I couldn’t think of what to say.
“Ouch, that had to hurt,” a voice said from the tree line.
I turned and felt a split second of panic as cousin Jared peered around a tree at me, before I remembered that this was not Grandfather but Alynon. My remembrance was helped by his outfit as he stepped fully into view, and apparently stepped out of an Adam Ant music video with that green military band jacket and high-collared white shirt.
“Nobody asked for your opinion,” I said, blushing hotly. “What are you even doing here?”
“I wanted to see the bonding,” Alynon said, and shrugged. “I have grown somewhat fond of Pete and Vee. As vassals, of course.”
“Of course,” I said.
“Dawn,” he said, and bowed his head at her.
“Alynon,” she replied, her tone somewhat dubious. “Looking good.”
“Well, since it sounds like you and Phinaeus are on a break, if you wanted to—”
“Watch it!” I snapped. “Or I’ll call Reggie over and have you arrested.”
Dawn put a hand on my back. “It’s not a break, Aly. Just some self-evaluation. You should try it sometime.”
“La,” he said. “I’ve had way too much self-time as is.” He looked at me. “In fact, that is why I have truly come here. I need your help to steal Velorain away from the Shores of Chaos.”
I shook my head. “No way. I just told Reggie, and I’ll tell you, I have no plans to ever go back to the Other Realm.”
“You owe me, Gramaraye,” Alynon said. “And Velorain.”
Bat’s breath. I opened my mouth to say I’d do what I could, then stopped.
I shook my head. “I owe Mattie, Dawn, and myself more. I’m staying out of trouble for a while.” I glanced sideways at Dawn. I had to prove to her that I was safe for her to love. “Maybe we can—”
“There you are!” Mattie called, bouncing up.
I looked from her back to the trees. Alynon had disappeared.
“Wasn’t it amazing?” Mattie said. “Come on, they’re moving inside for the food. Are you going to give a toast?”
“Yes,” I said, feeling a little dazed.
“Awesome! Come on,” Mattie said.
Dawn took my hand, and said, “Everything will be okay.”
“Yeah,” Mattie said. “You’re going to do awesome, I’m sure.” Then she led Dawn and me toward the flow of bodies filing into the lodge.
I looked back up at the wheeling birds and tried to tell myself everything really would be okay.
At least the worst of the craziness was behind me now, and I could truly focus on building a new life for myself.
Hopefully with Dawn.
“Release the Kirken,” I said quietly, then turned to join my family and face the future, together.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Holy macatrinity, how time flies.
First and foremost, a shout-out to all the booksellers and librarians who shared the Finn Fancy love with your readers. In addition to being incredibly wise persons with great taste in literature, you are fine human beings, and I thank you, truly and sincerely.
And of course thank you to all the awesome individuals and book clubs who read Finn Fancy Necromancy and Bigfootloose. I am really excited for you to read book three and complete this arc with Finn and me.
I wrote this book over the latter half of 2015. Good news is, the world agreed on fighting Global Climate Change. But then we had the Syrian refugee crisis, Greek economic troubles, ISIS attacks, and U.S. gun violence epidemic (among other tragedies). And while this book itself was written before the true craziness of the 2016 U.S. election cycle (or the emotional tumult of Brexit for that matter), I am writing these acknowledgments at the end of August 2016, aware of these events but as yet uncertain of the true fallout from them.
So whether that means you have dug this book up in a cave near the half-buried Statue of Liberty far from the Ape Capital, or smuggled a copy out of the Ministry of Truth, this book was written in parallel with the events of 2015 but not because of them. Still, upon rereading it, I realize that some scenes may appear to be a reaction to the darker forces and events of 2015–2016, and I also realize that my words will always be interpreted through the context of whatever future you are in. So I look forward to seeing what readers say. Writing is a weird kind of time travel in that sense.
Oh, and there is also the fact that I saved you all from termination by robot overlords, which was literally due to time travel. But don’t let that influence your decision to buy my books at all. Really.
Of course, I did not wage such epic battles alone.
Thank you to Christy Varonfakis Henderson, for helping me to be and to do more than I could manage alone.
To my parents, Frank, Mary, and Elaine; my brother, Dave Henderson; and the rest of my family: I’ll say thank you for your support, even though that sounds like the closing of a political ad. I will also note here for the record that Finn’s family is clearly not modeled on mine. Except for the bits that were.
To the children of my heart, Lucas and Kylie, and true friend Shelly, who made the ’90s and beyond a fun adventure together, I hope you find much laughter in this book, and in life.
To everyone who provided feedback on the early drafts of this book, thank you. To name a few (alphabetically): Isis D’Shaun, Christy Henderson, Andrew Romine, DeeAnn Sole, and Caroline Yoachim.
To Finn Fancy champion Beth Meacham, without whom, again, Finn Fancy would not exist, thank you for being a frank and supportive editor, friend, and guide through this experience. And thank you to the entire Tor team, including Amy Stapp and Jen Gunnels for shepherding the book through the process; to my publicist, Desirae Friesen, and publicity rock star Patty Garcia, for continuing to help spread the Finn Fancy love; the copyediting skills of Debbie Friedman; and everyone else at Tor who helped Finn look Fancy—thank you, truly.
To Peter Lutjen, and the rest of the Tor art and design department, thank you for yet another amazing cover.
To the folks at Titan Books (U.K.), including Natalie Laverick, Philippa Ward, and Cat Camacho, who provided a world of readers across the sea, not to mention the cool 8-bit alternate covers and much support: Cheers!
Thank you to my agent, Cameron McClure, for faith and encouragement as we continue the writing and publishing journey forward; as well as to Katie Shea Boutillier and everyone else at Donald Maass Literary Agency.
Thank you to actor Todd Haberkorn, and the team at Brilliance Audio, for lending voice to Finn’s stories for folks like myself who like to read while cooking, exercising, and driving without causing major accidents or burns in awkward places.
To those who through the years have served as best of friends and suffered with good humor through my terrible early writings, including but certainly not limited to Reginald Jackson, Jonathon Thompson, Jeffrey Waddell, and Benjamin VanWinkle, I thank you.
To my writer families from HM Seattle, Cascade Writers, Clarion West, and WotF for continuing to inspire and encourage me, though some might ask you to encourage me less.
To Gerry Pitter and Pamela May, Glenn Cotter, Carmen Hall, and Nina Novikova, bosses who encouraged growth and supported opportunities both within and outside of the Day Job.
And finally, to David Bowie, rock god and speculative fiction avatar, for years of entertainment and inspiration: You left our capsule and stepped through the final door, I hope your spaceship takes you someplace amazing.
And now, on to the next adventure.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Randy was born in the States of wonder, awe, and Washington. He quickly learned the joy of escaping to fantasy worlds, from Middle Earth to Earthsea, from Amber to Pern, from Valdemar to Midkemia.
After toying with such impressive creative pursuits as Latch Hook and recording really clever answering machine messages, Randy realized that what he wanted most was to write that which had brought him much joy. It was not as easy as it looked.
Many years of
dabbling followed, during which Randy studied social sciences and worked a variety of jobs such as weight-loss counselor, Alaska factory-boat worker, and writing tax sob stories for CPA clients (his first paid fiction), before finally settling in IT. Randy decided to get serious about his writing, and attended the Clarion West writing workshop where he learned things, dark, mystical things about the art of writing, things best left unspoken. Ask him, and he’ll gladly speak of them.
Randy then wrote new stories, faster stories, stronger stories, and was published in wondrous places like Realms of Fantasy and Escape Pod before winning Writers of the Future. His first novel, Finn Fancy Necromancy, was published in 2015.
www.randy-henderson.com
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
FINN FANCY
NECROMANCY
Found guilty of a crime he didn’t commit in 1986, 15-year-old Finn Gramaraye was exiled to the Other Realm for 25 years. But now he’s back in the mortal world and is disappointed to discover that he’s middle-aged, DeLoreans can’t fly, and he’s been framed for dark necromancy, again. He has three days to clear his name, but his father has gone mad, his mother’s a ghost, and his brother is most unhappy to see him - who can he trust to help him?
WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM
BIGFOOT LOOSE
AND FINN
FANCY FREE
Finn Gramaraye is settling back into the family necrotorium business after his long exile in the Fey otherworld. But Finn has a business idea of his own: he’s figured out how to use his half-mad father’s Kinfinder invention to find True Love and wants to set up a magical dating service. When he agrees to help his Bigfoot friend Sal, they walk right into a Feyblood rebellion fomented by unknown forces and fueled by the drug created by Finn’s own grandfather.
WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM
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Smells Like Finn Spirit Page 44