Fictional Influence

Fictional Influence

Black Market Fiction

I Wrote You a Death

On the Ancient Art of Literary Revenge

Kristin McTiernan's avatar
Kristin McTiernan
Mar 17, 2026
∙ Paid

The last thing anyone ever saw of Charlie Stine was a single bloody tooth. Root and all.

That’s what Jackson Reed has to go on when he starts investigating. His friend, an acerbic podcaster with a talent for saying inflammatory things, has vanished. No body. No crime scene. Just one molar, recovered from a location I won’t spoil, and enough unanswered questions to fill a case file.

Poor Charlie, the average thriller might want you to think.

Not me. At the time I wrote it, my feeling was more like: Fuck Charlie.

The Twitter Crush is a story about a girlie self-help guru who makes men disappear. Specifically, men who take pot shots at her work or, worse, look into her past. These men vanish. Nobody can prove anything. And her ghostwriter, the man who wrote the very words these podcasters mocked, slowly realizes that his missing friend might have had it coming.

The book doesn’t ask “whodunit.” You know who did it. The question is whether you approve.

I wrote the first quarter of this book in a…

This post is for subscribers in the Literary Fellows plan

Already in the Literary Fellows plan? Sign in
© 2026 Kristin McTiernan · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture