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Standing on the edge of the blank page is one of my favorite places to be.  From here, anything could happen.  Ooh, the curiosity, the excitement, the burgeoning sense of infinite power!  Bwa ha! 

But with each word I type, the probability waves collapse and a story emerges.  That act of creation (or unveiling, depending on how much stock you put in the Muse) happens in all genres, but there's an added surge of unpredictability when the story contains science fiction, fantasy or paranormal elements.  Those otherworldly facets are inexhaustible -vampires and aliens and were-sea cucumbers, oh my!-so how to choose?  Alternate dimensions and time travel are thrilling to contemplate, but the writing has to take place in linear time in this boring old dimension with only one storyworld emerging from the limitless potential.

The world of the Marked Souls-my urban fantasy romance series from Signet Eclipse debuting with Seduced By Shadows tomorrow!-arose out of one simple question: Are we basically good or basically evil?

Sure, a couple millennia of philosophers, late-night college dorm room b.s. sessions, and Wikipedia haven't finished debating that one yet, but certainly there's room for more words on the matter.  Especially when the characters battling their way to the answers are hot guys and chicks with knives.

Strangely enough, I knew I didn't want to wander too far from our "real" world with my storyworld.  The nature of man is hard enough to pin down without the man being from another planet or time.  So my heroes are just like you and me-with the tiny added complication of knowing they are doomed to damnation because once upon a time they accidentally sold their souls to demons.  Happens to the best of us, right?

And these heroes are the best of us, in some ways.  They're strong, smart, and I think I already mentioned sexy.  They just made some bad choices (who hasn't?) so now they-along with the repentant demons that possess them-have to pay their way back into grace.

They have plenty of opportunity to do good by fighting evil.  An array of malevolent demons oppose them, and the oblivious human realm isn't doing them any favors either.  You only have to pick up a newspaper (Do people even do that anymore?  See?  The world is coming to an end) to suspect that evil might be winning.  But I don't think I'm giving anything away to say my hope is that our heroes save the day.  Hey, I'm a romance writer at heart.

As an introduction to my world, I wrote a short story-"Boys' Night Out"-which follows my heroes through an ordinary night in their not-so-ordinary world.  Here's the opening scene.  The rest of the story if available free online.  The link is at the end.

"Boys' Night Out"

Garbage man to the damned.

Ferris Archer prowled through the darkened parking lot.  A few dried leaves scuttled away in the wind from the trailing edge of his trench coat, but the stench of stale beer, cigarettes, and the rot of some small dead thing wasn't so easily banished.  Such was the cologne of a garbage man.

If the demon had been more explicit about the job duties when it had first come to him, he'd never have let it slip into the tattered remnants of his soul.  But teshuva-demons that had repented and now sought their way back to the light-had as much trouble telling the truth as their impenitent brethren.

For all its refuse, the lot was clear of any other-realm emanations.  Still, Archer scanned the bricks for telltale smears of ichor.  Or blood.

He tightened his fists, frustration amping his demon higher.  The night shifted into the eerie phosphorescence of the annihilator within.

Still nothing.  Nothing, but the uneasy thrum in his bones that lately wouldn't let him rest.

He ducked into the alley behind Halsey and crossed through the blackness.  The pulse of music coming through the back wall of a night club set up a counterpoint that throbbed along with the tension inside him. 

The demon wanted to dance-in its own destructive way-to fight the evil it had once embraced, and it had hijacked Archer as its long-suffering partner.  After all, someone had to pick up the aftermath of any good party.

Out on the street, the lights from passing cars dimmed as a monstrous shape stepped into the alley.  It swung its heavy head from side to side, and its two curved horns glinted in the lights before it stepped into the shadows.  A low hiss escaped it.

Archer let out a breath of disgust that curled in a puff on the cold October air.  "Get yourself back inside if you have to piss."

"But the line's too long."

The slurred whine set Archer's teeth on edge.  This was why the Chicago league of teshuva stayed home on Halloween.  Because the only thing more annoying than demons masquerading as men was men masquerading as demons.

You can read the rest of "Boys' Night Out" here.

Also, click here for details on your chance to win a signed copy of Seduced By Shadows on my blog!

In my next post, I'll be waxing lyrical about the allure of the dark hero.

Jessa Slade, Seduced by Shadows, Marked Souls, paranormal romance, Signet