The Monster (otherwise known as The Sum of Earthly Happiness) is, at long last, complete.ⁱ There is joy throughout the land, and I am now returning to the black hole from whence I came.

ⁱ If you are just stumbling across my work, I recommend starting with A Stroll on Sunday as it is the better work. Apparently, Lindsay Ellis has read it 'about six thousand times.' There is a slightly edited version up on AO3.

A couple frequently asked questions that have cropped up over the years:

How do you feel about AWL?

I like the musical just fine. My first exposure to Phantom was a cassette of the musical when I was twelve. I'm a big theater fan, and though it's not my all time favorite, I do like AWL. I have eight different cast recordings. But I find Leroux's world infinitely more nuanced and therefore fun to play in. I guess I could try writing an AWL fic one of these days, but I have a feeling I would get bogged down in the pseudo-history. Speaking of...

Historical detail. How do you manage that?

I read a lot of non-fiction, as a well as a lot of classic/old literature. Bits of it get stuck in the head and at the very least help me know what I need to look up. Stroll on Sunday was easy from that perspective. My European history is passing fair, and mostly I would double check things like "Was this building already in use during this time period?" or "When and where was this opera first performed?" Sum of Earthly Happiness demanded more specific research. There wasn't super easy to find resources in English, so a lot of my history came from two biographies, one on Naser al-Din and then one about his daughter Taj al-Saltanah. Cultural details came from friends. The rest of it is a matter of knowing how the characters would react. People don't change much, even if the set dressing does.

Characters. How do you set about creating them?

...I actually have no idea. They just crop up as whole people, and I write them down. If they don't fit into the canon world, they don't make it into the story.

Hey, you disappeared for a long time! What's up with that?

So I did. I stopped writing (almost completely) for many years, and was frustrated to have half-done work hanging out there. Now that it's all done, I'll probably be disappearing again.

So, you like Grand Marnier?

Personally, I prefer disgusting rum-based cocktails with little paper umbrellas. But I'm not Erik.