The original notion I had for Merrynight was “The Thin White Duke of Hell.” That changed a fair bit as I worked on the chapter, but I think traces of the original idea are still there. Just, you know, a bit darker than what I first had in mind.

Devils and such are difficult, I find, to write; difficult to make credibly evil without slipping over the line into excess, or self-parody. But then one can say there’s something inherently parodic in evil. At any rate, I think a common technique (at least since the days of Goethe) as been to write the devil as inherently ironic and self-aware. That’s roughly what I have in mind for Merrynight and his two chums, whom we have not yet seen.

As for Concordia Salus … well, her name ties in with Hochelaga’s. So does Ahuntsic’s. You can google these names, or wait and see happens.

Next time: The Abyss.