An Interesting Side Project

I do a lot of working on scenes and stories while I go for walks. It’s fun and makes the walks more interesting for me, so I can combine healthy living (well, a bit of it) with writing and keeping myself amused. It might also cost me a few acquaintances, because I’m usually pretty blind to people on my walks, even though I’m not blind to traffic and suchlike. Quite some scenes I do on such walks, however, don’t go into stories, they are merely for my own entertainment and to explore the characters.

Now I started collecting some of those stories connected to the Knight Agency. Quite some originally not connected scenes have found their way into stories (like a very drastic way for some of Jane’s friends to learn about her true identity which can be seen, in a way, in the new novel “Death Dealer,” out now). Others will never feature in the stories, because they have the wrong POV (I only write from Jane’s perspective), go against established lore (such as time travel in a series which keeps as close to reality as a sometimes exaggerating spy story can), or simply come too late to feature (because the story in question is already finished). Two of them I wrote today already and I will publish them either on this blog or on my Deviant Art account or on both.

The stories:

The Rocket Launcher Incident: told from Brock’s perspective, it’s about him getting into trouble during a mission after getting into trouble with Steven over a few badly chosen words.

Coming Home: told from Steven’s perspective, it’s about him coming back home after the kidnapping and following incidents in “Secret Keeper” and thinking about some things which happened in his life.

I’ve also already played through “A View of the Future” a lot on my walks. This one will be from Sir Frederic’s perspective (albeit from his younger self) and will include time travel.

Expect more stories as my thoughts run wild. I’m pretty sure the Black Knight Agency and the yet-to-be-officially-started Magpies series will feature in The Stories That Weren’t (the name of the file) as well over time.

"Death Dealer" has been released

The sixth volume of the Knight Agency, “Death Dealer,” has been released. Well, it’s going through the release process at various portals as I write this. As soon as I have links, they will be posted here and added to my website.

With “Death Dealer” on its way to the public, I’m now free again to continue writing. “Gold Diggers” (working title) is Jane’s next outing and will include some interesting stuff. I already know that much. I’m also toying with putting a few scenes which will never make it to a book (because they have the wrong POV or are simply impossible in Jane’s reality) either here or on Deviant Art (or both, what do I have that account for, after all? I can’t draw good enough to publish any visual art). We’ll see what comes of it. Writing them might actually be a good way to get back into Jane’s world after the Magpies and the month of editing.

Remember you can also see stuff by me on my FB author page and, by now, some strange conversations with my characters on Twitter.

“Death Dealer” has reached release, I’m so glad it will be until February before I have to go back to editing.

Brooding YA Hero Review

For this year’s birthday, I treated myself to an e-book released on the same day: “Brooding YA Hero,” subtitled “Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me.” The book is part novel and part writing advice. Born from the Twitter account with the same name, the book follows the effort of the titular Brooding YA Hero (going by the name Broody McHottiepants) to explain to the reader how to become the main character of their own story, be it in a book, a comic, a movie, a TV series, or even a computer game.

To be honest, I was very much sold on the book when I read about it on The Mary Sue, but since I couldn’t even buy it before my birthday came around, I decided to buy it as a birthday present for myself. I went through the book in two days, which is a pretty good rate, even for me. I have read books quicker, but not very often.

The book combines a storyline in which Broody worries about his status as ‘the’ YA (young adult) hero and decides to branch out into writing with a book about how to become a main character in your own book. He (and partially his evil ex-girlfriend Blondie DeMeanie) tell the reader everything about genre conventions, the use of adjectives and adverbs, and many other details of writing stories (not necessarily only for young adults) during the chapters. All of this is wrapped up nicely into a story about Broody trying to find out why he is not currently in another story, as he very well should be. The reader learns a lot about the always shifting world of story characters and about the many pitfalls of being a YA hero - or in a relationship with one.

The writing style is fun and it’s pretty clear from early on that Broody is neither a very intelligent, nor a very humble person. He sees himself as the epitome of a YA hero and thus essentially tells the reader to become as much like him as is possible. Blondie’s job is to bring some more realistic views into play.

There is a lot of meta-level in the book as well, of course, since both Broody and Blondie are aware they are merely figments of imagination. They merely exist as long as they feature in stories, as a visit to the dungeon of the no-longer relevant hero types shows Broody. Once his brooding nature is no longer desired by the audience, Broody might very well join those characters in their eternal rest away from the stage. This, of course, is as close as a fictional character can get to dying (because to a fictional character, dying is not a horrible thing).

The book includes story parts, information prepared by Broody himself, and quite some graphics, too. The overall impression is very good and the read is a very fun and informative one. I can’t speak for the physical copy, but I had a lot of fun with the e-book while reading it and it’s definitely on my list of rereads.

Release of "Death Dealer" is imminent

Again, release looms on the horizon. This time, volume six of the Knight Agency is about to be released, “Death Dealer.”

“I am a hitman only to be matched by few.”

Having taken out two of the leading numbers is not enough for the Knight Agency. Even though she is technically the wrong gender, Jane Browne is sent out to pretend to be a budding hitman to get closer to the American branch of the Syndicate. In the guise of stoic Alex Stone, she does what she has to do to convince her possible future employer that she is the person he is looking for - a hitman with the abilities he wants. Two American colleagues have already blown their job interview, but Jane will do better, even if it kills her - or several other people. Not all is well in the American office, either, but that is only a matter on the side, as is the return of the monster-in-law.

The novel will be out around the 30th November, depending on how fast the different platforms put it on sale. Find more information on my revamped website, too.