Dear Reader;

Ideas are strange and wonderful things. Not only are they nearly impossible to anticipate, but the most unlikely ones can be the most beguiling. I had written quite a number of medieval romances when the idea behind the Prometheus Project came to me. I was skeptical of the notion of writing an urban fantasy romance with a mystery subplot, never mind one set in a gritty dystopian future, but Lilia Desjardins wouldn’t take no for an answer. She was persistent and wanted her story told. Publishers also thought the idea was a risky one, given my solid publishing history in medieval romance. The editor who ultimately acquired Fallen did so after I agreed to her suggestion to make the book into a trilogy. There was a lot of the Republic to explore, and I knew I could write three books set there. I also knew she was right that there should be more than one book in my publishing history in this different market niche.

I had a wonderful time writing Fallen, Guardian and Rebel: it was invigorating to visit new territory, so to speak, and work with different story elements than I had previously. I was fortunate to have the support of my publishing house and of my agent in trying something different. When the initial trilogy was completed, though, it troubled me that Tupperman had never had his happily-ever-after. Initially, he was a minor character, but his role grew over the series to the point that I felt I was abandoning him. The problem was that I didn’t know his story.

Several years later, ideas worked their magic again and I realized what Tupperman’s story would be. I had thought that it would be a novella, but as I started to write, Tupperman’s story kept getting longer. I really liked the story, so was easily convinced to spend more time in the new Republic. In the meantime, an interesting thing happened: the publishing rights for the initial trilogy returned to me. This gave me the welcome opportunity to have those three books edited again and published in new editions. I held off on publication of Tupperman’s story until that was completed.

This meant that I needed new covers for the original trilogy, too. I loved the covers on the Tor mass market editions—each featuring the hero alone—but didn’t have the right to use them. After much discussion, Kim Killion and I decided to use the heroines on the covers for these editions, to give the books more of an urban fantasy look. I’m very happy with the result.

And so, welcome to Tupperman’s story. It is set several years after the events in Rebel, when some things have changed in the Republic but others have not. The angels that Tupperman convinced to shed their wings and fight for the future of humanity have become an elite corps of soldiers called the Watchful Host. The problem is that someone is murdering the members of the Watchful Host, and worse, making it look as if Tupperman is the source of the betrayal. A disenchanted Tupperman believes that the time for his final mission has arrived, so he leaves New Gotham to meet his fate, suspecting he will never return. En route, he meets Kara, a woman who entices him and challenges him—and gives him more than enough reason to survive. It’s not a spoiler to tell you that Tupperman will finally get his happily-ever-after in this final book of the Republic.

Until next time, I hope you are well and have plenty of good books to read.

All my best,
Claire

Read an excerpt from Abyss.