(I Also Write Children's Books!)

Thursday, March 3, 2016

A Question About The Future

Currently I'm working on A Sidekick's Tale (that will so not be the final title.)  It's going slow, and I find it's a book that is inspired by working on other things as well.  If I were to do a non-Penny book in Penny's continuity before the original series ends, it would be set pre-year 2000, and have an adult main character.  Is there anyone or anything you folks are interested in, to help direct my inspiration?

41 comments:

  1. A few things that I want to know more about:

    * How/why did Chinatown (as opposed to somewhere else) become the villians playground on the weekend?
    * How did the heroes deal with heroes who didn't want to respect the treaty? "Your teammates, your friends, even your family will feed you to [Mourning Dove] themselves"
    * Why isn't mad science/magic everywhere instead of the normal slow progression tech we have?
    * Who pays for the property damage? Is there a Damage Control analog in this universe?
    * Why hasn't the populace risen up and killed the heroes and villians? (is there an external threat that makes people willing to tolerate the craziness?)
    * What is the situation like outside of the US?

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  2. * More details on the backstories for Penny's parents, and Claire's mom. As well as some of the other prominent adults in the TIM books.
    * Was there an attempt by the governments to use supers for their own ends.
    * the Conqueror invasion(I'm pretty sure that's more recent then you're planning.)
    * And more of the crazy ass alternate history blurbs that have been mentioned before.

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  3. What about Twain's superpowered mustache?

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  4. Lol. I second Twain's super powered moustache.

    But what I would really like is some tie in information about the truce. I assumed it took place after the "secret war" which is meant to be around or slightly after the new millenium in this book.

    If you're going to do a book with a more adult character I would like to see the darker element of just what was involved in Negotiating this truce.
    Who was present, who championed it on both sides.

    But more than that...
    (You know this sentence was going to happen)
    How many people did Miss Lutra have to sleep with to get everyone to sign it :D

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    1. Oh, no, not a darker element. Ugh, there are so many 'dark' super-hero stories already.
      The thing that makes the series so cool is that it is funny, instead of dark.

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    2. I have no intention of taking Supervillain-related books darker. I write very dark books, but that's not what this series is about. More R rated, possibly. I have mixed feelings about that. But these books I want to be playful.

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    3. I would be just happy worth something more r rated. I mean being honest even Made Of Teeth wasn't really that dark. Dark by junior standards but I know books can be much faller than that. But you know what I actually like most of your books. No matter how 'dark' you make it there is rarely swearing. Its refreshing.

      I would happily like to see a book in this world work the darkness of say, wild children. Where the the book doesn't have to end all happy and there are harder morals to it.

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    4. Typo. M rated
      Whatever. I need to stop replying to posts using my phone.

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    5. I recently read a book that the main character turned on the profanity filter on is phone. It would just replace it with different words like Panda, or tuna sandwich. It's only mentioned the first time it comes up, but is a running gag the whole book. I found it hilarious. It's along the same lines as an episode of Limitless where he replaces all the bad things with things like Hugs, Smiles, and Puppies.

      I could something like that being entertaining. If Bull was tell the club stories of the old days and felt the need to censor it a bit.

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  5. Where did Spider come from? Was she an enhanced spider, a cursed human? How did she become so influential?

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  6. So what comes first? this, or the 4th TIM?

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  7. I'd kind of like to hear about Penny's, Claire's and Ray's parents.

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  8. I'm kind of hoping the current 5-book series will cover Spider a bit more, since there's obviously a story there (and backstory on Spider, the Apparition, and Mourning Dove would all be welcome).

    * The Audit in an actual conflict (as of 2000 was she retired already?). Something more involved than instant total victory.
    * The story of the conflict that gave us two empty lairs under the middle school and high school, respectively.
    * How did Mech end up with the Minx's corset? (2000's probably too recent for that)
    * What about property damage, and do un-powered people have to get traffic, weather and villianous activity reports before they commute to work? (Not intended as a request for satire, just curious about how this world looks to people "outside the community")
    * Gabriel and Lucyfar appeared at roughly the same time...how did that go?
    * There's an obvious (horror) story about "what happened to the Tinsleys", although that might be more recent than 2000.
    * 2000 is well after the internet got going, but just at the end of the dot-com boom. Does the Pennyverse have a mad science angle on all that?
    * Something involving the Expert.
    * Something involving Lab Rat (unless there's a Lab Rat and the Denizens of the Undercity sub-plot already planned as a part of book 4).
    * An example of the sort of Spider plan that makes everyone worry about Spider.
    * The villains have a weekly open market in Chinatown. Where do the heroes meet and trade? Just little niche gray-market places like Little Grandmother's shop?
    * Any field deployment of Brian's "I'm a moron, aren't I" ray.

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    1. That is not The Minx's corset. Whether or not Misty Lutra has slept with him is a matter I will not weigh in on right now.

      ...I'm really enjoying completely useless trivia corrections.

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    2. While we're on compelled useless trivia. How common is heroes and villains changing doses in this verse cause it seams to be pretty common. Like I can't help think Mr Akk used to be villain tool he met Beebee

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    3. I got more of a vibe, considering how cold she gets as the Audit, that Beebee had a villain side. After all, she is a long time friend of Misty's.

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    4. This verse seems to be a multi layer cake.

      You get villains and heroes, like Bull, Misty, and the Akk's. Who went to great pains to stay on the friendly side of those they dealt with.

      You have the Morning Doves and that Bones guy, who are at the opposite end. They don't bother playing nice and actually purposely kill their counterparts.

      Rage, Ruin, Chimera who are play nice but don't make a point to make friends with the other side.

      And so many more. I think it's a bit more realistic. In real life things aren't black and white. it's all grey scale.

      Maybe Brian got his start making toys for the villains before meeting The Audit and Mech and changing sides.

      Maybe it was the Audit's unwavering logic that convinced Minx to team up and save the world, keeping her from making that one decision that would cause her to go true villain. Also cementing their friendship in the future.

      Maybe cold, unfeeling logic was all the Audit knew. Refusing to let emotions sway her actions. Until the this weirdly charming Mad Scientist get's in her way. Suddenly the world seems less harsh and this keeps her from crossing the line to villain.

      A damn I have way too much free time on my hands.

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    5. re: trivia

      It's important to have a relaxing hobby.

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    6. I have relaxing hobbies. I read, write, play video games, and plot how I would conquer Africa and make it my own personal empire.

      I love weird facts. I kinda know a little about a lot.

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  10. I would be interested, yes.
    My vote would be for Conquerors, and Spider. Sounds like the Conquer Invasion led to the truce, so I guess that is sort of a vote for that too.

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    1. Spider stuff sort of leads to back to Chinatown.

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    2. I bet villains owning pays or all of cities ties back to the war and truce. I can't help thing the truce was a direct result of the secret war.

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  11. I'm a serious history buff so it would be very interesting to see how Penny's world differed from ours in the distant past. The Adventures of Hernan Cortes perhaps? Or a look at how the Jupiter Colonies got started. It may be a too pre-year 2000 but I bet it would be intereseing!

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  12. I wouldnt mind stories about the Audit <.< or maybe our good armor clad hero Mech.

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  13. A book in Penny's continuity set before 2000 with an adult main character. That means the character would be at least in his/her mid 30s by now. What about a story on the previous hero/villain lives of some of the teachers in Penny's school? Or maybe new characters who may/may not be parents of some of Penny's schoolmates (Lin or Helga maybe)? I always have a soft spot for obscure characters.

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    1. Hmm, maybe a different viewpoint OF Penny and Co.?
      But, that would be current time not past...

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  14. Okay. So it's official. For the period of time where I didn't have my internet and all my posts here were via my phone.

    Every Single Post was rife with spelling errors, or misappropriated words. Every single post!
    It is official - my mobile phone doesn't know how to spell.
    Either that or my touch-typing skills only apply when I'm using both hands and not when I'm trying to use a keyboard a couple of inches wide. Whichever comes first.

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    2. Dude, not cool. I actually posted the first reply on your blog, because I was flattered, but dumping a cheap spam-style plug on mine is tacky. You could have made it clever and funny and complimentary, and I'd have been okay with that.

      I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you were trying to be funny and just choked, and leave this up. But I'm not pleased.

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    6. Apology totally accepted. You were trying to do the right thing (be clever), and your joke didn't come off right. Happens to us all, even the professionals.

      I kind of hoped that's what it was. I am reassured that it's true.

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  16. Could you do something on the history/rise of Spider? It would tie in well with what an earlier poster said about Chinatown as well. The whole non-human super is just really interesting to me and I would love to know more about it.

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  17. What about the story behind both of penny's bases?

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  18. What about the story behind both of penny's bases?

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  19. What about the story behind both of penny's bases?

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  20. Basically, if you do a book in Penny's continuity...I'm gonna buy it. This series, while not PERFECT...is DAMn fun. If it wasn't for the fact that it'd be pointless, I'd review it.

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  21. I would love to see more about Penny's parents story set back when they were in high school or college and learning there powers...I absolutely love the series...Thanks so much for your writings.

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