Word Witch News

End of July 2020 Update

7/31/2020

It’s difficult to admit some things sometimes when it comes to your work. You don’t want to be seen in a bad light, and have it reflected on your abilities and skills. This being said, the recent release of Fear of a Successor Wife isn’t entirely what I had intended it to be.

Whether it’s with age, the high levels of stress and anxiety due to Covid, I was struggling to keep track of every detail in the monster book I’ve mentioned before. I reached a point where I was halfway through (around 160k words) I couldn’t remember if I’d mentioned some details to reinforce an event that happened in the story. This has never happened to me before, and it was sobering to find a limitation I’d never encountered before.

I wasn’t about to let this stop me. I split the story into two books rather than struggle endlessly with trying to keep track of everything in such a long story. If you’ve read any of the Joan Hudson Series books before, you’ll know I often like to have a warm-up story in the beginning. This gets you comfortable with the lead character before getting into the meat of the story. In 8mm Model, Joan has to fulfill an assassination for the Order she works for. In Desperate for Divorce, there is the somewhat silly Piss Door Caper, where she first meets Bunny, who appears in later stories.

Each of these warm-ups is a complete story that leads to the main plot. It just so happens the warm-up for the monster book was over 60k words long. Now released under the title Fear of a Successor Wife, you get to meet and experience the wonderful Carla Levant, who is one of my favorite characters that I’ve ever written. And guess what? In the next Joan book, you’ll be seeing a lot more of her as the plot continues. It’ll take a while for it to be released because it’s still 100k words and less than half finished.

It was the difficulty in realizing this limitation, as was the decision to release them as separate stories. Since then I’ve been spending time learning some programs to help me keep better track of what information is revealed and where. I’ve already planned out the plot and subplots and Story insights using a flowchart program, and it has become a lot more approachable. Biggest lesson in all this is: Never let a chance to adapt and learn pass you by.

- Claire

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Fear of a Successor Wife: Protagonist & World

7/25/2020

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Joan Hudson Series 2 Book 1 - Hadrian Empire 241

Joan Hudson; a patient woman of long-suffering and a firm trigger finger.

In the 240s of the Hadrian Empire, men are the breadwinners, and the women are the homemakers. Despite being allowed to pursue degrees in some colleges, women are expected to leave the workplace once they’ve married to take care of the home and raise the children she has with her husband. To society at large, this is the expectation and ideal. Those who still need to work will find only low-level positions as anything higher is given to men.

Born Daisy Lamb, it was from a young age that she aspired to be an officer of the Brennenburg Police Department. Her father, the chief of police, had inspired her with what she saw as a heroic figure upholding the law and delivering criminals to justice. Although her mother always seemed to have a grudge against her, treating her as more a disciplinarian than a caregiver, it was mitigated by her father.

Her life held the promise and hope for a future of breaking down barriers of what women were allowed to do and pursue her own path against societal expectations.

Once Joan graduated, she forewent college to join the police academy. While unorthodox, few would raise a word against her or harass her as they might normally have due to the position of power and influence her father held. She became the first woman officer, and, a few years later, the first woman detective. Her father had paved the way for her and protected her against those who would’ve barred her, but it was her determination and effort that saw her reach these positions.

It was as an officer she also married her high school boyfriend in secret as she feared what her father would say if he knew. While perhaps forward-thinking in regards to his daughter, she worried even he would expect her to quit her position once she was married. Together, they shared a small apartment while he studied his way through school, and she continued in her career, seemingly without limitation.

However, it wasn’t meant to be. After a short career, a traumatic event occurred that changed the trajectory of Joan’s life. The stress of her disappearance caused her father to die of a heart attack. Her mother blamed her for his death and cut her off, and during her long recovery, her husband started an adulterous affair with another woman.

Forced to retire by the new police chief, having lost her beloved father, cut off by her mother, and without the support of her husband, Joan’s life became one of solitary hopelessness. To cope, she turned to alcohol to escape the crippling emotional trauma.

Using the money from her retirement fund and her inheritance from her father, she opened her private detective office, taking on whatever cases would come her way. Years later, the Norean Order would hire her for investigating crimes the police don’t wish to pursue and killing the worst of repeat criminals.

The once hopeful and bright future had become a stale existence in a haze of work and whiskey in a world that won’t accept her independence or otherness except when some have a use for her. Yet, she continues, putting her life on the line for a paycheck.

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awkwardly sexual fiction, awkward relationship short story collection, Private Detective Novels, Private detective mystery series, cheating spouse caught, Noir Detective novels, lesbian erotica romance, Private Detective, Private Investigator, Prostitution Fiction, Erotica,

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Cavern of the Writhing Floor: Character Biography

7/18/2020

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Kelsie Copper Series Book 1

Bastion Bora: The Stone Picker's Inn Guard.

From a small town in a since conquered kingdom, the fourth and largest child was born to the farming family, the Estands. Surprised by his size, twice the size his brothers and sister were born at, they named him Bastion, having confidence he would grow to an incredible size. Some townsfolk, including his father, believed he had been blessed by the gods to be a great help to his father on fields in which they raised their crops. Others remember one in a group of mercenaries that passed through their town who stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Whatever his origin, he was a great help to his family on the farm. However, by the time he was eight years old, he was already larger than children years older than him. After returning from a trip to town to sell preserves his mother had prepared, a group of older boys beat him and mocked him. A sensitive boy, he ran from them crying and returned to his mother with a swollen eye, a busted lip, and a bloodied nose.

While his father and brothers mocked him for being weak, his mother took a more proactive stance in what her son now needed. She knew because of his size, boys, even men, would want to fight him to prove their manhood. And so, she taught him how to fight.

After months of her advice and training, she sent him once more to town. Again, the local boys attempted to repeat the beating they gave him before; however, this time, things would be different. While he cried and took injury from their fists, each one was laid out on the ground before he returned home.

By the time he was fourteen, grown men had tried to challenge him, and each of them failed. Over the years, he’d lost his tears and become hardened to the ways of the land. While many sons hated him for his size, many fathers hoped he’d one day take one of their daughters as his bride.

His mother had planned and spoke to many families hoping to gain her favor in arranging a marriage. Bastion’s family found fortune in favors and goods to win her decision. His eldest brother was already set to inherit the family farm, and so winning Bastion would win them a secure future for the survival of their family.

When Bastion was sixteen, his mother had made her decision. The eldest daughter of a wealthy family who was two years younger than Bastion was chosen. Although Bastion didn’t understand everything involved, he obeyed his mother dutifully. A marriage festival was had, they were wed, but there was a problem. When it came to the wedding bed, he found himself revulsed.

For two months, each night, he would try, but each time his stomach would turn, and his genitals would not work as intended. The family became suspicious; they accused Bastion’s family of marrying their daughter to an infertile son. Even Bastion’s mother raged at him, slapping and hitting him for not fulfilling his duty to both their families.

Having brought shame to his mother, he left the area with a traveling merchant who hired him as a guard along their travels. Although the patriarch of the merchant family was hesitant to hire a man like him when he had three young and beautiful daughters, Bastion told his story and inability despite the sorrow it brought so many.

For five years, Bastion stayed with this family and servants as they traveled. Time and again, Bastion proved his loyalty and ability and was placed as the head of their protection. The patriarch even arranged for him to wed their youngest daughter, whose health was frail and infertile, to bring him into the family, knowing she would be safe with him. Bastion left behind his surname of Estand for the Merchant family of Bora,

Although it was a happy and satisfying time of his life to see so much of the lands and travel with a group who respected him and accepted him, it all came to an end in a single night; the caravan was attacked by a large group of bandits.

Despite being so grossly outnumbered, they fought ferociously. Even when the merchant family all laid dead by sword and spear, including his wife, he and the few guards left stood their ground. It was then they saw something both horrifying and grim. A Heimio couple, a man and woman with copper hair and copper eyes, brought a demonic war to the bandits.

Each one of the bandits was slain by the skill of these Heimio and their demonic companions. Bastion had heard tales of their might and magic, but no embellished story could have prepared him for what he saw that night. When all was done, he alone survived of the merchant family.

The Heimio had been following after the bandits for weeks, coming across every devastated homestead and caravan, hoping to catch up and stop them. Tonight, they finally met, but they were too late to stop the final caravan they’d attacked, but they would never bring violence to anyone else again.

After the Heimio helped him bury his friends and family of the Bora caravan, he rewarded them with whatever they wished of their goods and supplies. Once they were gone, he packed what he could and left the rest behind.

For three years he wandered, having spent the last several years nomadic with his chosen family, it felt natural to him now. Occasionally he would guard other families, other merchants as they traveled the dangerous lands.

When he was twenty-four, he’d been traveling on a trade route towards a city Bastion figured he could get new work in. One day, as he traveled the road through a dense forest, he was attacked by a wolfman, a cursed human who was forced to live in the forest as a beast.

Several times he was passed as he fought the creature, but none would help. After a lengthy fight, he was wearing out against the wolf man’s immense strength and stamina. He was injured, bleeding, and struggling to lift his sword. His salvation came in the form of a Heimio man who’d seen his struggle. He summoned a giant lizard with terrible poisoned spines and, with its help, killed the cursed wolfman.

Bastion collapsed and blacked out from his injuries, but when he awoke, he found himself in a room at an inn. For a few weeks, the Heimio named Elward nursed him back to health. He was kind, he was handsome, charming, and Bastion fell in love.

The two talked for hours as Bastion rested, and Elward tended to his injuries. When he was well enough to travel, the two were fast friends and didn’t wish to part. He would teach Bastion how to be a better fighter, how to use different weapons to suit his needs at the moment, and also taught him how to be a proper lover.

For four years, they traveled and adventured together. The dangers against beast and man they fought together, although Elward was always his better. While it was a tumultuous time, they shared it together.

It came to an end after a particularly difficult battle against a cursed man. Despite his size and strength, Bastion was but a man. Within him dwelled no magic in which to aid his battles, and the many shared battles wore on Elward. Over time, his worry over Bastion’s safety grew to be more than he could bear. He’d lost companions and lovers before, the life of a Heimio shared with anyone not to their standard always had a much greater risk of dying. Elward couldn’t bring himself to face that yet again.

Once their injuries had healed, Elward spoke to him. Despite the heartache and sorrow, they parted company. Elward would live another four years to see the War of the Betrayal, but he would die upon that field. In that time, filled with bitterness, Bastion joined a mercenary company that worked for whoever paid them, even if it meant hurting innocent people. His emotional injury became apathy, and as often does, lead to hurting others.

The mercenary company was hired to take part in the great war that was building. The western kingdoms against the eastern kingdoms, or so it seemed. When the orders came to divert their violence to the Heimio who sought to, he couldn’t bring himself to continue. He was branded as a traitor, and should any of his company see him again; they promised he would die.

Lost now, without purpose or reason, he drifted from place to place seeking work. The land seemed barren without the presence of the Heimio. There was none who would fight for the well-being of common people. Wars sprung up, and his home kingdom was ravaged and put to flame. Foreign people to that land would occupy their homes and tend their lands.

Although he’d heard no Heimio survived the battle, for years, he held out hope he would one day see his former lover. He asked any he could for information, but it only ever reaffirmed his fears. When he came to the town of Breeches Rack, he got a drink at an inn. The owner, Gorlan, had just replaced all his tables and chairs at a significant cost because a group of drunken ruffians caused a fight, and every piece of furniture was destroyed. Seeing Bastion’s great size, offered him work. Deciding it was time to settle down, Bastion took his offer.

While he would never have another love, the nomadic nature of many workers would give him an occasional, short term lover.

It wouldn’t be until meeting Kelsie Copper that he felt the excitement of being in the company of a Heimio again, but it would also draw out the emotional wounds he never tried to heal from. When taking her to a place where a possible tunnel to a horrible beast like he once fought alongside his lover, he begged her to leave. She was too good to waste herself on such a place devoid of value. He planned to face the horror on his own, to either prove his worth to the memory of Elward or die and join him in the afterlife, upholding his lover’s ideals.

Kelsie would not be dissuaded. She was Heimio, like his lover. When he returned to the inn, he poured himself a glass of ale, and remembered his time with Elward and wept for the first time since he was a child.

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Fantasy Horror, Fantasy Horror Books, body horror, horror books, horror novel, fantasy books for adults, monster horror books

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New Release: Fear of a Successor Wife

7/14/2020

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Joan Hudson Series 2 Book 1 - Hadrian Empire 241

On a Saturday afternoon, Joan relaxes at her desk while her new secretary is out shopping. A lot has changed in her life since Penelope, a young woman with a traumatic and violent past, came to live with her. Even with the constant challenge of being embarrassed by Penny’s sexual teasing and the lack of work for the past month, Joan feels strangely satisfied with her life. Together, their dark histories seem distant and far away.

Heralded by the sound of a loud, thunderous roar of an engine, the eccentric Carla Levant arrives at the office. Arrogant, clever, and demanding, Carla makes it known that she’s a wealthy, deviant, and married woman who is certain her husband is trying to get other women pregnant. Were that to happen, a divorce would soon be on its way, and would be the end of her extravagant lifestyle. To protect her interests, she’s more than happy to pay Joan to intimidate, assault, or even kill the women her husband is cheating on her with.

Despite her fears of working for such a woman, Joan agrees to spy on her husband and take photos of his adultery should the opportunity arise. Satisfied, Carla leaves with a final heavy flirtation with Penny. What seems like a routine case, becomes dark and complex, along with Penny’s former life coming back to haunt her in Joan’s absence. The idyllic life Joan enjoyed is threatened in ways she hadn’t expected.

Throughout the story, you’ll also encounter Story Insights that tell the stories of other characters, reveal backgrounds, or contain excerpts from other books in the Hadrian Empire Series. You’ll even be able to read some of Joan’s old casefiles as Penny comes across them in Joan’s absence if you dig deep enough.

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Cavern of the Writhing Floor: Behind The Story

7/4/2020

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Kelsie Copper Series Book 1

Old Kelsie Copper Covers

Cavern of the Writhing floor is a Body Horror story with a protagonist found in Kelsie Copper as she traverses a dangerous Fantasy world with monstrosities of all kinds, whether they be part of the natural world, human society, or demonic in origin.

Body Horror is a sub-genre that is devoted to exploring fear through the mutability of the human body. It's a genre that shows how our death isn’t the only danger, but our corporeal form being twisted and warped against our will as we suffer the pain and disgrace of becoming something other than what we were.

It was through this lens Cavern of the Writhing Floor was written. Having the protagonist discover, investigate, and face an enemy that perverts our body's natural processes for their needs and desires.

What I wanted for the fantasy world of Tässonaia is what I want for each of the worlds my stories take place in, and that’s for it to hold a level of realism and history that the reader can immerse themselves into. There is more behind the story than a villain or creature having a laugh at the expense of their victims. Events led to this happening, decisions were made, and the motives behind them matter to those committing them.

Kelsie Copper isn't a new character, nor is this her first story. It's not even her fifth or sixth story. These previous stories for her have been the longest-running series I've ever written, but since most of them were released so many years ago, starting in 2011, I'm hesitant to rerelease them. My approach to storytelling has changed multiple times over the years, and significantly since I'd written them.

Not wanting to be held back by the previous world and history I'd written before, I decided to reboot her. I started by creating the new world with its unique qualities before setting Kelsie Copper down into it. Then I decided what I wanted to keep from the old stories versus what I felt would be better to redevelop.

What has remained the same is her adventurous spirit. She knows she has strengths far greater than the average population and feels compelled to help in situations that exceed their abilities. However, her strengths aren't always enough. People still die, not everyone can be saved, and her body is covered in scars.

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Fantasy Horror, Fantasy Horror Books, body horror, horror books, horror novel, fantasy books for adults, monster horror books

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End of July 2020 Update

Fear of a Successor Wife: Protagonist & World

Cavern of the Writhing Floor: Character Biography

New Release: Fear of a Successor Wife

Cavern of the Writhing Floor: Behind The Story

Claire Agincourt

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