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Author’s Notes
Assume for a moment, Everson, that everything to this point in your wizard’s life was an illusion and that this is the reality…
You have no idea how hard that was to sit on for three books.
Back in the original author’s notes for Demon Moon I wrote that part of the fun of writing in an established genre is deciding which rules to follow, which rules to break, and which rules to hide your plot twists behind. One popular trend in urban fantasy is to have the hero on the outs with his magical community, ever under threat of being blasted to shit if he so much as toenails the line. It’s a fun device and an effective way to increase dramatic tension…
So I thought it would be even more fun to have the one making the threats, Chicory in this case, only posing as a representative of the magical community and for the actual community to be solidly in the hero’s corner.
So, yeah, three books to execute that plot twist. I can only hope the payoff was worth the setup.
We also learned a lot more about Everson’s family as well as the true history of the Order. The scenes with Everson and his grandfather in the prequel Book of Souls should make a lot more sense now. Grandpa’s efforts certainly paid off. It will be interesting to see how the new Order, led by Arianna and the senior members, takes shape.
One thing I can guarantee? They won’t be making any death threats against our hero. They’re too nice, and it’s Everson, for God’s sake.
If this first quadrilogy was seeing Everson journey from boy to man (metaphorically, of course—the guy’s in his early 30’s), in the next four books we’ll see him becoming more and more of a leader. I suspect Arianna’s remark about a team finding him “one at a time” will prove prophetic. No more flying solo for our boy. I mean, man.
I can’t wrap up this section of the author’s notes without commenting on Everson and Vega. For all their differences, they’ve turned out to be remarkably similar. And Vega not breaking her margarita glass against Croft’s head when he kissed her is promising. Does that make them relationship material?
I guess we’ll find out.
I have several people to thank for the five books that make up set one of the Prof Croft Series Box Set.
First and foremost, thanks to DC Comics and the creators of John Constantine. The wise-cracking, chain-smoking, trench coat-wearing, no-shit-taking wizard gripped this teenager’s imagination by the throat and never quite let go.
The supernatural detective type would later become popularized in genre fiction, Harry Dresden being the paragon, and deservedly so. More brilliance followed in the characters of John Taylor, Sandman Slim, Peter Grant, Alex Verus, and others. Indeed, Prof Croft joins the end of a long conga line, and I’m grateful to those authors who not only got the dance going, but made it so much fun. Appreciative nods to Prof Croft’s forebears appear throughout the series.
The Prof Croft series is set in an alternate near future following a financial crash. This was my excuse to play time-traveler and reimagine a period in the city’s history that remains of immense fascination to me.
That would be the 1970s, when a struggling New York featured swaths of urban decay alongside cauldrons of artistic creativity and pockets of dizzying wealth. There were large cutbacks in city services, including police and public safety, while crime, corruption, and the vice trades boomed. So a more dangerous setting that featured multiple points of power, some official, most not, and of course many spaces for supernatural baddies to operate.
For research into the setting, I leaned heavily on Pete Hamill’s Downtown: My Manhattan, Jonathan Mahler’s Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning, and Peter Shapiro’s Turn the Beat Around. All stellar nonfiction books. And though the last one deals with disco, its introduction encapsulates that period as well as anything I came across.
A big kudos the team at Damonza.com who have designed all the Prof Croft covers to date, including the box set. They’ve been amazing to work with. Various talented people have contributed to the books over the years, including Red Adept Editing, my beta and advanced readers, most notably Beverly Collie, Mark Denman, and Bob Singer, and proof readers Sharlene Magnarella and Donna Rich. Many thanks to all of them. Naturally, any errors or inelegance are this author’s alone.
I also want to thank James Patrick Cronin for his superb narration of the Prof Croft audiobooks. Those books, including samples, can be found at Audible.com.
None of this would be possible without the Strange Brigade, my dedicated fan group whose enthusiasm serves as motivation jet fuel, book after book.
Finally, thank you, intrepid reader, for embarking on this journey with the professor.
And it’s only the beginning…
Best Wishes,
Brad Magnarella
bradmagnarella.com
Croftverse Catalogue
PROF CROFT
Book of Souls
Demon Moon
Blood Deal
Purge City
Death Mage
Black Luck
Power Game
Druid Bond
Night Rune
BLUE WOLF
Blue Curse
Blue Shadow
Blue Howl
Blue Venom
Blue Blood
Blue Storm
Author’s Amazon Page
Author’s Website
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