When I first set out to build this pen name, I cast about for cookies (aka reader or lead magnets) to give to fans as a way of thanking them for their support. Over the past decade plus and across a handful of pen names, I've written a lot of reader magnets, from microfiction and bonus epilogues to short stories and novellas.
For this pen name, I wanted to do something a little different, not just a single scene or story, but something readers could really sink their teeth into.
So instead of a series of short stories, I decided to do themed short story collections, each one containing four, well-written stories that might or might not tie in to a larger story world. I already had several ideas for collections left over from a previous project, so it was relatively easy to convert those ideas to this more specific purpose.
The problem then became where to start.
That turned out to be a little easier than I thought it would be. When my Urban Fantasy short story "A Good Demon Hunter Is Hard to Find" was selected as a finalist for the 2025 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award, it became the focal story for the first collection.
Conveniently enough, I had a cover ready to go, too, a premade designed by Nocturne Cover Art that I picked up a few years ago. I wrote three additional Urban Fantasy short stories last autumn and bundled them with "Demon Hunter" into my first short story collection, Night Shadows.
My plan at the time was to create at least one or two of these collections every year, making them exclusive to members of my mailing list, and then rotating them out with newer collections, publishing the old ones to retailers after a certain amount of time had elapsed. That way, every reader would have a chance to pick up a copy for free by subscribing to my mailing list and/or to buy a copy.
Of course, these collections aren't the only kinds of cookies I intend to give readers, but that's getting ahead of where we are now.
Night Shadows has been available exclusively to readers for about six months now. It's time to switch it out for a new collection, which I'm working on as a spare time project between larger projects with harder deadlines.
Anyway, Night Shadows is now available to a wider audience at a variety of online retailers, including Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, and Smashwords.
While I was formatting the ebook edition, I also pulled together a paperback edition, so that's available as well.
Night Shadows will remain available to newsletter subscribers for a short while longer, at least until I pull together a new short story collection for readers, and then it will only be available on retailers.
I'll have more news soon on a different collection.
Until then, peace and happy reading.
