Fun Facts for “Clueless No More”

Factoid One
In Chapter 8, the large number that Daisy imagines Kevin knowing the square root of (2,929,043) is actually my great-grandmother’s phone number from back in the day, when she lived in the Bronx. My Dad—who always likes to point out that people in my generation don’t bother memorizing phone numbers anymore likes to show off by rattling off the phone numbers he still remembers from when he was a kid. His grandmother’s is one of them: 292-9043. And he doesn’t stop there. He still remembers all of the phone numbers of his “old gang” (as he calls them). Meanwhile, I do not know my own girlfriend’s phone number off the top of my head, and have it written down on a slip of paper in my wallet in case I need to call her from a pay phone because a zombie ate my iPhone.

Factoid Two
Some may ask why I didn’t include a chapter about Megan and Vanessa’s visit to Tremont in the main body of the novel, rather than adding it as a Bonus Chapter.
Here is my reason:
The power and humor of writing scenes involving Vanessa’s effect on others comes from explaining that effect through the eyes of others. Thus, I would have wanted to write Vanessa’s visit to Tremont from the perspective of the residents of Tremont. However, employing that style of writing (showing the perspectives of multiple characters in a single chapter) would have disrupted the flow of the rest of the story, and probably proved jarring to the readers.
But I knew I couldn’t get away with not writing a chapter describing Vanessa’s visit to Tremont, so I added that bonus chapter.

Factoid Three
This is William’s first appearance in one of my books since “Nothing But A Fling.”

Factoid Four
The propensity for Megan and Vanessa to overpack is always easy to write because it is the same thing my girlfriend and I do every time we take a trip anywhere. Depending on the length of the trip, 4 suitcases is pretty normal for us. And there are such things as brunch high heels and lunch high heels.

Factoid Five
Zero issue is an actual comic book term, referring to an issue that is intended as a back-story issue, providing information about a comic book series and its characters that a reader ought to know.

Factoid Six
Henrietta’s lack of vocabulary prowess is modeled after one of my best friends. She is a woman who is whip-smart in practically everything, but for some reason is not very good with vocabulary. She can communicate her ideas perfectly fine, of course, but is simply not someone who knows “six different words for the same thing, like you Sabrina,” as she puts it.

Factoid Seven
Originally, there was going to be a subplot about Vanessa arranging to have the comic book artist Monique Allison appear at Zero Issue Comix, but I let that fall to the wayside. Still, the Monique Allison bit helped point out that although Amelia and Daisy have a successful comic book shop in Newquay, it is still in Newquay, and not really on the radar much.

Factoid Eight
Speaking of originally…
Originally, more of the Carlsbad Royal Lesbian Court were to make an appearance in Newquay for the art show, but I decided that so many additional characters would prove to be a distraction from the main story.

Factoid Nine
Goodness, I had a hell of a time coming up with names for Amelia and Daisy’s mothers! I wanted something appropriately Cornish, so naturally I Googled it, and the assortment of names I was given was quite astonishing and very cool. I feel that the choices I went with (Elowen and Glanna) sound like something out of a Lord of the Rings book.

Factoid Ten
Originally (again), I was going to end the book with Megan and Vanessa receiving an invitation from England to The Orangery—the venue where Amelia and Daisy’s mums had planned on their daughters getting married. But I didn’t feel like pushing the timeline of the book out that far. I would’ve wanted such an ending to have occurred at least a year after the events in the main part of the novel.

Bonus Factoid
The majority of the comic book series mentioned in the book are, in fact, comic book series I collect as well. However, I’m not a comic collector in the sense of someone who reads them and can explain every bit of minutiae in them. In fact, I don’t even read them. I have comic books I have never even opened!
I’m a cover collector. I look for issues (regardless of series) that have cover art I am attracted to because I view them a little works of art. Of course, me being who I am, I only collect covers that feature women on them.