In Lava Red Feather Blue, Merrick awakens Larkin (and the destructive faery Ula Kana) in March 2020, unleashing all kinds of mayhem on his country. Given the date, you might wonder: does Ula Kana represent COVID-19?

The short and obvious answer is no, I didn't intend that, nor could I have, given I wrote the entire thing before anyone had heard of COVID. I set the timing as the current year (that is, the year it was during the editing phase) so that it wouldn't seem too dated; end of story. HOWE...