Cat's Paw

A novelette in the Winterlands series, 18,000 words. John Aversin and Jenny Waynest are summoned by a succession of hideous prophetic dreams about a monster... only there's no monster in sight when they reach the targeted realm of Teruvar. And, moreover, there's supposedly a supernatural Guardian there already to prevent such things... So in that case, reasons John, why expend all that energy calling us? And what do those dreams have to do with the ancient legends of the Night Gods, or the present intrigues of the dysfunctional royal family?

Since her first published fantasy in 1982 - The Time of the Dark - Barbara Hambly has touched most of the bases in genre fiction. She has written mysteries, horror, mainstream historicals, graphic novels, sword-and-sorcery fantasy, romances, and Saturday Morning Cartoons. Born and raised in Southern California, she attended the University of California, Riverside, and spent one year at the University of Bordeaux, France. She married science fiction author George Alec Effinger, and lived part-time in New Orleans for a number of years. In her work as a novelist, she currently concentrates on horror (the Don Simon Ysidro vampire series) and historical whodunnits, the well-reviewed Benjamin January novels, though she has also written another historical whodunnit series under the name of Barbara Hamilton.
Professor Hambly also teaches History part-time, paints, dances, and trains in martial arts. Follow her on Facebook, and on her blog at livejournal.com.
Now a widow, she shares a house in Los Angeles with several small carnivores.