Did you get any feedback from Joss and co. about expanding upon the events in Fool for Love? Did anyone at Pocket Books or Fox get twitchy about all the new TV continuity regarding Cecily?

Dori: We got feedback from Fox, who license Buffy, but there wasn't really any contact with Joss and Mutant Enemy. The only thing they really told us was that Spike had to be evil, and we couldn't give him a last name.

We'd already plotted out the book when we heard the Cecily rumours, and I figured we were Jossed for sure, but nobody said anything to us about it. The novels are technically Alternate Universe stories, anyway, so that gave us a little leeway.

Ashley: I don't think Joss Whedon is as involved in the books - where would he find the time? Which is a shame, really, because wouldn't that have been a kick! I think it might also have resolved a couple of minor issues a bit better, but that's water under the bridge.

I wasn't worried about the is-Halfrek-really-Cecily question. They never gave a definitive answer to that, and there are dozens of ways the two of them could have run across each other.