Author’s Note
In the Forests of the Night was published in 1999, over twenty years ago. It tells the story of a vampire named Risika, who was changed in the colonies in 1701. If you’re a long-time reader, you probably know my story: I wrote and published Forests when I was a teenager. I was in ninth grade the year it was released.
The four books of the Den of Shadows series (In the Forests of the Night, Demon in My View, Shattered Mirror, and Midnight Predator) were published in those first four years, followed by the five book Kiesha’ra Series, the five Return to the Den of Shadows books (Persistence of Memory, Token of Darkness, All Just Glass, Poison Tree, and Promises to Keep), and at last the Maeve’ra Trilogy.
During those seventeen years, I and my readers grew up. I went from a ninth-grade student in 1999, to a working teacher and married homeowner in 2013. In the eight years since then, I have published three adult novels, grown in my teaching career, been divorced and remarried, and had two wonderful children.
For the past two decades, I have fielded questions about many characters, with a fan-favorite being Aubrey from In the Forests of the Night and Demon in my View.
In September, 2021, I started working on a “flash fic” that then became significantly longer, focusing on Anne, the adoptive mother of Jessica from Demon in My View. As a mother myself now, I wanted to explore the families of all the young adult protagonists, the people who supported and brought them where they were. I had the vague idea of making a book of short stories featuring not just Anne, but all the absent and/or deceased YA parents and guardians, like Sarah Vida’s father, or Cooper’s uncle. Beyond my novella with Anne, the idea was still hazy.
Then in October, around when I was starting to get anxious that National Novel Writing Month was around the corner and I didn’t know what I intended to write, a new member of my Discord asked:
Also I’m dying to pick your brain about Aubrey. And didn’t want to spam the chat. Do you ever plan to write a prequel novel about how he became who he is? And what are all of his tattoos?
For the first in a long time, I thought about Dark Flame, a novel I had written around the same time as In the Forests of the Night but never published. It told Aubrey’s story, including the pages in between the pages of Forests.
And I decided to write a new companion to Forests, one that tells the story of Risika and Alexander’s mother. It does answer many questions about Aubrey, and why he is so invested in Risika’s immortal life (though I am sorry, Rist, that I totally failed to answer any of your actual questions) but more than that, it explores how the diverse books of the Den of Shadows, Kiesha’ra and Maeve’ra are all interrelated.
Part One is formed very much like In the Forests of the Night, with a back and forth between the narrator and protagonist Lila Light in her “modern day” of the 1680s, and flashbacks to the history of her kind and her line. Part Two goes back and forth between events parallel to In the Forests of the Night, with “modern day” chapters set in the early 1700s and narrated mostly by Aubrey (and occasionally by Lila), with flashbacks that delve into the co-evolution of the two vampire empires, Midnight and Mayhem.
When I started writing, I had intended for the flashbacks in Part Two to tell the stories of Silver’s line, but only Ather was ready to talk. You do get hints and information about all their backgrounds, but you’re not reading Dark Flame.
In fact, I don’t call this a proper novel at all. It is a companion, and it is aimed at readers familiar with the world of the Den of Shadows and the characters within it—especially those of us who have grown up and are looking back. Lila’s and Risika’s stories create a framework to hold the entire piece together, but it should still be considered a collection of short stories and in some cases informational blurbs.
I have answered questions like, “Where did the Macht witches come from?” “Why did Kaleo let Sarah live at the start of Shattered Mirror?” “Who is this once-witch who shows up at the end of Bloodtraitor?” “Why did the first Mayhem burn down?” “Why does Jeshickah found Midnight?” Within these words, hopefully you will find some answers you have sought.
My first novel is named for the line from one of William Blake’s most famous poems:
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night
For this companion, I have borrowed inspiration from later lines:
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes 