A Wish Upon the Stars: Afterthoughts and What Comes Next
It's done.
The Destiny FUCK YEAH! arc is done.
And I am so happy it is. Jesus Christ, that was a shit ton of work. I'm not adverse to working hard, but writing three 150+K word books back to back to back, and then editing said books, then promoting said books, then releasing said books, and I just...
I'm happy it's over.
I'm proud of the stories I told here. I took some chances. I like to think they paid off, in the end. You might disagree with something I did, but hey, that's what's fun about it, right?
FULL SPOILERS TO FOLLOW. SERIOUSLY. DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE ENTIRE SERIES.
So, here's a few hows/whys/what the fucks for you about the books and the series in total:
THE FINAL BATTLE
I've said before that I planned these books down to the smallest details before writing them. You remember? Certain things that happened (Pete, sorry)(Lady Tina, not sorry at all) were always going to happen.
And when I got to the big showdown at the end, Sam was going to use his magic to bring Ryan Foxheart back to life, not by shocking his heart, but by using the same magic he used to bring back the bird that the life out of a small section of forest.
And guess what?
I wrote it that way.
In the initial climactic scene of A Wish Upon The Stars, Sam turned Ryan's lungs to stone (a sort of homage to their first meeting in the alleyway in the slums of Verania). Ryan died. Sam crawled toward him. Myrin taunted him.
And then Sam called on the same magic that brought the bird back to life, and destroyed every single Dark wizard that stood around him.
(Aside from Myrin, of course. He survived, and then the whole chased scene that followed remained the same.)
Yes, Sam essentially destroyed an entire group of people.
I was okay with it. Because they were evil, right? They had taken over Verania!
And then my editors got a hold of it.
And said that was genocide.
I said, "What."
Editor: "It's genocide. He just destroyed all the Dark wizards."
Me: "It's not genocide. They were the bad guys!"
Editor: "Right...but he still just killed all of them. Sam of Dragons just murdered hundreds of people. Genocide."
Me: "But! That's...they took over Verania! They forced people into camps! They did bad things!"
Editor: "But who did they actually kill?"
Me: "Godsdammit."
Because, of course, my editor was right. The Darks were bad. They had done bad things. But they hadn't actually killed people. And was it really in character for Sam of all people to turn around and kill all of them? Especially since large parts of these last three books was the idea of having a power versus actually using it, right versus wrong, that just because you could do something, does it mean you should?
So I rewrote it, bringing in Zero to save (blargh) all the Darks aside from Caleb and Ruv (because fuck those guys).
(I was annoyed. But I usually only get annoyed when my editors are right. And they were right, here.)
So, the Dark wizards got a reprieve, and I think the book is better off for it. Looking back, I can see just how jarring that turn of events would be. And then it allowed me to punch up the ending between Sam and the Star Dragon to make it better, to show the power of choice.
MYRIN AND RANDALL
There is a small, small scene between Myrin and Randall, seeing each other face to face after they've rescued the King. It's the only time in the entire series that they are together in the present time. That scene, small though it may be, I think is one of the most powerful.
MORGAN
Always going to come back. Always. I would never have actually killed him off for good. I couldn't have that. I love him too much.
That doesn't mean I didn't cackle at the ending of The Consumption of Magic, because I did. I cackled hard.
I also needed to show that Sam could stand on his own, without Morgan, which is why he didn't come back until the end. Was it a gift from the gods? Maybe. But I'm actually pretty pissed at the gods for letting this all happen in the first place, so fuck them too.
LADY TINA
I like her. You don't have to. She was never going to die. I don't feel bad about that at all.
IMMORTALITY VS MORTALITY
This, honestly, was the thing I thought about the most, if Sam would become mortal or stay as he was. Ever since it was first brought up in Lightning, I've wrestled with the idea of Sam staying young while those he loved around him grew older (with some exceptions, of course.)
Look. whether not you agree with Sam's decision, or even if you think he did it for the right reason or not (and if you think it was just for Ryan, you might have missed the point), this felt right for me. For Sam, and the story I was trying to tell. Love it, hate it, that's okay. He went into the woods and came back...unexpected. Circles back, I think.
THE DRAGONS OF VERANIA
Kevin, GW, Zero, Pat, Leslie. I just...love them. All of them. GW and Randall arguing with each other when they're reunited. Pat and Leslie mothering Kevin. Zero acting like he doesn't give a shit, when I think he cares more than all of them.
OTHER THINGS
--Terry is a unicorn accountant. lololol.
--I grossed myself out in the scene when Sam was giving Gary back his horn. That's hard to do, but I did it.
--Gary's dramatic performance in explaining how he lost his horn made me smile for days when I was writing it. He and Sam and Tiggy are ridiculous.
--I could seriously write about Justin, Ryan, and Sam in disguises in the sewers on missions for at least sixteen more books. I'll refrain from doing so, however.
PRINCE JUSTIN'S BOOK
...is going to be a long way off. I'm serious. I need a break from Verania. A long break. But...
Yes. Justin will have his own book. I see it now only as a one-off. I want to go back to the irreverent tone of the first book without all the world-ending/super bad guy stuff.
But...
I already know how the story is going to go. Yes, this is going to be about an arraigned marriage with a prince from a faraway land. Yes, it's going to be from Justin's perspective. Yes, everyone else will be in it. And yes, it is going to explain the world outside of Verania, and why no one came to Verania's aid during the whole Myrin debacle.
You see, as it turns out, Verania is sort of a...redheaded stepchild (no offense to redheaded stepchildren). The rest of the world doesn't know what to make of it. And the group that comes from this other country is going to be...well. They're going to be the opposites of our Justin and Sam and Ryan and Tiggy and Gary. This new prince will be...a dork. His wizard will be a hardass. His knight will be just terrible. And this new prince might just have a unicorn and a giant of his own...
One day.
But for now, thank you. Thank you for letting me tell this ridiculous story that started out as a immature fairy tale and turned into something far, far bigger (though still immature). I hope you've had as much fun as I've did in Verania.
tj
Comments from the old website:
Anonymous
You monster!
You emotionally manipulative monster!
This series is hard. Sooooo hard. (Kevin, shut up! )
Throwing us back again and again, into the most painful moments of Sam's past...
I've cried before while reading, but this... From the last 1/4 of book 3 through the majority of book four. The worst part? Dark Wizards can Kiss our Asses.
You're an awful person, T. J.
Mixing the pain of the past, the joy of acceptance, the pressure of being the solitary hope for the people that have only just begun to realize how badly they had wronged you...
The tears... Oh, the tears.
You are a monster.
DON'T CHANGE A THING.
These are some of the best books I've ever read. They're probably the best. But I'm now as old as you are - and my most precious reading memories are polarized by the perception of youth. The last time I cried while reading was - so far as I can recall - in middle school. And I read. A lot.
I've been shocked by books (song of ice and fire), inspired and spiritually uplifted (Wraeththu - Storm Constantine), and believed Lissa Kasey would become my favorite author (after I recorded one of her books for Amazon, this was pretty well cemented). But stone crumbles. And you... You amazingly awesome emotional monstrosity...
You are revered. And feared.
I will be back for more.
Thanks for these. I'll be spreading them as far as I can.
Carey
I have read and listened to this series so many times. TLSH being one of my all time favorite stories and the series one of my favorites ever. After I read Consumption and was waiting for Wish to be released the series took on a different feel for me. After what happened to Morgan at the end of book 3, it was really hard for me to read the scenes with Sam and Morgan together when I did my rereads. I was so heartbroken and I couldn’t read the stories and feel the lightness I did before. I still loved them and read/listened to them multiple times while I waited for the last book but damn it was different. How fantastic of a writer to make me feel so much! And even though I was so mad at you (while you were cackling gleefully) I still could not get enough of these guys. So it is with so much love for your writing I say Thank You TJ for Wish and how it all ended. All those decisions you made were perfect! I couldn’t have asked for more. And now as I am listening to the series AGAIN (new audio,yay!) the lightness is back and I am just so happy to not want to cry every time Morgan is on page!
I know Justin’s book is a long ways off but I always seem to forget how much of a mother cracker he is in book one until I read it yet again, I really hope you make him work for it, lol.
Raichael
This series was...well.
I read How to Be a Normal Person first, while LSH sat on my Kindle. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. (I was new to this whole ebook slash goodness thing; previous to this, I would buy print editions, and only very rarely cause I was dirt poor.)
And then I opened LSH, and you gained yourself a fan for life. HtBNP was my first step -- dipping my toes in the water, so to speak -- but with LSH, I plunged off a 200 ft cliff into the churning ocean. I've laughed, I've grossly sobbed, I've talked about the series to anyone who would listen (and let me tell you, when you're ringing up someone's pleasure products, they are a CAPTIVE audience!) I hope I gained you some new fans...
But I will forever love and reread the Destiny Fuck Yeah! series, and remember that you, Mr. Klune, have set the bar for other writers so very high that we demand such excellence in ALL of our reading materials.
So, thanks for being you, and letting me have a glimpse into your soul.
Claire
I literally verbally gush about you and all your stories to anyone and everyone. I’m like, oh man these books , these stories. They look at me and they’re like “What the hell are you going on about?” Gay unicorns!!!
I’m like, oh man... these stories are magic... TJ you are a special human.
Ta muchly xx 🙏😍
Nicky
I loved the whole series. I just knew that Lady Tina was gonna be a part of the Resistance. I was sad that Gary had been right about Brant and Katia, lol. I wanted then to be important.
I slight correction is needed though. Randall and Myrin had two encounters in the series. The first was when Randall spirited Myrin away to protect Sam after he consumed Morgan's magic.
Shangrila
I cannot thank you enough for this book and all of the work it entailed. As someone that has spent her whole life fighting the dark, it spoke to me on a level that I can barely express. Not that I didn't try. I wrote probably twelve effusive paragraphs in the Klunatic spoiler thread, including these outtakes:
~A unicorn...accountant. With a house. And good benefits. *turns slowly to stare at our author
My real life is NOTHING compared to my inner Technicolor reel, people! Gary's performance GAVE ME LIFE!
Am I the only one whose heart stopped when Myrin said, "I never asked you to save me, dear heart." Tj wields the power to make me mourn the history of an entire relationship with a single sentence.
Here Klune addresses the darkness of our innermost thoughts. This is Sam wrestling with the lure of power & the dark. Sam as a destroyer god. Like Vishnu & Shiva & Thor. "Being a force for good was so much harder than being one for evil." Who here has not thought, "Can't this just be EASIER?" I relate to Sam so much. This story cracked me open (again), dredging my subconscious. I am Sam & Sam is me & I love him more in the struggle than I ever did out of it.~
After I finished the book, my husband walked into our room, took one look at me and said, "What IS it about this author?!“ And after I tried to fumble my way through an explanation of how it both gutted me and gave me endless hope, he said something like, "He understands the dragon inside of you, hunh?" And then I cried again. TLSH and AWUTS will forever be a part of my survival tool kit, and I can never repay that.
(Also, for the record, I woulda been fine with the genocide, but I loved how the book ended. Watching you circle back to established themes and places while all of the pieces of your plot clicked into place was an absolute joy. ❤️)
Lea
Aaaah I’m so so glad that Sam turned mortal thank you for going this way! And I am so sad it’s over but I am happy that there will be more. Eventually. Much love to you and your wonderful story
