This Changes Everything (No, Really)
Hear that fiendish giggling in the shadows? It's only me, coming in on the finishing stretch of the fourth Daniel Faust novel, A Plain-Dealing Villain, before it goes into editing and rewrites in December.
(Yes, I'm writing under your bed. Don't judge me, it's my artistic process.)
Like many of you, comics were a staple of my early reading. I read Dickens and Lovecraft right alongside Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, and I daresay there were valuable lessons to be gleaned from one and all. One thing I learned fast (thanks to you, Stan) is to never, ever believe the front-cover hype.
"The Marvel Universe will NEVER be the same!!!" Yes, it will.
"This issue changes EVERYTHING!!!" No, it doesn't.
"One of the X-Men must DIE!!!" No, they won't. Or if they do, they'll be back in five issues. Two, if it was Jean Grey.
The slavish adherance to the status quo always irritated me. I could understand it on television, where episodes might be shown out of order or in repeats, and hitting the reset button at the end of most shows was a given. But literature -- be it told in prose or pictures -- has no need for such constraints. Sure, there's familiarity and comfort in the status quo, but sometimes you really have to shake things up to keep a series fresh and exciting.
I'm not a big fan of the status quo. You also know, if you've read my earlier books, that I love planting seeds that pay off later down the line -- be it a fun little easter egg or a full-blown revelation waiting to happen.
Book Four marks a new beginning and a major shift for the Faust series, as new antagonists take the stage and old business may not be totally dead and buried. One of those new antagonists is Royce, the hound of Prince Malphas and Caitlin's opposite number in the rival Court of Night-Blooming Flowers. Royce has been dying to ask Daniel a question. Just one simple question, three words long. The answer will shake Daniel's world to its core.
I can tell you, straight up, that this book changes everything. If I pull this off (and there's a big if for you), you'll come away looking at certain events in The Long Way Down and Redemption Song in an entirely new light, and looking forward as a new, labyrinthine plot begins to unfold. Book Four is all about questions. Sure, I could give you the all the answers...but where's the fun in that?
Okay, time for me to get back to work, this heist won't write itself. You have a great weekend, be safe and stay warm.
