Thread by @AproposNothing, So the day is almost here. Our lil’ book is almost out [...]

So the day is almost here. Our lil’ book is almost out in the world and we could not be more excited to share it with you.

If you’ll indulge me a thread I’d like to tell you the story of how The Montague Twins came to be.

@montadrew and I met in 2011 while working at a fine food store in Toronto. We sold overpriced baked goods and fancy cheese to Canadian celebrities. In case you’re wondering, the nicest ones by far were definitely Eugene Levy and Margaret Atwood.

Drew started shortly after I did. I was already pretty dissatisfied with the job by the time he came along, spending my shifts leaning behind the cash drinking old coffee and keeping a watchful eye on the stereo. It was always, alwayyyssss my iPod playing.

On his first day Drew complimented me on a playlist I had on. I can’t remember what song it was specifically about, probably something by Whitest Boy Alive or Metronomy. We talked about music for the rest of the afternoon.

Shortly thereafter I invited him to come see Cass Mccombs at the Rivoli with me and a friend of mine. It was an awesome show (Cass had Lower Dens opening) and I went home that night with a total friend crush. I kept the stub!

My birthday was a little over a week later and it was kind of a bummer. It my first time being away from my family on a birthday, I had to work, and I got soaked on my way to the store.

I don’t know if he sensed I was sad or what, but Drew offered to take me to see Deathly Hallows II. It was a touching gesture, and one that reminded me of home. My dad would always take a friend and I to the movies or the drive-in on my birthday.

After the movie we sort of just walked around talking about it. We spoke about the end of the HP universe on film, about the deaths of beloved characters, and, most importantly, of our admiration for such a brilliantly imagined magical universe.

Less than a year later, in the spring of 2012, we started talking about the Montague Twins. It began in April when Drew told me about an idea he’d drawn for a classic children’s mystery starring two plucky teens. He basically had the name and the poofy hair. That was it.

We spent the rest of that night dreaming up the world, and from then on, every minute we were together we talked about the Twins. The characters, the town, the atmosphere we wanted to conjure. It was initially going to be an illustrated novel. Thank god we didn’t do that!

We spent another 3 years talking about it, and talking about it, and talking about it. Many late nights drinking in my backyard, killing ourselves laughing at the idea of Pete chasing a disembodied hand around a museum. We never really got to work but we were always working on it

Then we decided enough was enough. We purchased the domain for http://montaguetwins.com"> http://montaguetwins.com and tied pieces of string around our wrists, promising that we couldn’t cut it off until the first chapter was done...

Well, Drew’s string fell off around the 9 month mark, but damn it if mine didn’t make it the whole way. Cutting that string remains one of the greatest feelings of my life. It was pretty nasty by the end, not gonna lie.

We published the first chapter on our website on November 24th, 2015. To say that we were nervous would be an understatement. Would people like it? Would anyone even read it? We had no idea.

It started off kinda slow. Our friends and family checked it out and they were all very proud of us. My friend Anne Thériault, an amazingly talented writer, used her platform to shout us out, and has bent over backwards to support us through the years.

An author whose work I love, Michael Redhill, was kind enough to answer a Facebook message of mine asking to share it with him. He said it was great and to show him more sometime.

Sam Maggs, who by that time was already thoroughly kicking the publishing world’s butt, was kind enough to write us a blurb for our website.

Then we got asked to do an interview for a poetry website, Queen Mobs. Shortly after, InnerSpace had us on TV for an interview inside Sonic Boom. Just look at these dorks!

We had copies printed that spring just in time for TCAF. I made an offhand joke about how Jeff Lemire, my favorite comic book writer, was doing a signing and I should hand him our book. Drew didn’t find it very funny. He actually thought it was a good idea.

So, extremely nervous, I handed Jeff Lemire a copy of the first chapter. He graciously accepted, signed my copy of Underwater Welder, and I thought, welp, that’s that. Until about a month later when I saw this...

I thought that was it. That was my moment. The one I would always look back on and think, hey, if nothing else came from that little book, at least Jeff Lemire liked it. If that was the end of it, I would have been happy.

Of course it wasn’t. A publisher based in Quebec approached us about the French rights. Were they still available, they wanted to know. French rights? Rights? We had no idea about selling the rights to our work in ANY language.

So we reached out to an agent. This is where the amazing @msmariavicente comes into the story. From day one she has been our rock. We would not be where we are without her and I will always, ALWAYS, be grateful to her.

After some close calls and a couple of tough rejections, Julia Maguire at Knopf Books For Young Readers signed us to a two book deal. Since we put pen to contract there hasn’t been a day I haven’t had to pinch myself to know it’s not all a dream.

A sincere thanks to @SamMaggs, @JeffLemire, @AjayFry, and Michael Redhill, who smartly got off social media a while ago. Thank you @anne_theriault, from the bottom of my heart, for always believing and supporting. Thank you @dinovisms for your guidance, and Julia for your trust.

But most of all, thank you @montadrew.

On Tuesday, July 14th, you’ll be able to buy our book. It’s about the brothers Montague.

But it wouldn’t exist if not for the brotherhood between Drew and I.

I can’t believe this is happening, buddy. Thank you for everything.

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