(Real World Tales of the Deadwind Sea)

In the past few months, some interesting stories have floated my way concerning minor adventures with Deadwind Sea. Not adventures in the pages of the story, but adventures with the physical book itself. This delights me to no end, because one of the main purposes of this novel is to show how stories within can reach back to tinker with their own context. Get enough whiskey in us and my dear friend Brad Wilson and I will debate for hours over the possibility of a creation interacting with its creator (characters in a novel, for instance, or in a video game, Brad says, can never attain knowledge or impact beyond the paradigm of the page or the screen). The stories I tell often give a nod to this debate, and it is no surprise to me that this magic should begin to manifest in an even greater sphere. Then again, maybe it’s all just a coincidence to which my eager brain assigns a value. Either way, I’ve decided to catalog some of the real world tales that Deadwind Sea has been a part of. UPDATE: So far all stories have come from the west coast. No doubt the magic of this book grows stronger the closer you are to the Sea while reading.

If you have any stories involving Deadwind Sea, please send them over, and I will post them here. Hell, send pictures! fiction (dot) clemens (at) gmail (dot) com.

1. Augury from the gods: “i kid you not, i was on the beach reading when this very feather fell in the middle of your novel. i think it was when i started the chapter pictured. the sun was shining. the winds were calm. then it just floated down while i read. what do you make of that?” -Sharon in LA (NOTE: On a page not too far before the one in the picture is the line, “The first thing he heard was the flurry of wings. Sergio stopped at once, turned, and found nothing but a feather falling from the treetops.”)

2. “Your book tried to burn my house down! Ok, well actually I set it too close to a candle while I was taking a bath and it lit on fire! The weirdest part is I was at the end of Chapter 11 and had just read the part about the deadlands possibly being engulfed in flames in the future…then poof! Fire! Luckily the book survived, just the cover was torched.” -another west coast friend who wishes to remain anonymous

3. Impounded: A friend’s car was impounded by the police in California last week. Within the confines sits a copy of Deadwind Sea. A simple story, but it still tickles me. Unfortunately it had to come at the expense of my good friend, who is having one hell of a time right now. I’m hoping some real magic for this poor guy every day!

Got a story? Send it on over! And if my book DOES burn your house down, or eat your hamster, or some such shenanigan, I take no responsibility. She’s her own person, after all.

- Josh