Stiff’s Standoff was originally written for the grimdark anthology Beyond The Shadows (published 2019). It was then picked up by Grimdark Magazine for their January 2021 edition.
Given its origins it’s probably one of the most genre-specific stories I’ve written. I really wanted to hit the (for me) key tropes of grimdark fantasy: morally grey characters; trying to get by in a gritty world; with some dark humour to make the pill go down a bit easier.
Thus Lothar ‘Stiff’ Sauer was born: a largely unsuccessful mercenary leader who has got by thanks to his motto: don’t get into something you can’t get out of.
I probably leaned into the humour quite hard in the end. It hadn’t even crossed my mind, until the editor of Grimdark Magazine mentioned it, that there is zero magic in the story. I guess that’s how gritty and realistic it became!