Live by the Sword . . . Well. You Know.

When it comes to murder most foul, or in this case fowl, I lean toward being an Angry Old God. Especially for the final boss fight. Sure, my books have body counts. The SFRs tend toward the usual thing - laser rifles and plasma pistols with maybe an odd genetically-designed plague thrown in. The kicker in the SFR is that the ones who develop the disease engineered it so they can't be infected. They're using the disease to poison humans like we might poison vermin. And maybe as a bit of payback, since their first contact with humans gave them every illness known to humans and nearly wiped them out as a species. They have very little sympathy.

In the UF, it's magic every time, baby. Specifically, magic tattoos that draw their power from your life force - maybe from your soul. If you have the will power to maintain balance, you and your tattoo will be pretty darned powerful. Fail and that tattoo will suck up every ounce of who and what you are to take control. But if a power hungry bad guy starts trying to hijack other people's power? Then the tattoos rip right off of your body, taking vital animating force with them when they go. 

When it comes to my heroines rising to meet their final challenges with whichever nemesis is theirs, they turn the bad guys' favorite weapon against them. In that regard, I am very much live by the sword, die by the sword. Even if that sword is a figment of your telepathically enhanced imagination.

I'll take fantasy murder, please. With a side of pasta sauce.

(the closest I've been to a murder scene off-page: 

my attempt at jarring homemade pasta sauce without a funnel)

No matter what genre you read or write, there’s murder lurking there. Murder’s been around since Cain and Able, and ever since then people have been talking about it. 

But what do I consider the most intriguing fictitious murder method? Hmm…I guess it depends on the genre!

In my sci-fi thriller, The Mars Strain, there’s a world-wide pandemic that takes people out by the thousands. *cringe* I do love viruses, still can't take the lab outta the girl, but a little too close to home for you at the moment?

Fantasy! I also write fantasy and in them there’s: 

• brutal trolls with club-like arms (don’t get squished)
• undead creatures called Draugr (watch out for their teeth)
• swords (naturally my heroine’s carry fabled, named ones, but you’ve gotta be careful with the ones swinging at your head)
• assassins (shadows peel from their skins and you’re not even aware you’ve let them in)
• aaaand magic

Magic. That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it! 

In both of my fantasy books magic in inherent, if a character has fae blood in their ancestry then they have some amount of power. In The Dark Queen’s Daughter my MC’s power allows her to tap into the magic of the world and use it for brief moments. So she’s able to control the trees and crushes revenants back into dust and stabs a draugr, though they regenerate up to three times so different methods are required. 

Magical murder can range from gristly to the soul passing on a sigh. I appreciate that it’s fantastical in nature and therefore has a certain distance to it. Because when it comes down to it, I’d rather write about magic’s glitter and healing properties. Still, when I want to do good evil is right there with me, so murder will keep worming it’s way into my stories. In one form or another. 

Do you have a favorite book-murder, magical or not?

Beware the Ides and Plagues of March: Favorite (Written) Murder

As days in quarantine stretch without a light of reprieve, those who enjoy being left the hell alone now find themselves trapped with other beings who require attention and maintenance. They may find their thoughts turning to murder...

...Fictitious murder, folks. We're all about the fantasy here.

Not gonna lie, people and non-people die in my books (but never the dog!). Usually amid spatter and gore. Depending on the series, death is by blade, brute strength, or magic. Parasites that extract salt from a body while injecting venom that boils the blood. A portal that tears open a heart. Angel fire or electrocution. Eviction of a soul. How 'bout an old fashioned neck snap. The bodies do pile up in my stories.

The murder that still makes me snicker (because I'm an evil author, natch) is from my debut novel LARCOUT where our fire-warrior protag is being introduced to a new culture that assumes women are feeble:

Vadrigyn pivoted. Her fist connected squarely with the nose of the closest fool…and punched through the back of his skull. Blood and brain oozed down her wrist and stained her vambrace. The body reduced to sand, leaving her with a skull bracelet.

Fragile blood-beings.

Soft blows, barely more than a swat at the air, would suffice to incapacitate a blood-being. She knew that. Gentle. She must be gentle in combat.

How absurd.

In this time of social distancing, please, Wash Your Damn Hands and Stay Home when possible. You don't know who around you is a carrier or immunocompromised. Dying from the plague is a shitastic way to go.

🍀 Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit! 🍀 

Dead Is Dead - Or Is It?

*kitty is not actually dead

Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is: Beware the Ides of March: Fav/Most Intriguing Method of (Fictitious) Murder.

Do I get to pick pandemic??

Seriously, it’s kind of creepy that Calendar Maven K.A. Krantz picked this topic while we’re all practicing social distancing to #flattenthecurve on COVID-19—and she picked it months ago, before she could possibly know this would happen.

Or did she?

I mean, a global pandemic sounds like a great Evil Mastermind Plot…

Anyway, all of this is to day that I don’t really think about types of murder. Just not my thing. I occasionally have to kill off characters, but I tend to do it in efficient, not very interesting ways. I guess I figure dead is dead and I don’t have a lot of morbid curiosity about how to get people that way.

Probably this is why I don’t write murder mysteries.

Is this something you all pay attention to as readers? Are there more interesting deaths than others? Do you have a favorite fictional death?