When I decided I would reprint all of my short stories as individual ebooks, I also decided I would take the time—and space—to write introductions for each of the stories. But Birthnight had been reprinted once, in 2003, for a collection of first stories by various authors. So I already had an introduction for the short story. Except, rereading it, there are things I don’t remember, in 2011, the way I did in 2003. Other things have changed. I am not, obviously, working on the fifth book of The Sun Sword now. I am, on the other hand, working on the fifth book of House War now, and I thought that would be two books too, and I am reading a new Tanya Huff novel, one chapter at a time—and Tanya actually doesn’t write quickly when a book is being read that way—so I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same. I’ve been nagging her. I did that back in 1990 as well, but it was easier as she was in the store thirty-six of the same hours a week as I was. “Birthnight”
