Here There Be Dragons

Earlier this year I volunteered to write a story in the Discworld fandom. Dragon’s Egg Blue features a baby dragon, and early in the writing process the phrase “here there be dragons” came to mind. It summed up the challenges I faced with the story, and also became part of the solution.

Playing with Fire

In Caffrey Conversation we've written several stories that include the celebration of holidays. For the Crossed Lines series, the pagan calendar—the Wheel of the Year—provides a rich playground. This cycle, which is linked to the solar solstices and equinoxes, is based on ancient festivals. Since Electra and her sisters are taking advantage of Wicca for their own purposes, I assumed pagan celebrations would hold a special significance for them. The initial concept for Fireflies at Midnight was to write a story revolving around the summer solstice. That the summer solstice is close to Father's Day was a moment of serendipity. The Wiccan term for the summer solstice celebration is Litha. When I discovered Litha is also known as the Fire Festival, I knew I had my theme.

Folks Like Us

Would you know a deity if you bumped into one on the street? I'd like to think I would. Surely they'd give off an aura or gauzy glow to give me a heads-up. But if history is any indicator, I could be out of luck.

Fathers and Sons

Fathers and Sons is the name of one of my favorite novels in Russian literature. The plot of this work by Ivan Turgenev revolves around the relationships between two young men and their fathers. That's also one of the main themes of Fireflies at Midnight.

The Twisted Sisters of Crossed Lines

When I began daydreaming plots for the Crossed Lines series, creating enemies for our remarkably talented heroes was particularly challenging. I could have latched onto any of a wide array of pre-existing villains from Supernatural mythology, but many of their bios didn't fit well into the stories I wanted to write. So I decided to pull out my cauldron and make new ones.