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I love short formats, mainly because they allow me to present great stories that might never be told otherwise.

A good example is one of the short stories I have out this year, "Rogue Elements." It involves a new set of characters, and indeed, a new aspect of the Cassie Palmer universe: werewolves. Now, shapeshifters of various types have shown up before, both in the Cassie Palmer books and in "Buying Trouble," a novella I did for the Ace anthology On the Prowl last year. But so far, they'd gotten short shrift. So, when I was invited to take part in Toni P. Kelner and Charlaine Harris's Christmas anthology, Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (out in October 2008) I couldn't sign up fast enough. Werewolves! Christmas! Man, it just doesn't get any better than that. I walked around with a grin for days.

The story centers around a series of disappearing werewolves, and not just any wolves at that: every one is the daughter of an important clan leader. Desperate to find his daughter, Sebastian Arnou does the unthinkable: he goes to the Silver Circle of light magic users for aid. Their version of a police force is known as the War Mage Corps, and although they agree to help, few have much experience with Weres. The exception is disgraced, on-the-edge-of-being-canned war mage Lia de Croissets, whose mother happened to be a high ranking member of the important Were clan Lobizon.