Verity is a wonderfully attractive heroine. Also, weird. Her father was Weyrd he could change shape and he was a criminal, against both Normal laws and Weyrd customs. With the Weyrd, things going bump in the night may well be very old, very cranky, and very powerful. Verity Fassbinder “has her feet in two worlds” – that of the Normal, where there is definitely no magic and the only things that go bump in the night are trees in the wind and possums in the bins, and that of the Weyrd. I have re-read it now partly because I have a bad memory and I knew the details had escaped me but that I loved it partly because it’s Angela Slatter and she always withstands re-reading and partly because it was sent as a review copy, so of course I had to.

Also, I had the enormous privilege of reading it in draft form, which I just can’t tell you how awesome that was. This novel was sent to me by the publisher, as an uncorrected bound proof.

Vigil is that story grown-up and turned into a novel, with at least two (I believe) more stories about Verity Fassbinder scheduled. A number of years ago, Angela Slatter wrote “Brisneyland by Night” for Twelfth Planet Press’ anthology Sprawl.

Vigil by Angela Slatter