Jones grew up learning there were some things one simply didn’t ask in the Midnight Cabaret, such as how a trick really worked, a performer’s home town, and what Uncle Ernie did on his nights off that sometimes brought him home with bloody knuckles…

What few outside the Midnight Cabaret realize is that nearly everyone in the show is a war refugee from some faraway magical realm, worlds overrun by evil. Despite leaving their conquered homes and taking human form, the enemies of these survivors sometimes send minions after them; perhaps to thwart future reprisals; perhaps to finish the job. The performers always look for signs of incursions by their old enemies as they travel around the troupe’s new home.

“When I recovered from nearly drowning in water, unchained otherworldly evil, and magical energy, there was a ghost at my side: Uncle Beau. As I huddled with everyone else in the reeking SuperDome, he slowly told me about how the storm took out more than just the levees, but the magical wards that had kept all kinds of evil locked up in this town. Now that evil was running wild all over the South, and as his heir, it was my job to find those old monsters wherever they hid, bring them back to their cages in New Orleans, and lock them up again.”

Lucian Dark can usually pass as fully Human, even though he’s really a hybrid of Human and one of the native lifeforms from the extra-dimensional realm of Susur. In medieval terms, Chiaroscuro is the progeny of an incubus and a witch.

At their first way-station … the Order was waiting. Hex and the broken remains of The Saints fought off their pursuers long enough to let the rest of the refugees escape for parts unknown, leaving Helena and her unit stranded on Earth.

The peoples of Haven have lived in fear of these creatures for over a thousand years. I was almost eaten in one bite by a Couatl, nearly lost my senses to the last surviving Mind Virus, and came very close to being burned alive with the Unquenchable Fire, all to try to discover the secrets of the Star Demons. Here’s what little I've learned…

As a Ghost Blade Warrior, Nyomi Witu has mastered the ability to summon a Ghost Blade: a meter-long semi- transparent sword of pure mental energy. She can make her particular Ghost Blade appear anywhere … even inside of something, or someone.

…she really doesn’t have much respect for creatures that aren’t her physical or mental equals. She does, however, make exceptions for creatures that she finds interesting, or who can lead her to the interesting items that she enjoys collecting. All other creatures are potential prey.

The worst thing an opponent can do when facing Concordia is give her time to prepare for a fight. With even one turn to spare, Lyra will start casting her best spells on herself.

…She was long content to play with the tourists of New Orleans, date the locals, and participate in her species’ dominance displays and mating rituals when required. That is, until Hurricane Katrina hit and broke the Mad Ones out of their cells along with many other old monsters. The Mad Ones actually do all the horrible things that all In-betweeners are accused of doing in the old legends…

…the garbage crawled over him —and into him. It was a swarm of broken little reject robots, just another piece of poorly stored industrial waste hidden along the gulf coast. They went first for his eye, his legs, even his cell phone, trying to fix him, to upgrade him, then they went for his flesh.

“So now I race down the back roads of the old South in a beat-up ’71 Thunderbird. It has a lot less style than my ’Vette, but between the trunk and the hollowed-out doors, it can pack a lot of ammo. Most days I eat road-house chow; Most nights I sleep in my car. … We gather clues, both mystical and mundane, to the whereabouts of those old monsters, and then we go hunting…”

Outsiders who visit Earth sometimes leave behind the odd trinket. Few of these items can be triggered by mere humans; even fewer can be controlled without killing their users or driving them mad; but a very few can actually be reverse-engineered and mated with terrestrial technology.

The great flying Crystal Ships of the Sidhe were designed to be strong, to be fast, and to endure all manner of adverse conditions, but despite their honorable showing in the First War of the Falling Stars, they were never meant for combat.

Haven dreamed herself. She dreamed herself in many forms. She dreamed her skies and oceans, mountains and valleys. She dreamed parts of herself with their own free will and their own dreams. In short, she dreamed her people…

The majority of Chimerae live in and around the White Waste, Haven’s largest desert and site of the world’s worst magical catastrophe. … Natural philosopher Marius Thane, who has risked his life to study the Couatl, believes that they await the hatching of the “Paragon”, a being that will lead them in the retaking of Ghost.

Some passes come closer than others, so much so that on some crossings, the glowing red crevices cracking its black pearl surface can be seen with by unaided human eyes ... There is evidence to suggest that ages ago, the inhabitants of Ghost were wiped out by an invasion from Antipode.

…these practices hint at the powers that were once possessed by Humans before a planet-wide magical catastrophe changed them forever.

They fearlessly experiment with technology, sometimes just to see what happens. Lutin mages have tried to infuse their machines with magic. Their tinkerers have tried to reverse-engineer alien relics from the Wars of the Fallen Stars. Lutins have developed both steam engines and gun powder. The results of all this tinkering have been mixed, and Lutins haven’t been the only ones who have suffered when their experiments have gone wrong. The easiest way to draw the ire (if not outright hostility) of most other sentient species on Haven is to openly display Lutin technology.

A warrior who attains vita ngoma ya akili (battle dance mind) is aware of the flow of an entire battle at the same time she notices one minute flaw in an opponent’s defenses, and can anticipate attacks split seconds before they hit.

It is within the ability of most educated people on Haven to learn the structure of Koro-go, the Korobokuru language, but about half their vocabulary is incomprehensible to non-Koro. Koro-go has words for colors beyond red, for combinations of magnetic field characteristics beyond just polarity and strength, and for complex emotional interactions. Conversely, the language has few ways to describe deliberate deception, such as lying, because it’s very difficult to do in Koro society.

…Even those depicted in the artworks of other species have all been replaced by blank spaces on canvases, gaps in bas-reliefs, and empty lines in songs. Just about everyone on Haven is certain the Rakshasas went extinct during the same magical catastrophe that gave rise to the White Waste.

…Some say they are like puppet masters, manipulating world events as they fight decades-long feuds by proxy; Others say they are the secret guardians of Haven, the world’s last defense. One thing is known: to survive the ages, each one had to have become an extremely dangerous being in her own right.

Harmony schools emphasize a rational approach, featuring meditation and the learning of greater self-control. Chaos schools emphasize a more emotional, intuitive approach that features all-night dervishes and self-discovery through powerful experiences.

…both the blade and handle will change length to make this weapon the equal of a long knife, swords of various sizes, or a 3 m (10 ft) pole arm, all the while remaining nearly weightless and perfectly balanced…

…In 1327, Julian of Kent made a pact with an evil from beyond this world and traded away his humanity for immortality. He was taught the principles of magic and the Ritual of Rebirth in exchange for serving the Dark Sires…

…his timely intervention and fast talking bought enough time for a Canadian crew to escape a band of smugglers whom they’d witnessed at work. They didn’t forget that, and their next time in port, offered him a paying job onboard the Ice Princess…

“I’ve never forgotten my first sight of a faerie Huntsman, clothed in mist and shadow and rune-covered armor, mounted on a horned beast, pointing a spiral-carved spear right at my nine-year-old heart…”

…He has a plush coat of vibrant purple fur, turquoise eyes, ivory teeth and claws, and iridescent feathers that range in color from salmon pink to lemon yellow to turquoise blue. A bright pink nose tops his cat-like muzzle, and the insides of his large, fan-shaped, scalloped ears repeat all the colors in his feathers…