Sianim 02 - Wolfsbane

talent as she devises a clever mystery with appealing characters in a fantasy setting . . . top-notch reading fare.”
    — Romantic Times

Titles by Patricia Briggs
    The Mercy Thompson Novels
     
    MOON CALLED
BLOOD BOUND
IRON KISSED
BONE CROSSED
SILVER BORNE
     
     
The Alpha and Omega Novels
     
    ON THE PROWL
(with Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, and Sunny)
CRY WOLF
HUNTING GROUND
     
    MASQUES
WOLFSBANE
STEAL THE DRAGON
WHEN DEMONS WALK
     
    THE HOB’S BARGAIN
     
    DRAGON BONES
DRAGON BLOOD
     
    RAVEN’S SHADOW
RAVEN’S STRIKE



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    WOLFSBANE
     
    An Ace Book / published by arrangement with Hurog, Inc.
     
    PRINTING HISTORY
Ace mass-market edition / November 2010
     
Copyright © 2010 by Hurog, Inc.
     
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    eISBN : 978-1-101-44522-8
     
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
    Which, not being a part of the story, may be skipped
    I wrote Wolfsbane in between When Demons Walk and The Hob’s Bargain .
    Careerwise, it was a dumb thing to do, and I knew it. Masques had been out of print for a couple of years by that point, and I was aware that its sales figures were abysmal and no one in his right mind would reprint it. My editor, Laura Anne Gilman, had left Ace for Roc (which at the time was owned by a different publishing company). After she left, Ace politely declined publishing When Demons Walk , for several very good reasons. First, the editor who had liked my work was gone. Second, my sales record was not good. Masques had failed. Steal the Dragon had done all right, but it’d had a terrific cover by Royo. I was pretty sure that, at least for the time being, my career as a writer was over. So I wrote the book I wanted to write.
    I had lived with Wolf in my head since I was in fifth or sixth grade . . . maybe since I first read The Black Stallion by Walter Farley and recognized the pull of the powerful, dangerous creature who loves only one person. By the time I’d written three books, I knew that I had a lot to learn—and that I had learned a lot about writing since I wrote Masques . I still consider The Hob’s Bargain my first professional work. It was the first book I wrote that turned out exactly as I’d envisioned it, the first one that I wrote from craft rather than instinct. I wanted to take those new skills and turn my hand to giving Wolf and Aralorn a story more worthy of them.
    Wolfsbane was the result. Eventually, somewhat to our mutual surprise, Ace bought When Demons Walk , The