Guess it's time to talk about this one.
Destiny was my second book written in 2020.
The first one after The Italy Trip.
I pumped out Hussar in a rush, and it may have shown. But we'll get to that when we get to it.
I had gone to Italy as a honeymoon gift from family who thought that DragonCon wasn't good enough. My father always wanted to go, but didn't want to fly in modern airplane chairs. Given what we flew in on, I don't blame him.
Anyway, the book.
My goal in going to Italy was to see the streets. I wanted to have boots on the ground. And I was a little worried I might have to rewrite parts of the Pius Trilogy, especially A Pius Stand. I may still have to.
On top of that, I wanted the next Saint Tommy book to happen in Rome.
After The Italy Trip, I was all ready to blow it up.
And blow it up I did.
Florence Airport? Boom.
Trajen's column? Toppled.
The Trevi Fountain? Broken to pieces.
The Colosseum was ... well, it's so smashed up, how can you tell?
The Arch of Constantine? I used it to crush a giant bronze Moloch statue.
Fist fight in Castel Gandalfo? Check.
Scuffle on the Spanish Steps? Check (Already shot up in Pius #1)
An entire Italian village on the Nemi? Set on fire, then collapsed into the caverns under the city.
While I think about it, I should probably discuss the plot.
When I created the evil Jesuit Bergolio, I wanted someone who could be a mirror image of Tommy. Someone who believed in The Other Side. But try as I might, he was such a shallow monster. He talked a good game about Heathen nonsense, which became communist-pagan nonsense, which became "Yeah, I work for Hell. Because."
Like my constant attempt to use witches as an adversary, I don't think he worked well. He lacked conviction. As a monster, I’m not sure he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up.
Granted, I was also more interested in payback against Rome than I was against Bergolio.
But the bastard provided enough of a plot for Tommy to work with, and minions to fight off, and Tommy had enough room for character moments.
Every time I had Tommy nailed down, he had more dimensions to him. To the point where I can't get rid of him. I keep making short stories. I've even lost count of them. Damn it.
And like many elements, I thought of several neat toys that could, themselves, be major parts of the next books. I gave Nolan power armor in book #5, didn't I? Well, how we take the ectoplasm constructs from Deus Vult and make them into mechs? Heh heh heh. That's why they also showed up as an element in Blue Saint. I thought of more and different uses for them.
Also, I was allowed to play with more characters. Heaven had assigned him a sturdy supernatural partner, so I threw a bear at him. Nolan's son Jeremy and his ward Lena were coming into their own. I was playing The Witcher, so I had new eastern European monsters to throw at everyone.
All in all, I enjoyed writing this one. It wasn't like I had anything else to do in New York in 2020.