"Magpies" Released!

Here's a free story. It's about a girl and her dad, and there's a steam powered truck and some prairie dogs and an adjustable wrench or something. While you're there, you have access to three other stories, also available for the low, low price of free. Also taking place in the same steam driven universe. One has sky pirates, one has explosions and Richard Nixon, and the other has missiles and stuff.
If you find yourself intrigued or even possibly captivated by the setting in which these stories take place, there is this full length novel about machine guns, grenade launchers, and a post apocalyptic cattle drive in a world almost devoid of men, and this second, excellent followup, so you can be assured this is an actual legit series that will keep releasing novels on a regular schedule instead of getting sidetracked with TV shows, UNLIKE your favorite epic fantasy series. You're welcome.

I've done a lot of writing and complaining about other people's fiction, so that first one, "Magpies," is my offering. It's entirely self contained, so you don't have to read anything else to 'get' the story, and once again, it is free. Did I mention that it won't cost you anything but time? Wouldn't you rather spend your time reading escapist fantasy fiction than some guy talking about himself?

No?

Fine. "Magpies" is more accessible than my currently only other offering, "Fool's Game" (a short sidequel to "Pawn"), and I also think it will be more successful, in terms of reader enjoyment. That's because it's more formulaic. The protagonist in "Magpies" is a typical teenage girl thrown in an atypical situation. She has a little attitude in the beginning, but you learn that it's kind of justified. I tried to make sure the reader wants a happy ending for her.
This was accomplished through a few tricks I picked up at last writer's conference, right here in my hometown. The fabulous Angie Fox, author of the Accidental Demon Slayer series, laid out how to do a great character and plot arc with easy simplicity.
For character, find out what your protagonist wants at the beginning, more than anything in the world, and offer it to them at the end. This ensures two things. First, in the beginning when your characters are most fuzzy in your mind, you have to figure out what motivates them and show it. This helps to shape them, and it's more efficient than just starting to write ad figuring it out along the way. Second, it gives you a chance to ensure that their desires change over the course of the narrative. There are so many wonderful endings you can give with this choice, nearly all of them solidifying character arc.
For plot, figure out the worst thing that could possibly happen to your character, the thing they fear most, and make them face it in the climax. Strip their beauty, strip their power, kill their loved ones or let them be betrayed. Discover the deep, existential dread lurking in the darkest recesses of their soul, and force the reality of it on them. Again, what happens next is rife with possibilities, but there are few ways to get it wrong.
I did these two things, and made the protagonist a teenage girl, similar to the protagonist from the main series and tadaa! Successful story. The only question is the execution. A little canned? Maaaaaybe, but we like canned. Just ask Hormel Foods Corporation.

In contrast, "Fool's Game" is not canned, and not as impactful. I've talked about this before, but I had significantly less freedom to craft a narrative. I also had to use a protagonist that is not only inhuman, he's a despicable entity. I had to make the reader believe he's smart, even though he's ultimately outwitted. His motivations are cloaked. His deepest fear is confronted, but it's not clear what that is, and we don't get to see what he does with it. Despite all this, I think it works. But of course I would think that. I wrote it.

Both "Pawn" and "Fool's Game" are free with Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program, so there you go. Or, if you feel like supporting our creative efforts in hopes that we produce more, that option is available as well.