Free stuff and a book update
The first draft of the next Casefile of Jay Moriarty story is done and already sitting at over 17 000 words, which means the final draft will likely be somewhere over 20 000. This is probably why it's taking longer to write than the others did, even accounting for other circumstances.
The first book in the series, "Jay Moriarty Violates the Official Secrets Act," was about 10 000 words. The next two were around 15 000. I'm not married to 15k as the standard for the series — I'm content to let these be as long as they have to be — but it's interesting to see which stories end up needing more space to play out.
And it's not like the Sherlock Holmes stories are all the same length, either. I'm just following tradition, or something.
Community Copies on itch.io
This week, I made some community copies available for all of my paid titles on itch.io. To find them, scroll down each book page until you see the "Community Copies" section.
Community copies of a book are available for free to readers who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it. They're funded by book purchases; for every copy sold, a new community copy becomes available.
So if you buy one of my books, you're making a free copy available for somebody else — and if you couldn't afford my books before, you can now grab one of those free copies.
Recommendation: Leverage
If you know me personally, then you've already heard of this show because I literally never shut up about it. Leverage is a con-and-heist show that ran from 2008 to 2012, in which a team of professional criminals target the rich and powerful on behalf of the poor and powerless.
(As you can probably guess, it was a major inspiration for The Casefile of Jay Moriarty.)
Leverage isn't just a fun show; it's quite possibly peak television writing. Most shows I love have a weak first season and periodic flop episodes, but Leverage hit the ground running. I can't think of a single episode I actually dislike. And the writing is tight, covering a lot of ground with its long-form emotional storytelling by interweaving it with focused, self-contained heists-of-the-week.
It's a good show. You should watch it.
This Week's Links
I've known about Apollo Robbins for a while, but I just recently found out he has a website. And that the domain "istealstuff.com" redirects there. He's a stage pickpocket (among other things) and was a criminal consultant on Leverage. If you're a crime writer (or if you have a hobby interest in this sort of thing), Robbins' website is worth checking out.
Wrong couple get divorced after solicitor ‘clicks wrong button’
The solicitor (lawyer) in question works for Ayesha Vardag, who apparently calls herself the "diva of divorce." This whole situation is wild but I just want to draw attention to this paragraph at the end:
[Vardag] made headlines in 2019 after sending a memo to staff banning cardigans in the office. In a new dress code issued last year, she said staff could shun the cufflinks and business suits associated with “bankers and estate agents” and wear electric blue sequined jackets and gold leather trousers to the office instead.
Tory MP William Wragg admits to leaking phone numbers in ‘honeytrap’ scandal
Basically: UK Tory MP sends nudes to a guy he met on Grindr, who then blackmails him into providing the phone numbers of other MPs, who then also send nudes.
My friend Ian keeps insisting the British are not a horny people. He is wrong.
For those wondering: the next Casefile of Jay Moriarty story takes place in Marbella, Spain. Jay and Sebastian are having a completely normal holiday. Don't worry about it.
-K
