Their fantasy is her reality.
Tune in Tomorrow
by
Randee Dawn
Genre: Humorous Pop-Culture
Fantasy
A funny, thrilling and mysterious
adventure into the
world of alternate reality television... Perfect for fans of Jasper Fforde and
Christopher Moore.
She’s just a small town
girl, with big mythic dreams.
Starr Weatherby came to New York to become... well, a star.
But after ten years and no luck, she’s offered a big role – on a show no one
has ever heard of. And there’s a reason for that. It’s a ‘reality’ show beyond
the Veil, human drama, performed for the entertainment of the Fae.
But as Starr shifts from astounded newcomer to
rising fan
favorite, she learns about the show’s dark underbelly – and mysterious
disappearance of her predecessor. She’ll do whatever it takes to keep her dream
job – though she might just bring down the show in the process.
Raves for the book:
"I thought I’d seen everything in the galaxy of
reality
TV, until Randee's book!" – Andy Cohen, Host / Executive Producer, Watch
What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and New York Times bestselling author
"Randee Dawn has single-handedly created a
glittering
new genre: the Backstage Comedy Fantasy Romance — and I want more!" –
Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Thomas the Rhymer and
Swordspoint
"Randee Dawn's
Tune in Tomorrow is a wild ride through
the world of reality TV, Faerie style. It’s a satire and a romance (of a sort)
and a fairytale and a mystery, full of characters I loved (and loved to hate)
and situations that had me biting my nails. It’s also hilariously funny."
– World Fantasy Award nominee Delia Sherman, author of The Porcelain Dove and
The Evil Wizard Smallbone
"Tune in Tomorrow is a joyride. It takes you on a
journey into the make believe world of a soap opera. It dives in and out of
what could possibly be fantasy or in fact is reality. As with the sands of
time, as you Search for Tomorrow, or you are feeling Young and Restless, get
lost in the adventures of Starr and be taken over by all that is Tune in
Tomorrow." – Emmy-nominated actor Gregory Zarian
"Dawn's Tune in Tomorrow is a ton of fun with a lot of
heart, charming characters, and devilish foes. And it's funny as hell." –
Zin E. Rocklyn, author of Flowers for the Sea
"Few authors can open the door to another world as
easily as you might turn on the TV, but Randee Dawn has the key and the remote
control firmly in her hand. Flip through the fae and the grindylows, let her be
your TV guide and psychopomp. You will find yourself howling at the gate for a
rerun." – Meg Elison, author of Number One Fan
"This book is a BOUNCY CASTLE! This book is like a
candy store and a screwball comedy had a fling in fairyland and the result was
a mythic soap opera! There was no predicting it, there was only riding this
dragon all the way to its rollicking rollercoaster conclusion. How dear and
joyous it is, how satisfying, and how worthy of praise!" – World Fantasy
Award-winning author of Saint Death's Daughter C.S.E. Cooney
"Dawn balances over-the-top drama and comedy
with
genuine intrigue to create a fun story with plenty of heart. Fans of Douglas
Adams and Terry Pratchett will want to snatch this up." – Publishers
Weekly
"Tune in Tomorrow is a hilariously well-constructed story with surprising complexity, and one that uses its reality TV premise not as a destination, but as a jumping off point to create something uniquely interesting that stays entertaining the entire way through." – Lightspeed Magazine
"Dawn’s witty take on society’s
fascination with
peering at life through a camera lens spotlights the sometimes-blurred
intersection between fantasy and reality, all captured on video. Her playful
narrative propels readers into the realm of alternate possibilities while
questioning what is real and what is make-believe, and if we can even tell the
difference." – BookTrib
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Randee Dawn is an author, journalist, and lucky denizen
of
Brooklyn. Her first novel, the humorous pop-culture fantasy Tune in Tomorrow,
published in August 2022 (Solaris/Rebellion).
Randee's short fiction has appeared in publications and
podcasts including 3AM Magazine ("The View of My Brother's Profile in the
Rear-View Mirror," 2001; "Warm, In Your Coat," 2004) and
Well-Told Tales ("Home for the Holidays," 2015; "Can't Keep a
Dead Man Down," 2017).
Dawn's stories have appeared in anthologies including Where
We May Wag ("The Last Dog," Writing Piazza Press, 2018), Children of
a Different Sky ("Can't Find My Way Home," Kos Books, 2018), Magic
for Beginners ("Queen Zoe and the Spinning Game," Fantasia Divinity,
2019), Dim Shores Presents ("Rough Beast, Slouching," 2021), Another
World: Stories of Portal Fantasy ("The Way Is Clear," SummerStorm
Press, 2021), and Horror for the Throne: One-Sitting Reads ("Cat
Person").
She has a short collection of dark speculative fiction short
stories, "Home for the Holidays" (2014) and co-authored "The Law
& Order: SVU Unofficial Companion" (BenBella Books, 2009). She
co-edited the speculative fiction anthology of "what if" stories
about The Beatles, "Across the Universe: Tales of Alternative
Beatles" (Fantastic Books, 2019).
When not making stuff up, Randee publishes entertainment
profiles, reviews, and think pieces regularly in outlets including Variety, The
Los Angeles Times, Today.com and Emmy Magazine, and writes trivia for BigBrain.
She can be found at RandeeDawn.com and @RandeeDawn (on
Twitter).
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GUEST POST
How did you come up with the title of your first novel?
Tune in Tomorrow is actually my first published novel – I've written others, but it's the first one to get to the finish line. The phrase "tune in tomorrow" is something movies and TV shows (often soap operas) would use when they ended on a cliffhanger. In the early 1900s, there was a series of films known as The Perils of Pauline, in which the heroine was usually left in a truly precarious position – sometimes literally hanging off a cliff. That's where we get the idea of the "cliffhanger." Well, shows that wanted to leave you eager for more would often do the same thing, and soap operas sometimes had an off-camera narrator who'd give you a preview of what was coming in the next edition ("Will Edward kiss Bertha? Can Martha's heart be saved?") and then end with the phrase, "Tune in tomorrow to find out…." Well, the reality TV show inside of Tune was originally a soap opera – but it got changed after I had some editorial notes. That wasn't a problem; as Starr muses in the book, many reality TV shows are modern-day soaps. So keeping the phrase made sense – it suggested a tone, a pop culture origin, and suspense. The rest of the title (which only appears inside the book, as it's too long for the cover: "The Curious, Calamitous, Cockamamie Story Of Starr Weatherby And The Greatest Mythic Reality Show Ever" was just hilarious to write and telegraphed that this was going to be one wacky adventure. And it is!
Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reins of the story?* Note: It's "reins" not "reigns"
"Hijack" suggests something aggressive. The characters may start in my conscious, but once I've been writing and rewriting the story for a long time, they also live in the subconscious. And if I'm writing a scene where it just isn't coming together and the characters sound forced and false, that's when I know they're speaking up and telling me not to go there. The subconscious gives you a little poke and you have to find a new way to tell the story. That said, after the book came out originally I noticed that readers seemed to particularly love Phil the nervous dragon – and that's why he's on the front of the book now, even though he's not a major character. Phil has become popular in my own heart, too, and I hope to write a book or a story about his origin story. I mean, how does a dragon end up being a security guard on a reality TV show, anyway?
What did you edit out of this book?
I have whole scenes that didn't work – Starr and Nico have a date in the warehouse of sets, on a beach that comes alive, for example. But it slowed things down a lot. Then there was the epilogue, which wasn't in the first edition. I took it out because the book was already fairly long, and it didn't have to be there. But whenever I hand-sold a book to someone I always let them know to reach out to me when they were done, and I'd send them the epilogue as a PDF. Now, with the new reissue, I don't have to do that: The epilogue is in the book (though now it's called Chapter 42)!
How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?
I worked at a soap opera magazine for five years, and had first-hand experience watching how the sausage got made, as they'd say. It was an eye-opening experience, and almost to a person the actors were lovely to hang out with. I had a lot of respect for the number of lines they had to memorize, and the grind of making the equivalent of two and a half movies each week. I always wanted to set something in that universe, but couldn't find the right reason or time. Tune started out as a possible text-based "choose your own adventure" type game for a company called Choice of Games, but when that didn't work for me I reclaimed the idea that I'd outlined and started coming up with the characters I'd need to flesh it out. I can neither confirm nor deny that any of them were inspired by the real folks I met while working at the magazine….
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