Here are some frequently asked questions about the Finn Fancy books and my writing of them.
Q: Oh, the title made me think it was, like, a goth YA?
Q: Wait, you have sasquatches but no zombies?
Q: What would you compare your book to/ where would you shelve it?
Q: What inspired Finn Fancy Necromancy?
Q: Why Necromancy?/ What is Necromancy? / Is Necromancy romance with the dead?
Q: You’ve said Finn is based on you, so is Finn’s crazy family based on your family?
Q: Who is your favorite character?
Q: Are Port Townsend and Fort Worden as awesome as they sound?
Q: Where can I buy this awesome book?
Q: Oh, the title made me think it was, like, a goth YA?
A: No, it is more humorous than dark, and is a contemporary fantasy for adults, but could easily be read as YA.
The main character, Finn, was exiled at the age of 15 from our world into a kind of Fey limbo and is returning to his body now at age 40. He’s dealing with the changes of Sudden Onset Adulthood, the fact that his plans to code BASIC games for the Commodore 64 are a bit outdated in a world where a phone has more computing power than the WOPR, and is still hoping to get together with his high school crush of course, so between that and the snarky tone, I think it will appeal equally to both YA and adult readers.
^Top
Q: Wait, you have sasquatches but no zombies?
A: Indeed. It does have sasquatches and gnomes and other fun creatures, as well as some ghosts, but no zombies. It’s not that kind of book. Not that zombie novels aren’t cool too.
Q: The 80’s pop-cultural references remind me a bit of Ready Player One. Were you inspired by that book?
A: Nope. I’m a child of the 80s, and a lot of the 80s references, as well as Finn’s character, are based on my own experiences.
I’ll admit, I still haven’t read Ready Player One (mainly because I didn’t want to be influenced by it since it came out while I was in the middle of writing Finn Fancy Necromancy). Maybe I’ll go and read it now that I’m moving on to the 90s.
Q: What would you compare your book to/ where would you shelve it?
A: I’d say it is somewhere between Charles de Lint and Jim Butcher on the Urban Fantasy spectrum, but with a touch of Christopher Moore and Terry Pratchett.
When I first began writing it, I described it as Arrested Development meets Dresden Files, but that changed and evolved as I actually wrote it.
Q: What inspired Finn Fancy Necromancy?
A: I’d just finished several years of working on complex, research-heavy epic fantasy novels that I ultimately didn’t like. I was burned out. I just wanted to write something that would be as fun and easy to write as to read. So I started writing what became the first chapter of FFN, without worrying about where it was going or what it was about, just trying to make it as fun and full of thrills and magic as I could.
Once I had that first chapter, I sat down and figured out where it was going, and I just kept the words “Fun and Dramatic” as a guideline.
Q: Why Necromancy?/ What is Necromancy? / Is Necromancy romance with the dead?
A: I decided that rather than making Finn a loner bad ass wizard or demon hunter, I’d make him a reluctant magic user from a dysfunctional family of magic users. And I wanted that family to have a magical business, one that Finn wasn’t excited about being committed to, one that had a real negative cost to him, and necromancy seemed a good fit.
Necromancy is the ability to speak with the dead, and to control or raise ghosts or dead beings.
No, necromancy is not romance with the dead. My book does have some romance, and it has ghosts, but nobody gets it on with a ghost (in book 1 anyway).
Q: You’ve said Finn is based on you, so is Finn’s crazy family based on your family?
A: Nope (not that I’ll ever admit). I was binge-watching Arrested Development at the time I developed FFN, so that may have had an influence.
Q: Who is your favorite character?
A: It may change over time, but right now, my favorite is Finn’s brother Petey. Pete is just a big, lovable teddy bear of a guy who thinks he’s a werewolf because of a childhood dog bite (but he really isn’t). I have a real soft spot in my heart for Pete. It kills me every time I hurt the poor guy.
On the other hand, his sister Sammy is pretty awesome too, a hacker who’s allergic to magic. She’s the only one who’s inspired me to write a spin off story thus far, the tale of how she meets her girlfriend and deals with a unicorn televangelist cult leader.
Q: Are Port Townsend and Fort Worden as awesome as they sound?
A: Yep.
Q: Where can I buy this awesome book?
You can buy the book wherever booksellers with excellent taste offer it, including:
BOOK 1: FINN FANCY NECROMANCY
Book 2: BIGFOOTLOOSE AND FINN FANCY FREE
University Bookstore (Seattle)
For UK readers, it is available from Titan UK through your bookstore or:
Bigfootloose at Waterstones (UK)
BOOK 3: SMELLS LIKE FINN SPIRIT
University Bookstore (Seattle)
And for UK readers, it is available at (among other booksellers):
Smells Like Finn Spirit at Amazon UK
Smells Like Finn Spirit at Waterstones (UK)
Awesome series – I just finished all 3 on audiobook (Todd Haberkorn is a fantastic voice actor, by the way, really brought your characters to life). I hope you plan on writing more about Finn and his extended family – I love the world you’ve created.
Thanks so much, Dennis! That means a lot! 🙂
Will there be a 4th book? So many unanswered questions. I picked up the first Fin Fancy book because I thought the cover looked interesting and as soon as I started the first page I was glued to these books until I finished the series. I wont mention specifics as to not spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t finished yet but you left some major cliff hangers. And I got to know more about Reggie’s Tina Turner act.
Mike, thank you so much!
Unfortunately, at this time there is not any official plan for a 4th book, mostly due to my decision but also due to publishing realities. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be one eventually.
I certainly have some very high-level thoughts about future books, involving the gods, an escalating rebellion by the feybloods/brightbloods, a bit of time travel, the evolution of Dawn and Finn and their dynamic together, and the possible handoff to Finn’s offspring, with titles like Finn Fancy Fey Fighter, Phinaeus Fancius Godslayer, and Finn Fancy Forever.
But alas, while the series sold well enough that I earned back my advance on all three books and then some (a pleasant surprise for a humorous urban fantasy by an unknown author released in expensive hardcover), and my editor was incredibly supportive, the series was not a runaway hit, and so the publisher was not eagerly asking for further books. This is just the norm for the majority of series from big publishers, sadly.
And, frankly, I did not ask or push for an answer from them on whether they wanted more books.
I’d just finished writing books 2 and 3 from conception to finish on deadlines, which I felt strained my ability to write the quality of story and level of humor I wanted. I’m proud of the results, don’t get me wrong, but Finn Fancy was a happy accident. I wrote book 1 for fun, with no thoughts on future books and with no experience writing books to deadline, so I did not enter the book deadline treadmill as well-prepared as I hope to do on future series. So when I delivered book 3, the idea of not having to jump immediately into trying to create book 4 out of thin air was a bit of a relief.
It was an incredibly hard decision not to fight for the series or seek an alternate publisher. I truly do love writing them, and continue to get lots of feedback like yours asking for more of them. And after spending more than 5 years with Finn and family they are alive to me, whispering in my ear to tell their further adventures. But between the writing and promotion, with the last two books on deadline, my creative soul wanted to stretch a bit, refill the creative well, and to write something new.
So while I definitely miss spending time with my Finn Fancy family, it will likely be a couple of years at least before I revisit them. But revisit them I hope to do at some point, even if I have to self-publish their further adventures just for myself and the other Finn Fancy fans.
Hi! I just finished reading the first book, discovered my library didn’t have the other two, and promptly ordered them online. I can definitely see myself rereading them in the future any time I need a not-quite-Dresden-Files funny, urban fantasy read. I must admit I discovered this series by happy accident shelving in the library, and it caught my eye because necromancy is not often the main magic focus!
Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks, and I look forward to whatever books you decide to release in the future!
Wow, thank you!