“It’s Still the Same Old Story”
“As Time Goes By” by Billie Holiday
This is the story that demonstrated to me how much my portrayal of vampires had been influenced by the character of Duncan McLeod in the Highlander TV series. It’s the way those episodes jumped back and forth in time, to show the character how he was and how he is now, the way this story does. Explains so much, doesn’t it? Highlander focuses on the bit about immortality I’m really interested in: How does it change one’s relationships and perception of history? Much like Rick, I’m not interested in blood and power games. I really love writing about Rick throughout history. This appeared in Down These Strange Streets, edited by George R. R. Martin and the late, great Gardner Dozois.
“The Island of Beasts” and “The Beaux Wilde”
“Hexhamshire Lass” and “Farewell, Farewell”
by Fairport Convention
I really like Jane Austen. It took me a long time to warm up to her writing, but she’s one of the sharpest, wittiest authors out there. And I really love movies based on Jane Austen’s books. The clothes, the English countryside, the dancing! When you’re writing a long-running werewolf series, and watching a lot of Jane Austin movies to
unwind, the inevitable question presents itself: what would life be like for werewolves in Regency England? Not easy, for sure. Part of what I want to explore in these stories is why a stereotypical, ragefilled, uncontrollable monster would want to conform to the formality and severe societal constraints of this culture. These are beasts who consider themselves civilized. I want to do more with these characters and stories. “The Island of Beasts” originally appeared in Nightmare Magazine, and “The Beaux Wilde” appeared in Urban Fantasy Magazine.
“Unternehmen Werwolf”
“Irgendwo auf der Welt” by Palast Orchester
In Kitty Goes to Washington we meet Fritz, who as a young man fought for Germany in World War II, revealing that yes, the Nazis used werewolves. I definitely wanted to make sure I told his origin story, and this gave me an opportunity to do so. It appeared in Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre, edited by Paula Guran.
“Kitty and the Full-Super-Bloodmoon Thing” and
“Kitty and the Super Blue Blood or Whatever Moon Thing”
“Blue Moon” by Billie Holiday
These are two flash pieces I wrote on social media and posted to my blog during two of the recent spates of “Oh my gosh, the moon is going to do something amazing and weird tonight!” The moon’s behavior is predictable and has been having eclipses and going super and so on and so forth for a really long time. But for a while there, social media made it AN EVENT. And everyone asked me, “So what happens to werewolves during [specific lunar event]?” So I answered.
“Kitty and Cormac’s Excellent Adventure”
“Surrender” by Cheap Trick
The world has so many stories about magic and mayhem to explore. So many potential characters and discoveries. I haven’t even scratched the surface. There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio . . .
“Sealskin”
“Saucy Sailor” by The Wailin’ Jennys
This is a sequel to the selkie story, “The Temptation of Robin Green” (in Kitty’s Greatest Hits). It tells the story of Robin and the selkie’s child, a son, who grows up to become a Navy SEAL because of course he does. But now his mother has passed away and he’s looking for answers. I really ought to write more about selkies, shouldn’t I? (You see how this whole sequel thing starts.) This appeared in Operation Arcana, edited by John Joseph Adams.
“The Arcane Art of Misdirection”
“Abracadabra” by The Steve Miller Band
One of the most popular characters in the series, probably right after Cormac, Rick, and Kitty herself, is Odysseus Grant, stage magician. So when I was invited to submit a story to P. N. Elrod’s anthology Hex Appeal, my main character was obvious. I know a lot about Odysseus I haven’t had a chance to write about yet. I haven’t yet told his origin story, about growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, next door to an old vaudeville stage magician who knew such incredible lore and such dark secrets . . . But never mind, I’ll save that for another time.
“What Happened to Ben in Vegas”
“Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” by Dean Martin
In Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand, Ben has an adventure, and Kitty spends a chunk of the book beside herself trying to figure out what happened to him. He shows up at the end, having rescued himself, with only a healed gunshot wound to show for it. We, the readers, never actually find out what happened to him. Well, now we do.
“Defining Shadows”
“Elephants” by Warpaint
I wrote this one for an anthology that wanted stories about supernatural detectives. I chose to write about Detective Jessi Harden, Kitty’s sometime-friend and sometime-nemesis, the Denver cop who has inadvertently become an expert in supernatural criminals and crime. That’s only half the story. The other half came from a story told by a Filipina friend about a strange and hideous form of vampire found in the Philippines: the manananggal. The manananggal isn’t even really a vampire. It detaches from its torso and flies around seeking out pregnant women. Then it sucks their unborn fetuses out through their navels. Basically, when I can cross that thin, thin line between urban fantasy and horror I will do so with gusto. I think everyone needs to know about this creature. Also, if you want to read Cormac’s side of his conversations with Detective Hardin, you can do so in “Long Time Waiting,” in Kitty’s Greatest Hits. This story appeared in Those Who Hunt Monsters, edited by Justin Gustainis.
“Bellum Romanum”
“Kingdom” by VNV Nation
I was invited to send a story to an anthology called Urban Enemies, edited by Joseph Nassise. The premise: stories about the villains of urban fantasy series. Our hero’s rivals and enemies. Of course I only had one real option: Gaius Albinus, Dux Bellorum, Roman, the two-thousand-year-old former centurion who has used his immortal life to manipulate vampire kind into an army that can bring about the apocalypse. This isn’t quite his origin story—this doesn’t tell how he became a vampire. Rather, it tells how he became a magician with the power to destroy the world. Much of the background laid out here is referenced in Kitty in the Underworld and Kitty Saves the World. This is a good example of how not all the information I know about a story necessarily makes it into the story. Because the Kitty novels are written in first-person point of view, they can only tell you what Kitty knows. It turns out, there’s a lot Kitty doesn’t know.
“Kitty Learns the Ropes”
“Ball of Confusion” by The Temptations
Here, I explore one of my big questions about the supernatural in the “real world”: what happens when supernatural creatures take part in professional sports? Of course a werewolf boxer is going to have significant advantages—as long as he can keep it a secret. The story happens when he can’t keep it a secret anymore. It also features Kitty doing what she does best—getting people to talk. It originally appeared in the anthology Full Moon City, edited by Darrell Schweitzer and Martin H. Greenberg.