*puts on some doom metal* and is ready to get to know Sweet, a main character who’s “dour, downbeat and quite existential”… Or, sorry, first, we talk with Steve Pannett, the author of The Hunter’s Lament… ahem… I’ll tell you all about Sweet when I’ve read the book.

So… I don’t know how or why I stumbled upon Steve on X.. Twitter… X… but there it was, his book The Hunter’s Lament presented next to an axe and thus I turned to Steve’s virtual door, hat in hand, for some questions and answers… Here’s how it went…

The Hunter’s Lament – hello, cool cover! 🤩 Do tell what the book is about and what you hope it will leave your readers feeling?

Thank you, the cover was self-designed (I’m a graphic designer by trade so was able to apply some of my own expertise to it – [see thread])

The Hunter’s Lament is a work of gritty fantasy fiction; I’d say “swords and sorcery” but with more emphasis on the “swords” aspect (there is some magic, but it’s not front-and-centre all the time!) The book follows a crew of bounty hunters, led by the MC (whose viewpoint we follow throughout the book) veteran hunter “Bitter” Sweet. We join the story in the aftermath of a bloody war, where the victorious invaders are trying to tie up the loose ends of their latest conquest. Sweet and his crew are tasked with hunting down one of these “loose ends” in the form of a fugitive prince. It’s a dangerous job and Sweet has his reservations, but reluctantly accepts the contract – leading him and his crew on a thrilling chase through the wilderness.

First and foremost I want readers to be entertained by my work – I grew up on “popcorn” fantasy and still devour it today. Beyond that, I think the book starts taking on more meaning as you get deeper into it and inevitably spend more time with the main character. Sweet is not a hero by a long shot, but he’s also not really an anti-hero either. He’s dour, downbeat and quite existential as he looks back on how he’s spent his life—I think we all have those moments where we start questioning everything we’ve ever done, and wondering if we could’ve done things differently/better. I hope that people come away from the book realising that having regrets is a part of life, and that what matters next is more important than what happened before.

“Dour, downbeat and quite existential” – I have to say, you’ve sold the book to me already. The questioning of past actions, the what ifs… That’s bound to be some quite emotionally heavy and invested character work. Do you think this kind of psychological aspect to the book is risque in a fantasy genre as readers may expect more of said sword-battle and action-filled adventure?

I don’t see it as too huge a risk. I think all good fantasy is rooted in the characters, rather than the world-building or magic systems or action sequences (though they’re all important, I see the characters as the *most* important). I think that the way I’ve written The Hunter’s Lament I almost hope that it (the psychological aspect of the book) creeps up on you a bit. So I’d rather readers start by engaging with an enjoyable, action-packed, gritty fantasy adventure and then start to realise that Sweet’s internal struggles are a big part of what they’re buying into.

I have to admit, we seem to be speaking the same language when it comes to characters being the *most* important.

Yes exactly! Although hopefully the surrounding story here is still more interesting than that, haha.

I always say that if a character has won me over, the plot could be about watching paint dry. I am curious, Sweet is a rather interesting name choice? Is there a story behind this?

The origin of Sweet’s name is explained in the opening of the book as it adds some colour to the picture of his life up to the point of us joining the story. Essentially when he started out in his “career” of bounty hunting (decades before the events of the book) he held notions of it being a noble pursuit (helping to bring criminals to justice, etc. etc.) and more experienced bounty hunters mocked him for it, dubbing him “Sweet” in the process. As he grew older, Sweet’s worldview (and his view of his chosen profession) changed into something more grim and grounded in the harsh reality of his life. His attitude morphed into something similar to the men and women who mocked him as a youngster.

In the book, we learn that the “Bitter” part was added as another joke, as his skills (and his dry, dour attitude) became more widely known. So “Bitter” Sweet is actually just the character’s nickname. Interestingly I did really consider changing it. Even in my final edit I still had some concerns over the name and wondered if Sweet needed a “proper” name, or renaming entirely. However, I’m glad I stuck with it and I think most readers will warm to Sweet in the same way that I did.

Now, you also mentioned swords and magic, and I immediately think about 2 things. First, did you research a LOT of sword stuff to be able to write about it? I mean, I see fantasy writers really diving into the sword world and loving it… How was/is it with you?

I didn’t research swordplay too heavily, very few characters in the book are what you’d call “masters” when it comes to weaponry so I didn’t feel the need to go into too much detail around it.

Woohoo! Music to my ears!

However, I’m always very conscious when I’m writing about things that are not my area of expertise. So I tried to avoid any huge discrepancies or obvious errors, but so long as nothing in a fight scene breaks the flow of the scene itself I’m happy as a writer, and I hope that readers will feel the same.

And, magic is another one of those things that fantasy readers always discuss. You say it doesn’t have a focus point in the story, but I think one of the main things readers always want to know is – in what form is the magic present in The Hunter’s Lament? Is it something elemental? Something taxing? Or, can you not tell because it’s a potential spoiler? 🙂

I prefer my fantasy to be light on the magic side of things. I can appreciate high concept, detailed magic “systems” but I lean more towards fantasy worlds where magic isn’t as prevalent. The Hunter’s Lament sits in this latter group; magic is present in the world (and has a more active role towards the end of the book) and the characters are aware of it, but much of it is a mystery to them (and therefore to the reader, too).

I also purposely kept the dynamics of the magic itself pretty ambiguous in this book. Partly because I wanted to keep the story moving and to explain the magic would’ve disrupted that, but also because I wanted something to build on for when I revisit this universe in future books.

What’s your take on tropes and clichés? Did you battle with these when you were writing and feel conscious about whether or how much to let slip in, if at all?

I didn’t actively set out to incorporate any specific tropes, but I imagine some have slipped in regardless (motley crew/ragged band etc etc) – I think you can boil down the vast majority of storytelling into a select bunch of tropes/clichés so it’s more about how you handle the story itself.

Again I think a lot of this comes back to character-work. If you have an atypical character who thinks/behaves in expected ways, then they’re more likely to slip into becoming clichéd as you continue to write. But if your characters are more nuanced or complex, it’s harder to categorise them or their actions in a specific way, which in turn edges you a bit further away from “trope” territory.

I should also say that this isn’t me shitting on writers who lean into tropes/clichés, as there are lots of readers who actively seek them out and love reading them in all their glory – as with all writing/reading, it’s horses for courses!

I am intrigued though as to how The Hunter’s Lament came to be… It really seems like you are 100% focused on the character aspect. We’ve established that. But how did you come to this point as a writer, for this particular story? Did you always know, even before you put the first word down to paper, that this was going to be a character-led story? Or, was it something you had to find out after stops and starts and experimenting?

So I’ve been writing for about 20yrs in total, but this is the first thing I’ve ever published. Lots of the manuscripts from the past two decades are either unfinished, or require editing that I just didn’t have the energy to provide them. I was getting frustrated with putting so much effort into writing but never having anything “finished” to show for it.

So with this book I took a different approach, I set myself more rigid goals (first draft completed by date X, first edit by date Y, alpha/beta reader testing by date Z etc etc) and I stuck to them. It’s part of the reason why the story is a single-character POV, because I found it much easier to stay committed to something that had a very clear focal point.

In terms of the story itself – I had the idea for the character (a weathered, experienced bounty hunter) first. So I just sat down and wrote an opening chapter or two, just to see what would happen when I put that character in a particular scene. I’m a “plantser” so after I’d conducted this “test” I then decided to plan out the story around the character a bit more. I mapped out (using two or three paragraphs to describe each chapter) the basic premise and plot, and then adjusted whenever the characters did something “unexpected” or if the plan that I’d outlined felt too forced or hokey.

Sweet’s journey (both the literal one in the book and his arc as a character) almost came as a by-product of this process. The more I realised that I had something really cool there (to my mind, at least) the more I leaned into it. And at the end of it all I came out with a finished manuscript I was really proud of it. It’s a process I’m taking into future projects (including novels with multiple character viewpoints) because I know it works for me now 🙂

So really, through years of experimenting and simply writing, you have discovered what works for you and that is a great take away for everyone from this. Just, never give up. If writing is what you love, keep going, and keep putting in the hours, because it will fall into place.

Yes, absolutely. If you’re not enjoying writing then maybe you’re framing it in such a way that it’s become unenjoyable (maybe you’ve set yourself a target you never hit, so it’s taking the fun out of it) so you need to find a way to keep the enjoyment and then just go from there.

Now, you’ve found your zone with writing, does Steve Pannett have any other hidden talents? Any hobbies?

They’re not really hidden but I actually trained as a graphic designer, and I’ve been working in the design/creative industry for about 13yrs so I can take a lot of what I’ve learned there and apply it to the writing side of things. Either directly (by designing book covers or promotional material for my releases) or indirectly – part of being a designer is understanding how storytelling can be used to achieve your objectives, so it feeds back into my writing. Beyond that, I also illustrate and do a fair bit of running, too 🙂

Over the past 20 years of writing, have you discovered a theme, topic, type of character that you know you will probably never write about?

I don’t think there’s a theme or topic I would necessarily avoid outright; but there are certainly some I’d need to research much more heavily if I wanted to try and write them into some of my work. I also wouldn’t needlessly write particular scenes just to be edgy or provocative.

In this day and age I am afraid we cannot get past the obvious question… Artificial Intelligence. AI has a strong presence now both in fiction and in real life. What’s your take on AI – is it an opportunity, or is it a bit scary? A bit of both?

I don’t think it’s helpful to the act of writing at all and I’d never use it in my own work. As I mentioned earlier, writing for me is something I actively enjoy doing – if I were to “partner with a machine” to do it then part of that fun would be sucked out of it (and the writing would probably be awful, too!)

Opening line or closing sentence – which has more effect in your opinion?

The closing line needs to work harder, because a reader has already invested so much of their precious time in reading the rest of the story. Don’t fumble right at the finish!

Prose or dialogue – which is more challenging?

Writing dialogue seems to come more naturally to me, and I’m careful to avoid writing it in a way that feels contrived or wooden. If I read a piece of dialogue and I think “people don’t talk like that” or “that character wouldn’t say that” then it’s likely to make me put the book down. Prose will either flow really easily for me, or I’ll have to edit it a hundred times to make it work – it’s really bizarre how hit-and-miss it is!

Not implying that you’re old, but what advice would you give to your younger self?

I would give my younger self the same advice that my wife gave me when I was writing The Hunter’s Lament. It’s more of a demand than advice, but it’s “just finish the damn story” – too many of my early manuscripts got abandoned midway through (sometimes just a chapter or two from the end) and it was always because I kept trying to edit my first drafts as I was writing them. So the best advice I can give is to just finish that first draft – it can be rough and shoddy, but just get it done!

You can have dinner with 3 famous people, dead or alive, who are they and why?

Dinner with 3 famous folks – I’m gonna be “that guy” (sorry!) because I don’t really dig the idea of hanging out with famous people – and I imagine forcing a bunch of successful authors and musicians to have a dinner with me would probably feel like making them “perform” so I’m not sure it’d be as fascinating as I’d hope for anyway! So I’d settle for dinner with 3 close friends – now that most of us have got families we don’t get together nearly as often so I think I’d prefer that!

What about inspiration? Any writers that you feel have been the guiding light for you on the writing journey?

David Gemmell has had a huge influence on my writing. His books are just brilliant – they’re entertainment-first but not shallow, it’s a masterful balance. I’ve also been fascinated with Stephen King’s work since I could read – I reread The Stand and IT at least once a year. His book “On Writing” was also a really nice look into his process – I haven’t taken everything in there as gospel but it’s got lots of great advice for anyone thinking of starting out in writing. Other authors’ work that I really admire include Joe Abercrombie (who showed me that fantasy can be full of grey areas) and Scott Lynch’s “Gentlemen Bastards” series.

The Hunter’s Lament will be out on the 6th of November… have you set your sights on what’s coming after? Any new projects in your mind?

I’ve got three manuscripts on the go at the moment, one of which is a sequel to The Hunter’s Lament (they’ll both work as standalone stories, but you could consider them part of a series, too). I’ve got a few other ideas simmering but those three are getting the majority of my attention right now. They’re all in the fantasy space and they’re all novels (I don’t really do short stories, although I reckon I will give one a proper try someday).

About the Book:

127368814Infamous bounty hunter Bitter Sweet has led his crew of like-minded miscreants for nearly three decades. They can track and capture any man or woman in the known world…for a price. But Sweet is tired. Decades of pursuing the lowest reaches that humanity has to offer have taken their toll. The grime, the lies, the danger, the death. He’s sick of it all.

But it’s the only business he knows, and business is good in the aftermath of a long and bloody war. The unstoppable armies of the Vol Empire have conquered Pratia, obliterating all opposition and occupying the kingdom’s cities as they establish a brutal new order. The Pratian king is slain in the carnage, but his son—the Crown Prince and sole heir to the throne—has vanished.

Eager to tie up the loose ends, the new Vol rulers turn to those who know the land and its people the best. Bounty hunters.

Against his better instincts, Sweet accepts the contract and sets out in search of the fugitive Crown Prince. But his crew are not alone in the hunt. Danger rides with them every step of the way. Rival gangs, Vol soldiers, deadly trackers and dark magickers are all pursuing the heir to Pratia, too.


Soon Sweet and his crew have a choice to make, hunt or be hunted?

About the author:

31155488Steve Pannett is an author of dark fantasy fiction, living and working in Yorkshire, UK. He has a BA Hon degree in Graphic Design and also heads the creative team for a full-service marketing agency.

He enjoys writing flawed, nuanced characters and rich, expansive worlds for them to explore. His stories revolve around character development as their ideas and moralities are pulled into question through intriguing interactions and often brutal action scenes. His work often includes magical or supernatural elements, but he errs away from writing high fantasy. His writing style is gritty and fast-paced, but is capable of delivering twists and surprises.

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