Carry On (Simon Snow, #1)

by Rainbow Rowell

I felt naff,

naff = unfashionable, not stylish?

The vampires, the werewolves, the demons and banshees, the Manticorps, the goblins—

And the domed ceiling has a mural of Merlin himself calling magic up through his hands into the sky, his mouth open. He kind of looks like the guy who hosts QI.

QI = "Quit Interesting", a game show.

worsegers—like badgers, but worse—

The vibe here is very, Let’s kill a virgin and write a great Led Zeppelin album.

There are pages ripped out and taped all over one wall. (Not taped—stuck to the wall with spells.) (And this is exactly the sort of thing I’m sick of. Like, just use some tape. Why come up with a spell for sticking paper to the wall? Tape. Exists.)

Thank you, too, to Leigh Bardugo and David Levithan for being good friends and good readers. (Even if one of you was so tough, you made me cry.) (It was Leigh.) And thank you to Susie Day for really listening to all this dialogue and talking to me about it. And to Keris Stainton, who answered countless questions about British life. If these characters sound American—or worse—it’s despite their patience.

If you’ve read my book Fangirl, you know that Simon Snow began as a fictional character in that novel. A fictional-fictional character. Kind of an amalgam and descendant of a hundred other fictional Chosen Ones. In Fangirl, Simon is the hero of a series of children’s adventure novels written by Gemma T. Leslie—and the subject of much fanfiction written by the main character, Cath. When I finished that book, I was able to let go of Cath and her boyfriend, Levi, and their world. I felt like I was finished with their story … But I couldn’t let go of Simon. I’d written so much about him through these other voices, and I kept thinking about what I’d do with him if he were in my story, instead of Cath’s or Gemma’s. What would I do with Simon Snow? What would I do with Baz? And Agatha? And Penny? I’ve read and loved so many magical Chosen One stories—how would I write my own? That’s what Carry On is.

RAINBOW ROWELL lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband and two sons. She’s also the author of Landline, Fangirl, Eleanor & Park, and Attachments. Visit her Web site at www.rainbowrowell.com. Or