Are hexes covered by your insurance?

Jan 06, 2023 4:25 pm

How much realism is okay?

My stories are usually set in America, but I'm selective about which specifically-American elements I include. The non-metric measurements is the obvious example of Americanism, but there's also things like how easy it is to get a gun here, how much healthcare costs, and certain fascist tendencies of recent years.

This kind of fiction is supposed to be escapist, with problems you don't have and solutions to high-risk issues.

I try to tone the darker elements down as much as possible because I just don't want to write about it. Like, if a detective ever started investigating too deeply one of the people Kit has killed over the years it would become a much different novel. Or if she ever got injured and had to learn to come to terms with being disabled, that would be a very different novel. I have not yet written anything that is set in or references the pandemic, even though Warlock's Blood and Vampire's Pawn were both written in 2020-2021.

But sometimes I put something in that's directly influenced by political events. For example, in my Alternate Susan series, Susan's best friend and landlord Zoe buys a house in Mulberry Wands but by The Heat Stealer Zoe's struggling to make the payments. The fact that they can't make house payments without a roommate (and can't afford to fix the AC, so they can't get a roommate) was directly influenced by seeing some of my friends lose their houses in the crash of 2008. We'd bought a house in 2007, and while we didn't lose it, the crash was front and center in our minds. In fact, the house she lives in in Alternate Susan is the house we were living in in 2006, and the house she moves into in Mulberry Wands is the same as the house we moved to.

The Heat Stealer

Too hot to sleep, too broke to pay the mortgage. Sometimes magic has to shake something loose, despite the consequences. (Wide)

Did you read this book? I'd love your reviews and recommendations! (Seriously, for some reason this book needs both!)

My own life does inspire my characters, especially things I'm irritated at. It's not just naming my antagonists after trashy people I know from real life, it's also giving my characters some of the same irritations that other Americans suffer. Many fantasy characters are afflicted with a mysterious curse that medicine can't seem to cure, but are they hit with a 5-figure bill for all the useless tests? Many paranormal characters get involved with mysterious dark cults, but do they have to wear tacky polyester uniforms while doing so? The Kit Melbourne series isn't set in an America we know, but I hope that it's one you recognize.

This week's question: What real-life problem do you want to read about?

However This is Just to Inform You

When the inevitable spam email from the head of the Central Bank of Nigeria lands in Jane Desmond's inbox, Jane intends to make her spammer pay for the annoyance ... until one morning she wakes up to find the tables have turned. As the spammer's demands grow increasingly dangerous, Jane realizes she's in way over her head. There's only one way out, but can she pull off the deception against the foe she gravely underestimated? (Free)

Graveyard Shift

Lana Harvey is a reaper, and a lousy one at that. She likes to stick it to the man (the legendary Grim Reaper himself) by harvesting the bare minimum of souls required of her. But when a shocking promotion falls in Lana's lap, she learns something that could unravel the very fabric of Eternity. If the job isn’t completed, there could be some real hell to pay. (Wide)