It won’t kill you to read this, but why take a chance?

But, since I see you’re the type who likes living on the edge, read on. Two tales and an update on the novel. C’mon—you know which novel I’m talking about.

Since the Story of the Week is a new prequel, I’ll lead with it, followed by the original story that inspired it.

Help a Brother Out

Dexter, the junior college chess club president, and his BFF, Irwin, were designing their Tinder profiles.

“You guys should use cool names and be sorta dangerous,” Dexter’s little sister, Meredith, said. “Girls love risk-takers.”

“Like mountain climbers?” Dexter asked.

Meredith shook her head. “Think bigger, like motocross or free climbing.”

She suppressed a chuckle and ducked into the kitchen.

Her clueless mother smiled. “Thanks for helping them.”

“C’mon, Mom. They’re gonna land girls so far above their pay grade, the girls’ll eat these guys for lunch—and make them pay for it,” Meredith said.

“You’re brutal. Funny, but brutal.”

“Thanks, Mom!”

Based on: Some Girls Just Like Bad Boys (FAST FICTION Vol. 2: Man vs. Machine, p.38)

And here’s the original tale that has now, mysteriously enough, become the Sequel (even though it was written first!)

Some Girls Just Like Bad Boys

Andi was attracted to daredevils, so after viewing Dex’s Tinder profile, she set up a date.

“I can’t believe you jump off cliffs in those wingsuits,” Andi said. “That’s awesome.”

“The world record is 244 mph,” Dex replied.

“Sounds terrifying,” she said breathlessly.

Dex nodded. “I hear you need major skydiving skills first.”

“Wait. You haven’t—“

“I wanna try indoor skydiving first—at the mall.”

“So…what do you do for thrills?”

“Well, when I take the stairs, I never use the handrails.”

“Is your name even Dex?”

“It’s Dexter. OK—technically, it’s Poindexter.”

“You live with your mother, right?”

“Temporarily.”

Prompt (originally supplied by Mark Goldberg): 100 foot Plunge

UPDATE on the novel:

Had a great conversation this week with my developmental editor. Lots of great clarification on the notes she previously sent me, as well as some great and inspiring talk about things I need to do to make this whole thing fly. My biggest takeaway was that I need to really ramp up the presence of my hero. In my current draft, he’s not present nearly enough—he needs to be in almost every scene. I’m reading one of Michael Connelly’s Bosch books now and I see what she’s saying. It’s almost ALL him. Even though she likes a lot of my other characters, she wants me to tone down their page count and make sure my hero is also in the scene (and working toward at least one of his goals). She gave me a lot of other good stuff—including telling me that I’m fine staying in the undercover world where I’ve centered the story, but…she says police procedurals (which is the sub-genre I’m in) almost always have at least one murder. It’s what the readers expect, and since I didn’t kill anybody off, she wants somebody to die, and make catching the killer my hero’s goal (or at least one of them). Don’t blame me—looks like somebody’s getting offed.

OK. That’s enough of a peek behind the curtain for now. As always, thanks for listening.

Scotty out