The Nightworld is the property of L. J. Smith. All characters and surnames you recognise are taken from her books. Everything else was cooked up by the heap of steaming mush residing in my cranium, and as such, bears little or no resemblance to reality. No profit was made or animals harmed during the writing of these scenes.

 These pieces are all written from a character's point of view. In no way, shape or form do their beliefs or opinions reflect my own. Nor am I using this writing to stuff my philosophy on life (such as it is) down anyone's throat. If I want to get on my soapbox, I have a Friends List on Livejournal who can suffer my incessant ranting.

 And oh yes - I tend to write with tongue in cheek.

 Several of the stories here are linked, both to one another and to some of the Christmas crackers. In particular, stories about the Furies have a fair few links.

 The vampire who drops off Jepar, Lisa and Cougar is Chatoya's cousin, Jon Baines, who also shows up in Kelekona, albeit briefly.

One of my menfolk amused me mightily by stating "No man has an opinion on cushions." I was tickled enough to include it in this excerpt.

 Currency

 Several stories are acting as practice for Long Lost, the next Fires of Fate story. I want to get a handle on Alex's character before I throw him into Ryars Valley.  

 Alex's name is a English translation from the Greek form of Alexander, and although it is not the only name he's gone by, it is his original name.

 You may recognise the redhead in MacArthur's cafe from another story.

 For anyone with sharp eyes, during the chatter about Hades' rivers, you might think the Mnemosyne is missing: it isn't, but there is a reason Alex doesn't mention it which will be explained during either Long Lost or Haloed.

The reference to Mini-Me is an anachronism. I'm going to plead artistic license on this one.

The spell discussed within this story is the one which Blue gives to Iager in Chimera to raise Ryar ap Sangager from the dead.

The Luck of the Irish

 Written as a story involving Blue. Lianne got me thinking about just what he does for a job, how he gets around his rather noticeable looks, and how his job and his relationship with Chatoya mix. Voila.

And yes, I must admit, this story is rather puntastic. So references:

Blue: "You wouldn't steal their Lucky Charms, would you?"

Lucky Charms are a noxiously sweet breakfast cereal, famously advertised with a shrieking cartoon leprechaun who was outraged at the theft of his marshmallow 'charms'.

The Leprechaun King: "Now, now, the tasty ones go to the leader o' the craic first."

Craic is pronounced 'crack'. And Leader of the Pack is a wonderful and overwrought song of the sixties, sung by The Shangri-Las.

The Leprechaun King:"[...]I was the one who danced on the rivers[...]"

Yes. That truly is a Riverdance reference. The image of Michael Flatley has never quite left me.

 This is also a brief version of the mini-series I want to write at some point about just what the Furies do, and is one of the lighter stories. It's written in celebration of St. Paddy's Day.

The second of these stories - now complete - is The Devil May Care.

Cat's Cradle

 It occurs to me that Jo is more comfortable with her life in the Nightworld than most of her friends, who seem to be avoiding it. I didn't know much about her character until I began this short piece, so thanks to Jo for requesting it - interesting things are in store.

Love and War

 Neither a conventional, nor a particularly pleasant story. Partly I wanted to illustrate the aspects of Blue and Chatoya's relationship which aren't so straightforward, partly because in the time between Chimera and Haloed, Chatoya's clearly gained some respect from the Furies.

 I think - I hope - it showcased a different side to their relationship, and showed the clash between their business and personal lives.

 And it showed Blue as he truly is: indifferent to anything that won't further his ambitions. Whatever those ambitions be.  

 There may well be some (small) changes to Darkstar's appearance and attitude for the simple reason that Darkstar is getting a ridiculously huge revamp at some point. This scene helps to illustrate how I hope the revised version will look and feel.

 The title comes from Damien Rice's song "The Blower's Daughter," and the lyrics are taken from Bob Dylan's song "Shelter from the Storm", as they seemed appropriate.

 Both Michael Keane and Nerine de Villiers will be popping up again in The Devil May Care.

 As you might be able to tell, I have a love of legends, and Hades is one that's always had a firm grip on me. Because of the ties between Hades and the Furies, it's going to crop up at least twice in Haloed.

 The Gates of Hell takes place a few months after the end of Chimera, after Driven and The Road to Hell.

 I've tried to do my research on this one. Lake Melissani is real, as is the island at its centre.

 I've taken liberties with the geography of Hades (well, the geography as it stands in contemporary writing), but kept several of the hallmark features in; Asphodel, the rivers and their functions, and several other creature-features.

 The Wood of Suicides is a reference to Dante's Divine Comedy. In it, suicides take the form of black trees, their corpse dangling from the branch, their soul ensconced within the tree.

 There's a shift in Toya and Cougar's relationship here; before, the power has always been on her side. Now I think it may be moving to Cougar's.

 What Chatoya saw after she drank the Styx may well be another short story.

The Sins of the Father

 I mentioned in Nightfire that Blue had polished off his mother; and of course, his father was long gone. It did occur to me, however, that Cougar's father - Blue's stepfather - would still be alive.

There is a direct correlation between the fact that both Aspen and Blue's fathers have become priests.

This section is incomplete.