Urban fantasy is a genre that took me by storm. Until a couple of years ago, I did not even know it existed. To me, the crossing of the fantastical and the modern era did not really... exist. Even though I had seen or heard of pieces of work that entered that space - works like The Mortal Instruments books - I had never actually classified them as urban fantasy. They were always something else.
Then something happened. It may have been due to my obsession with the TV series Supernatural for the last eleven seasons, or possibly some cosmic force (in all honesty, aren’t they the same thing?), but I found the synopsis to Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim irresistible. So I went and I purchased it. And since then I have also purchased the following seven in the series, and have read a bridging novella. I have also picked up work by R.S. Belcher, Neil Gaiman, Nicholas Kaufmann, and a handful of others. I have become urban fantasy obsessed.
So then wouldn't it make sense that, as a writer, I dive head-first into this new obsession?
And that's what I did. I couldn't help myself, I needed to write urban fantasy, felt almost compelled to do so. So I hit the drawing board and brainstormed some ideas, trashed some ideas, dug some of those ideas out of the trash, and reworked them into pieces of urban fantasy gems. So what does this all mean?
It means that this Friday you will be introduced to Claire Lafleur, aka Nightshade. I don't want to give away too much, since she will introduce herself shortly, but Nightshade will be a series of short stories released on a monthly basis. That means that every two weeks will see a short story released, and every other one of those second weeks (follow along) will be a Nightshade story.
So what can you expect? Expect a crude, devil-may-care attitude and a story filled with monsters and magic, all told from Claire's perspective. Expect it to run sort of akin to a television show, where each story is episodic and has its own story, but can progress an overall story arch, too.
I am going to leave it there for now; a quick introduction to my obsession and to the hero (depending on who you ask) Nightshade. I am sure you will enjoy reading it almost as much as I enjoy writing it.