Aaron Sher
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aaronsher.bsky.social
Aaron Sher
@aaronsher.bsky.social
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Fantasy author, martial artist, software engineer, cook, ally, and cat minion. Not necessarily in that order. (he/him) http://aaronsher.com
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aaronsher.bsky.social
Aaron Sher @aaronsher.bsky.social · Jun 22
“This isn’t just magic in a trench coat. It’s magic on a job site.” - Goodreads reviewer

Applied Leverage is an award-winning urban fantasy novel starring a snarky telekinetic locksmith in a world of magic. On Kindle, KU, and Audible. books2read.com/AppliedLever...

#fantasy #books #booksky
aaronsher.bsky.social
See, the plan had been to grab the notes and run. Time for a new plan.

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
.... "Spread out and see what you can find," I said. "No need," said Elise. She had pulled a clipboard from a hook next to the door I'd come through. "They're on rack three, shelf two." "Ah, I love an organized villain." Rack three, shelf two turned out to be about fifty feet long, but the very first box was marked "Pinto". "There it is," I said. "And the next one," said Nia. "Um... I think we have a problem," said Elise slowly. She was moving down the rack. "They're all from Pinto." Well, crap.
December 6, 2025 at 2:44 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
I modeled Connor’s apartment after a dorm room I had in college.

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
My apartment looks like it was furnished from thrift stores and the occasional dumpster find, largely because it was. The furniture is all a bit worn, there are posters on the walls, and the fridge was surely top-of-the-line in 1990 or so, but it's comfortable and it's mine. On the single end table next to the worn futon-couch was my laptop, also old and worn but functional. It doubled as my TV, and the screen was small enough that the fuzzy video my anemic internet connection fed me was fine for my needs. Some people would say that my apartment needs "a woman's touch". My last couple of girlfriends definitely agreed with that, though their touch seemed to be the kind you'd use to dispose of a dead rat: reluctant and at arm's length. My social life has been... let's call it "challenging"
December 5, 2025 at 11:18 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Kind of tempted to write a flashback about Pinto, just because he’s such a fun character in my head.

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
Something occurred to me. "What about Principio Pinto?" I asked. "Who the fuck is that?" asked Nia. "Guy who owned the house that White bought," I said. "I turned him up in my research. He died and the city auctioned off his house." Elise said, "I visited the house with Mr. Mortenson while they were cleaning it out. Whoever he was, he was making focuses. He had a whole lab set up, with engravers and drafting tools and torches and everything. They took it all out and put it in a truck, so I assume White has it somewhere." "Focuses? So maybe he was part of the creepy-psi squad?" "What the hell kind of a name is Principio Pinto?" said Nia. "Is it Italian? Spanish?" "A weird one," I said. "A weird name for a weird guy making weird things. Who just happened to die without heirs, leaving the house available for White to buy. That seems like it might be convenient, doesn't it?" "I wonder," said Nia.
December 4, 2025 at 12:22 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Doing vibes today. Blake vs DeRose is a clash of titans in the poise department.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
Blake was ensconced in DeRose's commandeered office, somehow effortlessly making the guest chair look like the one on the correct side of the desk and the Grand Magister seem like a visitor. They were dressed today in a different gray silk suit, a bit more loungewear than boardroom but still by far the most elegant thing in even this room. The pipe was firmly in place and filling the room with a sweet not-quite-tobacco smoke. They gave me a warm smile. "Connor, I wanted to thank you for letting me know that my old friend James was here." DeRose, impassive as always, leaned back in his chair. He made it look casual, but I suspected he was trying to get away from the pipe smoke. "Now," he said in his rich voice, "as pleasant as this visit has been, perhaps we can come to the point? Time is rather pressing."
December 3, 2025 at 12:36 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Elise has some specific interests. Connor is interested as well, mainly because they keep trying to take his head off.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"...but there's a whole other layer to golems having to do with the imprinting of the construct within the vessel. If you do it wrong you don't get all the benefits of shielding the construct energy, or it might not even be able to move the vessel properly. One expert could do it, but I bet the London mages used at least a circle if not an actual ritual for theirs. That's probably part of why they had the globe, actually—that way they can keep their golems continuously powered without having to rebuild the constructs all the time." I'd actually followed maybe fifty percent of that, which was better than usual when Elise went off on her magical research. It might have been even more, but I got distracted by the way her eyes glowed with excitement as she talked. I remember thinking she was terribly quiet when we'd first met; I just hadn't known what to talk about, then.
December 2, 2025 at 11:31 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Throw me the idol and I’ll…

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"Right. I think the psi tried to kill me in the bar, using that giant oaf as a tool and you as bait, to keep me from opening the safe." "He was a tool, all right. Makes sense. And Elise said that guy was using focuses, so maybe the idol thing belongs to his faction?" "Idol?" "I don't know, it just looks like an idol. Doesn't it?" "Um... sure, whatever. Oh, and there's that. The thing doesn't seem to need power." I demonstrated the trick with the pen. "Um... so you know I'm not exactly up on the whole magic thing, but isn't that impossible?" Nia asked. "Been hearing that word a lot recently," I commented.
December 1, 2025 at 5:21 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Give Fox an inch and he’ll take the highway, the off-ramp, and all the rest stops in between.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"Name it," I said, fully prepared to commit the College to whatever he might ask for. "I want a cheers." "A what?" "A thank you." "Of course," I said, puzzled. "Not from you. From the College. In writing." I thought about what it would be like to try to get DeRose or, worse, Andrews to publicly thank a psi-and even more so, a teep—for supplying critical intelligence in a crisis. "I can make that happen," I said, probably lying through my teeth. "In the form of a limerick," he added. "Don't push your luck."
November 29, 2025 at 12:43 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Going with “weave”. Nia’s most un-Nia-like moment in two books. Needs must and all that…

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"Want to try to pick his pocket?" "Which pocket? What am I grabbing? I don't think it works like that." "Always gotta make me do things the hard way, don't you?" she asked. Getting up, she moved towards the man, a bit of a weave in her step that I knew she hadn't had enough beer to justify. Fascinated and a bit terrified, Elise and I watched her chat the guy up. He'd apparently been in the process of ordering a drink; we couldn't hear the conversation, but it looked like Nia got him to buy her one too and then she went back to his table. Thankfully he seemed to be alone; I don't know what we could have done if there had been a whole table full of mages. "Any idea what we can do to help?" I asked. "None whatsoever," Elise said.
November 28, 2025 at 4:43 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
It’s not laziness, it’s a forensic countermeasure! That’s my story, anyway.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"And what do you think they were up to?" I'd really expected this conversation to go a bit better than this. Hope springs eternal, I guess. Franklin put down his tablet and actually looked at me for the first time. "We don't know. Obviously there was something going on. They lost a bunch of their people..." "And one of ours," put in Elise. "Rothbauer, right," said Franklin a bit sourly. "And then when Ms. Vaughn showed up to investigate they tried to kill her." "And Connor and Nia," Elise prompted. "Whatever," said Franklin, picking up his tablet again. "So there's clearly some shady stuff going on and we need to know what it is. We were hoping to find records but they're such a disorganized mess here that it's an almost perfect shield."
November 27, 2025 at 11:38 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
If you’re going to make magical golems out of something, why WOULDN’T you make them out of suits of armor?

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"Do it." Nia said. "We'll buy you time." She stuffed her flashlight, too small to be useful as a weapon, into a pocket and moved forward with empty hands. I recalled that she'd lost her belt in the cemetery, and that pen probably wasn't going to be useful against armor. Terrific. I hefted my cane and backed her up. The actinic light from Elise's wand swelled behind us, but too slowly. The first armor lowered its halberd and stabbed at Nia with the spear point on the end. It was slow and awkward, and seeing that I felt like we might actually have a chance at this. Nia slipped to the side and grabbed the shaft with both hands... and was almost flung down the hall as the armor raised the weapon again, totally unimpeded by her weight. Slow, but very strong. Noted.
November 26, 2025 at 1:30 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Not considering telekinetic locksmiths is at LEAST one star off their Yelp rating.

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
She went on, "And now, here you are, robbing my private office. You didn't think I'd have magical alarms on it?" Crap. Of course she would. I'd gotten caught up in the idea that mages usually relied on physical protections, and neglected to think that usually didn't mean always. Come to think of it, the spells on the safe were probably what the tracker had been leading us to, not the focus itself. "Well, the rest of your security was so shoddy, I figured maybe you didn't care if people wandered in and out." I mean, what did I have to lose? "I admit, my consultants evidently did not design the system with telekinetic locksmiths in mind. An oversight." "People who put in lousy security systems make my job a lot easier overall. I vote you give them an At rating and pay them a bonus," I said. At this point, I was just letting my mouth run in order to stall for time. I wasn't sure what I was hoping would happen, but whatever it was, it didn't.
November 25, 2025 at 11:46 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
I went with “start”, and conveniently it’s literally the first word of my debut novel.

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
Chapter 1: Starting in a Bar is a Cliché The fireball made arcs of light as it flew back and forth across the table. It wasn't much of a fireball, only a few inches across and burning a dim orange, but it was bright enough in the dim light of the bar and it would certainly burn your skin if it touched you. The mages were playing a game involving trading off control of the thing-as I understood it, if you let it go out or lost control, you had to drink. Alcohol doing what it does, somebody usually got burned. Typical. I was sitting a couple of tables away, and the damned fireball kept flashing in the corner of my eye and catching my attention. I was trying not to watch-mages can be touchy to us "lesser folk", and I didn't want a tableful of drunk mages catching me staring at them. Tossing a fireball around in a dusty wooden room full of alcohol was already a pretty good indication of their state of mind, so discretion felt like the better part of valor. Not that valor is a thing I usually worry about.
November 24, 2025 at 12:01 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Always disconcerting to trip over an army you didn’t know was there.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"Rome?" "Aegis central command." Aegis was a single worldwide organization? Id thought it was sort of like local police, individual commands reporting to the local College chapter. I took a moment to think through the implications of that one, while Andrews gave some orders repositioning the outside teams or something like that. I really wasn't following the tactics going on, though I'm sure that Nia was. If Aegis had a central command, and I had to assume units attached to many chapters of the College, that meant... hell, the College had an army. And they weren't all mages, meaning that they could recruit mercenaries or retired military or whoever they wanted. The College could certainly get their hands on the kind of ordnance that would normally be ridiculously illegal for a non-governmental organization to have. And then of course there was the magic. Why did they need an army?
November 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Maybe a cemetery isn’t the BEST place to fight the undead?

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
Averill and his lackey weren't doing so well. They had personal shields as well, of course, but the zombies had so much sheer mass that just standing up was a problem. I was sure that if they went down before that wave of rotting flesh and bone that would be the end of them. Averill was calling thunderbolts down from the sky like I'd seen White do once, though seeing it from this angle wasn't nearly as impressive as it had been at ground zero. Edwards was using his crystal-tipped wand like a whip, trailing a line of blue flame that cut through zombies like they weren't there. All of it, all the devastating magic, Nia's enchanted axe and my cane, the explosions and the fire, all of it together...it wasn't enough. There were just too many zombies. And now DeRose's wall of water had died down and they were after us again. I set myself to go down swinging; I didn't see any way out of this.
November 22, 2025 at 11:34 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
The introduction of Elise! She, ah, turns out to be important.

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
Suddenly, there was a flash and the dog was gone, leaving swirling energy in its wake. I heard a pair of muffled screams from the direction of the mages. When I looked over, I saw Jeeves and the other man down on their knees, holding their heads in what looked like blinding agony. At least, that's what I hoped it was. The woman, on the other hand, was sprinting full speed towards us. "Go!" she yelled I started to ask a question like an idiot, but Nia wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She grabbed me by the hand, hauled me to my feet, and took off towards the door again. By the time we'd gone two steps I had my feet under me and I was analyzing the locks on the door to see what we'd need to do to get it open. A second before we reached it, however, it exploded outward in a shower of splinters and we ran out onto the lawn, the woman who'd evidently saved us hot on our heels.
November 21, 2025 at 12:02 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
The story is set in London in February, so the weather is a bit off a running theme.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
And here we were back at the cemetery yet again. At least it was daylight this time for a change, though it was doing what the meteorologists euphemistically call "wintry mix"—in other words, there was slush falling from the sky in tiny droplets that burned with cold when they hit skin. There weren't a lot of people in the cemetery besides us, for some reason. Marks stopped in at the office to explain that there was some kind of special police thing going on and that they might need to restrict access to a part of the cemetery. I had no idea what excuse he used, but if it worked I didn't care. Elise stayed with him; the plan was that the two of them would come in behind us, keeping at what we hoped was a safe distance but within screaming-for-help range, and try to fend off wandering people.
November 20, 2025 at 12:43 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Telekinetic prank war.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
I lifted my glass again, ready this time for the nudgeto the side this time, where it would have been hard to stop with my hand. My mental grip had no such limits and the glass stayed perfectly stable. Simultaneously, the probably-joint fell out of Fox's mouth—his own mental hold notwithstanding—and somehow found its way directly into his drink. On top of that-with my third mental handhis cap somehow flew from his head, falling off the far side of the table and rolling improbably into the crowd on the dance floor below. He stared for a second. Damn few teeks could have pulled off either the glass or the joint against resistance, and with the cap as well... I had him outclassed and he knew it. He grinned and tapped his finger to his forehead where his cap ought to be in a salute. I raised my glass to him.
November 19, 2025 at 12:05 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
That’s not a word I’m likely to ever use, I think.

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
It was interesting that neither of us were willing to name the Artisans out loud, even though she'd just openly admitted to ordering a murder in front of a half-dozen of her flunkies. It probably meant that she'd kept that bit of knowledge to herself, which was good news for me. And likely also for the flunkies if this fell out the way I was hoping it would. "Shall I go back and tell them that, then?" I took a casual step backward, away from all the guns and mages. "Away" felt like a really, really good idea at this moment. "I think not," White said. She made no gesture, not even a flick of her eye, but I felt bands of invisible force clamp around my feet like cement shoes. "You and I will have a more... extended conversation inside, I believe. You have information that would be useful to me. Mr. Mortenson, if you would please subdue him."
November 18, 2025 at 11:23 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
The magic self-driving cars work better than Teslas, but not quite as good as Waymos.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
Elise had her wand out, a pale foxfire glow dancing at the tip. "The car is a golem," she said. "Boy, these folks only have one trick, don't they?" I complained. "I told you, the London mages are known for specializing in golems. If I spend a few minutes on it maybe I could break the spell?" Nia said, "Leaving us in a suddenly-not-self-driving car traveling at highway speeds. Could we not?" Just for something to do, I carefully tried the door handle. Of course it was locked. "I guess we wait and see where the magic car is taking us."
November 17, 2025 at 11:59 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
This book goes to beta readers today!

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"Elise, the door's open!" I shouted, but I wasn't sure she could hear me. She was almost in the doorway, wand and free hand both extended to hold the shield, braced like there was a strong wind coming down the hall. "Get ready to slam the door!" yelled Nia. I took a step to the side and put a hand on the door. Nia stepped to the other side. She met my eyes-then reached out, grabbed Elise by the collar, and yanked her sideways out of the doorway. I slammed the door just as the first licks of flame breached the shield. I heard the lock click. There was a moment of stillness, the only sound Elise's raspy breathing. She sounded like she'd just run a footrace through an erupting volcano. "You OK?" I asked. "Um... I think so," she said. Her eyes weren't quite focusing.
November 16, 2025 at 12:04 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
At least things can’t get any worse, right? Right?

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
He crumpled like someone had cut his strings, surely dead before he even registered the attack. I moved up on still-shaky legs, being very, very careful to stay behind the bulk of the golem. "Elise, you've got to get out of there!" "No!" she shouted. "I can do this!" She herself wasn't doing anything visible, but the golem was yanking hard on its stuck leg. It was making progress, but it wasn't going to be fast enough. I could see the globe in front of her—it looked hot, almost burning from all the magic it had absorbed. We were using it in a way it had never been designed for and clearly it wasn't handling it very well. And that's when I saw the first zombies.
November 15, 2025 at 11:29 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
It’s the “cheerfully” that makes this but for me, I think.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"Well, fuck," said Nia, with my complete agreement. If Elise got herself badly hurt, I wouldn't be able to go home again. On top of that, if she didn't show up for the cops in a week there would be all kinds of trouble, and I still wouldn't have any idea of what was going on. Not that any of that was the real reason, of course—I could never have let her go down there by herself no matter what. Equally of course, Nia was already moving, leaving me standing alone. In the cemetery, in the middle of the night. The potentially zombie-infested cemetery. "Right behind you," I said cheerfully.
November 14, 2025 at 11:37 AM
aaronsher.bsky.social
Explaining the dead guys is an important part of any plan.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
"Does that mean they don't think they can handle us themselves?" Elise said, "Or maybe they don't want to try again, for fear it would draw attention to them. Somebody's going to be looking into the cemetery, right? And we were there and also at the Hermetic Society, which links the damage there to the mages. I think somebody's building a cover story here." "For the dead guys at the cemetery? Sounds right to me," said Nia. "Put all the bad stuff on us, and they're just the victims. What, did we go to the cemetery to meet a fence and sell these books we supposedly stole? Maybe that went bad and there was some kind of fight?"
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
The Bruise Fairy must have visited during the night.

A snippet from Applied Leverage, book one of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
I must have made some noise because Nia's eyes snapped open as if she'd been just faking being asleep. For all I know, maybe she had been. "I think I figured something out," I said quietly. Nia sat up. "What have you got?" "A headache, a bad attitude, and a set of bruises I don't recognize at all." "Welcome to the club. We should have T-shirts." "T-shirts would be pretty useful, actually," I said. Like all of us, she was still wearing the same clothing she'd had on yesterday, though she'd taken off the camo coat that was now liberally splattered with Elise's blood.
November 12, 2025 at 12:16 PM
aaronsher.bsky.social
The full English, with bonus tea joke.

A snippet from Mechanical Advantage, book two of the urban fantasy series Origin Key (see my pinned post). #amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #fantasy 📚💙
Joining Nia and Elise at the tiny breakfast table, I watched Marks happily working in his kitchenette making the most extraordinary spread of food: back bacon, sausage links, fried eggs, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms, toast, hash browns, and probably a few other things I didn't spot amid the piles. There wasn't room on the table even for all of our plates, so we filled them from the counter and held them to eat. No coffee, still, but we made do with tea. Nia used two teabags and left them in the mug while she drank it. I tried not to watch Marks wincing every time he looked in her direction.
November 11, 2025 at 11:19 AM