Take A Moment And Check Out My New Publisher Misti Media (If You Haven't Yet)

I mentioned a while back in So My Novels Have Been Unpublished (For Now) that 3 of my novels have been taken off the market, but I have a new publisher that's picked them up and loaded them into the magazine for release. At time of last check, though, they probably aren't going to pull the trigger on re-releasing my books until January of 2027... there were a lot of us that got swept up in the Histria Books purge, and there's plenty of titles that will be coming out in the new year along with me.

But since we're drawing close to the shopping season, and a lot of folks like to give books as gifts, I figured I'd mention some of the Misti Media titles to whet folks' appetites for the re-release of Old Soldiers, and my Hardboiled Cat series of books!

There's a lot of mysteries out there... so why wait?

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

So What Sort of Titles Do They Have?

Misti Media has been around for a hot minute, and they currently have 72 titles on the market, all of which are available on Drive Thru Fiction (as well as a few other places, if you find a title you want to get from a different outlet). And while there's a pretty good variety of options out there, they've got quite a lot of mysteries and thrillers out there, which I'd definitely recommend checking out.

Two of the titles that most caught my attention (and this was before I signed my current contract) were (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight: Crime Fiction Inspired By One-Hit Wonders, as well as Gag Me With A Spoon: Crime Fiction Inspired By The Music of The 80s. These books were the reason I was pretty sure that Leo and his tales were going to fit in pretty well over at Misti Media. I also have a soft spot for anthologies, and since they're hard as hell to move copies of, I figured I'd give them a shout out this week!

Seriously, give it a look if you haven't!

However, if you're someone who is more in the mood for a novel instead of a bunch of bite-sized stories, and you'd like something on the cozier end of things, consider checking out Gone To The Dogs (The Gumshoe Chicks Mystery #1). There's a murder, a dog show, and a group of old high school friends who get together to find a killer. For those who prefer something more of a thriller, though, the alternate history novel Russian Amerika is definitely worth giving more than a cursory glance. In a 1980s where Russia still owns Alaska, this novel deals with a terrifying scenario that could leave bodies floating in the ocean, and international tensions rising higher than ever before.

So, while I'm sure at least a few folks out there are waiting for my books to get what I hope is their final re-release, consider looking through the rest of the Misti Media catalog for something to tide you over until Pollux and Leo are once again available... especially if you're one of those readers who likes to collect all the different editions of an author's work for your shelves!.

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Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

When You Should (And Shouldn't) Sexualize Characters In Your Stories

There is a particularly distasteful trend that I've seen time and time again in books, and it seems to show up particularly in thrillers and mysteries, though no genre is truly safe from it. And while this isn't solely a male author problem, my fellow men are largely the ones I see doing this time and time again.

What is it, you ask? Sexualizing the descriptions of characters (and particularly femme characters) when that is not the point of the scene, and it often goes completely counter to the impression you want your reader to have of what's going on. It's the equivalent of watching a thriller, seeing an interrogation start in a dimly-lit police station, and instead of the tense soundtrack you'd expect to hear, cheesy funk from a porn movie starts playing.

It undercuts the story you're trying to tell, is what I'm saying.

Seriously, guys... you need to paint the right picture with the proper colors, here.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

What Perspective Are You Showing Us?

Full disclaimer here, I am in no way against sexy, spicy content in stories. I got my start on the current leg of my career writing romance and erotica, after all. However, it's important that you use the right tool for the right job, and that the words you're putting on the page are done so with specific intent.

And this isn't just Men Writing Women... but a particular subset where anything involving femme characters is inherently sexual, and that is always front-loaded in a way that undermines the surrounding story.

As an example of what I'm talking about, femme fatales are a staple of the mystery genre. Whether it's the beautiful client who walks into the private eye's office one hip at a time before trying to wrap him around her finger, or the stunning Hollywood widow who clings to our detective in a way that feels more amorous than scared, we see that sort of thing in a lot of stories. However, the role of the seduction in these stories is often a double-edged sword, meant to cloud the investigator's judgment, and to make the reader second-guess what's happening. Are these women actually interested in him, or are they trying to manipulate him? Or is it some combination of both? How can we know where the truth ends, and performance begins?

However, there are stories in this genre where every time a femme character is described, it's done so with rigorous attention to her body, and the thoughts of the male character (or sometimes just the narrator) being projected onto her. Now, perhaps this is being done to show the inner workings of a character's mind, but when this particular method of description doesn't have a greater purpose in the story, it feels exploitative. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is when we get a Tolkien-esque description of a woman's body that just goes on and on, only for us to find out she's dead, and these are the thoughts of the investigator looking at her corpse.

This sounds like an obvious no-no, but it's cropped up more than once in published novels I've held in my own hands. Because unless you're revealing that the character observing the corpse is a closet necrophiliac who is trying to do his job without letting anyone around him figure out what's going on inside his head, this is just tasteless. The same is true when we have our attention drawn to every waitress, secretary, and passing young woman on the sidewalk, getting a description that focuses only on their physical attributes, and how desirable they are in the eyes of the observer, usually breaking away from the rest of the scene entirely just to let the reader know that if this were a movie, all the background extras would be very attractive.

At best, this is distracting. At worst, it reduces your cast of characters to nothing but a collection of body parts, making it hard for readers to actually grow attached to anyone in the story they're trying to read.

She was getting handsy with me... too handsy... I lost count after seven.

They key to avoiding this is to go more than just skin deep, and to try to paint a portrait of characters we see in a way that really sticks with the reader, and that is more than just a collection of physical features and a list of their current wardrobe. Does this character have a commanding presence, are they soft-spoken, or do they have any physical tics? Do they have an accent, do they move in a way that suggests a background in dance, martial arts, or the military? Are there prominent scars, tattoos, or other things that might give a hint about who they are, and where they've come from? Are they abnormally large, or unusually small?

Most importantly, however, authors should avoid what I'm going to dub Selkie Descriptions. For those not familiar with the myth of the selkie, it's a shapechanging seal that can take on the form of a beautiful woman (there's another version of the myth where she's a swan, as well). When a man sees the selkie discard her animal skin, he steals it, and forces her to marry him. The similarity with dozens of other myths of supernatural creatures who look like beautiful women is this; they're by themselves, minding their own business, and then a man decides that her existing while being attractive is clearly meant as a temptation for him, and everything is in service to their beauty, his desire for it, and nothing else.

None of this is to say you cannot have characters, scenes, or descriptions which are sexy... but they need to be intentionally sexy. You need to decide that this is how you want your readers to experience a particular character, a particular scene, or even a particular piece of dialogue. Not only that, but often there's going to be contrast as we find out more about a character, or see them in other situations. As an example, finding out that the quiet librarian is a stripper on the weekends, and seeing the difference between her onstage persona and who she is in her regular life, should have a contrast in feeling and description, whichever side of her we meet first.

People, and stories, tend to have multiple facets. You can shape and carve them however you want to best tell the story... but consider what you're writing, and the way you're writing it, especially when it comes to the femme characters in your cast. Because no matter how solid your action, or how intriguing your mystery, if it reads like a fan service comic script, your story is going to suffer for it.

You can still do it, if that's the vision you have. Hell, you might even lean into it as a parody, or a spoof of genre conventions. But you need to be doing it on purpose, with both eyes open, rather than just falling back on sexualized descriptions and stereotypes that are just going to be sour notes in your story.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

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And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well.

So My Novels Have Been Unpublished (For Now)

I've been sitting on this update for a little while because I've been waiting for all the particulars to shake out. However, since things seem to have (mostly) settled down I wanted to take some time this week to bring my readers up to date on what is happening with my novels, and what's happening with my career as a fiction writer. Also, if you're inclined to check out some of my work that you might have missed and which is still very much available, I'll have links to that at the end.

Okay. Deep breath. Let's dive in!

 

There's a lot to unpack here...

 

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

All Right, What The Hell Is Going On Here?

As regular readers (and anyone that's seen me at a convention) know, in addition to all the RPG writing I do, I also have half a dozen books on the market. Short story collections and novels are always available at my table... however, three of my novels are currently off the market, and it's not looking like they're going to be back for a little while. 

How did this happen? Well let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

It was the year 2020 when I was first published by Eric Flint's Ring of Fire. That publisher put out three of my novels, Marked Territory, Painted Cats, and Old Soldiers. And that was overall a positive experience, and I was looking forward to being a part of that house... sadly, it only lasted a few years before we lost Eric Flint, and the company came apart afterward. Fortunately for me some of the folks who's been a part of that publishing house reached out to me, and helped me get my books picked up and republished.

This is the start of the rollercoaster, so follow the timeline with me!

- 2023: My books are republished by Untreed Reads.

- 2024: Untreed Reads (and the parent company Top of The World Publishing) are acquired by Histria Books.

- 2026: Histria decides to start cutting authors out of their catalog, returning rights en masse.

So in the past 6 years my novels have showed up under 3 different publishers, they've been given at least 2 different covers each, and I've had to contact half a dozen different individuals just to get author copies to bring to conventions... and what's worst of all is that I've made something like $50 from these books in sales thanks to the constant publishing, unlisting, relisting, and needing to direct readers to completely different catalogs to find my titles.

The pressure is climbing, let me tell you.

Now, this saga does have a happy ending (fingers crossed) which is part of why I'm writing this update. All three of my titles have been picked up by Misti Media, which has put out titles like (I Just) Died in Your Arms: Crime Fiction Inspired By One-Hit Wonders as well as its sequel Lunatic Fringe: More Crime Fiction Inspired By One-Hit Wonders. And while it seems that Leo and Pollux will be in good company with titles like that, sadly, these things take time. By which I mean to say, my titles likely won't be back in circulation until sometime this fall at the earliest, or just in time for Christmas if things get in the way of that timeline.

I Do Have Plenty of Other Fiction Out There, However

While I very much want all of my books back on the market, I do have other fiction on offer... and if you haven't checked out these titles, I'd recommend you give them a gander. It should keep you busy between now and this Autumn, and if you haven't given these a look, I'd appreciate a boost to my numbers!

- Crier's Knife: My dagger-and-witchcraft fantasy novel, we follow Dirk Crier as he is sent forth from his mountain home to find his wayward cousin and bring him back... but also to make sure those who harmed him learn why the people around Ben Morgh say only a dead man crosses a Crier.

- The Rejects: A short story collection of mine, this book contains all the stories I've written that were always bridesmaids, but never brides. From trolls that eat child molesters, to angels in Los Angeles, to serial killers stalking the personal ads, there's a little bit of everything in here.

- Tales From The Moot: A tie-in collection for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, I was one of the main drivers behind this anthology. I wrote the introductory fiction, as well as the Silver Fang story Late Bloomer, and many of the other tales were contributed by talented people I tapped to help make the project a reality.

If you're in the market for fresh fiction, but you don't have any money to spare, then I'd highly recommend checking out The A.L.I.C.E. Files. This is an ongoing audio drama podcast by myself and Alice Liddell as we bring our stories (and others) to life, while weaving a narrative about the mysterious, dimensional-exploring organization known as the Carroll Institute. And if you enjoy audio dramas and RPG fiction, I highly recommend heading over to The Azukail Games YouTube channel and checking out the 50+ audio stories I've contributed there as well!

Lastly, if you want some more free fiction (both fan stories and original tales), then I highly recommend checking out my contributions in the Vocal communities Fiction and Futurism! There's probably two dozen stories on there that are completely open for readers, and every read puts a penny in my pocket, so if you read something you like make sure you share it around on your own socials to help fellow fiction enthusiasts find it!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- The A.L.I.C.E. Files (an audio drama channel I launched with Alice Liddell)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.

Let's Talk About Crime (In Your Story, Of Course)

I'd like to start this week's post off with something of a lore drop. While I've been a professional writer for going on the past 12 years of my life, my degree is actually in criminal justice. For those who are wondering why, my logic was that I wanted to write crime thrillers, and if I was going to do that I should have at least some idea of how the criminal justice system worked... and since I had to get a degree in something, I might as well double dip my research, right?

While I have released some unusual noir mysteries in the form of my hardboiled cat novels Marked Territory and Painted Cats, most of my work has been outside the realm of straight crime stories since I graduated. However, I have dusted off my degree for more than a few editorial critiques, and this week I wanted to talk about crime in our stories.

Because a lot of the time people get this very wrong.

Seriously guys... it pays to do your research here.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

Corpus Delecti (Body of The Crime)

All right, let's begin at the beginning here. If you are going to write a story where a crime constitutes an important part of your plot, regardless of whether it's a private detective story, a cop drama, or just a novel about an average Joe getting in over his head, you first need to know and understand what crimes are being committed. You don't need to be able to cite case law, but it is a good idea to look up what constitutes a crime in the place where your story is being set, and what the circumstances are when it comes to your plot.

And make sure that you understand a protagonist isn't immune to prosecution... that will break people's suspension of disbelief.

Malice aforethought you say? Interesting...

Just as an example, if your protagonist comes home to find his wife cheating on him with another man, and that man grabs a knife off the bedside table before charging at the protagonist, then your lead could absolutely pull a gun off his hip and shoot the guy dead while making some kind of claim for self-defense. This will still be an extremely messy situation, and there may be legal pressures put on him, but meeting deadly force with deadly force (particularly if the state has castle doctrine, where a resident has no duty to retreat from their own home) means you could portray this as a situation where he has no legal consequences for this act once all the facts come out and the police wrap up their investigation.

However, say that when he came home and caught his wife with her lover, said lover didn't try to escalate anything. He put his hands up, said he didn't want any trouble, he had no idea she was married, he'll just go. Your protagonist doesn't have that legal cover in this situation, and gunning the guy down would likely be manslaughter at best. But if it turns out he knew his wife was cheating on him, and he came home unexpectedly to catch them? That could be read as murder, because it required planning, which could be read as malice aforethought (typically a major element of a murder charge).

This is the main way a lot of folks end up messing up crime in their stories; they don't actually know the name of a crime, or what the parameters are that define that crime. And you could argue that some of that will be up to lawyers and courts in the story, as average folks might not much care about the difference between manslaughter and murder, or understand the differences between degrees of a felony when it comes to theft, dealing controlled substances, arson, etc. You, as the author, should have a working idea of what defines these crimes, though, because characters who should know need to sound authoritative on the subject.

Because if your protagonist is just a regular schmuck who gets caught up in a criminal conspiracy, no, they don't necessarily know what's happening. But if they're a lawyer, a cop (current or former), or even a gangster, they should have some idea if what they're doing/getting involved with is illegal, and exactly how illegal it happens to be.

What's The Point?

Understanding the crimes in your story is the first part of the battle... the next part, though, is that you have to actually fit those crimes into your story in a way that makes sense. After all, people don't just go around committing serious felonies just for the hell of it. So you need to understand why they're doing something before you just throw crimes into your book to escalate things and add drama.

Oh yes, those are crime boxes. Full of crime, they are!

Let's take a situation that happens in a lot of thrillers... someone witnessed a cop kill someone. Their life wasn't in danger, there was no mistaken intent, the officer just executed someone. Maybe the cop then tossed the body in the woods and tried to hide it, or maybe they called in a report, planting evidence on the corpse that would support a fabricated story, but there's a witness that saw them just gun somebody down in cold blood. Now, the question you have to answer as the author, is why? Why did that cop kill this person?

There's a slew of reasons to that question! Off the top of my head you might find:

- The cop is a serial killer, hiding behind their badge to protect themselves.

- It was personal, and the victim wronged the cop in the past.

- It was business. The cop is on the take, and did this on behalf of his criminal bosses.

- It was business. The cop extorts people, and he's sending a message to others.

- The cop had a vendetta. He knows (or thinks) the suspect was guilty of a crime he couldn't prove.

These are just a sample of motivations, but the point here is that the crime by itself is just one side of the coin... the other part is how that crime fits into your narrative. The crime is an element, but you need to use it to cast shadows on the rest of your plot to create the proper atmosphere for the rest of your story.

For instance, if the cop is a serial killer, does this become a game of cat and mouse as the witness tries to get people to believe them, while the cop is trying to silence them... perhaps permanently? If the cop was acting as an enforcer for a syndicate, is his action merely a stepping stone in the investigation, breaking open a wider case of corruption where the protagonist takes on the mob? If it's personal, is the witness someone who knows the cop? Is this a secret they now share, and it begins to poison their relationship as the killer gets more and more nervous, while the witness begins to worry his friend will kill him to keep the secret?

The specifics of the crime haven't changed... but the dramatic element it represents is different in each story suggestion. And while it might be true that just starting with a crime is a good way to begin storyboarding your book, it's rarely a good enough place to just begin your first draft... especially if what you're writing is a mystery. And for that reason, I would suggest folks take this blog entry, and combine it with the advice I gave in When Writing A Mystery, Start At The Middle of The Onion.

Putting these two things together really helps you figure out just what is happening in your plot. And once you know that, all you have left to do is to figure out how your protagonist interacts with these events, and watch the dominos start to fall!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!