I Wish These Ten People Would Read My Book

April 2, 2010 ∞ E/N, Writing ∞ Fiona Canteberry

Yesterday, I finally, finally received my reserved (ha!) copy of A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner, my favorite fantasy author (if I can’t count Stephen King for the Dark Tower series). I’m only a fraction of the way through and am loving it.

What inspired today’s topic was the dedication: “This book is gratefully dedicated to Diana Wynn Jones. Thank you for the stories and for the leg up.”

I’ve never read anything by Jones, except when I tried to read Howl’s Moving Castle. See, the Miyazaki adaptation is one of my favorite movies of all time, and one of the few movies I’ve ever begged, “Don’t end! Keep going! I want more, I don’t care what you throw at me!” However, I hated the book and didn’t last very long into it, maybe because, other than Turner’s books, I don’t care for the young adult genre.

Still, I know how it is to admire an author. What I don’t know (yet) is the feeling of having that author read my work and decide to give me an ‘in’. That’s what I assume Jones did for Turner. So, to concentrate my future efforts, here are the ten writers I admire and would love to have read my book.

Megan Whalen Turner

Since she’s already had a ‘leg up’, so to speak, and deals with the same sort of genre I do (unlike most others on this list), I think that this one is the most likely.

I have one worry: As I read The Thief for the first time, Eugenides reminded me heavily of Tep. I’d been working on The Golden Sands for two years and had about half of it finished. Tep had already lost something similar to what Eugenides loses at the beginning of The Queen of Attolia, but it almost felt like I had retroactively ripped off the character concept. Of course, the ‘thief with a heart of gold’ has been done before, but there are spooky similarities between the two characters, especially their later lives (Eugenides as a more careful diplomat, Tep as a more careful old man). When Tep had a chance to read the books himself, he joked that he’d love to have a drink with Eugenides but was afraid the younger man would make him look like an idiot.

So I’m praying that Turner understands that coincedences happen (or that I was drawn to characters similar to my own) and doesn’t shoot back an angry, accusatory email. I’m pretty sure that would destroy me.

How to contact? Her email is listed on her official site. Once I’ve finished A Conspiracy of Kings, I’ll probably post a review here, send her a link to it, and admit that I have a book I’d like her to read. Man, that process makes me sound like a sleazeball, but really, I’ve been meaning to send her some sort of fan-mail for a while now.

Stephen King

Back when I was twelve, I was barely allowed to read Bruce Coville. Dad didn’t like us to read ‘scary’ books, maybe because he thought it would turn us into bitter, cynical, reclusive jackasses . . . like him. Ba-dum-tch! But one time, I managed to sneak a few Stephen King books into our library pile (specifically Misery and The Shining). He didn’t find out until two weeks later; at first he got mad and took them away, but then, for some unknown reason, he gave them back to me and stopped being so controlling of my reading. To this day, I don’t know what changed his mind. I know that he’s never read the books himself.

So it was Stephen King that finally tempted me away from Charles de Lint and into much more adult books than I was used to. I loved every minute. Years later, I devoured the Dark Tower series and made my mom read them, too. Dad refused because ‘seven books is too much’.

There aren’t many similarities between our works, other than the curious subgenre of ‘supernatural slice of life’. We also both tend to write about writers (Anna for me, almost all of his protagonists for him).

How to contact? Almost impossible. The guy probably gets twenty manuscripts a day from nothings like me. I’ll have to wait a long time, possibly until I’ve beaten Dan Brown on the bestseller list, before I try to get a book into his King of Pop editorial in Entertainment Weekly.

Jhonen Vasquez

I’ve admired this guy for nearly a decade. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac almost directly inspired some of the darker parts of The Golden Sands and Anna’s beloved insanity-child, Planet of the No-Talky People. Hell, The Golden Sands might never have been finished if I had never read the corporate rebellion scene in I Feel Sick (which is why, in my second book, I pre-planned and then carefully executed an homage (or ripoff?) to that scene). I mean, you can see his influence throughout my writing; we use the same sort of black but gentle humor, though I don’t know which of us is better at it.

How to contact? Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the only way to get in touch with him is via Twitter. I tried once but made the mistake of doing so while he was on a road trip and unable to adequately reply. I might try again soon, but I don’t want to badger the poor badger.

David Wong

Line the Happy German pestered me for an entire year to read John Dies at the End. Of course, he kept calling it ‘JDatE’ and I thought he meant I should sign up for some Japanese dating site. When I finally got around to reading the then-free-and-public draft on the author’s official site, I was floored. The writing style was hilarious, recursive, somewhat dark but almost always bright, and full of the sort of interesting ideas that everyone gets but only smart people write down for later. It reminded me of what I had always strived for in writing and was part of what inspired me to finish. Now, as far as I can tell, Wong is self-published, but I’m sure a review of his on the back of my book would make people besides me squeak with joyful interest.

How to contact? I have no idea. He has a Twitter, but that way lies Vasquezian madness. I could try to meet him at a con, but I would have to leave Arkansas, which is hard to do in a truck that gets 11 MPG. This one, therefore, is a back-burner option.

Leo Babauta

I’ve volunteered as a forum admin/moderator for this guy for several years. I’ve never read his books, but I’ve read his blog for just as many years. He’s savvy and much more practical than most of the authors on this list (probably). He’s also been around the self-publishing block a few times. Assuming he reads fiction at all, I’m sure he’d have lots of great input.

How to contact? Here’s the thing: I think that, at one point in the past, I sent him my book and he said he’d read it when he got a chance. If this actually happened and wasn’t just a dream I had, this was about two years ago. So, yes, I have an open contact line with the guy, but no, I don’t think there’s any hope there.

David Draiman

This one technically isn’t an author; he’s the lead singer in one of my favorite music groups, Disturbed. Quite a bit of The Golden Sands was actually imagined while listening to their early albums.

How to contact? I . . . have no idea. Seriously. How does one contact a band, let alone the lead singer? I’m at a loss.

Terry Pratchett

While I’ve come to eschew his writing style in favor of a more practical, straightforward one, I used to enjoy the Discworld series and it subtly influenced my writing style.

How to contact? I’m sure he’s busy with chemo and has plenty of other books to read, so I’ll back-burner this one.

JJ Abrams

Another non-author. I don’t much care for actors, directors, and celebrities in general, but if I had to name a favorite director, it’d be JJ Abrams. I was heartbroken when I found out he thought he’s ‘not good enough’ to do the Dark Tower movie. Hell, if I had the choice, he’d direct every movie that involves any bit of CGI. Just . . . go easy on the lensflare, ‘kay?

If I were ever to make a push to have my books turned into a TV series or set of movies, this is the first guy I’d run to.

How to contact? I’m back-burnering this one so fast, it might freeze and break into pieces.

Several Webcomic Artists

Much more realistic than the dream of having a TV series or movies made is the pipe dream of someday helping to make a webcomic based on Si. A few artists that come to mind are No Rest for the Wicked, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, and Inverloch.