Preface
In 2022, I had a dream about 2 Grim Reapers working with two vampires to help each other get blood and guide souls. It stuck with me for months and I felt compelled to write a story based on it.
One short story later, I realized I was more interested in these Grim Reaper characters and fleshing out their world. With this in mind, I cut out the vampires to take time imagining more of these Grim Reapers and the kind of afterlife they served.
Over the last couple years, I've tried writing this several different ways. It was originally a collection of short stories...but then I wanted to make a novel out of it. Wrote one first draft and quickly realized the plot wasn't at all what I wanted. It centered too much around one of my favored protagonists, instead of focusing on the world as well, and the plot I had felt very gimmicky.
Skip ahead to 2023. I reread the short stories I'd originally written and liked them so much that I thought, "Why don't I try writing this again? And what if I stuck to the short story format?" At that point, I decided this would be a book of interconnected short stories. There'd be recurring characters and locations. And while the storytelling would be episodic, there would be an overarching narrative that would weave in and out of each story. I wrote several stories set in this world and found more interesting episodic plots to incorporate throughout.
As I faced the drafts that would need lots of work, however, I began to feel overwhelmed. I knew what I wanted these stories to be, but I wasn't sure my experience would result in the writing needed. Other projects called and, once more, the Grim Reaper stories were left in the background.
2024. I remembered the Grim Reaper stories and wanted to dive right back in. I wrote even more stories and created even more individual storylines for various characters. It was really coming together and even though I knew my writing wasn't 100%, I felt more confident that I could take these stories and make them work.
But, like in the past, I reached a point where I put the project on hold. This time, it was because death hit close to home. After attending the funeral of a dear family friend, I couldn't bring myself to write about Grim Reapers, about death and the afterlife. So I threw myself back into other projects once more.
And now? I'm sharing what I have with you all.
Of course, I'd love these to be together in book form. I'd love to have them in a sequential order (since I'm keeping an overarching narrative). But I can always have them put together in that format at a later date. I'll also have a much better title for the overall project later on! I suck at titles, and The Reapers of Precinct 74 was all I could come up with for now.
These characters and this world have been living inside me for almost 3 years now. All that time, I've been dying to share them with others. I got a taste of that when my peer review group looked over one of these stories and after I entrusted two others to a fellow writer for feedback last fall. Everything they had to say made me realize that these were, indeed, stories others might enjoy. Stories others might relate to. Stories others might want more of.
So now - with a smidgen of anxiety, a lot of emotion, and some excitement - I'll share with you one of these Grim Reaper stories. There'll be more to come, and each story will shed more light on the Grim Reapers that have lived within my mind. I hope you enjoy!
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