Life in Shadows is a story collection by Elliott Kay containing four stories from the Good Intentions universe. It was published in December 2015.
General[]
Life in Shadows collects two novellas and two novelettes from the Good Intentions universe. The stories are presented in chronological order, but are only connected to each other by recurring characters and by being set in Seattle.
Stories[]
Publisher’s summary[]
All it takes is a single brush with the supernatural to change a life forever.
Some choose the path of magic and shadow willingly. Others never see the hand of magic as it shapes their fortunes. They face the extraordinary with nothing but courage and wits to guide them. Some mortals become trapped in the conflict between angels and demons and find themselves forever changed.
For all too many, the shadows lead only to an untimely end. For some, however, the shadows offer seductive experiences that draw the newcomer further in…
Life in Shadows collects four stories set in the world of Good Intentions, where one encounter with sorcerers, demons, or a foul-mouthed servant of Heaven is all it takes to turn the world upside down.
Publisher’s warning[]
Life in Shadows contains explicit violence, extended explicit sex scenes, explicit karaoke, profanity, rampant nudity, assault, murder, breaking and entering, belligerent urban wildlife, premeditated sexual promiscuity, vehicular assault, reckless endangerment, attempted kidnapping, attempted robbery, attempted ritual demonic possession, blatant violation of state regulations of adult entertainment, punching, kicking, cutting, stabbing, shooting, hair-pulling, name-calling, slut-shaming, cheap Halloween costumes, strippers, hipsters, poseurs, police, personal calls while on duty, arson, destruction of private property, lingerie, war criminals, break-up text messaging, lesbian demon seduction, accusations of Mary Suedom, poor workplace morale, premarital sex, nude calisthenics, immolation, false identification, ruthless exploitation of personal beauty, unsafe crowd control standards, vertigo, destruction of evidence, elitism, racism (don’t worry, he dies), open relationships, workplace scapegoating, adult use of plumbing implements, fantasy depictions of witchcraft and paganism, at least one reincarnated ancient European warlord, and a girl-on-girl grenade fight.
All characters are over the age of 18, except the aforementioned reincarnation of an ancient European warlord. That gets sketchy.
Theories[]
It is not explicitly stated who the reincarnated ancient European warlord is. However, the original Literotica draft of Naked Justice—“Justice… in the Raw!”—already included a reference to the reincarnation of an ancient European warlord not being over 18. That makes Attila a likely candidate.
It is unknown which warlord Attila is an incarnation of, but Attila the Hun probably heads the list.
Trivia[]
Despite indications to the contrary, Life in Shadows does include several defenestrations.
- Kevin Murray auto-defenestrates through a car window in ”Naked Justice”.
- Rachel throws Serena from a roof in Halloween for Life.
- Alex Carlisle throws Destiny through a mirror mounted in a doorway in Skin.
See also Pop culture references in Good Intentions.
Publication history[]
Life in Shadows was first published December 2, 2015 as an ebook and paperback. An audiobook was published by Audible on March 15, 2016 and narrated by Tess Irondale.
Two of the stories—“Naked Justice” and Halloween for Life—had earlier been released on Literotica in draft form and under different titles.