Greetings, readers at Author’s Lounge! My name is D. E. Wyatt, and I’m here to tell you a little something about my recently released novel, No Good Deed…
No Good Deed… is a low-fantasy adventure and swashbuckler set in a world inspired by mid-15th Century Western Europe. It is the first installment of The Adventures of Elsabeth Soesten and follows the titular swordswoman and adventuress as she fights to live her life under her own terms, a challenge in a world where society fears an independent woman.
This release marks the second edition of No Good Deed…. It began as a means to get my foot in the door while working on another much larger project and was originally intended to be a short story I planned on submitting to magazines.
I’ve always been fascinated by strong, independent female characters (such as Aeryn Sun of FarScape and Mara Jade of the “Legends” period of the Star Wars Expanded Universe). Originally, the concept for Elizabeth was simple: Take your average swashbuckler hero — the hard-drinking, hard-fighting rascal and womanizer — except now he would be a woman. However, it was not enough to simply flip the gender; I wanted it to have an actual consequence on the character and how they interacted with the world. Often in modern fantasy, female protagonists simply are, and the world ignores her gender. If it’s a factor at all, it’s most often a trait of the “evil empire” to be misogynistic and sexist. I wanted something much more complicated and less black and white. Elsabeth’s world is inspired by the real world and a particular time and place. And at that time and place, there were things society expected and allowed of women, and Elizabeth defies those mores and expectations is a major fixture of her reality. Otherwise, decent men find her threatening, and even other women are often scandalized by her flaunting of societal norms.
Although not originally planned as this concept developed, I drew inspiration from the historical 17th Century swordswoman Julie d’Aubigny. Like Elsabeth, d’Aubigny’s sole focus was on living life on her terms, and she would fight or fuck whoever she had to for it, damn the consequences. I particularly found the idea of a character being able to get away with what they did simply because no one knew how to respond to her intriguing, and that certainly led to much of Elsabeth’s confidence and swagger: She can do what she does by the grace of her sword-arm, and because she often leaves those who might seek to hold her down so awestruck by her cheek, they don’t know how to react.
Another facet of Elsabeth’s story is the swordplay. As a student of historical European swordsmanship myself, I’ve always found the presentation of the art in fiction lacking. It seems half the fiction out there was tied up with the antiquated view of Medieval swords as clumsy metal clubs (often through the influence of Dungeons & Dragons), while the rest were disciples of the Star Wars Prequels and their nonsense twirling and flailing. So, one of my biggest focuses was to show swordplay right.
Elsabeth’s fighting style is drawn from the work of the historical fencing master Sigmund Ringeck, which permeates her fighting philosophy. Of course, I also took advantage of the opportunity to show what would actually happen when Nick Gilliard-style twirly sword dance meets real swordsmanship. But more than just my own middle finger to pop culture sword fighting, this is an important part of the setting itself: Even in MS 3227a — the treatise of the Grand Master of the European martial tradition, Johannes Liechtenauer — there is evidence of disdain for such “show fighters.” And so, the rivalry between opposing philosophies of the sword arts is another central aspect of the work.
Elsabeth’s first story grew until it reached novella length, and, being too long for the purpose I’d had in mind, I decided to release it as a standalone book, which was released to Kindle and print in 2013. A second book followed, but the publisher folded not long after. Finding myself in need of rereleasing the second book, I decided at that point to go back and revise and expand No Good Deed… to a full-length novel first, filling in some details and completely reediting the text. This Second Edition was released on January 4 and is now available on Kindle and paperback through Amazon. I also have a jacketed hardcover coming (long story) which should be available soon.
I hope that women will particularly find something relatable and authentic in Elsabeth’s character and struggle, but my purpose was always to write a story that all readers could enjoy. Nonetheless, its content makes it a work best suited for mature audiences. The setting’s strong basis on historical late-Medieval/early-Renaissance Europe (particularly the areas of the western Holy Roman Empire) was developed with history buffs in mind, and I hope that my fellow HEMA practitioners can look at what I’m doing and feel their craft is acknowledged and finally properly portrayed.
But Elsabeth’s adventures are only just beginning. The Second Edition of Book 2, Bait And Switch, is in final preparations for release and is due out this June. Additionally, two further volumes have been drafted and are in progress for 2023, and I have more stories planned beyond these. So be sure to keep your eyes open! But in the meantime, you can find No Good Deed… on Amazon here.
For more about me, check out my website at https://dewyatt.net.
