amusement. I have loved my friends and looked upon my enemies with tolerant disdain, as opposed to reaching for the machete. I have shared my cookies. I have not brought about the end of all mankind, nor lured the unwary into the cornfield. I have continued to make all my deadlines, even the ones I most wanted to avoid. I have not talked about parasites at the dinner table. Much. So obviously, I have been quite well-behaved, especially considering my nature.

Today, Great Pumpkin, I am asking for the following gifts:

* A smooth and successful release for Deadline, with books shipping when they're meant to ship, stores putting them out when they're supposed to put them out, and reviews that are accurate, insightful, and capable of steering people who will enjoy my book to read it, while warning those who will not enjoy my book gently away. Please, Great Pumpkin, show mercy on your loving Pumpkin Princess of the West, and let it all be wonderful. I'm not asking you to make it easy, Great Pumpkin, but I'm asking you to make it good.

* Please let me finish the current draft of Blackout on time and without anything exploding when it's not supposed to, drawing this trilogy to a satisfying conclusion. I've never finished a series before, Great Pumpkin, and I admit, I'm nervous. I want to do this world, and these characters, justice; I want to make the people who've been with me since Feed was a crazy idea called Newsflesh proud. I know it can be done, and that I have the skills necessary for the task. All I ask is that you help me do it.

* And when that is done, o Prince of Patches, I ask that you help me to find my way back into the depths of Ashes of Honor without that changing-genres stumble; let Toby and her world open their arms and welcome me home, that I might transcribe the story that is already making my fingertips ache. There is so much that I want to do in this book, and only so many pages for me to do it in. Please help me find my way, and help me tell this story. It needs telling.

* I thank you once again for my cats, Great Pumpkin, who are everything I could ever ask for in feline companions. Alice is huge, puffy, and utterly without dignity. Lilly is sleek, smug, and satisfied with herself. Thomas is playful, expanding rapidly, and too smart for his own good. I have never been happier with the cats who share my life than I am with this trio, who delight me in all ways. Please, Great Pumpkin, keep them healthy, keep them happy, and keep them exactly as they are.

* I haven't said anything up to now about what I really want this year, Great Pumpkin, but...you know I've been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. You know, because you know everything. You know that if I win, I'll be given a rocket ship in Reno, with my Amy and my Vixy in attendance. Neither of them could be there in Australia, and it would mean the world to all of us if they could be there to see this happen. Please shine your holy candle upon the Hugo, Great Pumpkin, and, if you see fit, I will thank you in any speeches I have to give (you know I'm good for it, I did it last time).

I remain your faithful Halloween girl,
Seanan.

PS: While you're at it, can you please turn your graces on Harvest? I sort of really want to tell this story. It centers on Halloween, you're going to love it.

sirriamnis

April 26 2011, 16:33:09 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

Congratulations on the Hugo nomination. You deserve it.

seanan_mcguire

April 26 2011, 16:55:06 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks.

firynze

April 26 2011, 16:58:10 UTC 6 years ago

"reviews that are accurate, insightful, and capable of steering people who will enjoy my book to read it, while warning those who will not enjoy my book gently away"

This is the best wish for reviews I've ever seen, and I'm going to adopt it, if you don't mind!

April 27 2011, 00:29:36 UTC 6 years ago

Absolutely, go right ahead!

reedrover

April 26 2011, 17:14:54 UTC 6 years ago

I have not talked about parasites at the dinner table. Much.

See? See? It's not just my family that engages in high science and low humor at the dinner table!

bercilakslady

April 26 2011, 20:13:13 UTC 6 years ago

I thought everyone did that.

alicetheowl

6 years ago

tsgeisel

April 26 2011, 17:37:10 UTC 6 years ago

My dearest Pumpkin Princess:

If you keep giving me something to work with, I'll do my best to produce a bountiful harvest of reward for you. I couldn't have put you on the NY Times Bestseller list without something worthy of being there, you know. Keep up the good work.

Love and candy corn,

The Great Pumpkin

April 27 2011, 00:29:58 UTC 6 years ago

Hee.

slothman

April 26 2011, 17:57:46 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations on the Hugo nomination! And on refraining from discussing parasites at the dinner table;

obsessivewoman has been trying to train me out of that kind of thing for many years. (Apparently I’m not even supposed to talk about such topics even if someone else brings them up. I thought it would be rude not to keep up the conversation...)

My vet informs me that brushing kitty teeth every night has paid off in the cats’ continued good health; they’re 11 years old and still going strong. Cleo and Yeti grumble a bit about having their teeth attacked with a bristle-covered rubber thimble, but then they sit there licking their chops and apparently thinking “mmm... poultry flavor toothpaste...”

Keeping the kitty tubes in the same drawer with the human toothpaste can lead to near-mishaps when sleepy. Closest I ever got was having the Petromalt ready to squirt onto my toothbrush when my brain woke up enough to note “hey, that’s the wrong color...”

April 27 2011, 00:30:24 UTC 6 years ago

I should probably brush everyone's teeth. But those teeth are so very, very sharp...

catnip13

April 26 2011, 18:17:28 UTC 6 years ago

I want to make the people who've been with me since Feed was a crazy idea called Newsflesh proud.
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one to think "we already are."

April 27 2011, 00:31:30 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you.

mrs_norris_mous

April 26 2011, 19:06:45 UTC 6 years ago

So be it...

So I was discussing the fact that Feed had been nominated for a Hugo with my walking partner ( Who I had given a copy too as I got two for my birthday ). And he mentioned that Seanan McGuire had also got nominated, I pointed out that you also contributed to Chicks dig Time Lords. Anyway after much confusion I discovered that he didn't know you where one and the same, so to cut a long story short his even more impressed with your writing abilities in multiple genre.

So there is a bid for a London Worldcon in 2014 which means it makes sense to buy a supporting membership of Chicon 7 which begs the question which of our Toby books will be eligible for the Worldcon in 2012 ?

April 27 2011, 00:33:33 UTC 6 years ago

Anything published in 2011 will be eligible for 2012. So Late Eclipses and One Salt Sea.

biomekanic

April 26 2011, 19:15:20 UTC 6 years ago

I will plea on your behalf for an addendum to #1: that the bookstores put them out cover flap first and not spine first.

April 27 2011, 00:33:43 UTC 6 years ago

Good call!

File Under

jenjen4280

April 26 2011, 19:30:35 UTC 6 years ago

Hmm...not sure if this post should get an "Amen" or a "Hallelujah." I'll go with both:

Amen, sistah! And Hallelujah.

Is the Great Pumpkin at all related to Jack, the Pumpkin King of Oz? Maybe brothers or at least distant cousins?

April 27 2011, 00:33:55 UTC 6 years ago

Possibly!

vincentursus

April 27 2011, 00:12:13 UTC 6 years ago

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I dig your theology.

April 27 2011, 00:34:04 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks. :)

seticat

April 27 2011, 00:28:47 UTC 6 years ago

The Gourd's Prayer

Our Pumpking, who art in His Patch, hollowed by thine head.
On Samhain come, thy will be done on Earth, as it is Halloween.
Give us this day our tasty treats, and forgive us our insincerity
as we forgive those without costumes.
And lead us to the best temptations while delivering us from banality.
Your vine is the root of The Creepy and The Spooky, forever and ever.
Samhain

[quoted from 'The Word of the Gourd']

April 27 2011, 00:34:28 UTC 6 years ago

I love you so hard right now.

deire

April 27 2011, 02:11:06 UTC 6 years ago

I adore you. I'm going to have to go light orange candles now.

April 27 2011, 02:32:53 UTC 6 years ago

Yay!

phoenixrave

April 27 2011, 03:07:10 UTC 6 years ago

My dearest Pumpkin Girl,
Your year is going to be so....you! Full, exciting, frenetic, creative, exciting, scary, and beloved! Thank you for all that you do!

I ran across a Zombie puzzle game, free on Yahoo. If you haven't played it, it's fun for a bit. You place the brains, the zombies go to them. Lure the zombies, etc. al. What really amused me, is that, as I played, I heard the zombies moaning with YOUR VOICE! Giggle.

Here's a link for everyone: http://games.yahoo.com/game/all-we-need-is-brain;_ylc=X3IDMgRtcANibARwb3MDNjQEc2VjA2dhbWVsaXN0BHNsawNBbGwgV2UgTmVlZCBJcyBCcmFpbg--

April 30 2011, 14:50:29 UTC 6 years ago

sora_no_kokoro

April 27 2011, 03:23:10 UTC 6 years ago

Love this. xD I adore Halloween so much, it's awful living in an area it's looked down upon to such an extent.

Question, btw, speaking of Ashes of Honor. This is definitely stumbling into spoilery territory, but do you plan on including any more kemonomimi/"animal girls" in the Toby books, in the vein of Luna?

I'm not gonna lie, I love, love love love me some foxgirls (or cats, or rabbits, or wolves, but I don't know if they could fit faerie as easily as kitsune), and the event in Late Eclipses with Luna made me so sad. :(

Books have them so rarely, and when I saw Luna in the very first book I think I might have squealed a little. Please say we'll see some more? Even a vague hint? :D?

April 30 2011, 15:13:55 UTC 6 years ago

There will be more kemonomimi; the issue is mostly adapting them into Toby's world without being untrue to their source mythology. There will be a LOT more in InCryptid, the new series I have starting in March.

yellowblackhaze

April 27 2011, 03:53:34 UTC 6 years ago

I was motivated to pick up Feed because you mentioned in here that you'd signed a few copies at Minotaur in Melbourne when you were here for Worldcon. I managed to snag the final signed copy and it was one of the better book purchases I made for 2010. You would be a very worthy Hugo winner if the cards fall that way.

April 30 2011, 15:14:11 UTC 6 years ago

Aw, thank you!

crewgrrl

April 27 2011, 04:10:28 UTC 6 years ago

You mean the hand-knit candy corn hat was not enough proof of the Pumpkin's beneficence? Congratulations on the Feed nomination. It might have been a little too much to read both that and Late Eclipses over a two day period. I had to regrow my brain it was blown that hard.

April 30 2011, 15:14:31 UTC 6 years ago

I hope you had some seeds available...

dragondances

April 27 2011, 05:58:48 UTC 6 years ago

Feed and Rosemary & Rue both arrived yesterday! *dances* Once finals week is over, I'm starting Feed on the 11-hour drive back home! I'm super excited, especially since I got it just in time to hear about the Hugo nom. :D

(Also, the chainsaw doodle you signed is the cutest!)