Saint Tommy isn't done yet

After the first three novels of Saint Tommy NYPD, I made a conscious decision to play fast and loose. I spent so much time and energy getting things right, I didn't think beyond that....

Okay, there was the Balrog drone in Infernal Affairs, but that was something that spiraled.

But by book 4, I wanted to play more. You could even say that I loosened up. Sure, Hell Spawn had a possessed serial killer. But I wanted to up the ante, especially for book 4... that's when every shadow in the city was trying to kill Tommy Nolan. And I needed to up the threat. So I made up my own mythological antediluvian threats and weapons, and gave it to a collection of Jihadis.

So I gave terrorists superpowers. Like weather control. Superfast healing. Eye lasers.

Yes, I generated Jihadi X-Men.

So, yeah, by Crusader (book 5), Tommy was going to get into more melee with demons. And get his ass kicked... so much ass kicking. Granted, he was black and blue, but he at least walked away. This time, I tossed in some succubi sex slavers.

Yes, I went there. In part to throw something at Tommy other than fireballs. Let's see how he reacts to temptation being thrown in his face.

Tommy came up with a unique solution that I didn't see coming.

By the end of Crusader ... I wanted a dragon.

So I got me a dragon.

Then I needed something to fight a dragon. Because I wanted to punch a dragon in the face.

This led to one of the more interesting fights I blocked out. And it led to powered armor. It enabled him to take more of a beating later on, and kept him out of the hospital. But that's about it.

Basically, I enabled him to suffer MORE, just spread out over time.

As Jim Butcher said of Harry Dresden, if he can get up faster from each encounter, we can beat him up more.

Then there was Deus Vult. And that could have been a scene by scene breakdown of HP Lovecraft references. It was appropriately insane.

And I waited ... a whole other novel before I added another indulgence for me. Yes, yes, also for the readers, because it was going to be fun. Tommy needed a new weapon. Why? Because I was putting him up against a whole new level of weaponry. He needed something that could keep up with some heavy duty beatings.

Also, I wanted a swordfight.

No, I'm not going to spoiler that one.

But yeah, I've had some fun with Tommy.

And he's not done yet.