Alice Blog

So Sad the Series is Ending

Question:

When I was 10 years old I checked out The Agony of Alice from my school’s library and immediately fell in love with Alice McKinley. I was a curious, young girl who had all these questions but was too shy to ask them. I felt like Alice was experiencing all the same things I was and I felt like I finally had somebody to relate to. I discovered a couple of years later that there were more Alice books! I impatiently waited for each book to come back to the library so I could catch up on Alice’s life. My parents surprised me with the whole set for Christmas that year and every Spring I wait impatiently for the next book to reach the stores.

When I first learned that you were going to write three books for each year of Alice’s life, up until she was 18, I can remember thinking, “Wow I am going to be 26 when that last book comes out!” I turn 26 next year and I can’t believe that the time has come for my favorite book series to end. As I read the last pages of Alice on Board tears came to my eyes knowing that it was almost over. I feel like I am losing a friend. I grew up with Alice and I am so saddened when I think about reading that last book.

I had the honor of meeting you 6 or 7 years ago at a book signing you had in Bethesda. My mom was gracious enough to drive me up from North Carolina. I hope you know how much these books have shaped my life. I can’t wait for the day when I have a daughter of my own and can give her your series of books to read. I look forward to discussing each book with her and reliving Alice’s life all over again.

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Phyllis replied:

Your letter means a lot to me.  I can hardly believe I’m at the age where the series is ending too!   Or that I took the risk, 28 years ago, to “promise” my readers a series lasting 28 years.  Most of you know, however, that I wrote the very last book in the series many years ago and put it in a fireproof box so that if I were ever run over by a bread truck, readers would know how the story ends.  It’s that manuscript now that I’m working on, which needed a lot of revisions and additions and polishing before I’d ever want it to be published, but the plot is the same.  I hope you’ll feel it’s been worth the wait when it comes out now in the fall of 2013.  Thank you for being such a faithful reader, and especially for your email.

Loved the Idea of the Cruise Ship

My sister and I finished Alice on Board! We both couldn’t put it down
and wouldn’t be bothered until we finished. Is the next one the last
one? So hard to believe. I feel like they’re friends I’ve grown up
with! I always thought working on a cruise ship would be so much
fun…. now I’m not as sure, hahah. Especially after that huge
disaster with that Italian ship not too long ago, too! Crazy. I loved
your whole idea for that, what a fun setting to put the girls in.
We both liked Mitch. Are you hinting that this is the end for
Alice and Patrick? Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Waiting for the
next one is the hard part.

Phyllis replied:

I’m so glad you enjoyed “Alice on Board”.  A LOT happens in the last book, which will now come out in the fall of next year, not the spring.  It will be a much longer book.

Perfectly normal sexual feelings

Question:

First off I wanted to say sorry for the loss of your husband I hope that I to will find someone to love for 50 years. I havebeen reading the Alice series since I was 9 in the third grade beginning with the prequals I am now 16. I adore your books.I find Alice to be a long time friend and  that I can relate to the her as a person. I have cried and laughed with her. I have never been able to connect with a book like these. I was curious to know were do get your inspiration from do the chapters just come from exsperience or the clear blue sky? I think you convey a teenage girls life to the T. I have been reading the other posts and I think that you handle teen sex perfectly. You show how real and perfectly normal to have those fealings are .They don’t understand that just because us teens have these fealings doesn’t mean we should shun them away like the white elephant in the room. You are my absolute favorite author and eventhough I don’t personally know you I wanted to say I love you and you work.. thanks for writing : )

Phyllis replied:

Thank you for your email.  Another thing some people don’t understand is that just because we talk about sexual feelings doesn’t mean that teenagers are going to go right out and do something dangerously sexual.  Most of our fantasies, in fact, are things that would never happen, nor would we really do them if we had the chance.  The human race depends on males and females being sexually attracted to each other, just as hunger keeps a human eating, and therefore alive.  We are sexual for a reason, and we can’t just announce a couple married and then expect all the feelings to begin.  It’s knowing how to deal with our sexuality responsibly that occupies some of Alice’s life and those of her friends.

What’s the Order?

Question:

   Hello!  Can I just say that I am in LOVE with your Alice books!  They are so easy to relate to, and just seem so real!  However, I am SO totally confused about what order the books are in, and how many there are.  Everywhere I look there is a different number of books, and then there are the “Alice Collections” books too!  I want to read them ALL, but I don’t want to read them in the wrong order, because I hate it when things are spoiled for me!  Can you please tell me what order to read all the books in, including the Alice Collections? 
     Also, thank you so much for writing these books!  I just really needed something to read and escape from the world for a while, and these books are perfect!  I’m reading like four a day, and staying up till about 3:30 in the morning!  I just can’t get enough! 

Phyllis replied:

Go to www.alicemckinley.com and click on “the books in order” at the top of the page.  This will show you the cover of every Alice book to date, and the order in which they were written–three prequels and 25 “regular” Alice books, and that makes 28 in all, if you count the book coming out next year, “Always Alice.”   As for the collections, the publisher put the three books of Alice’s freshman year into one big paperback and titled it “I Like Him; He Likes Her.”  The publisher put the three books of Alice’s sophomore year into one big paperback and titled it “It’s Not Like I Planned it This Way.”  The three books of Alice’s junior year are in one big paperback, and titled “Please Don’t Be True.”   Check the website I told you about, look at the order of the books, and you will figure out which three books are in which collection.  I know this is confusing, but hope this helps.

Disappointed

Question:

I am 21 years old and have been reading the Alice books since I was 12. I love the series, I would wait and save all year so I could buy the next book. When the most resent book came out “Alice on Board” I was super excited. I bought and read it and was very disappointed. This book seemed like you just threw it together. It had none of the usual humor or “deep-ness” that the previous books had. I was reading it and hoping it would get better but it didn’t. Hopefully the final book will be better.

Phyllis replied:

I’m sorry that you were so disappointed in “Alice on Board.”  It’s sometimes hard for me to figure out exactly why a reader doesn’t like a particular book.  For example, I personally thought that the dilemma with Pamela’s mother was very deep on several levels, and you felt the book seemed to be thrown together, yet I probably put in more research and planning on this than many of the other Alice books.  But that doesn’t mean you should like it.  Some readers simply want the old Alice, in familiar surroundings with her best friends, but if I stay true to my character, she has to grow and experience new things, new places, new people.  And perhaps I simply didn’t do a good enough job of that.  I hope that all the readers waiting for the last book will realize that if I am taking her from 18 to 60, she is going to experience many new things, make new friends, have different attitudes about her life, and this is true of her best friends as well.  You will see what happens to all your old favorites, and I hope there will be enough humor and deep-ness and suspense and poignancy to satisfy your journey with Alice all these years.  Thank you so much for writing.

A Sudden Death

Question:

Why was it all foreplay?

Question:

I am going into 7th grade (12 years old) and I live in Illinois. I started reading the Alice book series when I was in 5th grade which was recommended by one of my friends which she read at an even younger age. I have a couple of questions. First I have a guy friend named Truman. I’ve known him since kindergarten and he is one of my best friends. A couple weeks a go I introduced hom to my friend Elena who I met in an over night camp I go to over the summer. He came over for a couple of hours while 3 other friends of mine and Elena were over, staying to sleep over. Elena and Truman seemed to really like each other. I noticed, you know how they would look at each other and giggle at their jokes. He even rode her over to his house on the pegs on his bike! I even caught Truman day dreaming and talking to himself about how to tell her he liked her!!!! I asked them about it and they admitted it. But they wanted to kiss only they were too shy to do it. The next morning  we all woke up at 8:00 and ate breakfast than spent an hour doing her make up, her hair, and we made her beautiful! Truman came over at 10:00 and all he could say is ” OH MY GOD…………..” She was truly stunning. We let them have some time together by them selves and they finally kissed!!! We all wanted to see them do it again so we made them kiss on the lips in front of us, then again because one of my friends didn’t see since she was packing to go home. Do you think we pushed them to much? They didn’t look too embarrassed but they looked a little uncomfortable. Another thing is watching so many movies and tv shows with kissing in it and all the alice books, and watching Truman and Elena kiss made me feel left out and jealous. I am happy that Truman and Elena are together, but I feel as though I should be the one kissing him. I don’t even like him like that! What should I do?!!?
 In the Alice books why do you involve so much sex in it? Sure everyone thinks of sex so often its not even funny and so do I, but I sounds so personal to be reading about it. Plus in the about the author part of the book you wrote some of it based on what happened to you in reality so it makes me think the sex related stuff was actually performed by you.
In Intensely Alice when Patrick and Alice were getting busy on that bench I was actually scared. What if someone passed and saw them half undressed touching each other? What if they actually have sex? It was all foreplay, not sex but it sounded so real, I was really interested in that. So why did you make it just foreplay and not real sex?
Thanks so much for answering my questions, you are my favorite author! 

Phyllis replied:

Why do I put in so much sex?  Because I know what it’s like to be a teenager and I read the emails readers send to me.  Of course you think about sex.  Your bodies are changing, you are aware of sensations and emotions you hadn’t been feeling before, and if Alice and her friends didn’t experience the same thing, it wouldn’t seem like real life, would it?

Regarding the scene where Alice and Patrick are giving each other pleasure on a bench in the dark, I purposely wanted to show a couple who have loved each other for a long time and are responsible people.  Intercourse was not a possibility for them at this particular time, and they chose a safe way of making love to each other.  As for your friends Elena and Truman, please don’t do that again.  It’s all new and exciting to people your age, I know, but you are all growing up and entitled to privacy.  And yes, you are probably jealous that Elena is experincing something you want to happen to you, but it will.   And it will be much nicer if it is in private, with someone you really like.

Liz’s Molestation and mine

Question:
Firstly, I want to express my condolences for the loss of your husband. As a reader of the Alice series since I was 12(I’m 21 now) I’ve read the “About Phyllis” section and always smiled when I heard of Rex, your sons and their growing families. As a person who has lost someone to Alzheimer’s, that sentiment is doubled.
But I wanted to thank you for the Alice Series. If it wasn’t for these books, I’d still be carrying a lot of guilt relating to my molestation by an older cousin for years. Like Elizabeth, I also felt so much guilt at any physical pleasure that was forced on me, and hearing Liz talk about it to Pamela and Alice and their sound replies of it not being her fault really soothed me. I felt like I could relate to it so well. Plus as a native to DC, seeing Alice come of age at the same time I was, in the same city was invaluable. I’ve always wanted to thank you so much for that. So thank you!

Phyllis Naylor:

Your letter is going to be so helpful to other readers who have ever been sexually molested.  Thank you so much for writing.  Anyone who has gone through that experience knows that there are mixed emotions, and I am so glad that Elizabeth’s ordeal in the book, and her friends talking about it with her later, were all helpful to you.  I very much appreciate your writing to me.

What books do you like?

First off, I'm very sorry to hear about Rex, and I wanted to let you know I'm thinking about you and your family. I hope you're doing okay. 

I was also wondering what books you like. The Alice (and Shiloh!) books are some of my favorites, of course. Do you have any that particularly influenced you or your writing, that made you feel or think about something new or different, or that you simply really enjoyed? Favorite authors or genres? And do you read other YA fiction? 

I appreciate that you take the time to read and respond to so many emails--thanks!

Phyllis replied:
I could write forever about which books I like best, but I read all kinds, for all ages. When I was growing up I was most influenced by Mark Twain.
I liked the themes he wrote about, and Huckleberry Finn was my favorite.

New Series?

Question:

Hi there. I am still enjoying these books after all these years
(starting reading them when I was in high school). I will be sad when
the last one comes out next year, but it will give me an excuse to read
them all again from the beginning.

Thank you so much for writing about Alice. Especially her most
embarrassing moments. I have certainly had my own share of those and
it’s always nice to feel like I am not the only one.

Are you planning a new series after Alice?

Phyllis replied:

No, I don’t want to get started on another series, but I have many, many single books in mind.