The events of this story occur after BITE CLUB (Book 10 of the Morganville Vampires). This is a free short story hosted on the authors website. It occurred to me, post-Bite Club, that Shane might need some counselling for his anger issues. It’s common knowledge he has them, but they made an epic appearance in that book, and surely if he didn’t seek some help, someone would seek it for him … leading to this Amelie-mandated counselling session with Dr Theo Goldman, who is the closest thing the Morganville vampires have to a mental health professional. I didn’t do right by Dr Goldman and his family when I introduced them, and I apologise for that; my first attempts were clumsy and awkward and painfully badly drawn, and I hope that their characterisations improved in later books. But this portrait of Theo is, I think, somewhat more flattering, if not where I’d like to take the character someday. But mostly, it’s Shane being Shane, and maybe growing a little bit from his experiences. Baby steps, Shane. Baby steps.