Will I ever know how 'She Hates My Futon' ends?

January 1, 2017 10:39 PM

I've had a bookmark for the unfinished online novella She Hates My Futon (link does not go to original site, as that domain is expired) since 2002 at least. Every so often I try to find out if the author, Craig Mitchell, is writing again and never find anything except people asking the same question. Anyone here have a scoop?

FWIW (which is nothing because Yahoo Answers) either he died 9 years ago or he's alive and writing as of two weeks ago!

I have no idea how to contact the person who wrote that Yahoo answer, but I'd certainly follow that lead if someone knows how to do so.

posted by the thorn bushes have roses to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

This Reddit post purports to be about a new chapter (released to mixed reception?) in 2010, which seems to contradict the first Yahoo Answer. (It goes to a dead link—the original MyBoot website.)
posted by Polycarp at 11:37 PM on January 1, 2017

The Internet Archive Wayback Machine has Chapters 1-23. Does that help?
posted by Homer42 at 1:01 AM on January 2, 2017

Response by poster: I have read all the chapters (they're linked in my question), but it's an unfinished work. The author always claimed to be working on the last chapter. In general I'd just like to find out if the author is still out there, perhaps writing something else but mainly my question is about whether he'll ever finish She Hates My Futon. Thanks!
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 10:26 AM on January 2, 2017

Chances are if you can't find it, the author has never gone back to it, or if they have they have not posted it. The longer time since the author posted chapter 23 the less likely it is that chapter 24 has been or ever will be written. Your best bet is to try to track down Craig Mitchell rather than the story. Some authors write under multiple names on line, especially if they post to different genres. Other times fans that used to follow their work closely might have more information to help you, as in, "Oh, she also used to post in a kid's fiction forum on Yahoo Groups."

You might get the closure you want by getting someone else whose writing you appreciate to write an ending for the story.

Another possibility is that Craig Mitchell has finished the story and instead of posting the last chapter has renamed it and sent it to market as a supposedly previously unpublished work. In that case a search for specifics concerning the story might turn it up somewhere else such as in the form of an e-book. Don't just search character names, but also search plot specifics in case the names were changed to prevent someone seeing that it was out previously under the original title.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:06 PM on January 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I just discovered this in an old Facebook group. You could s nd Craig a friend request and ask him. He's still active on Facebook. He'll probably respond. Many years ago, I had an email exchange with him, after a moment of synchronicity where the radio played one of the songs he wrote about (Jonathan Richman's Roadrunner), as I was reading that very chapter. Thanks for posting this question! You be inspired me to revisit one of my favorite internet discoveries from the 90s.
posted by SobaFett at 2:06 PM on January 2, 2017 [3 favorites]

PS--will you update if you hear back from Craig? Now I'm curious too (again)!
posted by SobaFett at 5:18 PM on January 8, 2017

Best answer: An update from the contact form:
The author contacted us today, and said he's not dead and is finishing the book. Here is the new Facebook page for Craig D. Mitchell and She Hates My Futon.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:52 AM on June 12, 2019 [1 favorite]