Welcome to the Smoke Pit
An introduction to the world of Anya Vajra and its creator.
Hey there.
If you’re reading this, you either:
stumbled here by accident
are doomscrolling and hit the wrong link
are my mom (Hi mom!) or one of my friends (Hi friends!)
got referred to me by someone more well known (let me know in the comments so I can give them a thank you!)
actually read something I wrote and wanted more(Literally impossible as of yet, please choose another answer)
Whatever the case, welcome to my corner of the internet.
My name’s Riley C. Bolt, and I’m writing The Anya Vajra Mission Files, a pulp‑action thriller series with just enough noir to make you want to buy a fedora and take your whiskey neat from now on. First book’s called Eastern Blood Price. It’s about a young woman in way over her head, her protector with a past, an island with a body count to make Baghdad blush, and if I’m doing it right, enough shootouts, knife fights, and chase scenes to resurrect the ghost of the 80s.
That lady up there in my profile picture and near the top of the article? That’s our series protagonist Anya. I hope you all will enjoy reading about her as I have so far writing about her.
This space? This is where I stay in touch with readers. Think of it like a smoke pit or for you non-military/veteran types, the office water cooler. This is where we talk shop, swap stories, and shoot the shit while waiting for the next hard time on the calendar.
What you can expect here:
Updates on new books, releases, and progress reports (when I feel like sharing just how far behind I am).
Occasional bonus material. Think excerpts, short stories, deleted scenes, maybe even character sketches if I can find an artist and drum up the cash.
Commentary on pulp fiction, noir, the action genre, military fiction, writing in general, martial arts, old school sci-fi/fantasy, comics/games/other nerd shit, and whatever else crosses my mind.
Probably a few war stories and half‑baked philosophy thrown in for good measure.
What you won’t get:
Endless sales pitches for my books.
Polished corpo‑speak or honestly polished speech of any kind. Despite leaving the military a long time ago, and the war even longer, I have a grunt’s vocabulary and at this point I have no wish to change it.
Disingenousness, I speak what I think and if I don’t feel I have enough information to have a full opinion on a subject then I’ll typically say so.
Vetbro “I killed fiddy men! Buy X brand to be just like me!” bullshit.
I’ll try to keep it engaging, authentic, and maybe even worth your time. You can reply to posts or leave comments if you feel like telling me what you think, good or bad. Hopefully good. That said, I’m going to borrow a rule from a colleague of mine and post it right here at the very beginning of everything for all to see:
Thank you Kristin, I won’t steal though, I’ll “tactically acquire” like a true member of the E-4 Mafia.
If you’re here for the ride, hit the subscribe button, and welcome. I’m not currently running any kind of paid subscription so everything is free to read at your convenience. That may change one day, and I may start making some content for paid subscribers only but I imagine that’s a long way off.
If you’re not? Well, no hard feelings. There’s plenty out there for you to read instead.
Alright folks, First Sergeant is looking for bodies to fill a detail, which means it's time to put out our smokes and make ourselves scarce.
—Riley