Iwanted to go home. “We saved the world. I thought we could relax. Ithought everything would be fine, now. Sunshine and daffodils.”
“Thesethings never end,” Cormac said. “Ten thousand years of humancivilization and it just keeps going.”
“We’lldo what we always do,” Ben said. “Only thing we can do, when you getright down to it.”
Ismiled, took his hand. “We look out for each other.”
StoryNotes and Playlist
AS I WRITE THIS, I finished working on the last Kitty novel, Kitty Saves the World, five years ago. I’ve writtena lot of other novels andstories since then, but I keep coming back to Kitty’s world, as I knewI would. I still have questions to answer, and more corners to explore.
Twoquestions I get asked a lot: First, am I sad about finishing theseries? This may come as a surprise but the answer is no, becausewriting a cohesive fourteen-book series, plus all the short stories,and wrapping it up exactly when and how and I wanted is a hell of anachievement. I don’t feel sad, I feel triumphant. I’m really proud ofwhat I accomplished, and I’m grateful for the readers who made thejourney possible.
Second,will I ever write more novels about Kitty? Well. I know what happensnext. I know how her story continues. I’m not ready to write it yet,though. I’ve still got other threads to follow before I return to themain one—as you’ll see in these pages.
Manyof these stories were responses to specific anthology invitations:write a story about your hero’s antagonist, or about magicians, orabout supernatural detectives. Some of these stories—“Sealskin,” forexample—are sequels to other stories. Because in thetwo decades I’ve been writing professionally, I’ve learned that almostevery story can lead to another story. Stories are layers, and there’salways more to discover.
Ilove having a pre-existing world already in place for whenever I wantto write a story about werewolves, vampires, ghosts, monsters, and themagic that seems to follow them around. It will all end up right here.Stay tuned.
CarrieVaughn
January 2020
TheKitty Playlists
Ilisten to music when I write. It settles the type-A, anxiety-ridden,list-making part of my brain that is always sure I left the stove on,so that I can actually write. Frequently, Ifind music that fuels what I’m writing. Swing for a story set in WorldWar II, a pavane for a Renaissance-flavored fantasy.
WhenI wrote the first Kitty novel, I collected a whole list of songs thatembodied the story for me, and since Kitty started out as a radio DJ,bringing those songs together in a playlist felt thematically awesomeand offered another way into her personality. And sharing music isalways a lot of fun! So I kept doing it, forfourteen novels and now two collections. I’ve discovered a lot of greatnew music, searching for the perfect songs.
Thankyou for reading—and listening!
“KittyWalks on By, Calls Your Name”
“Don’tYou (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds
I’vebeen trying to write a high school class reunion story since my ownten-year class reunion in 2001. (I went with my good friend Andrea, whois a journalist, and on the drive there we both talked about writingstories about the experience. I said, “I’ve already started mine.”She said, “But how. . . oh.” One of the perks of fiction.) Ten years isthe big one. The one where you all show up and realize you’re grownupsnow and are shocked you survived. And shocked thatsome of you didn’t survive. It’s not like the movies at all, really. Inthe end, the story needed time to cook, and it needed Kitty’s world tobe fully developed before it could come to fruition.
“It’sStill the Same Old Story”
“AsTime Goes By” by Billie Holiday
Thisis the story that demonstrated to me how much my portrayal of vampireshad been influenced by the character of Duncan McLeod in the Highlander TV series. It’s the way those episodesjumped back and forth in time, to show the character how he was and howhe is now, the way this story does. Explains so much, doesn’t it? Highlander focuses on the bit about immortality I’mreally interested in: How does it change one’s relationships andperception of history? Much like Rick, I’m not interested in bloodand power games. I really love writing about Rick throughout history.This appeared in Down These Strange Streets,edited by George R. R. Martin and the late, great Gardner Dozois.
“TheIsland of Beasts” and “The Beaux Wilde”
“HexhamshireLass” and “Farewell, Farewell”
by Fairport Convention
Ireally like Jane Austen. It took me a long time to warm up to her writing,but she’s one of the sharpest, wittiest authors out there. AndI really love movies based on Jane Austen’s books. The clothes, theEnglish countryside, the dancing! Whenyou’re writing a long-running werewolf series, and watching a lot of Jane Austin movies to
unwind,the inevitable question presents itself: what would life be like forwerewolves in Regency England? Not easy, for sure. Part of what I wantto explore in these stories is why a stereotypical, ragefilled,uncontrollable monster would want to conformto the formality and severe societal constraints of this culture.These are beasts who consider themselves civilized. I want to do morewith these characters and stories. “The Island of Beasts” originallyappeared in Nightmare Magazine, and “The BeauxWilde” appeared in Urban Fantasy Magazine.
“UnternehmenWerwolf”
“Irgendwoauf der Welt” by Palast Orchester
InKitty Goes to Washington we meet Fritz, who asa young man fought for Germany in World War II, revealing that yes, theNazis used werewolves. I definitely wanted to make sure I told hisorigin story, and this gave me an opportunity to do so. It appeared in Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre, editedby Paula Guran.
“Kittyand the Full-Super-Bloodmoon Thing” and
“Kittyand the Super Blue Blood or Whatever Moon Thing”
“BlueMoon” by Billie Holiday
Theseare two flash pieces I wrote on social media and posted to my blogduring two of the recent spates of “Oh my gosh, the moon is going to dosomething amazing and weird tonight!” The moon’s behavior ispredictable and has been having eclipsesand going super and so on and so forth for a really
