Easily the most enigmatic character in any of my work is a woman named Revenge. The first time she shows up in a book I've released is Hemlock. She marches in with the most deadly, vile, dangerous group that my world knows, in soft black silk slippers and a black evening gown. She is a gorgeous woman covered in fine black fur with long, gleaming black hair covering one eye, exposing her other red appraising eye. The men around her are all large and vicious, are magically powerful beyond comprehension, and then you have her. And nobody can understand why she's part of the Hoodsmen. Her name is simply Revenge.
She is sexy, uses her womanly wiles, yet at the same time will boil a man alive for laying an unwanted hand to her. She is the very essence of a powerful woman, and all of the Hoodsmen fear her. There are theories that say she sleeps with one or the other as she pours her teasing affection through the group. And as you read her stories there are nothing more than questions forming in your mind. The more information you get about Revenge, the more mysterious she gets.
She's first seen in Hemlock, makes an appearance again in Crown, becomes a pretty prominent character in Plight of Madness, a point of view character in Fate of Madness. Yet in all of these books there are just too many questions and the reader is left desperate to know more about the deadly beauty, feared only by the most powerful, who the world knows as Revenge.
I'll be releasing on a semi-regular basis a series of novellas called the Garden of Infamy. All will be stories of the backgrounds of important characters we will see more of in the future. Seeds of Revenge is the first of such novellas. At 42,000 words it dances along the edge of the novella cliff. A breath would push it over into novel. But I refuse to beef up the story just so I can label it a novel. I would tell more of her secrets but if there is a character in my world that I fear, it's Revenge. Because here in this room, with two dogs, a son, a wife, and a vodka and soda, she's just a character. But tomorrow night, after being awake for 32 hours, I will be going to sleep. And in my dreams there is nothing that can protect me from the wrath of Revenge. So I will tell only the secrets she wishes the world to know. It will stay a novella. I have written enough novels anyway.
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