Hi, folks!
I’ve been meaning to send this out for a while now. But it turns out my husband and I are now professional chauffeurs. We spend a stunning amount of time carting kids all over the city. But We’re happy about it. There are tennis and soccer games, play dates, birthday parties, extra classes, band practice, and even a punk rock gig — all things we very much missed in 2021. Quarantine feels more and more like a bad memory.
Next week I’ve got two events —
1) I’ll be reading with Colin Hinckley at Chevalier Books on Monday, October 23 at 7pm. Colin’s debut, BLACK LORD is out, and now that I’ve got a copy I’m excited to dig in. He’s also a bookseller at Village Well Books in Culver City, which is how we met. Book people get around! Anyway, if you’re local, please come out. I’m looking forward to it.
2) I’ll be speaking virtually at the Swampscott Public Library on Thursday, October 26 at 6pm EST. Registration required. Sign up here. Fret not at the last notice. It appears 73 spots are still available.
In other news, though I don’t yet have galleys for A BETTER WORLD, some colleagues are starting to read the bound manuscript. To my delight, this is what Alma Katsu had to say: “Perfectly constructed social horror with emotional heft. A Rorschach test of all our modern fears anchored by the honest, human, heroic characters at the heart of it. A brilliant piece of writing.” Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor. Alma has written some great books and I’ve wanted to meet her for some time, so I’m delighted. Also, she used to be a spy!
If you’re like: Wait, is this horror? I don’t read horror! You gotta trust me on this. A BETTER WORLD is up your alley.
In other news, I’ve started the next novel, THE PARENT TRAP, set on Long Island, in a house called Swamp House. It’s been a joy to work on, which is usually a good sign.
My eleven year old turned twelve today. She and her dad made an awesome Pinata based on the cover of Stephen King’s novel Pet Semetary and asked me to tag King on Twitter to see if he’d wish her a happy birthday. So I’m about to do that. What I’d like to point out: 1) she loves SK and her room is covered with SK posters. 2) She knows her mom is hoping to a get blurb from him on A BETTER WORLD, and I suspect the Twitter thing is to help catch his attention. This is reason number 3006 that Frances Petty is cool.
I’ll close with a Halloween horror story. I finally had sinus surgery last month as I’ve been complaining for over five years about a frustrating tendency for my left nasal passage to collect infection, and then I wind-up sick for weeks and months longer than most people. It took a third opinion before someone finally looked at an old CT scan and said, “I see something in there. Let’s go in and check it out.” So they did, and friends, after a 2.5 hour surgery, they removed what is apparently termed a fungal ball. I’m fine now, and told I’ll get sick far less often now that my little invader is gone.
Shockingly, I no longer have any problems drinking red wine. Which begs the question: Do fungus like red wine?
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