The Dogs

The Dogs is the collective name for a series of novels by Christopher Veidt, based on some notes the latter had recorded for a horror story called "Aux Chiens" in early April, 2012. Beginning on 6th August 2013 -- symbolically remembered as the day that, canonically, Not Exactly Night begins -- Veidt began to collect the scattered notes and sketches he had for "Aux Chiens" and began turning them into a narrative story, which became the novels Not Exactly Night and fragments of its sequel, Litany.

At present, there are three Dogs novels: Not Exactly Night, Litany, and Hand In Heart. They are joined by a prequel short story collection, Before Time After, which portrays a series of interrelated events which all climax to Bligh leaving Tempest, West Virginia to come to Tampa -- setting the events of Not Exactly Night in motion.

Finally, the four Dogs novels are joined by another short story collection, What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse, which like Before Time After is a series of interrelated events, albeit more loosely, which take place in the universe of the The Dogs novels -- the Dogsverse. The purpose of the collection is to detail other the goings-on of the world that The Dogs takes place in, demonstrating the often violent strangeness of its being.

List of works in the series by internal chronology

 * The Dogs: Before Time After
 * Beginning all the way back to the 1630's to chronicle the (accidental) founding of the Lightfoot dynasty, and proceeding through to August, 2013, this short story collection chronicles the important events, over three-hundred-and-fifty years, that led up that fateful week Bligh Lynch at last decides to pursue Andrew, setting all the events of the main plot in motion.
 * The Dogs: Not Exactly Night
 * All the action of Before Time After culminates in the beginning of the action of this book, in which Andrew discovers his best friend Bligh's true nature as a dog-person, through the latter transforming Cody, and the resulting fallout.
 * The Dogs: Litany
 * Takes place a month after the events of Not Exactly Night, and covers Andrew's adjustment to his new species, Cody's budding pregnancy, and the surprise visit and formal introduction to the main cast of Stephen.
 * The Dogs: Hand In Heart
 * Another month after Litany (October, 2013), Cody is nearly ready to give birth, but is unsure of the trajectory of he and Bligh's relationship, as Andrew struggles with fatherhood, and Stephen tries to, for the first time in years, get himself sober and stable.