Mrs. Quarterhorse at the Masked Ball

Mrs. Quarterhorse has spent a small fortune on her Christmas Masked Ball, the ball to literally end all balls, because at its end an asteroid will pulverise the Earth. Her spectacular old ballroom cellar will soon be crowded with gowns and tails-all the beautiful people, as the world calls them, or, as Mrs. Quarterhorse prefers, all the ugly morons. I suspect she enjoys the company of these beautiful morons more than she lets on, otherwise why would she choose to spend her last night surrounded by them? We'll all be wearing animal masks designed by yours truly. What animal masks have to do with the Christmas theme, I have no idea, but Mrs. Quarterhorse and I set aside the best masks for ourselves; she's a cobra, and I'm a boa constrictor. I'll do my best to fit in with all the better dressed (albeit lesser masked) aristos, but if someone tries to drag me onto the dance floor, or if I otherwise make a fool of myself, I'll pilfer a tray of cocktail sausages and await the asteroid's arrival in bed with a good book.

The following is an excerpt from an interview between publisher Georges Presse and the author.

GEORGES PRESSE: This is your second story about Mrs. Quarterhorse.

S. C. MARCHERE: Have you at least read it this time?

GP: I have. And it's an improvement over the first.

SCM: So you finally took the time to read the first book?

GP: No, and I don't plan to. The first book is about a plague, and I've had enough of plagues, fictional as well as real.

SCM: I told you the last time we spoke, the plague is not the focus of the story!

GP: This new story is about an asteroid.

SCM: It's not about an asteroid.

GP: Here we go again.

SCM: There's an asteroid in the story, yes, an asteroid rushing toward Earth that shadows the events of the story, but the story is not about an asteroid. Saying it's about an asteroid makes it sound like science fiction, which it is not.

GP: If it's not science fiction, what is it? Is it a ghost story, like the last one?

SCM: No. It's about what the title says it's about: a fancy masked ball. The sort you'd never get invited to. Mrs. Quarterhorse and I are the only ones who believe the asteroid will strike at the end of the ball. The guests, all two hundred or so of them, Mrs. Quarterhorse's high-flying friends, they're oblivious to what is coming.

GP: I wish I'd remained oblivious to what was coming. By which I mean the last chapter...

SCM: I wasn't sure about the epilogue myself. I even state as much in the story.

GP: Then why did you include it?

SCM: Because it happened.

GP: Will there be more books after this one?

SCM: Can there be, considering how it ends?

GP: Perhaps we shouldn't give the ending away.

SCM: We can discuss the beginning instead, if you like. I was pleased with the chapter in which Mrs. Quarterhorse and I are snowed-in together.

GP: You are confronted with a broken furnace, if I recall.

SCM: Don't spoil how it turns out.

GP: Heaven forbid anyone learn in advance whether or not the furnace is repaired.

SCM: It matters! A story doesn't have to be about something earth-shaking, like an asteroid, to be engaging.

GP: But it helps sell a book, and that's what we're trying to do here, isn't it?

SCM: The reader already knows there's an asteroid in the story. Now they know there's also a broken furnace.

GP: And with that thrilling reveal, we surely have a bestseller on our hands.

Mrs. Quarterhorse at the Masked Ball is the second book in the Mrs. Quarterhorse Series.