LordOfYouAll

As we all know Wayward Son will be released on September 24th. But the sales preceding that date make a HUGE difference for the book. I’ve been doing some research, asking some questions, getting some answers. So here is a distillation of this research.

ANY KIND OF PRE-ORDER HELPS–you can order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, Bookdepository, through your local bookstore, through @rainbowrowell’s hometown bookstore, The Bookworm (SIGNED COPIES!!!) 

The book is at a great price on Amazon and Barnes & Noble right now so if a few dollars make a difference for you check it out. Both kindle and hardback are a GREAT deal at the moment.

Audiobooks count too!

THESE PRE-SALE NUMBERS MATTER BECAUSE IT IS HOW THE BIG BOOKSTORES DECIDE TO STOCK BOOKS AND ORDER SPECIAL EDITIONS! THIS MEANS BARNES AND NOBLE, TARGET ETC!!! 

You know what else helps? LIBRARY HOLDS. And those are FREE!! Call your local library. Call all the libraries around you. LiBRARY HOLDS MATTER TO THE PUBLISHERS AND COUNT AS INTEREST! 

Basically if we can all do whatever we can to get the word out, make a buzz, create excitement, then that creates a positive outlook for the publisher and increases the likelihood of the book being available in quantities in more stores and makes paperbacks. graphic novels, special editions all the more likely. 

Please reblog this if you could. Any way to get the word out! I am so excited for this release!! I noticed Rick Riordan’s fourth Trials of Apollo book is coming out THE SAME DAY–that will likely steal quite a bit of thunder from Wayward Son that first week. So what we do now matters. 

Also, real talk. Thanks to having dabbled in some comic depictions of scenes from Carry On, I’ve come across hoards of fellow fans that would love to see the book made into a graphic novel format. Whether or not the artist of such an endeavor is me is irrelevant; illustrated editions or graphic novelizations simply won’t happen unless the popularity of the series zooms skyward. Preorders are a very important means to deliver the message that this series has a market.

We all know how much we love this story, and we love it because it is a really, really great story with universal appeal told within the framework of LGBTQ+/YA/Fantasy literature. Tell people about the book. “Sell it” to your family and friends (and if you have the resources, gift it to them for birthdays/holidays/just because). 

And then start to think about how they ended up lying on the floor and then on Baz’s couch

And then start to wonder why they didn’t just sleep together on Baz’s bed?

Because I have. And here’s what I think about it. So, the bed is probably like king sized, and it would have allowed them to spread out next to each other. BUT what if that wasn’t the point? What if they just wanted to be as close to each other as possible? The couch would be too small to lay beside each other, so they would have to sleep in each other’s arms.

He HOWLS.

so for (more than) three years he’s been longing for simon, staring from afar, counting down the days until they would eventually be staring each other down on opposing sides of a battlefield rather than their opposite sides of their bedroom.

he’s been pining hopelessly for all that time, watching as he and agatha got together and were the perfect couple, all the while he was conflicted because while the thought of simon with someone else made him feel sick to the stomach, all he wanted was for simon to be happy (he’d cross every line for him).

and THEN simon kisses him - and kissing is suddenly a thing they do now - and says he wants to be baz’s terrible boyfriend and it’s like all of baz’s birthdays and christmas’ have come at once because this boy he’s been in love with forever wants him back.

they’re on such a good path without secrets and they’re solving natasha grimm-pitch’s murder and it’s christmas eve and everything’s possible.

then the humdrum steals the magic right out from under them (literally) and baz follows simon to penny’s house - because where else would he go, honestly - and there’s the soft little touch on his back because they’re soft with each other, and because simon is safe, and because everything else in his life is falling apart but simon is steadfast as always.

it all crumbles again when baz goes off to face the numpties. 

baz knows he’s maybe his priorities are a little off, but he’s so close to finally making his mother proud, to trying to PROVE to her that his father and fiona made the right decision in not burning him to a crisp the night he was turned.

but when he finds out that simon has gone to face the mage - who’s evil, who killed his mother, who isn’t to be trusted, not with SIMON - he kicks into autopilot as he and penny rush to watford.

he gets there and he sees simon collapse and he HOWLS because he had everything he could ever have wanted. 

simon snow, his terrible boyfriend, on his side, eating left overs on his bedroom floor, not caring that baz is a vampire, or that his family are pitch’s or that he’s gay.

just simon, the disaster, his terrible boyfriend, collapsing right in front of his eyes and he CAN’T-

he can’t lose him, not now, not after everything.

so he howls like he’s wounded because for simon to die would be to break his heart irreparably, like an animal because humanity can kiss his ass if something’s happened to simon, like he’s in agony because he IS.

all baz wanted is simon and in that moment where he thinks he’s lost him just as he felt that he could finally have him, that is true pain.

so idk if anyone else agrees. 

i was kind of just thinking aloud.

but OP has a damn good point.

“I just want to be back in our room where he’s not hurting anyone and no one is hurting him.” - Simon Snow, Chapter 61, Carry On

I noticed this when I read Carry On back in September, but it came to me again this morning.

Simon never wants Baz to hurt anyone. As in he uses multiple opportunities throughout the book to prevent Baz from getting blood on his hands – not because he thinks of Baz as a villain, but because Simon cares so much about him, he doesn’t want murder to be Baz’s burden. There are hints of this everywhere, but nowhere is this more apparent than in the vampire bar.

Only when Simon notices Baz looking around the room in the vampire bar to see how many he could take with him does Simon insert himself into the conversation demanding Nicodemus “tell him the rest” or else he’ll take him down. Then when Baz threatens to kill Nicodemus, Simon intervenes again, putting his hand on Baz’s shoulder and urging him to leave. Simon’s purpose in that room is to be the blade so Baz doesn’t need to harm anyone, and by extension, himself.

In short, I think Simon is well acquainted with the spiritual cost of taking a life and he doesn’t want that for Baz, subconsciously at first, then overtly. No wonder it becomes part of his obsession – trailing Baz everywhere to make sure he isn’t hurting anyone, not only for the welfare of those Baz could harm, but for Baz’s own welfare.

And it goes both ways. Baz intervenes when Simon nearly kills the dragon - less for the dragon than to save Simon from unwittingly doing something terribly dark that could stain his soul.

So yeah. All this is probably super obvious stuff that everyone has already thought about, but I just really dig the subtle ways they love each other before that kiss in the forest happens. ❤️

“Simon Snow is never going to call me “darling”. ”