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Rafael came out February 9th, in both the US and UK. If you missed it, maybe that’s because it wasn’t originally scheduled. It was sort of a surprise book to me, and my publisher. How does a surprise book happen? Well, there was little thing called a pandemic and a lockdown and, well you know the rest. We all lived it, are living it. I reached out to as many fans as I could on as many social platforms as I could and the one thing that all of you asked for was, more stories. You told me that my books were your refuge away from the real-life craziness, but even though Sucker Punch had come out in August of 2020 as scheduled, you wanted/needed more now. You needed more books now, not later, but now. I heard you, and I went to my publisher and said, “If I could write you a shorter Anita Book like Jason or Micah, could we do that?”

The answer was obviously yes, but then I had to go to my list of characters that hadn’t had their stories told yet, and your requests for people you wanted to see front and center more. Rafael and the wererats were some of the most requested. Rafael is literally tall, dark and handsome. He’s a man of honor, a warrior, and a king, so why hadn’t he had his own book yet? Good question, and finally I had a good answer.

But a funny thing happened when I sat down to write the “short” book. It kept growing bigger. It’s over double the size of Jason, and longer than Micah, in fact Rafael turned out to be long enough to be a hardback novel like my regular books, but my publisher had made space in their lineup for an original paperback and so, that’s what Rafael is, an original paperback that’s long enough to be one of my hardbacks. I should have realized that Rafael would make the book bigger and more serious, he’s just not a light and fluffy kind of guy. I should also have realized that the first time for the Rodere, the wererats to be front and center in a book they’d need room to stretch and show all the wonderful culture that hasn’t been seen on stage before. The wererats have been quietly building their powerbase for years, and in some books not so quietly building, but now the cat, or rat is out of the bag. I’m so excited to finally share the world of the wererats with everyone. They turned out to be even more complex and magical than I’d expected.

There was another reason for me to agree with all the people that wanted Rafael to have his own book, 2020-early 2021 was the year of the Rat, and that meant wererats and Rafael in Anita’s world, and in ours.