Sometimes I look at the universe I’ve created for my books and think, “Holy heck… *I* did that?”
I started creating my paranormal romance universe, which I’m now calling the Karennaverse because it amuses me to do so, back in 2010, when an author friend’s question of “How could a werewolf be vegan” led to me creating a 
character who was–and still is–a vegan werewolf. That, plus an editor friend’s prompt of “write a scene with two hot men and whipped cream,” and the encouragement of another author friend who was a gay man (I was reluctant to write male/male romance at the time, since I’m *not* a man), led to me writing Salad on the Side, the story of a vegan who is changed into a werewolf and, out of sheer stubbornness, remains vegan.
Readers liked the character (Kyle Slidell) and his fated mate, the reluctant Alpha who prefers giving up control in bed (Tobias Rogan). My editors liked them too, and I was asked to expand their story into a series. Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat became a 5-book series, with the final book, Tempeh for Two, released in spring 2014. I started keeping a “universe bible” with details about how my werewolf world works, all the protocols and werewolf laws and so on and so forth.
Then burnout, mental health issues, and other factors led to me stopping writing entirely. Due to poor sales, I asked my publisher to return the rights for Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat–and a couple dozen other books–to me, which they did in 2016.
In 2021, I reread Salad on the Side for the first time since 2014. And I thought, “This book is GOOD!” I decided it was time for Kyle and Tobias, and their packmates and friends, to see the light of day again.
I vastly revised those five books to update some technology and terminology in the stories, correct some continuity errors and some “first installment weirdness” caused by the fact that Salad on the Side was originally intended as a standalone story, and rereleased Salad on the Side in May 2022.
As I kept working on the five Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat books, and adding more and more to the “universe bible,” I realized that there were many more stories to tell in that universe. And that Kyle and Tobias’s story didn’t actually end in Tempeh for Two. I wrote a book 6 for their series. And then 7…8…9…
And finally book 10, Figs till the End. I *think* this is the final book of Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat. Kyle and Tobias have something resembling a “happily-ever-after” ending. Things in the werewolf world aren’t resolved;
Tobias still has enemies, there are still werewolf leaders using their power to abuse others, and there are definitely more stories to tell. But I think those stories will be told by other characters, with Tobias and Kyle taking a secondary or minor role in some of those books.
My “universe bible” is now nearly as long as some of my novels. The list of named characters alone takes up 10 pages! (I counted. There are close to 400 named characters across the Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat series and its spinoff series, Ebb & Flow.)
And Kyle and Tobias still live rent-free in my brain, even if I’m not writing any more books from their points of view. Though they’ve overruled me before, so who knows?
Figs till the End is available now, and in addition to finishing Tobias and Kyle’s story, it serves as a launching pad for my new spinoff series, Virtual Haven Pack.
