Thank you to all the Little, Brown folks who have worked on this book with me. Ben Mautner, for the awesome design work and rad cover—we make a good team! Thanks, Alvina Ling and Emma Ledbetter, for reading and offering input, and Victoria Stapleton, Zoe Luderitz, Christine Ma, and everyone else at LBYR for helping to get this book out! An EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS to my wonderful editor, Connie Hsu, for going way above and beyond on this and probably working harder on it than I did. I don’t think I could possibly explain how different this book would have been without all her hard work, keen observations, and uncanny insight into my own brain. She seriously knows what I’m thinking before I do. It’s scary and it’s wonderful.
Thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed Happyface. Thanks to all the bloggers and reviewers who said such nice things about that book. I was and am overwhelmed!
And last but certainly not least, thank YOU for reading this.
BONUS SECTION!
Here’s some behind-the-scenes fun stuff.
Here are a few insights and unused artifacts from the production of WINTER TOWN! It’s fun for me to share some of this stuff in the extra space I have back here, so I hope you enjoy! Come visit me at www.stephenemond.com for more behind-the-scenes goodies and to say hello, ask any questions, or let me know what you thought of the book.
On to the treasure!
1 These are some sketches I used to find the characters and to set the tone with the scenery drawings, as well as a few pieces from my original sample pitch.
2 Originally Evan’s comics were going to be three-panel strips that would be interspersed throughout chapters. I offered to do an actual Web comic “by” Evan for a year or so around the book release, but my energies were better spent on the book.
3 Scrappy Doodles was a popular early feature. Evan and Lucy were supposed to communicate midyear only through this scrapbook, through letters and photos and comics. I did six sample pages, but ultimately they felt redundant and did not offer enough that the main story didn’t cover.
4 Before the Aelysthia comic was thought up, I was going to have Evan draw these autobiographical comics throughout the book. I like drawing him better in cartoony form, anyway.
5 I started and ended the book in third person, but I did try out a first-person exercise. This wasn’t very good, but was helpful in finding the characters and the world they live in. I did a full chapter in this style before moving back to third person.
Thank you so much for reading this. Let me know what you think at my website, stephenemond.com, or via e-mail—emoboyrocks@yahoo.com. ’Til next time!
WANT MORE BONUS MATERIAL?
Turn the page to check out Evan and Lucy‘s playlists, as well as one more comic in the Aleysthia adventures!
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Contents
WELCOME
ONE YEAR AGO
CHAPTER ONE: A DAY IN THE LIFE TODAY
CHAPTER TWO: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
CHAPTER THREE: I’M LOOKING THROUGH YOU
CHAPTER FOUR: CARRY THAT WEIGHT
CHAPTER FIVE: SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW
CHAPTER SIX: FIXING A HOLE
CHAPTER SEVEN: NOWHERE MAN
CHAPTER EIGHT: IN MY LIFE
INTERLUDE
CHAPTER NINE: HEROES AND VILLAINS
CHAPTER ELEVEN: FAIRY-TALE MUSIC
CHAPTER TWELVE: FALL BREAKS AND BACK TO WINTER
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: WIND CHIMES
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: GOD ONLY KNOWS
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: HANG ON TO YOUR EGO
GETTING BETTER
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BONUS SECTION!
ONE MORE STORY
NEWSLETTERS
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Stephen Emond
Lucy’s art in Chapter 3 by Elaine Hornby
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
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Second e-book edition: December 2012
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ISBN 978-0-316-19462-4