Black Water: A Jane Yellowrock Collection
Faith Hunter
Hi, All!
Let me start by making a confession. Honestly? Until the Jane Yellowrock series, I never thought I could even write a short story. The length seemed too truncated to achieve any kind of character development or intensity of suspense. And then I started writing them. Oh My Gosh! The fun of kicking butt in very few words! The shorter format lets me learn things about Jane’s pals that I never did before, and delve into their backstories in ways that I can’t in a novel. It also lets me find and reveal things about Jane that I hadn’t known and sometimes try new weapons for Jane that might not make it into the longer format of a novel. In these two stories, I discovered lots of cool stuff about all the characters.
This collection includes two very long short stories and one shorter vignette. The long stories take place in between existing novels in the Jane Yellowrock series. “Black Water” sees Jane back in Chauvin, Louisiana, where she has some unfinished business, tied up with the family of Rick LaFleur.
The vignette, “Snafu,” is a fun snippet that gives a glimpse into Jane’s untold, early backstory. Fans always want to know how Jane got from the children’s home where she was raised to the job of rogue-vamp hunter. Well, here’s her first day on the job. It introduces Nomad, who becomes more than just a boss. You’ll definitely be hearing more about him in the future.
The last story, “Off the Grid,” is one I’m incredibly excited about. It’s from Jane’s point of view, and it introduces a character named Nell Nicholson. Nell popped into my head one day and I couldn’t shake this idea for a scene: her answering the door to Jane with a shotgun cocked. Who is this woman? Does she always answer the door with a gun? Why? What is she afraid of? Or maybe better—who is hunting her? As I began to explore who she was and what her abilities were, I realized her backstory was fascinating. She’s going to get involved in Jane’s world, and she’s also going to be the star of her own series of novels, debuting next year from Roc.
And finally you’re getting an exclusive preview: the first two chapters of Broken Soul, the next Jane Yellowrock novel. It hits the shelves October 7, 2014.
I hope you enjoy.
Faith Hunter
Chronology of Books and Stories
WeSa and the Lumber King (in the compilation Have Stakes Will Travel) The Early Years (in the compilation Cat Tales) Snafu (Prequel)
Cat Tats (in the compilation Cat Tales) Kits (in the compilation Cat Tales) Haints (in the compilation Have Stakes Will Travel) Signatures of the Dead (in the anthology Strange Brew and the compilation Have Stakes Will Travel) Skinwalker
First Sight (in the Jane Yellowrock Companion Guide) Blood Cross
Mercy Blade
Easy Pickings (crossover, alternative universe e-novella with C. E. Murphy) Blood, Fangs, and Going Furry (in the compilation Cat Tales) Dance Master (in the Jane Yellowrock Companion Guide) Raven Cursed
Cajun With Fangs (in the compilation Have Stakes Will Travel) Golden Delicious (in the anthology An Apple for the Teacher) Death’s Rival
Blood Trade
The Devil’s Left Boot (in the anthology Kicking It) Beneath a Bloody Moon (a novella in the Jane Yellowrock Companion Guide) Black Water (in the compilation Black Water) Black Arts
Off the Grid (in the compilation Black Water) Broken Soul
Dark Heir
Black Water
Author’s Note: This novella takes place (in the JY timeline) after Blood Trade and before Black Arts.
I took the long, bumpy roads south of New Orleans, to the backwaters of Louisiana, in Terrebonne Parish. I had been there recently with my business partners in Yellowrock Securities, Eli and Alex Younger. With us had been Special Agent, PsyLED, Rick LaFleur, and his supernat team, Brute and Pea. We had been hired to track and kill a werewolf pack, which we had done. We left the place better off than when we found it.
Or so I’d thought.
Until I’d received a text from Harold, who owned the Sandlapper Guesthouse with his wife, Clara. We’d stayed with them, partly because Harold was the uncle of my sorta boyfriend, Rick. Harold’s text was to the point: Man w gun looking for you. Come quick. On the heels of the text had been the news coming from Chauvin, Louisiana, today—video of cops at a crime scene, near the Sandlapper.