A Dead Man’s Favor is the fifth book of The Many Travails of John Smith. That means more adventures for our affable everyman, more supernatural hijinks, more drama and trauma, and especially more of the chapter subtitles that readers know and love.
You know what I’m talking about:
That’s right… “IN WHICH [something something hopefully funny, clever, or at least brief]”
I’ve mentioned before that a part of me regrets ever having used chapter subtitles for this series1, but the fact is, readers like them, and I’m always here for my readers2! So, A Dead Man’s Favor will add another forty-five subtitles to the growing3 list!
As usual, I’ve previewed those subtitles below, so you all have a chance to guess at what on earth (if anything) they might mean for the story you’ll be reading in just a few days.
Warning: mild but also frequently inscrutable spoilers might be involved!
Without futher ado, here we go:
- IN WHICH JOHN SMITH GIVES A RECAP4
- IN WHICH VOWS ARE JUST THE BEGINNING
- IN WHICH WEDDING FEVER MIGHT BE AN EPIDEMIC
- IN WHICH PIMPIN’ AIN’T EASY
- IN WHICH HOME IS NOT A PLACE AT ALL
- IN WHICH DOUBT IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD
- IN WHICH PREPARATION IS EVERYTHING
- IN WHICH MANY THINGS GO PREDICTABLY WRONG
- IN WHICH A FAST IS BROKEN TWICE
- IN WHICH PEOPLE SPEAK IN CODE
- IN WHICH EVERY JOURNEY BEGINS WITH TOO MANY BAGS
- IN WHICH NOTHING SAYS FUN LIKE FUNGUS AND CHEESE FRIES
- IN WHICH A WOLF CRIES BOY
- IN WHICH NUDITY MAKES A COMEBACK
- IN WHICH THE WORM THAT TURNS IS A WOLF
- IN WHICH THE PLAN, LIKE THE MAN, IS A LITTLE BIT NUTS
- IN WHICH THERE ARE MILES TO GO BEFORE ANYONE SLEEPS
- IN WHICH COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS WORTH EVERY PENNY
- IN WHICH THINGS GET GRIM BEFORE THE DAWN
- IN WHICH PARANOID HAS AN I BUT I’M TIRED HAS TWO OF THEM
- IN WHICH A SMALL TOWN SMALL TOWNS
- IN WHICH NOBODY SHOOTS THE SHERIFF BECAUSE HE’S KIND OF OKAY
- IN WHICH BAD NEWS TRAVELS FAST
- IN WHICH ONE FLYING PEST DESERVES ANOTHER
- IN WHICH EVERYTHING IS SHINY
- IN WHICH THE MERITS OF DOGS ARE DEBATED
- IN WHICH A GIANT STAIN, A BLOOD-DRENCHED, AND A FLOWER GIRL CLIMB A MOUNTAIN
- IN WHICH YOU HAVE TO CRAWL BEFORE YOU CAN WALK
- IN WHICH THE CHEESE STANDS ALONE
- IN WHICH HUMAN INGENUITY DOES ITS THING, SORT OF
- IN WHICH BLOOD TAKES ITS TOLL
- IN WHICH SOME STORIES DON’T HOLD UP AND OTHER STORIES DO
- IN WHICH NOTHING GOOD EVER HAPPENS AT TWO IN THE MORNING
- IN WHICH YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN
- IN WHICH THE WITCH IS NO SNITCH
- IN WHICH THE ANSWER IS SOMEHOW ALWAYS MORE BLOOD
- IN WHICH ABSENCE MAKES THE HEARTS GROW FONDER
- IN WHICH A HERO PLAYS HOOKY AND GETS HIT WITH A BOMB
- IN WHICH BUSINESS NEVER STOPS
- IN WHICH PIER PRESSURE IS NO BASIS FOR A RELATIONSHIP
- IN WHICH HARD DECISIONS ARE MADE BY SOMEONE ELSE
- IN WHICH THE PAST COMES CALLING
- IN WHICH THE MEDIATOR HAS A PLAN
- IN WHICH NOBODY LIKES NUMBERS
- IN WHICH THE DUST THAT SETTLES MIGHT ALSO BE ASH
So, forty-five chapter subtitles for forty-four chapters (and one frequently requested recap). What do they mean? Why aren’t there any mentions of spaghetti? Who thought pier pressure was a clever play on words and how long have they been a dad? Also, is it the same person who dared question the merits of dogs? I guess we’ll never know.
Okay, technically I already know… and you will too, as of next week. Funny how things work out that way!
Next Tuesday, A Dead Man’s Favor releases! I’ll be back then with the usual release day content warnings, although if you’ve been around for four+ books now, nothing in this new one should surprise you greatly. Until then, stay safe and keep reading!
Newsletter? Newsletter!
If you’ve read this far, you’ve got gumption, kid. In fact, you’re just the kind of person that would make an awesome subscriber to my newsletter. Come join the fun!
And by fun, I mean “be alerted when new books are available.” If this site’s blog posts are my monthly, in-depth, fact-heavy shareholders’ reports, the newsletters are my far-less-frequent, carefully crafted pseudo-tweets, skipping all the nitty gritty to tell you what you actually want to know: what’s new and how you can get it.
I promise that I will never spam you… because spamming takes effort, and I am way, way too busy for that.
Footnotes
- tl;dr — coming up with ~25 mildly funny bits is easy… coming up with literally hundreds is less so!
- Seriously… the contact me link is totally functional!
- And hopefully duplicate-free!
- Footnotes helpfully added by Juliette Middleton.