HMCN Annotated Reread Chapters 11-19 (Patreon)

The paperback cover! I do adore this one. It was shiny once upon a time. I don't think it's shiny anymore. Authors generally have zero say in covers and I think I've been pretty lucky so far.

I lost several days to getting my taxes together. I don't even do them myself--mine are too weird--but just gathering everything and mailing it off to my accountant is an undertaking. This year will be even more weird than most--usually it's me with several different W2s and whatnot, but my husband had a few extras as well. Look at us, trying to cobble together a passable income. Ha! (Spoiler--we're bad at it. The running joke is we like to pick jobs that we love but pay terribly.)

But despite all of that fun, I managed to read some more Sam. So here we go!

Chapter 11--we meet Sam's mom. Tia's always been one of my favorite parent characters even though I have heaped much misery upon her shoulders. She's coped well, though. There's an Alice in Wonderland quote in this chapter. I'm not sure why I was so into adding that. It's not like I'm a big fan or anything. Perhaps trying to get some use out of my undergraduate degree? I had to read it for one of my classes.

Chapter 12--We get to see a little witch magic. I probably choose cross stitch for Tia because my mom does it. (She cross stitched birth announcement type things for both my boys and my Christmas stocking.) This is where we meet Nick, too. Nick, like Douglas, is an example of where Sam could end up if he didn't have his support system and didn't stay and fight. I mean, if I had been Nick, I also would have high tailed it out of Douglas's territory. He knows his limits and does what he can. Still, he's so depressed when we first meet him. I feel bad. I do really mean things to fictional people that I love.

Chapter 13--There's a quote on this page that ended up on Pinterest or something at some point, because I get tagged in all kinds of IG posts with it. Sometimes using it in adds for baby stuff or to show off new babies. It's Nick's line, "You know what the great things about babies is? They are like little bundles of hope. Like the future in a blanket." It wasn't a line that I thought was particularly memorable, but it gets used the most. I mean, it's obvious that people don't know what it's from. (It does get attributed to me, but not necessarily the book.) Every time I see it, I think, "Oh, right after that they do something terrible to that baby. If only you knew..."

Chapter 14--This chapter has so many FEELINGS. I think what's makes it so hard is that no one is really wrong here. Sam should be mad, but Tia had no good choices and neither did Nick. I just want to hug everyone.

Chapter 15--We meet Dunaway. Originally I thought he might be a love interest for Brid's older brother, Bran. Then I thought the age difference/power imbalance might be a little questionable? It didn't really pan at. I did get help in writing Dunaway--I was in New Orleans when I first drafted this book and my husband happened to work with a tattoo artist who was former NOPD. I got to ask him a lot of police procedure questions, most of which didn't make it into the book. This chapter is also where we start to see Sam really come to terms with Brooke's death.

16--This chapter started a bit of an argument between me and my own dad. Partially because of where I put Kevin's house (in Bainbridge Island) which is close to where my own dad lives. He decided I was taking a swipe at him, and honestly it never occurred to me. I just wanted Sam to ride the ferry, because I love the ferry and it's a very PNW detail, and Bainbridge Island is one of those places where people with money buy property. It's not the only place in Washington, obviously, but it met my needs, fictionally speaking. I mean, to be fair, all of my books started arguments with my dad, but this chapter was really a bone of contention. 

We also get into Sam's sentiment about his parent's divorce, which was based a little on my own. I remember in first or second grade my teacher reading this picture book to us about divorce and how it was normal and natural for children to want their parents to get back together. Even at the time I was like, "No, thanks. My parents should not even be in the same room." So the book backfired a bit because then I wondered if my reaction was abnormal. Thanks, picture book. You meant well. All the characters were also dinosaurs. Not sure why.

We also meet Elaine, Lilly and Sara in this chapter, which is good because if things pan out, they should be showing up in Big Trouble, Little Necromancer as well.

17--One thing that makes my eye twitch about rereading HMCN is Ramon's Spanish being in italics. I think this was the house standard at my publisher at the time, but I would consider Ramon a native speaker, and therefore his Spanish shouldn't be italicized. If you're wondering why this bothers me, here is a good video to explain it.  I don't have a paperback of HMCN handy, but I'm hoping we fixed it between editions. 

If you didn't catch the reference, when Sam is singing "Blood monkey" it's to the tune of "Brass Monkey" by the Beastie Boys.

We kind of sort of meet June Walker here! June kept getting cut from actually being on page (besides phone calls) from my books until I managed to get her to show up in Pyromantic. I love June.

Chapter 18 & 19--Brid meets Sam and then Sam meets Brid...finally! When I first drafted this book, it was as my thesis to graduate from my MFA. My days to actually work on it were somewhat limited by classes, work, and the availability of babysitters for my son. So there were some days where I would work all day just banging out as many pages as I could. 

This chapter fell on one of those days, because I remember I hit this moment where Brid and Sam meet and Brid is naked and I couldn't decide what Sam should say. I did want it to sound like something a young guy like Sam would say, though. So I left my office and asked my roommates because they were guys. I didn't give them context beyond, "Okay, you're 19 and you wake up in a cage with a pretty naked girl. First respnse--go!" The line, "This is my favorite dream" was a direct quote from my roommate Ben, stolen with his permission. 

Ben was one of two male roommates that moved with me and my (now) husband and my son when I went to New Orleans for graduate school. (They said they didn't have anything better to do. Ha!) I still feel bad that because of that they went through Hurricane Katrina. But without them, I'm not sure I would have made it through Grad school on time or finished a book. They also helped me in undergrad. They used to move their work schedules around to help out with my baby and whatnot so I could do homework and get to class because my school didn't have child care. I am very grateful for them. But hey, one of them married a woman in my MFA program so I guess it was a good choice for him at least!

But I digress. Also in this chapter--more James! And I totally forgot I gave Douglas a vacation home in the San Juan Islands.

Also also, in chapter 19, Sam's description of the grease trap is accurate. I used to have to clean it during my short stint as a fast food employee. It was the WORST.

Back soon with more chapters. As always, if you have any questions, hit me up in the comments.

-Lish