Set in 1960s England, this is a much more personal story than The Savage Year. Not that I have anything in common with my protagonist, Maud Binks, other than a love of reading but I connect with 1969 England much more than I do with the U.S. in 1968
The inspiration came from my disappointment in John Brunner’s Black is the Color. The text on Katherine Jeff Jones’ cover gives you the novel’s hook, which I found intriguing. The book, as detailed at the link, did not deliver.
However that got me thinking about using the setting myself. My protagonist was a teenage girl in ’69 “Swinging London.” Maud, a working glass girl stuck in a posh school, has impressed her classmates by pretending to be tough, wild, sexually experienced and generally outrageous. Now one of her classmates has called her on it so Maud proves herself by sneaking a few of her friends into a black Soho jazz club. It turns out the club she picked was the wrong place at the wrong time and embroils Maud in the schemes of Death’s Jester.
Several elements in the early drafts stuck through to the finished product. There’s seemingly suicidal Hilda, whom (Maud and her classmate Prue try to help; Death’s Jester lives inside mirrors; and he’s transformed Hilda’s family into monsters. The villain was based on an episode of the cartoon Shazzan, The Evil Jester of Masira, about a jester who’d acquired a book of magic and transformed the royal family he served into monsters.
Much of the earlier material wound up on the cutting-room floor. After the initial encounter I had the Merryman (the villain’s alternate name) come after Maud and Prue; the attacks were creepy enough but the way his powers worked didn’t make enough sense. Nor could I figure out the ending and how they’d beat him. When I read the parts I was satisfied with to the writing group however, they said it worked perfectly by itself — all I needed was a stronger ending. I wrote one I thought worked; if you read it, you can decide for yourself.
#SFWApro. Top cover by Kemp Ward. All rights to images remain with current holders. 19-Infinity is available on Amazon in paperback and ebook and available as an ebook on other websites.
