Bursting Box Publishing

Visionary Investigations Agency has a small but mighty team with a variety of…odd strengths.

Meet Truth Locke

Based on one of my oldest characters, Truth was inspired by a family I created with The Sims 1 (particularly using Unleashed and Makin’ Magic expansions, which dates her back to at least 2003).

If you don’t care for the full insane story, skip the next block.

I made Sahuie Gauzier by literally button mashing for her name because (before Makin’ Magic was available) I wanted to create a crazy Professor Trelawny-like character who would match my crazy completionist desires (I like to do ALL the things). So, when Sahuie got a dog named Shasta from Unleashed, I trained it in every way to win all the awards.

Then, Makin’ Magic was released to satisfy my love for the arcane. I had Sahuie learn every spell, make every potion, grow every crystal, and she climbed that beanstalk for the “credits” of the never-ending game.
Naturally, I also tested the spell to turn a pet into a human. Shasta became human and my new favorite character to do ALL the things.

Except, Makin’ Magic was the final expansion released with The Sims 1, meaning the only thing left for me to do with Shasta…was create stories with her. Using the photo tool, I turned her “scrapbook” into a storybook.
For some reason, that meant making her fall in love with a vampire.

Why a vampire? The Sims 1 didn’t have vampires. However, Makin’ Magic (2003) had a spell, “Beauty or Beast,” that could temporarily make a Sim look like a vampire. Also, The Sims 2: Nightlife was released in 2005, and that may have influenced my brain (despite never owning it).
Twilight was also published in 2005, but I didn’t really know about or read the series until Eclipse was released (2007).

All I know for sure is that I created a new character, Ricky Van Pier (I thought I was so clever), specifically to look like a rich vampire and to fall in love with Shasta. In her storybook, I gave him more depth and a full conflict of interest as he didn’t start as a vampire, but was turned into one, then he turned Shasta into one, then together (with Sahuie’s help), they found a cure.

I began writing “Shasta’s Story” in a Word doc around 2008, then wrote my Creative Writing: Short Stories Final paper with an herbalist named Truth in 2011.

During Covid, I played D&D with some friends and created Verida (“veritas” = “truth” in Latin). We played an over-powered game with feats, and she became my favorite D&D character.

Please note her PASSIVE senses… 😆 Thankfully, the DM also enjoyed her, and based an NPC off of her in another campaign.

As an inside joke with myself, I included Truth Locke like a cameo in Don’t Date the Haunted (published in 2020). But when it came to exploring the State of Mystery, I knew I needed to include her and finally explore her story.

Now, that’s a LOT for a backstory of any character. Sometimes, as writers, we need to simplify our characters because “they have too much going on.” So, instead of basing Truth directly off of Sahuie or Shasta, I made Truth the adopted third generation of those crazy women.

Again, for fun cameo, readers get a glimpse of Shasta and Ricky in Visionary Investigations.

Meet Aeron Spade

Speaking of characters with too much going on, the next member of the Visionary Investigations Agency is Aeron Spade.
Okay, if you really want to meet Aeron Spade, read his book, Specter Inspector: Dead and Back Again #1.

But if you really want to meet Earl Aeron Spade/Aeron Fromm, The Haunted, of Margen, then read his official introduction in Don’t Dance with Death: Haunted Romance #3.

Inspiration for his character came with exploring the idea of “What kind of kid would Pansy and Theo have?” Also, “The Sixth Sense” turns a scared little boy into a little boy who can solve murders and give justice to the dead. I wanted to see more of that.

Again, Aeron has a much deeper backstory. I originally wrote Specter Inspector as a direct follow up to Don’t Dance with Death, expecting the reader to already know about Aeron Fromm’s childhood abduction and royal inheritance. However, I ran into the same problem of too much going on. To simplify it for new readers, I decided to give him an alias as Aeron Spade–a young man just trying to serve justice to the dead who haunt him every night in his sleep.

Meet Nita Incog

Nita Incog is the team specialist on weapons and combat forms. Need to pick a lock? Need to get in and get out without being noticed? Need to incapacitate a threat? Nita’s the one for the job.

Inspiration for her character came from watching the Bourne movies and Agents of Shield TV series. I’d explain specifics, but… spoilers. 🤐

PS. I flipping love this picture of Aeron and Nita 😍 (even if it was AI generated😝).