This story is, in ways, unlike anything else I've ever attempted. It's my only piece that isn't a collaboration with one or more other authors; it's an attempt at working in a style I admire but have rarely used; and although it's a piece of fanfiction, it has nothing to do with anime or manga. Instead it's inspired by the setting and background of the role-playing game In Nomine, published by Steve Jackson Games.

.45 Caliber Angel started life as a short story, dashed off on an evening in late 1997 for the amusement of a few gaming friends, shortly after I first encountered In Nomine. The short was entitled "An Evening's Diversion", which was kind of a joke on what it represented in the real world as well as in its own world. Like many of my projects, it started to take on a life of its own, and soon "An Evening's Diversion" was just the first chapter of a longer story (originally entitled Angel with a .45).

Caveat: This piece is subject to my ebbs and flows of inspiration even more so than my collaborative works, since if I get stuck there's no other author to come up with something that might break me out of it. (This explains, for those who encountered the story under its original title on the In Nomine mailing list, why there's been no Chapter 7 for a year. Take heart, it's coming, it's coming... )

That understood, though, I felt the project had reached a stage of maturity where it deserved its own place in the Eyrie Productions catalog, rather than being hidden in a subpart of my personal web space. For those of you who are new to it, I hope you enjoy it; those of you who have seen it before, this is the place to stay tuned to for updates.

Cheers!

Benjamin D. Hutchins, January 31, 1999

• Chapter 1: An Evening's Diversion
• Chapter 2: Interview with the Inquisition
• Chapter 3: Remembering Berlin
• Chapter 4: Marlael's New Friend
• Chapter 5: Marlael's New Client
• Chapter 6: A Friend in the Family?
• Chapter 7: Dreams and Other Realities TBA