I’m normally a linear person. If I pick up a series, I try hard to read it in order. But.

When I write a series, sometimes a side character or bit of worldbuilding suggests a related story, or prequel, or companion. And sometimes there are related series or spin-offs. (Like Magic Burning and Magic Escaping being set long after Necromancer.)

As a big reader, I’m aware that makes things more complicated for series fans. I sometimes use Goodreads reviews to decide when to tackle a preview in a series, or whether I can start with a spin-off. For example, I love Gail Carriger’s San Andreas Shifters, but I recommend reading book 1 (The Sumage Solution) before the prequel (Marine Biology) because I think you’ll care more about the characters in the short prequel that way.

In a week (on July 20th) I’ll be releasing a new story in my Hidden Wolves series. I hadn’t planned on it, but that world of shifters and humans, secrets and coexistence, is just so much fun to play in. Once an Alpha is a prequel set a year before Unacceptable Risk, book 1 of the main series.

As such, the new novella isn’t spoilery for the series. It’s intended to be a possible jumping-in point for new readers.

Although, so was the previous preview novel Unseen Past, except those guys insisted on an epilogue which resulted in a few minor spoilers.

This time round, I think new readers can pick up Once an Alpha and dive in from there with no worries. David and Rob are solid at the end of the book, and it is still 2010, a year before Risk.

Should be safe.

Of course, I did include a little 5K previous-anthology story – Toby, Doyle, and the Cats – at the end of this release duo. And that one is set after the end of the whole Hidden Wolves series. It has no detailed spoilers, but does lay out a bit of “this stuff will work out” comfort about how the series plays out on the large scale.

It was intended to stand alone as well – short and cute for a charity anthology – but for determinedly linear folks, if you like Once an Alpha and want the step by step route, maybe heed the note between stories and go to Unacceptable Risk next – it’s free anyway. (I could’ve released Toby, Doyle and the Cats as a stand-alone, but I didn’t want to charge money for a 5K short, and didn’t have the budget to pay for a separate cover, formatting, etc for a freebie.) So, will there be more Wolves in the future? I’ve learned to never say never where my plot bunny farm is concerned. (You can preorder the two stories in this volume wide – https://books2read.com/OnceAnAlphaKaje )

Hopefully, fans of the Hidden Wolves will enjoy more adjacent material as much as I enjoy tidbits from my favorite series. (Catherine Cloud recently released A Different Point of View and Other Short Stories with the guys from her various hockey romance novels, and I loved them, although the linear in me made me immediately reread the novels to figure out where the shorts fit in.)

What about you folks? Are you a determinedly linear reader? Does coming across a new intervening story in a series make you cheer and dive in, or go back to the beginning to savor it in order? Do you like prequels after the main story releases? Do you like cameos from previous series in spin-offs, or is that a frustration, knowing that you are missing references by not reading each series in strict order?

We authors love to play around in familiar worlds we’ve created. Hopefully, readers generally like to join in the fun.

– Kaje Harper

July 2024