NTS Annotation chapters 8-12 (Patreon)

Welcome back to the annotation! Let's get right to it, shall we?

Chapter 8--(Slow Ride by Foghat). Enter Minion! So Minion is obviously Keanu Reeves. Minion might give you the idea that I don't like or respect Keanu Reeves. This has never been the case. I love Keanu Reeves. (Have you seen Always Be My Maybe? He's hilarious in that movie. I even have a Keanu Reeves coloring book.) I think my agent and I had been brainstorming famous people to turn into zombies, and he came up with James' line about Minion not having a good movie since My Own Private Idaho. Which wasn't entirely true when NTS was first written and obviously now isn't true at all. I did work in a few of his lines from movies (like "we're just dust in the wind, dude") and a reference to the Keanu eating/Sad Keanu memes when I have Minion say that people liked taking pictures of him right after he tries to eat something.

At one point, Keanu Reeves's production company was expressing some interest in my books for film/TV rights and my agent and I were both nervous for a bit that A) he'd read the books and B) get upset. Part of the reason I'd like to finish a third Sam book was maybe give Minion a chance at redemption.

Chapter 9-(Another One Bites the Dust by Queen)--we had to cut a big chunk of this chapter at one point. It's a scene where Sam goes and tries to deal with the local underwater folk. It goes poorly. My editor loved it, but she thought it was a bit too tangential. We ended up cutting it, but tucked it into the paperback as bonus material. 

In this chapter we get another classic car suggestion from my agent. (Again, I don't pay attention to cars at all.) As for Animal Planet being the channel where "cute things eat other cute things" well, that's what I've always called Animal Planet. Stanley the Elk was one of my favorite things in this chapter. Fun uses of necromancy! I saw elk growing up--they're so gigantic and impressive! It was fun to research actual facts for Sam, though. Do not get in their way if they're charging. We also meet the goddess, Bridget, in this chapter. As a goddess she's a bit of a mixed bag. She's associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, blacksmithing, the hearth and domesticated animals. I think I've mentioned it, but that's where Bridin gets her name. Sam also pukes a lot here. I have yet to write a book where one of my characters does NOT vomit at some point. 

Chapter 10--(Soul Doubt by NOFX) This is the first time Ramon carries Sam! So romantic. Also I forgot that the gnomes had a minstrel? I will need to bring that back around. This reread has been giving me a lot of ideas, which is good. 

Chapter 11--(Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend by Mr. T Experience) Sam mentions dragging himself through broken glass and clucking like a chicken for Brid. This is based on the time my roommate got one of our friends to climb into a dumpster (full of cardboard) and cluck like a chicken. I cannot for the life of me remember why. We also see the genesis of Cuddle Shark.

My roommates and (now) husband did cuddle shark all the time. Attack hugs are the best, especially if you get to yell about needing a bigger boat. My husband did it the most, I think. He's very huggy. I'll have to ask my old roommate Porkchop to see if she remembers why we started Cuddle Shark. Her memory is much better than mine. 

Chapter 12--(No More Mr. Nice Guy by Alice Cooper) This chapter is basically a direct contrast to the chapter title because Douglas wasn't a nice guy before and now he's even worse. 

That's it for now! Hope you all have a good weekend out there!

-Lish

PS if you're local to me, I'll be at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA on Wednesday for a book event with Gretchen McNeil. Come say hi!