The next story…

So, those of you who’ve been following me on Twitter know I’m working on…something.

If you’ve read Goddess, “The Perfect Secretary,” or “The Sea Monster of Dorgissey Harbour,” you’ve been introduced to an alternate-earth setting of mine: it’s furry, it’s the mid-1930s (although the Great Depression doesn’t seem to have happened and the world may not be on a path to a second world war), and a few people are size-shifters. Part-time giants we’ve met in various stories include the sweet otter Princess Kailani, the vivacious but distinctly more predatory otter Tallulah, the poised secretary-slash-crime-boss mouse Miss Flint, and the impeccable and resourceful personal assistant tigress Jeeves. And, next up: black cat private detective Nora Mallory.

I’m about 4000 words into the first draft of Nora’s story. I don’t know the final length, although it feels more like a novella than a novel to me. I’ve had the idea for a noir-flavored macro detective story for years, but didn’t have a detective—or a story, for that matter—in mind until Nora strolled in and told the other prospects to beat it. (I’ve had black cats on the mind since Ken Cougr whimsically changed a picture of Arilin to have black fur and dubbed her “Nilira.” Nora is definitely her own cat, though.)

I expect I’ll be able to start posting episodes later this month. I haven’t decided yet on the posting frequency or how long the pieces will be; right now, I have three scenes which are around 1075, 2485, and an unfinished one which I expect will come in around 1000. Those could be three episodes, or I could break the middle one in two and make them either two longish ones or four short ones. If I go with the short ones I might, accent on might, try to post weekly, like I did back in the halcyon days of Saida & Autumn. If you have a preference, you can let me know in the comments.

I’m also still trying to find a name for the story, which I’ll hopefully have before posting…

As always, thank you all for sticking with me, and I’ll be back soon!

— Arilin