L is for Lucy Wilson
L is for Lucy Wilson
In which I do some humble bragging and vague posting
I had some exciting news this week about a new Lucy Wilson story, coming out very soon from Candy Jar. I wrote it a little while ago and saw the cover for the first time yesterday. It looks… amazing.
If you’re a Welcome to Neverbury reader and you don’t know who Lucy Wilson is, here’s an emergency primer
Lucy is the granddaughter of The Brigadier from Doctor Who
Lucy is the lead character in her own range of books published by Candy Jar.
I’ve written quite a few of these.
OK, now back to the news.
Of course, I can’t show the cover to you… yet. I can’t even tell you, I think, what the story is called. What I will tell you is that it’s got Lucy, Hobo, some scary stuff (obviously), some funny stuff (hopefully), and a lot of pop-culture Easter eggs (for the grown-ups).
Having been focussed so much on Welcome to Neverbury and Return to Neverbury (coming soon) recently, Lucy has taken a little back of a back seat. Finding a new cover in my inbox was a nice reminder of how big a part of my writing life Lucy and Hobo have been. (And they aren’t done with me yet!)
As if that wasn't enough, I got a little treat this month in spotting a whole bunch of my characters in the “L is for Lucy” post that was part of Candy Jar’s “A to Z of Candy Jar” this month.
Can you spot them? Don’t worry - I’ve done the hard work for you…
Harlequin
The first character that I created for the Lucy Wilson Mysteries, Harlequin is the main villain of both “Curse of the Mirror Clowns” and “The George Kostinen Mystery” (part of the Bloodlines trilogy for adult readers).
I poured a lot of time into researching clowns before I wrote Curse of the Mirror Clowns and there’s a lot of lore lurking under the surface about the various clown houses, clown society, and how Harlequin became the leader of his merry troupe of time-and-space-travelling assassins. Why did I decide that what my kids’ sci-fi adventure needed was to be based on Commedia dell'arte? Well, that’s just how I roll.
Mr. Behind the Scenes
A two-dimensional creature made of shadows, this character was created for the Christmas story “Past, Present, and Yet to Come”. This was the first Christmas story that I wrote for Candy Jar and I went way over the top.
“Past, Present, and Yet to Come” has multiple timelines, a space prison, different versions of Lucy, and the first appearance of UMBRELLA (my alternative to UNIT).
The name “Mr. Behind the Scenes” doesn’t actually appear in the story, but that was my nickname for him. If you read the story, I hope that will make sense.
Ghost Viking
Another character created for a Christmas story, the Ghost Viking appeared in “The Gray Lady of Martyr’s House”. I say “created” in the loosest sense of the word, as this character was another Easter Egg that I snuck into the story for eagle-eyed mystery-solving readers. If you haven’t read the story yet, go read it and let me know if you can tell where the character comes from. Really, please Doo.
The Unimaginable Horror
Another creature created for “The Gray Lady of Martyr’s House”, the unimaginable horror makes its appearance in the end-game for the story (it’s the tentacle, not the older gentleman… that’s the Brigadier!). If you’re a Neverbury reader, you might notice a tentacled theme here. Yes, I love me some Lovecraft.
The “unimaginable” nature of the horror is quite important to the story but, just in case you haven’t read it, I won’t spoil that for you here.
What else is happening and where the hell is Return to Neverbury?
Don’t worry, it’s all nostalgia at Lynch Towers.
The first set of stories for Return to Neverbury are done and have been handed over to my wonderful editor. (She’s so wonderful that I married her, that’s how committed I am). The stories I’ve already written match the length of the original book, so I’m expecting Return to Neverbury to be significantly bigger than its predecessor!
The book will be out later this year.
Until then, lots of love,
Chris.
XOXO