Short Fiction, by Karen Chance

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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.

Someone with a werewolf mother isn't much trusted by the Corps, and a mage with a human father is equally suspect as far as the clans are concerned. But her knowledge of Were customs and her background in human magic make Lia unmistakably the best person for the job. Whether they will be enough to keep her alive is another matter.

Also this year, "The Day of the Dead," a short story I had a lot of fun with, will be out in July in the Mammoth Vampire Anthology from UK publisher Constable and Robinson.

It features Tomas, a character from the Cassandra Palmer novels, who was last seen cooling his heels in Faerie. He'll show up again in the series, but what about in the meantime? What does a powerful, four-hundred-year-old vampire with a serious grudge against his old mass murdering master to do when he suddenly finds himself with too much time on his hands? Hang around Faerie, where there's nothing to eat (Fey blood=nasty) just because our intrepid heroine parked him there? Uh, no. Not so much. Because Tomas is obsessed, and has been for pretty much his whole existence, with one thing: taking out Alejandro, the aforementioned murdering bastard. In "The Day of the Dead," he slips back into our world to confront his nemesis, only to find unexpected help in the form of a band of magical mercenaries. Think the A-Team with spells and potions instead of (well, actually in addition to) guns and knives and things that go boom. It makes for a lot of mayhem down Mexico way.

The short story format allowed me to follow Tomas's exploits, which would have fit awkwardly, if at all, in the novels. It also gave me a chance to use some of the massive amount of back story I write on all my characters, but which must often be cut in the novel format. (One hundred thousand plus words seems like a lot, until you actually get into a story, and then it goes by all too quickly.) And, finally, it allowed me to have fun playing around in a corner of my universe that had so far been ignored.

The fun doesn't end in 2008. I was lucky enough to snag a spot in Strange Brew, a short story anthology centered around dark magic, which will be published sometime in 2009. Oooh, the possibilities are just endless.

Next up: Why date the undead?

View more information on Karen Chance's Embrace the Night.

Embrace the Night, novel, urban fantasy, vampire, thriller, Cassandra Palmer, Penguin Books, books