Nysta is an assassin. Whilst she’s not exactly the easiest assassin to hire, nor the most interactive, she’s certainly the most efficient you can get for a couple of coins. What she lacks in people skills and fuzzy smiles, she more than makes up for in the number of knives, daggers, and the odd assortment of small bladed weapons strapped to her body.

Working for a Mage’s Daughter who may just be more than she seems, Nysta is also running from the men who are hunting her for a crime she obviously did commit. With each new kill, she’s faced with the grim realisation that she’s turning into the very thing she set about to destroy. And what’s bothering her is that it’s not bothering her at all.

Not even a little.

Far from it – she’s getting more and more obsessed with getting stronger…

***

I greatly miss the days of over-the-top action, swashbuckling and the fun of an angry hero. Nysta is, in a sense, the angriest most dedicated hero I could imagine. In another way, she was also a way of writing a female main character how I always wanted one – hardcore. None of this namby pamby need for a bloke with a sword to come along and rescue her.

Set in a city which has built its reputation as a centre for smuggling and a port of safe call for pirates and mercenaries, the Nysta series I hope will provide endless opportunities for Nysta to get involved in all manner of violent adventures. I’m trying to provide a solid platform to create a series which isn’t epic, but more related to the oldschool style Sword and Sorcery genre, or perhaps more akin to a Western.

Mingling a little of pulp-crime’s rolling plots and brutal violence, I have tried to keep the reader barrelling forward with breathless anticipation. Characterwise, I wanted a grumpy, growly, surly thing with a bitter grin and a mouth full of modern reference gags. My central influences for this series are George G. Gilman (aka Terry Harknett), Fritz Leiber (though I certainly couldn’t imitate his awesome style), Michael Moorcock, and John Jakes. A small tip of the hat to David Gemmell and a big fuzzy hug to Andy Remic.

An example of one of the unedited chapters can be found here.

Also, I did a few short story character studies, such as the Horse with no Name, which I liked. One day I’d like to bring that horse back into it.

What inspired her creation and her growth, I explained in a small article here.