When I asked Michele Lang to guest blog for Paranormal Romance "Week," she went above and beyond, offering both a blog on "Speculative Fiction: What If...." and a short story from her NETHERWOOD world.  I'm sure you'll enjoy both!

Speculative Fiction:  What If…..

Where do you get your story ideas?

If you are a writer, you probably get this question all the time from non-writers.  And if you are participating in National Novel Writers’ Month right now, you may be asking yourself this question in desperation or despair.

For a long time, I resisted answering or even thinking about it too much, because I was afraid that if I considered the question too deeply, my mystifying muse would flip me the bird and take off on a Harley for parts unknown.

Fatal Error

By Michele Lang

<FATAL ERROR>

My handheld device blinked and blinked, trying its electronic best to warn me of danger.

I stood at the base of the huge oak tree towering over Petraeus Park on 23^rd Street, and I weighed the dangers of ignoring the error message versus abandoning my plan.  My thumb brushed the surface of my handheld’s screen, and the harsh, incriminating words disappeared in a cascade of shimmering cyberlight.

Far above my head, at least twenty feet up, I picked out the silhouette of a tree house looming in the fading light.  The tree’s trunk, smooth, had no rope or footholds to ease the way up – and, given the illegal stuff going on up there, I knew that inaccessibility was part of the design.