As of this writing, there are no Jenny Cain short stories. I always resisted writing them because I was worried that they might end up being too-much plot and not enough character, and I had always thought that her fans read her books because they love her, and not necessarily for the plots. But now that I have more than twenty years of short story writing behind me, I'm wondering if I might be able to do it. If she's not going to be in a new novel any time soon, maybe I can at least give her the chance to come back to life in shorter forms.

So. . .gulp. . .my goal for 2006 is to write a Jenny Cain short story.

Knowing me, it probably won't even be all that "short." I'll want to give her plenty of room to stretch. (I wonder if I could do a Jenny Cain novella. Hmm. I'd better not get carried away here, at least not yet. That would take a lot of time and I'm not sure my other deadlines will allow it, but gee, it would be really nice to do.)

If I can do one, my guess is that more will follow until maybe I might even have an anthology's worth. (Whoa, Nancy! Do the words "cart" and "horse" mean anything to you? Just get that one short story written first, before you start thinking as big as anthologies or novellas.)

It could be a story from when she was younger, toward the start of the series, or it could come later. I just don't know yet, because she hasn't let me know. You don't really think I write these things, do you? :)

I need to check this out with her. If there's a story there, she'll tell me. Or maybe Geof will. Or maybe it will be someone else from the series who has always wanted to take center stage and who will drag them into it.

When (if?) I do this dangerous thing, you will be the first to know. I will sell it somewhere, because a girl's got to make a living, but I will make sure I have the right to "publish" it here first.