Topic: Character Interviews
1. Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?
I'm Vern, "christened" (because you don't baptize dragons) as "Vern d'Wyvern" by Pope Pius. Pius was a very holy man with a very lame sense of humor.
I do not live in a book. I used to live in Faerie, the magical dimension now connected to Mundane, ie. your world. For the record--I didn't name them, either. Since making my lair in your world, I've been eeking out a living as a private detective, doing everything from finding lost cats to solving magical mysteries to saving the universes. Someitmes all three at once. Karina Fabian transcribes and publishes those cases for me. So far, she's published them in several stories and a serial, and has two books coming out next year from Swimming Kangaroo.
2. Describe to our readers what your role in the book is.
Karina has a pretty good talent for catching my "voice," so I narrate all the stories. I do the majority of the sleuthing, deductions and solving, plus my own stunt work. Of course, once Sister Grace became my partner, she has a big hand in that, too, plus all the magical might. Big advantage having a Holy Mage on your side, let me tell you.
3. How did you convince your author to put you in this book? For example, did you visit a dream or make yourself known some other way?
Actually, Karina came to me. She was looking for a unique dragon story for an anthology called Firestorm of Dragons. (Now out by Dragon Moon Press, http://www.firestormofdragons.com/) It was the start of a beautiful friendship.
4. Is your author easy to work with or controlling?
Control? Me? No one's really been able to do that since St. George, and even then, he need some major assistance from God himself. Everything I do, I do for me, and that includes aiding God and his creatures through service in the Faerie Catholic Church. See, St. George put a spell on me, a real doozy: he took everything that makes me the magnificent dragon I am--was--will be again. I've spent the last eight centuries earning it back. Can't complain, though. As an immortal, I value novelty, and it's been an interesting gig to say the least.
At any rate, Karina does a pretty good job of sticking to the facts. The only exception is the case she calls "Magic, Mensa and Mayhem." She's played all kinds of games with the facts for the serial story in the Mensa Magazine, The Prairie Dawg. (http://www.northdakota.us.mensa.org/dawg.htm) The novelization of the case is closer to the truth.
5. Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?
My best friend is my partner, Sister Grace McCarthy, a mage and nun of the Faerie Catholic Church. We've been through a lot together, and most of the stories and novels have her in them.
In the case featured in Firestorm of Dragons, though, we hadn't yet met. Jerry Costa, another great friend, is in that story. A former fence turned honest by the love a good woman, he'd settled down to run a jewelry store and a pawn shop and have a lot of good Catholic kids. His family was one of the first to befriend me on this side of the Interdimensional Gap, and (especially as their family grew from two kids to twelve), I don't draw as much attention in church if I sit with them. Jerry also keeps in contact with his old cronies, which helps me in my job.
6. Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?
This is where semantics get weird. I'm basically content where I am, especially now that we have a new roof on the lair--which is a run-down warehouse in the part of Los Lagos now called Territory, you can guess why. However, Karina has a score of our cases she still has not transcribed. I know she'd eventually like to start at the beginning and build up to where Magic, Mensa and Mayhem starts. I'm pretty sure that's her plan after writing Live and Let Fly.
Incidentally, if you'd like to know more about me, the Faerie world, or our cases, you can go to our website at http://www.dragoneyepi.org/.
7. What would you like our readers to know about you?
Don't call me "d'Wyvern." Ever. Don't ask me if I'm housetrained. Don't ask if you can ride on my back. I'm from Faerie, not Pern.
8. Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?
Interesting, you should ask that. As I look over the stories, both from before I met Grace ("DragonEye, PI" in Firestorm of Dragons) to those with her ("Amateurs" in The Sword Review, "Mishmash" coming in Book of Tentacles, and of course, the novels coming from Swimming Kangaroo), I see what an effect Grace has had on my life. Aptly named, she was.
9. Can you tell us what you think is the most exciting thing that happened to you in your book?
In Firestorm of Dragons, I guess that'd be stopping the evil ritual that would have closed the Interdimensional Gap. If, of course, by "exciting," you also mean "painful." But hey, I earned my fire back with that one. You're no idea how good it feels to be packing heat. Of course, most of the case files involve us saving the universes in one way or another, so there's always excitement. And pain. I could do without the pain.
In Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, I'll let your readers decide what's exciting. I could give you a long list of annoyances, however. Let's see: finding Coyote the Trickster at a Mensa convention, dealing with bellhops who have a sick sense of humor, bailing out an angry dwarf, listening to said dwarf belt out "Henry Higgens" while drunk, environmentalists protesting my very presence, pranking pixies, hyperactive elves...
Oh, yeah, and paying for the rips I put in the hotel carpet, but that never made the novel.
10. Is there anything in your story you wish you had not done? Why?
In Firestorm, I could have wished to have escaped before the height of the ceremony, or maybe thrown myself into the elf with the satanically poisoned dagger instead of between him and his victim. Ouch.
In Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, my biggest regret is not finding a way to charge the Duke, the Church or somebody for chaperoning the convention. "Expenses" doesn't even cover the work we did. "Cushy job, consider it a paid vacation" indeed.
11. What was your main motivation?
Was? My main motivation is acquiring comfort and treasure. That means serving the Faerie Church until I get my powers and grandeur all back and making as much money at it as I can in the meantime. And keeping Grace safe. The world would be...less...without her.
12. Introduce us to your main adversary?
Tricky. They do change from case to case, you know. I've gone against everything from Dark Elves to neo-Nazis to demigods like Sekhmet. Plus, there are a few out there who are not making themselves known. Annoying, but then again, if I had to go up against me, I'd probably do it from the shadows, too.
13. Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?
No. Like I said, Karina transcribes the cases pretty well. Even when she takes "creative license," she stays true to the people involved.
14. Here's your chance to speak your mind. What do you want to tell everybody?
Go read my blog: http://www.dragoneyepi.net/. I speak my mind there. I should have a forum up soon, too, so folks can tell me how great I am and how they love reading about my cases.
15. Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.
*Firestorm of Dragons: http://www.firestormofdragons.com/ for more information, or purchase from DragonMoon Press http://dragonmoonpress.com/books/firestorm.html
* for the rest, I'll post them on the website as they come out. http://www.dragoneyepi.net/ Watch in 2009 for Magic, Mensa and Mayhem.
