Guest Post: Faith Hunter!

Hey Theresa,

Thank you so much for having me here today. I have something special for you—a Beast snippet.

Fans are always asking me to write a blog from Beast’s point of view, short stories from Beast’s POV and even do a Q&A from Beast’s POV. Those fans will be delighted to read Have Stakes Will Travel, and the short story about Beast!

It opens this way:

We Sa and the Lumber King

I/We climbed stunted tree, sat in twisted limb. High on ledge at top of gorge. Hidden by smoke from man-fire far below. Man-fire burned limbs, leaves cut from trees. Smoke filled air. Sound of axes echoed across gorge. Sound of train whistle split air. Hurt ears. Bad sound. All sound of man was bad sound, but sound of white man was worst sound. No sound of birds. No sound of prey on ground. No good sounds anywhere since white man came to mountains. Below, in gorge, limbs and trees and branches were dropped into water, dropped there by human men. White men.

We sa, little bobcat, said into back of mind, Yunega tsiluga tala tlugvi, tsiluga totsi tlugvi. White man kill white pine trees, kill white oak trees. Asgina. Devils.

Alpha devil is there, I thought at her. White man in gray pelt. Do you understand his words?

Yunega talk is not Tsalagi talk, she said in mind speech. I do not understand.

The short is really very short, only three and a half pages. Of course, Beast’s dialogue pattern is fairly short, so that makes sense, but I think it does what it’s supposed to. It is a piece that is set just at the start of Beast’s Hunger Times, a time when Beast first encounters the white man.

There are three other stories in the compilation – one previously published in the anthology STRANGE BREW, titled Signatures of the Dead, and two brand new ones. Haints is from Jane’s younger years, just after she met Molly Everhart Trueblood, and it is written from Molly’s point of view. The story is about a haunted house, and it gives a new look into Jane’s mind, her social skills (or lack thereof) and her early fighting skills. It also brings back a beloved character, Brax, the cop from Signatures of the Dead.

The longest story takes place just after Raven Cursed, and just before start of Death’s Rival. Cajun With Fangs is set in the boonies of Louisiana off of I-10, west of New Orleans. Jane gets to meet her very first Cajun vamp clan – a nonaligned clan with no ties to Leo – and a family of witches.

Faith Hunter

Have Stakes, Will Travel

by Faith Hunter