Just Before Everywhen

Just Before Everywhen is a short collection of shorts: 3 stories in the Wick universe originally intended for online-reading, serving as a bit of a bridge between No Matter the When and the upcoming The Lost Boys of Everywhen. The first entry, When, the Olive Branch, is an edit from No Matter the When. It stayed in the book until the final edit, when the decision to remove it was made because it didn't quite fit with the rest of the book's contents. I wrote it thinking of how the Blackshears were moving toward an acceptance of freedom in their dealings with time and the events they know should happen in their future, and how changing them might affect that. The second, The Answer to Everything, makes the jump ten years forward and mostly serves as a way to get to know teenaged Rhys a bit better. It's first draft material (again, this was all supposed to go online and not to print) with a ending that seems a little abrupt…but it serves as a good jumping point to the next book. And the last, George & Isaac, is a bit of an info dump. It's simply a tale of a father and son having a discussion, but I think it shows how George, with his problematic past, has evolved into a compassionate and caring father. It didn't quite fit into the book, but on some level mattered to me…and gives a little insight into Isaac and his inner struggles.