Yee Haw! The Story Behind MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HITMEN: And Other Bombay Bedtime Stories!

Coming December 1!

    I've got another collection of short stories - MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HITMEN - about the Bombay Family of Assassins coming out December 1 through Gemma Halliday Publishing! I'm really excited! My first collection of short stories - or Bombay Family Bedtime Stories - SNUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON, came out in July. It was an experiment that I think went well.

    I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction I got when SNUFF was released. I'd written 5 Bombay books before this and my fans were calling for more. But they'd also asked about the history of the Bombay Family.

    For those who aren't familiar - the Bombay Family is a family of assassins who've been in the biz since 2000 BC. In the novels, I'd hinted or alluded to various famous assassinations throughout history. Turns out, people reading the books decided they wanted to know more.

    I'm a history nut. I LIVE for those documentaries on Nat Geo, the History Channel and I subscribe to Mental Floss and Smithsonian magazines. So I thought this would be fun! I could mess around with history and showcase the Bombays to boot.

    I decided these had to be short stories because that way I could write more of them. Well, that and I'm not a historical writer - I didn't think I could write a complete novel based on one historical time period. 

    That's right...I'm lazy. And I'm probably not that smart either.

    It turned out to work very well. In SNUFF - I wrote 6 stories - all of them in first person, by various Bombays. And 4 of them were based on real historical events from Rasputin to Elizabeth of Bathory.  Each story in SNUFF turned out to be about 19 pages long. 

    The fans really loved it. So, I thought, I could write another one!  And MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HITMEN was created.

    But while both books were the exact same length - I noticed some interesting differences between the two. HITMEN had only 4 stories - but these stories averaged 33 pages in length. The stories were getting longer. I have no idea why. It surprised me that I felt the stories needed to be longer. When I went back over them, I realized they needed to be that length. 

    Also, instead of the majority being based on real incidents, only 1 was this time - the story of Sigurd the Mighty. The rest of the stories are fiction (wink).

    I didn't enjoy writing either book more or less than the other one. My writing process for both were the same. So why were they different?

    I'm still not sure about that. Maybe the Bombays were telling me something. Maybe I was missing writing full-length fiction about the Bombays. Maybe I'm just crazy. Yeah, it's probably that one. 

    Whatever the reason - I will write more Bombay Bedtime Stories in the future. But I think first, I'll tackle another full-length novel on the family. I don't think they're done telling their contemporary story yet. 

    Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy my story collections - should you choose to read them. I had a great time writing them. And maybe, just maybe, readers will understand a little more what it's like growing up a Bombay.