The world Dower left when he went into hiding was significantly simpler than the new, steam-powered Victorian London, a mad whirl of civilization filled with gadgets and gears in the least expected places. At last he has returned with Fiendish Schemes, a tale of George Dower, son of the inventor of Infernal Devices, who has been in new self-imposed exile…accumulating debts. Jeter coined the term 'steampunk,' applying it to his first Victorian-era science fiction alternate-history adventure. So if readers were to be so kind as to consider this and my other Hallowe’en stories as at least a partial tribute to him, I don’t think they would be far off the mark. ” Of course, the degradation Hallowe’en, from deep-rooted and marginally illicit folk holiday to tacky commercial marketing opportunity, is a subject covered masterfully by Ray Bradbury, a writer much admired by myself and others. So in many ways, this story and the other one represent some of my most light-hearted fiction.“Candy in the Sack” also represents the most optimistic treatment of a particular obsession of mine, which appears elsewhere to rather darker effect in my stories “Straight Shot” and “Riding Bitch. This seemed like a good and fun idea to me, and I enjoyed writing them. The opportunity came about through a small press publisher which was kicking off an erotica series designed for married or otherwise committed/monogamous couples. From the Author's Note:A LOT of my fiction deals with sexual matters, usually of a grim and distasteful sort, but this and another story, titled “Layover,” represent my sole foray into humorous erotica.

Wolf Flow by K.W. Jeter