The Unnecessary Sequel Changes Lives...

Last night, while working on a new book (a parody of US History, which is going great), I got the following email from a Trotter fan. I thought it was especially lively, so I'm sharing it (with the fan's permission, of course).



"When the first Barry Trotter book came out," she writes, "you couldn't even get it in bookstores. I found it by pure chance; it was hiding behind a copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and I thought that by some miracle, the fifth HP book had come out several decades early. Now, however, you can find it almost anywhere that sells books. '"Barry Trotter"? Yeah, we have it, there's been a demand for it lately.'



"Even so, I didn't know you had written a sequel until two days ago. Some friends and I were checking out some book with deformed dogs drawn into all the pages and laughing, and I spotted the second book. "It's BARRY TROTTER!!!111111" (Yes, I probably said it loud enough to warrant some ones instead of exclamation marks.)"



"Yes, we know... It's been out for a while now."



"No, no, not THAT one. Look. This one's smaller. And hardback. And it's an UNNECCESSARY SEQUEL." I stared at them significantly.



One of my friends, Austin, had no idea what I was talking about and gave me a blank look, and I was tempted to bash his head into a bookshelf.



My other friend, Ines, screamed, "A Sequel, a sequel!" and everyone in the B. Dalton glared at us. So, naturally, we had to buy it. Except none of us, being poor, jobless teenagers, had any money.



I should mention about now that before noticing BT2, I had bought a manga with my last remaining lunch money and had only about ten punds in dimes left over. Ines had a dollar in change, and Austin had like, forty dollars but was unwilling to share with us. ("I just bought you lunch, you crackwhores, now leave me alone.")



So we took out all the change and started counting it all out on the floor. Six dollars from me, one from Ines, three dollars we stole out of Austin's back pocket when he wasn't paying attention, and some leftover pennies.



Went up to the front counter. We were short fifty cents, and after spending fifteen minutes counting and recounting our money, the guy was impatient, and volenteered to pay for the remaining amount.



Then I went home and read it. You're great. You're like, a classic. Somewhere between Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and 'Grant Naylor'.... only better."



Well, wow. That's a tremendous compliment; not only the august company, but what author wouldn't want to be so prized as to encourage stealing from one's friends? Usually only drugs demonstrate such a hold on people, but so strong is the power of reading...



Barry Trotter and the Unnecessary Sequel is oozing merrily all over a writhing UK, but it remains a well-kept secret over here (maybe if you updated the website, Mike--shut up! I'm waiting on the illustrator!). If you liked the first one, folks, ask for the second at your bookstore. Bookstores do listen to customers, even ones who have to count pennies. Having been a penny-counter for most of my life, I have a special place in my heart for those Trotteristas...