The Long Game

As I continue working on the Applied Science series, I find myself thinking at the end of the run.
With Brain From Outer Space under way, I obviously don’t want to wrap everything about this world up in the final short story (even if it was going to wrap up—invasions and rogue scientists will continue well after I finish). I also don’t want to have a story that just leads into the novel—it needs to stand on its own, and to provide a satisfactory finish to the previous 11.
I have no idea what that’s going to be.
And then there’s the novel itself. Most of my prolog is going into the shorts, so I’m going to need a new opening (I think I have it worked out). Plus there’s Claire, the gorgeous genius who shows up in the next short story, Fire From Space. In Brain, I have her putting the moves on Steve, but that’s when they’d never bet before. Now I’ve established her as a friend of Steve’s steady girlfriend, which means she’s actively encroaching on her friend’s relationship. That changes how Steve and Dani are going to react, and I think it’ll change how the audience reacts to Claire. So do I want them to think of her as a man-snatcher? Or to handle it differently somehow?
Hopefully, it will all come out in the wash.