A question for you InCryptid folks.

[seanan_mcguire]

So say I was going to go back and write some more Johnny and Fran stories. And say those stories were going to fill in the gaps between the stories that already exist (or are forthcoming, which I know, is a little harder to predict).

What stories do you feel were "skipped"?
What would you like to see them deal with or encounter?
What's missing?

Suggest whatever you like: I'm just trying to get a feel for the shape of things. Speak me wisdom!

Comments

[reedrover]

I would love to see Johnny and Frances have to deal with their children at the "I wanna help too!" stages.

(edited to fix spelling)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Sadly, that's not a gap. Daniel never really got to that stage, and Alice is still too young.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Oh man....Johnny and Fran.... *thinks of the stories already there* Something in the first year after they've been living together? Before marriage and her getting used to things and Johnny loosening up. :)

[geekhyena.livejournal.com]

Seconded ^_^ I'd like some more stories in that time period.

[geekhyena.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see Fran finding out a bit about Johnny from his parents. In my family at least, bringing someone home for serious usually starts up a round of "embarrassing things our X did when they were a kid".

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Okay.

[kay-gmd.livejournal.com]

Fran getting used to living with the in-laws...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Good one.

[katyhh.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God.
Y'all can laugh at me now - I only saw NOW that there is more out there than just the three (plus one, Rose) Incryptid books which I bought and devoured. Eeeeboooooks1111!!! *goes to get them* *happyKaty*

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Ha!

Yay, enjoy!

[trixiaw.livejournal.com]

It looks pretty well paced to me.
Maybe a story between Lock and Key and We Both Go Together. So we get a break between moving on from child 1 and giving birth to child 2. Like how Fran found out she was pregnant, mice reactions, monsters that kind of thing.

I'd quite like something griffin like.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Okay.

[professor_mirror]

The summary for "Stingers and Strangers" states that John and Frannie go on assignment "again", which implies there's probably at least one story or more that could be set between "No Place Like Home" and "Stingers and Strangers".

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Point!

[thebluerose.livejournal.com]

I would like to hear about how they found the Aeslin mice the first time and how they became part of the family, it might predate these two but would be fun for sure

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

It pre-dates them by several generations, and is hence not covered by this question. Sorry.

[archangelbeth]

...a story told entirely from the Aeslin Mouse point of view? (I have an almost bullet-proof "kink" for non-human viewpoints. Sorry!)

[notemily.livejournal.com]

oh my god I would love this

[beable]

It's not a Johnny and Fran story, but I would enthusiastically read Alexander and Enid stories too (e.g. their initial interactions with the American incryptid community)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Sadly, that's really not what I'm asking for here.

[pamela adams (from livejournal.com)]

Eeek- I am way behind in these stories. I know what I'm spending this holiday weekend doing......

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

[acf151.livejournal.com]

In Married in Green, there was a mention that Fran and John got engaged in Boggsville Colorado and that Fran was almost lost. I can't find the reference, but I'm under a strong impression that Fran also met a violent Jhorlac on the same job, or at least some job in Colorado.

Can we hear more about that?

Or, now that the Healys are being more active with the preservation of the plesiosaurs after Loch and Key, do Fran and John start the "Great Plesiosaur Migration" that Verity referenced going undercover with Greenpeace to hide, or is that a more modern Healy/Price job?

Did John or Fran ever travel to Mexico, Canada or Scotland (to see Bessie)? We know that Thomas Price dabbled in magic, did he introduce that to Alice, or did Enid and Alex teach Fran and John some of what they knew about the Covenant's use of magic and they passed it down to her?

Thank you for more Fran and John stories. They led me to Verity, rather than the other way around.

[acf151.livejournal.com]

I just found the new story "Stingers and Strangers"!!! Thank you!!! Off to read.
I'm going with the plesiosaur request.

[danceswithlife]

This may be on the "forthcoming" end of things:

Jonathan's trip to Australia that's referenced in HOR.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Jonathan never went to Australia. I just did a full search of the .ms of HOR, and it's never referenced there. Thomas went to Australia, but that's another generation.

If you have a typo where the names have somehow been transposed, please provide the page number so I can notify my publisher ASAP.

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

I don't have a real answer to the question, but just wanted to say that if you do write more stories about Fran and Johnny, I would be so delighted. *^^*

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you. :)

[emerald-ibis.livejournal.com]

I agree with the person who suggested something from Fran's early days with the family. Getting used to living in one place, learning the ins and outs, all of that. I do so love Fran and Johnny's chemistry and getting to see them in the early days of their relationship, when they're still building their foundation, would be lovely. I adore Fran :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Me, too. :)

[lastalda.livejournal.com]

I don't have any specific ideas at the moment, but would definitely love to read more Johnny/Fran stories. :-)
(Even though "The Last Fall" caused me a nervous breakdown. Really not the kind of story one should read while early pregnant and on sick leave because of pregnancy complications... :( Very strong and great story, though, just really bad timing on my part. And the pregnancy complications turned out well in the end, which hopefully the whole pregnancy will, too, any of these days... :P)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

...oh honey no. No, that was not a good story to read while pregnant.

But hey, baby coming! Yay baby!

[vitruvian23.livejournal.com]

One thought would be Fran's first encounter with a sapient cryptid species that, for reasons other than pure destructiveness, really makes her question her new family's commitment to preservation rather than extermination.

Also, probably unrelated, for some reason I really want to know more about oreads, in particular how they differ from their namesakes in Greek myth, and whether perhaps any ever bounced bullets in front of impressionable young Jewish SF/F fans and budding cartoonists...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Interesting!

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That really doesn't fit within the scope of the question? We know Johnny and Fran have two children, one of whom dies early. The children of those children would not be part of the Johnny/Fran era.

[metairiegirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, gosh, I didn't know about the short stories either. I love the first three books! Going to spend the rest of the holiday downloading the ones I can get (we'll see how it goes--my sr. computer skills sometimes let me down but I hang in). Just giddy to have this site and found out about so many other books. Thanks.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

[laurenthemself]

I always liked the Caladrius. Perhaps something where Johnny and Fran have to intervene to save one of them from being harmed/hunted/whatever works for the story. Set after Daniel and before Alice. The encounter is a catalyst for the two of them to move forward in their own healing and start considering another child.

(Bonus: Fran has awful morning sickness the very next day and they're both like 'already?', and then the doctor they see for confirmation (maybe the same Caladrius?) says 'less "already" than "six weeks ago"'). Because Alice will decide when she's ready to be conceived rather than waiting on her parents, thank you very much.)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Interesting!

Sadly, I think this is such a detailed prompt that I now can't write it. :(

[hardys kindle (from livejournal.com)]

This is not a Johnny and Fran gap, but more than once I thought I'd really, leally love to read a story told from the perspective of an Aeslin Mouse. Something like the great adventure of a young cleric in training, on his first away mission, witnessing the divine heroics of our human Incryptid protagonists. Like Johnny and Fran. Or one of our contemporaries. Would be nice to get an inside look at life in an Aeslin colony. Aeslin Mice are just awesome.

p.s. You're gonna like this. No mouse adventure is complete without an encounter with a dangerous cat.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

As I said to someone up above, this is never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to happen. Ever. And each time someone asks, it gets another "ever." I'm not trying to be mean: it's really one of those things that is vanishingly unlikely, and gets less likely when I am poked about it, especially when it keeps coming up, over and over, in response to something that is explicitly not this.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Did they ever find out who killed Daniel? Did they catch him/her/it?

[acf151.livejournal.com]

Yes, please. This is an important Johnny/Fran story.

[jena klees (from livejournal.com)]

This isn't really in the gaps, and is more of a near future thing but I'm wondering about how the family as a whole will handle things when Alice gets to be close to the age where their little boy died. I have a feeling that if a cryptid situation arose near that anniversary/age, it would bring up a lot of issues and feelings.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Interesting question.