Marjorie M. Liu

When I write, it is an unconscious exercise that requires a certain degree of conscious control. Or in other words, everything inside my brain - all the accumulated experiences of my life -are there for the picking, ripe and ready to go. With, admittedly, a certain degree of exaggeration. I do not, after all, know any shape-shifters or very handsome psychics. Not that it matters. The key to telling stories - as with everything in life - is the execution. And in the case of DARK DREAMERS, the writing of the novella was a very intense experience.

Before I wrote DARK DREAMERS I had been doing a lot of research on the immense problem of child trafficking for the international sex trade - a flourishing market that every year sees at least one million children sold for sexual purposes. And though I did not plan on writing this particular novella on that subject,when I sat down at my desk, that is what came out, in a burst of energy that was like a glove thrown down inside my head, beginning with the image of a child locked in a basement, with no one to help her, and not a single person aware that she was missing. Which happens to more children in this world than anyone cares to think about.

DARK DREAMERS almost wrote itself after that, and despite the fantastical characters - a disembodied gargoyle and a detective capable of seeing the future - the heart of the novella is that trapped little girl, and how no matter how powerless you might feel, there is always a way to stand up for yourself and others, even if by doing so you must make terrible sacrifices.

Marjorie