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Some author notes for “Wishful” (warning: SPOILERS) The concept behind this story went through a few iterations before Jomahawk and I agreed on one. One idea was to make it like Heavy Metal, with a main character who becomes a super-stud when he is transported to a fantastical world of warring factions. Another concept involved an augmented-reality world. But I’m happy with the premise we ended up with. Most of the major characters’ names, appearance, choice of clothing, and sexual quirks, as well as several other details, were given to me by Jomahawk. One thing I really enjoyed about writing this story was contrasting the ways in which the Wishful and real-world characters speak. I like writing flowery speech, and it was fun to get into how Jace finds himself talking that way when he’s in his “King Jace” persona. The board game Coin of the Realm was inspired by Settlers of Catan, although the monetary units were taken from Dungeons & Dragons. In chapter 2, Alice mentions that one of her grad-school friends is dating a cop. When I was in grad school, I had a classmate who was dating a police officer. The Leporine twins’ dialogue and behavior were inspired by the Dee Dees (Harley Quinn’s granddaughters) from Batman Beyond. The Food 'n Fuel convenience store mentioned in chapter 2 is an allusion to Flip's Food and Fuel on The Loud House -- a show that both Jomahawk and I enjoy. Slave to the Grind, the coffee shop mentioned in that chapter, is the name of an actual coffee shop I once went to. People who are as picky as I am about language will notice that “Benata” and “Leporine” are capitalized but “kain” (Neva’s dog-like species) is not. This is because Benata and Leporine refer not only to a race but to a civilization. Kain, on the other hand, is largely a racial designation, because the kain do not have a unified government or culture; instead, they live in self-governed bands that do not necessarily share a language, religion, or traditions. The hierarchical Benata civilization is based on feudal China, while the kain were inspired by the Comanches of the American Southwest. The Leporines’ warrens are a set of loosely affiliated city-states and aren’t based on anything in particular. Of all the sex scenes in the story, the one I most enjoyed writing was probably the scene in chapter 4 between Jace and Alice. For one thing, it’s the first sex scene in the story that takes place in the real world, which ups the intensity. Also, once I had the idea of Alice essentially daring Jace to find all of her hot spots and turn-ons, it gave me clarity as to how the rest of the chapter should go, because I could use all of Lady Aliss’ hot spots and turn-ons as a guide. It also enabled me to keep ramping up the action without either character feeling the need to stop and say, “Wait, we’re siblings, should we be doing this?” In figuring out Valerius' origin story, I did a little research on Roman concepts of the afterlife. It turned out that a lot of Romans -- especially those in the cities -- didn't believe in an afterlife at all and therefore didn't worship a god of the underworld. So I chose not to mention any specific gods when talking about who judged Valerius when he died. When I was writing the part of chapter 8 where Angelica talks about wolves and incest, I looked up animal incest to make sure I wasn’t just talking out of my ass. It turns out that wolves and other mammalian species have mechanisms that make incest rare but don’t prevent it all together.