Letters to the Great Pumpkin.: seanan

Letters to the Great Pumpkin.

Dear Great Pumpkin;

I hope you have been well since the last time I wrote you, and that you have enjoyed both the harvest and the planting which follows. You have never been far from my thoughts, and I have not wavered in my faith. Since our last correspondence, I have not started any fights for the sake of fighting, or allowed myself to be swayed from my beliefs for the sake of keeping the peace. I have loved my friends and tolerated my enemies. I have shared my baked goods freely and without resentment. I have not brought about the end of all flesh, nor have I lured the unwary into a corn maze and left them there to feed the crops. 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 Blackout, 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. This is the end of the trilogy, and the end of an era I have loved very much. Let it be good.

* Please let me finish the current draft of Parasitology in time, and with a minimum of eleventh-hour plot twists and unexpected complications. I'm not asking for none—I've met me—but I'm asking that they remain controllable and manageable, especially as I move into the third act and start blowing shit up with wanton abandon. I am so very nervous about this book, because it will be the first non-Newsflesh Mira Grant project, and I want it to be amazing.

* And when that is done, o Prince of Patches, I ask that you help me to find my way into the depths of The Chimes at Midnight 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 guess you probably know what I really want this year, Great Pumpkin; what the ultimate tricky treat would be. I have been nominated for four Hugo Awards, and while I am not greedy, and will not ask you for all of them, it would mean so much to me if I could win just one. If I could come home with a shiny rocket in my bag. Okay, maybe I am a little greedy: if you could see fit to shine your holy candle on both the Best Novel and Best Related Works categories, those would mean the world. I came very close to winning last year. This year, not only will I be sitting in the audience hoping so hard, I'll be doing it with Amy and Vixy and Cat and oh so many people I love oh so very much in attendance. Please, Great Pumpkin, please. And should you see fit to grant my prayers, 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 Echo? I think I'm finally ready to write this story. I just need to find the door...

janetmiles

April 9 2012, 17:54:01 UTC 5 years ago

New comment

So mote it be.

seanan_mcguire

April 10 2012, 16:49:22 UTC 5 years ago

Plant away.

anne_d

April 9 2012, 17:54:21 UTC 5 years ago

May the Great Pumpkin bring you everything you desire!

April 10 2012, 16:49:38 UTC 5 years ago

From your lips to His vines.

livia_llewellyn

April 9 2012, 17:54:54 UTC 5 years ago

This is a very sincere ~~patch~~ post. I am of the utmost confidence that the Great Pumpkin will grant your wishes. And, leave pie!

April 10 2012, 16:49:56 UTC 5 years ago

Yay, pie!

spectralbovine

April 9 2012, 18:03:31 UTC 5 years ago

I was craving more Parasitology on Saturday. I want it to be amazing too! BLOW SHIT UP!

April 10 2012, 16:50:11 UTC 5 years ago

Boom, baby.

reedrover

April 9 2012, 18:15:43 UTC 5 years ago Edited: April 9 2012, 18:15:57 UTC

You did such a nice job presenting the Campbell last year... I'm sure you will do a spectacular job accepting a Hugo this year, even if you have to do it twice.

April 10 2012, 16:50:19 UTC 5 years ago

Hee.

xjenavivex

April 9 2012, 18:50:16 UTC 5 years ago

::fingers crossed::

April 10 2012, 16:50:32 UTC 5 years ago

::also mine::

kshandra

April 9 2012, 19:11:35 UTC 5 years ago

If I may ask, will you and Mira have separate dresses for the ceremony again this year? Or is that yet to be determined?

April 10 2012, 16:50:48 UTC 5 years ago

To be determined. It depends on what I can find.

qnofhrt

April 9 2012, 19:12:48 UTC 5 years ago

And please don't let Thomas learn any new tricks that cause his human anything other than amusement.

April 10 2012, 16:50:59 UTC 5 years ago

But they bring him such joy...

puddingcat

April 9 2012, 19:43:42 UTC 5 years ago

Well, Blackout is preordered and I'm ridiculously happy that you're letting Mira out to play again once the trilogy is over.

Fingers crossed for the rest, and I'll ask the cats here to sacrifice something small & squeaky for you.

April 10 2012, 16:51:09 UTC 5 years ago

Yay!

tereshkova2001

April 9 2012, 20:17:59 UTC 5 years ago

Dear Great Pumpkin; please grant your best and brightest Halloween girl everything she's asked for. She's worth it.
*bakes you spice cookies*

And Great Pumpkin? If there's any winning left over in your power, after Seanan's won her Hugo Awards? Please let me win something at the Chicon 7 masquerade.
*frosts the cookies with maple icing*

April 10 2012, 16:51:43 UTC 5 years ago

You know how to bribe a Trickster.

hoppytoad79

April 9 2012, 20:48:25 UTC 5 years ago

Blowing shit up with abandon (in a way that makes for HUGE explosions without harming the undeserving) sounds like my idea of a day well spent, and I have a huge grin on my face just thinking about it. May the Great Pumpkin bless you with smooth roads to such pleasures and at least two or three Hugos, and may your felines grow only more awesome.

April 10 2012, 16:51:57 UTC 5 years ago

johno

April 9 2012, 21:38:04 UTC 5 years ago

I have requested to be the photographer for Hugo Ceremony (ie in the audience), so Great Punkin, I would dearly love to photograph my friend's reaction to being named a winner.

April 10 2012, 16:52:07 UTC 5 years ago

Oh, that would be amazing.

vincentursus

April 9 2012, 22:24:57 UTC 5 years ago

May his Magnificent Orangeness grant you these rewards in honor of the good works you have done.

April 10 2012, 16:52:15 UTC 5 years ago

yellowblackhaze

April 9 2012, 22:41:46 UTC 5 years ago

You weren't at all greedy, hey you even asked for something for Cat.

April 10 2012, 16:52:24 UTC 5 years ago

I try not to be...

avahgdu

April 9 2012, 23:11:14 UTC 5 years ago

As the Oracle of the Great Pumpkin, I assure you that all your requests are under consideration.

April 10 2012, 16:52:31 UTC 5 years ago

rhoda_rants

April 9 2012, 23:31:37 UTC 5 years ago

Forever and ever, Amen!

(And many squeeful noises in anticipation of Blackout!!)

April 10 2012, 16:52:39 UTC 5 years ago

orcaarrow

April 10 2012, 00:52:25 UTC 5 years ago

Seanan, you are so awesome! Thank you so much for being you!

April 10 2012, 16:54:41 UTC 5 years ago

I don't know who else to be. :)

thedragonweaver

April 10 2012, 05:27:08 UTC 5 years ago

FOUR categories! How wonderful! I hadn't noticed, being distracted by the delightful recursiveness of the Drink Tank Hugo acceptance speech nomination, in which I am an accidental extra. I suspect* that is the closest I will ever get to a Hugo nomination, though obviously, as somebody who got to handle the awards**, I've been pretty close to the actual Hugos. ;)

*I say "suspect" instead of "know" because my life is weird.

**"Hold the award by the base, not by the rocket. If you *do* get fingerprints on the rocket, whatever you do, do not polish them out. We are streaming this thing live and just about everybody in the audience has cameras."

April 10 2012, 16:55:16 UTC 5 years ago

If I get a rocket, and I get fingerprints on my rock, I will LICK THE DAMN THING. Because I want a rocket SO BAD.

I am a sad blonde.

5 years ago

jmward14

April 10 2012, 06:14:31 UTC 5 years ago

I wish that all your wishes come true, and that next year this time some additional award mojo comes MODERN FAE's and DISCOUNT ARMAGEDDON'S way, too. :-)

April 10 2012, 16:55:26 UTC 5 years ago

So mote it be!

peachtales

April 11 2012, 00:36:41 UTC 5 years ago

Perhaps some pumpkin food?

May 1 2012, 14:44:02 UTC 5 years ago

Orange fertilizer time!

morvab

April 11 2012, 22:04:31 UTC 5 years ago

Do you suppose the Great Pumpkin would enjoy being bribed with pumpkin spice cookies with cream cheese frosting? Or would that be too cannibalistic? I want to bribe, not piss off!
Have happily pre-ordered Blackout , and Ashes of Honour for fall, from my local Canadian indy bookseller, and so thrilled to hear about Parasitology!! (happy bouncing ensues)
Please give all three cats some extra tummy rubs or ear scritches (as they prefer) from me for helping to keep you happy and thus productive, which makes us happy.
And we will be there at Chicon - helping with filk track but very much looking forward to watching you accept an armload of rocketships! I am hoping for one for each cat.