If you are here for the fiction, don’t worry, the next chapter is slated for release this weekend.

If you bought Total Eclipse during the sale, thank you! Be sure to leave a review!

“If you plan to put out work that you want readers to enjoy and take seriously, you must think of it as a business.”—Jody Wenner

A new writing craft book hit the market yesterday. I am simultaneously going to review it (Spoiler alert: 5 stars), and make this post about me and my serial fiction experience. Because I Am The Author, I do what I want.

Should you buy this book?

Of course, you should. That’s a really dumb question. It’s by Jody Wenner, who has been doing beta reads, developmental editing, and writing books for fifteen years. She has 20 distinct works on Goodreads. She knows a thing or two because she’s written and edited a thing or two.

My view on writing craft books is the same as my mother’s view on recipe books. Mom was in the Successful Italian Restaurant Business. She said if you pay $25 for a cookbook and get one good recipe out of it, it was worth it because you could make it back by serving it to a thousand people.

This book reads like Wenner’s collection of manuscript margin notes, “ohhh… did you really do that? No, no, you shouldn’t.”

There are lots of excellent tips in here that make it well worth the $7.99. If even one of the tips helps you sell a few extra books, you’ve made your money back. There are tips on character development, conflict, foreshadowing (“teasing”), when to query (before or after editing, if you go down that road), many others.

I am not going to go into tremendous detail. I highlighted two dozen or so sections as my own personal reminders. If you are curious about how not to be boring, go buy the book.

Buy Dont Be Boring

One section I do want to discuss from the book: scenes and chapters, specifically as it relates to serializing fiction.

From Chapter 3, story structure:

Sometimes we forget that each chapter has a job to do all on its own. For example, if we consider a single chapter in our manuscript as a scene, or a mini-story in itself, then we know that each chapter needs to have some basic elements we’ve already discussed. In order for a chapter to feel compelling and complete to the reader, it should have us question the same things: (1) What is the character trying to do within this smaller scene/chapter (establish expectations)? (2) What is getting in the way (adding conflict)? (3) What happens if the expectations set out at the beginning of the scene are not met (consequences/stakes)?

This is a mistake I see a lot of serial fictionistas make. When I dive into chapter 27, because I see it on my substack dashboard, I first ask: Why am I here? What is the point of this chapter?

Some authors are very good at giving me a summary and delivering compelling chapters that make me want to move forward or go back and read earlier sections.

Others…dive right into dialogue, or action, or worldbuilding. Here I will just quote Wenner:

The reader has no idea who the character is yet, so it often reads like a jumbled, adrenaline-fueled mess and the stakes aren’t there because we haven’t gotten attached to the MC yet. Why do we care if they survive the high-speed chase?

I’ve started, and not finished, a lot of serial fiction on Substack because:

• I did not know why I was there

• There was no summary of the story to-date

• No link to earlier chapters

• No hook for me to get into the chapter

• No hook for me to go back and reread

Each chapter of serial fiction starts in media res (literally). People click on chapter 36 because they see it in their feed or they subscribed last week.

Let me say it louder: Each chapter of serial fiction starts in media res.

In fact, I’d argue that serial fiction is the penultimate example of in medias res.

You can’t assume the reader has read the earlier 35 chapters. And even if they did read the earlier 35 chapters, those might have been posted 6 months ago. Who remembers that minute detail from 6 months ago? Not me.

I am reminded of some of the long-running series I’ve completed: Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar series, and Diane Capri’s Hunt for Jack Reacher series. You don’t need to read these books in order. Within each book, they give us gentle reminders of backstory or relevant details that you may have missed or forgotten. Not a lot. Not enough to take us out of the story. Sometimes only a sentence or two. But they do refresh us.

You need to treat each chapter the same.

Now, you are serializing a novel, so obviously, your chapters have to have an overarching story structure. I am not saying each chapter should be a short story. Nor am I suggesting a lot of redundancy.

But, please, please, please, give us a hook. Give us a gentle summary. Assume your reader has come in on the latest chapter and give a sentence of refresher—even if it’s at the beginning before the chapter—but not so much as to take us out of the story.

Most importantly, give us a reason to be there.

I try to do all these things when I deliver serial fiction. Do I succeed? You tell me in the comments.

Go buy Wenner’s book, 5 stars.

Buy Dont Be Boring

Filled with hate?

Leave a comment

Buy my book.

Total Eclipse is available an ebook, paperback, and audiobook from Amazon and Barnes and Noble:

Finally, don’t forget we are 26 chapters into Kate Devana’s next electrifying adventure. Stay tuned for the cover reveal and release date in summer 2025.

Catch up here:

Chapter 26 of Devana Files comes out in a week. Stay tuned, too, for the title/cover reveal and release date in the summer of 2025.

"This sentence sounds like you're describing a prolapse, Wyatt"

More on that quote later. Today’s post is about writing advice. I don’t like writing about writing because authors’ opinions about writing rules are like assholes: We all have them; they all stink. So be careful what you're sticking your nose into.

I am seeing a lot of spammy writing advice on Subtack. Fact: The number one theme in Substack’s “fiction” category is not actual fiction. It’s writing about writing. This is true of Youtube and social media generally, but Substack seems to be bloated with it.

So here we go on our little adventure, one that will surely end with you in the comments, pissed off. I will not censor comments, not even from trolls. You are entitled to your opinion.

Much of the Substack advice is very clickbaity. "The secret to sales is a catchy title and a good cover to sell a book. Subscribe or buy my book to find out more!" or "My Save the Cat personal writing journey!"

Free advice is typically worth what you paid for it. Sure, there are gems. Sometimes, you find a priceless piece of history at a flea market, too.

Is writing advice worth a "subscription to my unabridged opinions?"

Probably not. Here are some exceptions.

I am putting the comment button right here because as the hate flows through you, you will need to press it.

Leave a comment

Listen to Gatekeepers

I feel your hate flowing already. Nooooooo Wyatt, we hate gatekeepers!

We do. Hear me out.

Here is an entire thread on X about what an editor wants to see:

It bombs all the Usual Suspects™️: Passive voice, infodumps, cliches, etc. I bet you can name them all by heart. I am not endorsing this editor or publication or his rules. Not my point.

Trad publishing has rules, some of them dumb, like, “Don’t start a novel with the character waking up.” I just read a bestseller where the novel starts with the character waking up. Yes, that author can get away with it because they’ve sold zillions of other books.

At my dayjob (writing/reviewing extremely mathy technical papers), I rigidly enforce active voice because we submit them to an audience who cannot, under any circumstances, be confused about who did what, when, where, why, and how. I am the gatekeeper. Business writing should always be done in active voice. Period. And if you send me a paper in passive voice, I will return it severely and harshly redlined, with few exceptions.

But fiction is not business writing, and there are certainly times in fiction when passive voice is acceptable. Some cultures, out of deference to authority, heavily use passive voice. Sometimes, the character doesn’t know who left the bloody knife on the floor.

Here is the thing: if you want to submit to a publication or agent, you need to follow their rules. If an editor does not like gratuitous violence, don’t complain if you submit horror and it’s rejected. If an editor does not like passive voice, avoid it. If an agent does not like infodumps, don’t do it. If the submission criteria say 5000 words, don’t give them 5001.

You can say its not fair, hypocritical, arbitrary, untrue, whatever. Nothing changes the fact that agents and editors get 237 submissions for every 5 manuscripts they accept. They are the gatekeepers. It's their rules; they make them up.

Bottom line: If you want to raise your odds of being accepted, find out what the rules are for your submission and follow them.

Listen to successful authors

Has the source of the advice sold books (scripts, etc)? Have they received good reviews? Or have they chiefly sold “how to sell books?”

Equally importantly, is the advice applicable to books in the genre you want to write?

Harlan Coben and Lee Child videoed a Masterclass. Take it. Stephen King wrote On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft. Read it. Kurt Vonnegut, Elmore Leonard, and many others have offered writing advice. Read it all.

Not all of it will apply to you. Advice that applies to literary fiction, for example, will not apply to thrillers. In a thriller, incomplete sentences and comma splices are common. Sometimes they’re used to overcome the aforementioned “was” passive voice. Sometimes, to break long sentences; to make the text more punchy. Your text should have a rhythm, like poetry.

Conversely, don’t listen to bloggers who specialize in “how to sell books.”

Bottom line: Mimic success in your genre.

Ignore your English professors

Ooooh, now the hate is really flowing, I see. Goooood. Let the hate flow through you.

Some of the worst writing I have ever seen has come from MFAs (some good stuff, too; I am not lumping everyone together).

English professors may be the single worst source of literary advice on the planet. I said what I said and will repeat it louder: English professors are the single worst source of literary advice on the planet. I am reminded of Michael Crichton's experiment at Harvard when he submitted an Orwell essay and got a B-.

Yes, I was one of those geeky STEM majors. Yes, I got As in my writing courses and wrote for the college newspaper. So what?

Oh, so you plan to bully your readers and impress them with how smart you are! Your audience will probably not consist of English majors who appreciate your 36-word sentences and flowery use of multi-syllable, rarely-used adjectives that they need to look up in the Oxford English Dictionary. Fuck that, your thriller reader will skip it. Of course, your literary fiction reader will love it! So know your intended reader.

Bottom line: It’s more important to know your audience than listen to floofy professorial advice. When I say, “Some of the worst writing I have ever seen has come from MFAs,” it is invariably because the writer followed “the process” and “the rules” while ignoring their audience.

Again, I resort to business writing (and I am including journalism here) as the quintessential example: You want to write at the 10th-grade level, in the active voice, telling them who, what, where, where, why, and how upfront. Not hard. You don’t need an MFA for it. Michael Connelly, Michael Crichton, John Grisham, and Freida McFadden (among others) wrote (and are writing) outstanding thriller series—and not in flowery prose. Follow their lead.

Take Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and other software with a ton of salt.

70% of the time, Grammar and style checkers work every time (to paraphrase Anchorman).

I use both Grammarly and PWD. They disagree on comma placement. PWD will sometimes tell me, “don’t do that,” when exactly what I want to do is that, for emphasis.

Software style checkers are based on the law of averages: “The average author would do this here,” based on it’s training data.

Sometimes it’s solid advice. Other times, it isn’t. Use discretion.

I suggest reading your work aloud (or having someone read it to you). Hear the rhythm, or lack thereof, and adjust accordingly.

Listen to your editors and beta readers

Mrs W constantly reminds me: “You know what you mean, Wyatt, no one else does.” 😂

"This sentence sounds like you're describing a prolapse, Wyatt" is the kind of feedback you want from a beta reader or editor (yes, true story, a beta sent me that 😂).

The advice your editor is giving you is worth its weight in platinum. The advice your reader is giving you is worth a thousand times that. If they are telling you they are confused, can’t picture that scene, or a paragraph does not work, then you should listen and fix it.

Mrs W draws frowny faces in my drafts (she prefers to read my manuscripts in print). You bet I listen! She is meticulous. Also, I love sex. ❤️

Bottom line: Following the process and the rules is never a substitute for appreciating the impact on your reader.

Finally: The law of diminishing returns.

While you should absolutely absorb craft, you’ve probably absorbed too much.

10,000 hours of woodworking videos don't add up to a sculpture. You need to pick up a knife and go out and carve your first failures. Destroy some wood. Write a prolapse. Then, find editors and beta readers who know your genre, who are invested in you, and listen to them.

Filled with hate?

Leave a comment

I want to thank J.F Lawrence for the review of the Total Eclipse audiobook. I am very humbled and glad he enjoyed it. Lauren did an amazing job narrating. She swears well!

Total Eclipse is available an ebook, paperback, and audiobook from Amazon and Barnes and Noble:

Finally, don’t forget we are 25 chapters into Kate Devana’s next electrifying adventure. Stay tuned for the cover reveal and release date in summer 2025.

Catch up here:

The good

• Accountability. Serialization forces discipline on your schedule.

• Immediate feedback. Gimme those post likes and shares! Gimme the comments!

  Leave a comment

• It will make you a better writer (see below for more)

The bad

• Accountability and immediate feedback

  These are two-edged swords. Nobody likes bad feedback, lol. If you miss a week because life happens, your readers will let you know.

• Format. No underline! What? No colored text? I dare you to indent your text! (Can’t do it). Emojis in notes? Heck no.

  God forbid you want to do something fancy, like a set of text messages between people in a romance novel.

  The format options available on Substack make 1980 text editors great again. It sucks. It’s designed for newsletters, not fiction.

  If a post looks good, it feels good to the reader (i.e., smoother reading), so you may have to experiment with the format.

How will serialization make you a better writer?

I like the process. I like the accountability and immediate feedback. Practice makes perfect, but it’s more than that:

• Serializing fiction forces you to think about your story chapter by chapter, each on its own merit. No fluff or hoopdedoodle that your readers will skip and move on.

• Ask yourself:

  Does your chapter advance the plot?

  Does your chapter develop the character?

  If not, why are we here? Are we world-building or just info-dumping?

• Leave your readers wanting more chapters, or they will unsubscribe.

• Hook and cliffhanger rules apply to each chapter:

  Does your chapter have a hook? Pretend this is the first chapter of your book. Draw them in in the first sentence, even if its chapter 23.

  How do you end? Leave them wanting more:

  Raise a question.

  Drop a bomb.

  Leave unresolved emotion.

  Have a time constraint.

  Have an obstacle.

Writing efficiency and pacing

The optimal word count for a chapter is 1500-3500 words—in the neighborhood of a 15-20 minute read, give or take. Not too short, because “Omg, that’s disappointing!” But also not too long because it becomes difficult to scroll, plus you will lose your reader’s attention.

“But Wyatt, I want to write a 13,000-word chapter!” NO. You are competing for your reader’s time with the work, the dishes, the kids, video games, streaming, etc. Give them “bathroom reading” length.

Cut the fluff and get to the point. Yes, it was good for you, but was it good for them? If your chapter is more than 3000 words, consider breaking it in two. If your scene has a natural cliffhanger break, end your chapter there and split it.

This is not a comprehensive list. I will probably revise this post as I think of more. There are several excellent compilations from authors who have been serializing fiction for much longer than I have. Go find them.

As I mentioned above, I like the process because it forces some writing discipline. I think overall, it's much harder (because it forces writing discipline chapter by chapter, lol). Is it for you? There have definitely been times I was “What am I doing?” Those moments pass once you experience the immediate feedback.

Language and stories are not logical or mathematical constructs. English has contronyms, homophones, and double entendres, for example, that only make sense in context.

My characters are bound for their final confrontation, bound by their world's logic.

I dusted off my thesaurus to bolt story threads together, as my characters bolted towards climax. No, not that kind of climax. Or maybe. They have been flirting since chapter 8. 😅

See what I did there?

Does AI understand how terrifying this image is for some people?

Can you smell the exhaust?

The secret to good humor is a grain of truth. If AI does not understand the human condition, how can it be funny? Except dad jokes. Which are inherently not funny and deserve to be repeated an infinitum. 😅

Are your eyes rolling?

Al doesn't have feelings, so how will it convey them? It doesn’t understand the awe of butterflies, even if it describes the colors correctly.

If you have ever had a pet, you understand the difference between a playful growl and a territorial growl. You communicate on a primal level. You know what these pups are feeling.

AI can generate words and sounds, but it can't communicate on the same level.

There is another important issue: fashion. Writing styles go in and out of fashion. AI can only pick from what's in its database, and past performance is not an indicator of future results.

No, you are not using a “better AI” than me. The mathematical average of cringe is cringe. Crap in, crap out. Communication is not a mathematical construct. But I repeat myself.

If you want to communicate and bond with readers, you're just not going to get there with AI. It's difficult enough for humans who know what they're doing: Less than 5% of books on the market sell more than 2,000 copies.

For the record, I'm not against AI any more than I'm against calculators or accounting software or Python or Java. They're tools. They won't make a good business plan for you. They won't sell widgets. AI is a tool and won’t write a story for you, either.

But feel free to try it and find out.

UPDATE: The social image is me and Kvetch-bot 3759, watching the sunset on the Rational Discourse-verse. AI won't write your book, but it's a neat toy. Now: how did that image make you feel?

A few navigational notes:

For Chapters of my new Kate Devana Series:

Space 2074 is the new Wild West. Mine machines are glitching, an FBI Agent is looking to avenge the death of his former partner, & Sheriff Kate Devana must wrangle a fugitive con artist who bilked retirees for billions. Bodies are piling up. Again. On the moon, Kate Devana is the law.

While this is the 3rd novel in the series, each is designed to be read independently.

For accessibility, there is a voiceover for each chapter.

For Chapters of my new novel Blackbird:

• Chapter 1:

• Chapter 9 (flashback):

• More here: https://wyattwerne.substack.com/s/blackbird

For everything else Kate Devana related:

• The inspiration:

• Deleted scenes:

• Other items, here: https://wyattwerne.substack.com/s/kate-devana-series

Welcome to the new format for my newsletter.

You are on the list! Some of you, of course, were already on the list, but I have finally merged the lists between Mailerlite and Substack, so now everyone is here. 😊

No need to worry, Substack content will remain free for the near future. I do ask that if you are enjoying the content (and I know some of you are—thank you for the notes 😊), please like, share, and comment on posts. It helps the algorithm find more readers.

Soon after you read this, Chapter 5 of the Kate Devana files will drop, and a few days after that, Chapter 6. Mine machines are glitching, an FBI Agent is looking to avenge the death of his former partner, and Kate must capture a fugitive con artist who bilked retirees for billions. It's 2074. Space is the new Wild West, and the bodies are piling up again.

If you missed earlier chapters, you can find Chapter 1 of the new Kate Devana here. If you missed earlier Chapters of Blackbird, you can find Chapter 1 here. Chapters of Blackbird will resume shortly.

Although The new Chapters are from book 3 in the Kate Devana series, they are designed to be read in any order. Books 1 and 2, The Orionids and Total Eclipse, are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other ebook and print retainers.

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June 18th, 2024.

I love rockets, I love thrillers, and I love thrillers with rockets. I also love something else: LEGOS. This fathers day my daughter and I put together the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander.

The images below do not quite do it justice. The details, even on the inside, are amazing. There are over a thousand pieces in this set. I predicted we would not take that long, but my daughter was right it took much longer than we expected.

We assembled it on our deck (the weather was fantastic), taking a break for dinner. We ended up finishing it with flashlights 🔦🔦 on the deck. What fun! And a terrific way to spend time together!

Schedule (glad you asked):

As I noted above, Chapters 5 and 6 of Kate Devana files will drop soon. Chapters of Blackbird will resume shortly. Everything will remain free while I build out this platform. Please like, share, and comment on posts. It helps the algorithm find more readers.

Happy reading, and stay out of the heat this week. 💙,

Wyatt

As part of my mailers and updates, I suggest and swap with other authors whose content you may enjoy.

Hometown Space Pirate (Viraquin Voyage Book 1)

Ben Roberts hears voices…alien voices.

When word of his abilities spreads through the galactic grapevine, Ben ranks number one on an A.I.’s most wanted list to become their cybernated slave. A bleak prospect, but what if they offered him everything he ever dreamed of in exchange?

A headstrong spaceship, with an intelligence of its own, shows up to help Ben, but he doesn’t know if it can be trusted. When he discovers a powerful alien has taken refuge on Earth, Ben makes it his mission to rescue it from the race of A.I. beings.

If he can’t find a way to survive, the balance of power throughout the universe could be altered forever.

Aliens, robots, and spaceships all rolled up into one hilarious, page-turning story. Get your copy of Hometown Space Pirate to start the adventure.

The Bond Once Broken (The Girl Once Known Book 2).

In the aftermath of Mira's hit-and-run accident, The Girl Once Known takes this dysfunctional family for another spin in its emotional, suspenseful sequel, The Bond Once Broken.

Sherry and Sierra, connected by a troubled childhood, have children who live out their mothers' legacy. While one of Sherry's daughters seems to break free from the cycle of dysfunction, Sherry herself strives to leave behind a past she'd rather forget. Meanwhile, Sierra remains chained to the past, driven by a desperate need to right a deep-seated wrong from her childhood, which leads to a life of emptiness.

The tension between Sherry and Sierra reaches a boiling point when a reunion escalates their animosity. As long-hidden secrets from their shared history erupt, they face a crucial choice: either restore their bond or settle their scores, regardless of the consequences.

Reading The Girl Once Known is strongly recommended before reading The Bond Once Broken.

Sam’s Children. Clayton 5 is risking it all - his dream job, his friends, his entire life. But is it worth it?

Another Sci-Fi/Fantasy series by award-winning Portuguese author, Bruno Martins Soares.

As he always wanted, Clayton 5, Alex 9's first love, was accepted into the elite world of Takahashi-MacNamara's Recon Unit, ready for any assignment on or off the planet Earth. But as the unit arrives at a training site in Australia, Clayton is confronted by his past and has to risk it all to find the remnants of his family. What will he find?

A story from the Alex 9 Saga universe.

It’s the 22nd century and the Corporate Wars rage through our Solar System. Alex 9, an elite commando on a crucial mission, finds herself in Deep Space. Something went wrong with her ship, and she ended up on a planet much like Earth – a world at war where Humanity is still in the Middle Ages. Armies of knights, bowmen, and spearmen clash as empires fight to the death and alliances are stretched to the limit. But is Alex there by accident? A mysterious prophecy seems to have predicted her coming. And why is she in possession of the deadly Japanese Sword of the Dragon, once the prize of the Takahashi-McNamara Corporation? What secret powers are at work? In this new world, she will have to find a new family, a new mission, and her own destiny.

Available at Amazon.

Le Cabaret Rock: Abattoir Lullaby An irreverant horror story in a gothic underground world. A strange musician looking for a new life meets a weird cabaret murderous gang. His life will never be the same. And, if he's not careful, neither will his death.

While running away from his troubled past, a Parisian live performer enters a bizarre and obscure avant-garde theatrical scene and finds himself hunted by the most unsuspected criminals the city has ever seen.

This narrative begins where the more conventional performative arts usually cease, in the Goth domains of the Cabaret Rock aesthetic - a lifestyle subjugated by authenticity, passion and dark psychological shadows.

This irreverent story now appears in its novel version, after its homonymous theatrical show and original soundtrack. In the year of its premiere, this play received the applause of 40,000 spectators, remaining to this day over successive seasons, as the most performed show at the Nirvana Studios.

SIEGE The distance from hero to monster will be counted in corpses

A Dark Action-Packed Military Sci-Fi Thriller

Millicent Cuff leads a regular teenage life. She hikes in the hills, obsesses over boys and is desperate to leave a good impression at her upcoming birthday celebration. When an experimental aircraft crashes close to her village, she recovers a strange broken sphere from the wreckage. The life she knew will be forever changed when an army places her village under siege and comes for her.

Hellinix, a shadowy multinational corporation, wants their artifact back and will stop at nothing to get it, even if that means threatening her friends and family. But they hadn’t counted on the other village secret: that Millicent’s father and his closest friends are some of the hardest men on the planet—retired SAS commandos.

But when Millicent goes to ground to hide the sphere and receives a significant head-wound, Hellinix will wish they had killed her when they had the chance.

She was trained by her dad to survive. She’s used to taking hard knocks. But this battle will leave more than physical scars.

Siege is the dark, action-packed prequel to the Zero-Point Awakening Series: a quirky serialized science-fiction thriller.

Save the World. Twenty Sci-Fi Writers Fix the Planet.

Climate change is no longer a vague future threat. Forests are burning, currents are shifting, and massive storms dump staggering amounts of water in less than 24 hours. Sometimes it’s hard to look ahead and see a hopeful future.

We asked sci-fi writers to send us stories about ways to save the world from climate change. From the myriad of stories we received, we chose the twenty most amazing (and hopefully prescient) tales.

Dive in and find out how we might mitigate climate change via solar mirrors, carbon capture, genetic manipulation, and acts of change both large and small.

The future’s not going to fix itself.

Apache Tomahawk. In the pre-dawn New Mexico desert, Zini, a young Apache girl, awakens to gunshots, and grabs the mystical tomahawk, given to her tribe by men from the stars eons ago.

The Galaxy powers are about to go to war with the earth is in the middle.

In the pre-dawn silence of the New Mexico desert, Zini, a young Apache girl, awakens to gunshots and discovers her home under attack. Her grandfather, a tribal elder, had previously warned her about a vision involving mystical artifacts—the tomahawk and Seeing Stone—passed down through their lineage from visitors once described as "men from the stars." As the assailant nears the house, Zini recalls her grandfather's teachings and the importance of these relics. Armed with the tomahawk, which possesses extraordinary abilities when wielded by the chosen, she bursts from her room to find her grandfather confronting the intruder. Despite her efforts, her grandfather is killed, and Zini uses the tomahawk to avenge him. Overcome with grief yet fueled by purpose, she flees the scene with the artifacts, determined to protect them as her grandfather instructed. As she drives into the uncertain future, she recalls the lore passed down by her ancestors and realizes that more enemies will come. With the Seeing Stone growing warm in her pocket, she sets her sights on a new life in Vermont, determined to honor her grandfather's legacy and stay true to her warrior lineage, knowing the "bad men" will inevitably return.