Coyote Comes to Visit
Topic: Character Interviews
1. Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?

I'm Coyote, baby! The Trickster, Old-Man Coyote, Raven... Wakdjunkaga, Manabozho... I have many names, but they are all fun-loving, legend-making, spice-of-life me! 

The book is Magic, Mensa and Mayhem: From the Case Files of DragonEye, PI  by Karina L. Fabian

2.  Describe to our readers what your role in the book is.

Cause mischief. Get hugs. Be sexy. You know, just be myself. (wags eyebrows)

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?

Oh, I wish I could visit dreams. How about yours? Want to dream of me, do ya? Huh? Huh?

4.  Is your author easy to work with or controlling?

Well, I'm easy, but she's great to work with. After all, she's just there to tell the facts. It's just too bad that she's not giving it from my point of view. Vern is such a wet hide.

5.  Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?

Oh, there were so many. Mensa women are wonderful--so intelligent and imaginative. I can now see why so many humans say the mind is the sexiest part of the body.  An yet...Sister Grace really got me in the end. Got to admire a nun that can out-trick the Trickster.

6. Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?

Oh, Vern's and my paths cross now and again.  Not so much now that I'm under house arrest in Montana, but there will be stories.  What's Coyote without stories?

7.  What would you like our readers to know about you?

To know me is to love me.

8. Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?

Vern's taught Grace a little too well? Any more than that, and it'd be a spoiler, and you know I love to tease!  Otherwise, the things I learned aren't fit to print in this venue. I'm a naughty Coyote.

9.  Can you tell us what you think is the most exciting thing that happened to you in your book?

No.  Brunhilde put on a nice show, though.

10. Is there anything in your story you wish you had not done? Why?

I wish I'd stuck the bull down my pants pocket.

11.  What was your main motivation?

Just looking for fun, as always.

12. Introduce us to your main adversary?

Adversary is far too strong a word, but in this world, it's Vern: an undersized dragon with a stunted sense of adventure for an immortal. I have to wonder how much of that is the fact that he works for the Church now, but I have the feeling he always had a stick up his hide.

13.  Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?

Karina never stops us--she's jut the transcriber. Vern, however, did his best to put a damper on my fun, you can be sure of that.

14. Here's your chance to speak your mind.  What do you want to tell everybody?

Come to Montana and see me!  Bring strawberries and electric blankets and an open mind! Arooooo! Baby!

15.  Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.

Magic, Mensa and Mayhem is coming out in February from Swimming Kangaroo Press. Learn more about DragonEye, PI at http://www.dragoneyepi.net/. If you sign up for the website, you'll get the DragonEye, PI newsletter and a free story. I'm not in it, but it's a good one, nonetheless!

Sandy Lender let Nigel loose!!!!
Topic: Character Interviews

I ran this particular interview back in August, but Nigel Taiman was feeling a bit put out that he wasn't part of this book tour--so I told him I'd allow him to talk with your wonderful readers.  Take it away, Nigel!

1. Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?

I'm Nigel Taiman and I live in Onweald in the novels Choices Meant for Gods and Choices Meant for Kings by Sandy Lender, and in the anthology What Choices We Made by Sandy Lender. Currently.

2. Describe to our readers what your role in the book is.

Oh my. I have several roles. My first priority, in my eyes, is to help Amanda Chariss, who has come to my family's home for protection. I also run my family's estate and school. I've been offered a position of leadership that my father coveted, and I believe I'll be better able to help 'Manda if I accept it. Wait a minute...my author is yelling something at us. Oh. Chariss. I'll be better able to help Chariss if I accept it. Sandy doesn't want me to call my bride Amanda when I'm out marketing like this.

3. How did you convince your author to put you in this book? For example did you visit in a dream or make yourself known some other way?

Sandy didn't really have much say in the matter. The evil Lord Drake showed Chariss to Sandy many many years ago, I think because he wanted her to rewrite the tale to his liking, and Sandy just couldn't look away from the story. Chariss and her guardian and some of the other players have told it over the years and introduced me when the time was right. So I sort of met Sandy through Chariss.

4. Is your author easy to work with or controlling?

You know, that depends on when you approach her. If you can wake her at 2 or 3 a.m., her thoughts are really malleable. But she has this idea that she knows how to end the trilogy, you see. I'd like to influence that...

5. Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?

I'm going to have to pick Henry Bakerson. He was a friend of mine when we were young boys sneaking cookies out of his father's bakery and when we were stupid youths drinking every tavern in Arcana City dry. We're lucky we didn't get killed in some stupid, meaningless brawl. When we started getting our lives straightened out with military training, my father stepped in and screwed up my part of the plan. Henry ended up with a real career, though, which is surprising considering he remained a ruffian and a rogue. I can't imagine the number of children he must have scattered about Onweald and Bellan - and the number of angry fathers ready to hang him for ruining their daughters. But he's such a fast talker that I guess he can get out of the noose often enough. I thought I'd never see him again when he went off to sea with his shipping business a few years back, but, he surprised me and showed up during the summer festival in 7220 and tried to sweep Amanda, I mean Chariss, off her feet. Old rogue. She's a sly one, too, you know, and ended up getting him to work for us in helping The Master Rothahn. Turns out Henry's got a responsible streak in him. It's buried in there, of course, but Chariss knew it was there. Henry can still drink a tavern dry...

6. Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?

Well, if I can keep Sandy from killing me off in a fit of rage - you really ought to see her when she gets frustrated with my suggestions - I'm going to pen a sort of epilogue novel to the Choices trilogy. She announced that to a group at a convention where she did a reading back in May and the ladies around her got very excited, so I think she's got a reason right there to keep me alive.

7. What would you like our readers to know about you?

I'm nothing without Chariss.

8. Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?

By the gods, yes. Hrazon and Chariss showed up and it's as if a new world dawned at my family's estate. My mother always demonstrated unconditional love for me, but these two...these two are the epitome of love and devotion. Their relationship is a testament to what love is supposed to be. And then they've both been training me in the use of my geasa, which is a power you'd have to read the book to understand fully. My father would never let me develop my geasa so I never understood the responsibilities behind it, but Hrazon and Chariss have opened that world to me. I could go on and on but Sandy's fussing at me.

9. Can you tell us what you think is the most exciting thing that happened to you in your book?

Exciting is a word loaded with meaning. The good exciting thing was falling in love with Chariss the moment I set eyes on her. There were several not-so-good exciting things that I dread coming between us.

10. Is there anything in your story you wish you had not done? Why?

No. All my actions are justified.

11. What was your main motivation?

Protecting my family and Chariss is my motivation for everything now.

12. Introduce us to your main adversary.

The main one? That's a toss-up. My main adversary is Julette, The Dragon, The Betrayer. She is more to me than I realized, and she has partnered with Chariss's nemesis to threaten not only Chariss, but Chariss's charge, The Master Rothahn. It's become a huge mess for us. Julette is problematic for a number of reasons, the main being she's an ancient goddess who turned evil about five thousand years ago. So she's had quite some time to perfect being bad.

13. Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?

I may have to keep quiet on this one. You know. To protect Chariss's honor.

14. Here's your chance to speak your mind. What do you want to tell everybody?

Oh, I'll get censored for sure. Sandy's paying attention, you know. Something not directly related to Chariss's story that I'd like to tell everybody is that I've started to actually enjoy this marketing business out here in your society. Learning how to use a computer, how to post to a blog, how to answer e-mails...it's all new to me, but very interesting. And even though I started doing it because Sandy threatened me into it, I continue now because I enjoy it. I run a blog where she lets me make fun of her at http://sandylender.blogspot.com/, but I'm at a point where I don't really want to make fun of her unless she's in on it. She has a pretty good sense of humor, which I think she got from Chariss.

15. Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.

Sandy keeps a blog of her own where she puts updates about the books from time to time. It's at http://www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com/. What's frustrating is she's also marketing other books she's worked on there, so you hear about other characters besides Chariss. If you want to get the books, they're available at Amazon (well, Choices Meant for Kings isn't available until November and her anthology What Choices We Made isn't available until late October), but you can get the first novel in the trilogy, Choices Meant for Gods, at the publisher's site http://www.archebooks.com/ or at Amazon. Or you can go to a bookstore and see if it's still on the shelf. Special ordering it is expensive, so you might want to go straight to her publisher's site. There's a discount there. Click on: http://www.archebooks.com/BookIDX/Indexes/Fantasy/CMG/CMGDesc.htm

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about Sandy, Choices Meant for Gods, and, of course, my lovely Chariss. It's been a pleasure.

Talking With Midnight and Martin
Topic: Character Interviews
  Today I have two special guest, Midnight and Martin--the main players in Midnight Hours.  Enjoy this rare opportunity to get to know these characters.

1.  Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?

Martin:  I'm Lieutenant Martin Rogers. I helped Vivian Gilbert Zabel write Midnight Hours, aided her in her search for the answers to the mystery of Midnight.

Midnight: What are you talking about? Midnight Hours is about me. You're just lucky you're still alive. Just wait. Just wait.

2. Describe to our readers what your role in the book is.

Martin: My role, and my team's, is to find Midnight and stop the serial murders. But Midnight ... the search leads to one dead end after another.

Midnight: I wonder why. Think it might because I'm smarter than you, maybe? Oh, yes, I do believe that's the truth.

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?

Martin: I "visited" with Vivian and let her see the struggles I faced. She discovered my Internet relationship with Midnight. She didn't approve, but she trusted me to come to my senses sooner or later. She had more faith in me than my friends, who at least acknowledged that I needed some way to escape the pain and frustration cause by the slow recovery from a gunshot wound effecting the use of my legs.

Midnight: Let's just say I was her darkest nightmare.

4. Is your author easy to work with or controlling?

Martin: Actually she was rather easy to work with. She let me have my say in most cases, but she's a stickler for correct grammar and all that unless someone is talking.

She also didn't like us using too much profanity, but I don't use much, well, not too much, anyway.

Midnight: She let me have my way, and then she destroyed my plans. She's fortunate that I can't get my garrote on her neck.

5. Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?

Martin: My best friends are Frank and Kyle. We attended the academy together. Then, well, Lisa came into my life, indirectly due to Midnight.

Midnight: Friends? You gotta be joking. Friends are for jerks, or to be used.

6.  Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?

Martin: I'm working on that. Lisa and I have more story to share, as do Frank and Kyle. And there is always suspense and mystery around detectives and an assistant district attorney.

Midnight: One never knows, does one. Remember it is darkest before dawn.

7. What would you like our readers to know about you?

Martin: I'm not perfect, but, well, Lisa likes me as is. Seriously, I want the murders stopped, and the bad guys put away.

Midnight: Aw, h-(Vivian slaps hand over mouth).  Okay, okay, but he's so goody, goody, makes me sick. I'm the one people need to remember. I'm the one who gets rid of the worthless trash. Me!

8. Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?

Martin: I learned to beware of Internet relationships and to be wary of anyone who comes on too strong but won't give any information about herself.

Midnight: Ha! Only some good breaks for Rogers and some bad ones for me keeps him alive, but he's on my list. I can't let him win. I won't.

9. Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?

Martin: Well, uh, she gave me a rather strict sense of honor. A little more ... Nah.

Midnight: Do you really think she could keep me from doing whatever I want? Not likely.

Martin: Oh, really? Wait until people read the book and see what you  do and don't do.

10. Here's your chance to speak your mind.  What do you want to tell everybody?

Martin: Everyone needs to find out how vicious Midnight was, how malicious and manipulative. Evil comes in many forms, and according to her photo, her form was one to catch any man's interest - until he died.

11.  Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.

Midnight: http://midnight-hours.weebly.com/  is the Midnight site.  The book can be bought on the publisher's website: http://4rvpublishingllc.com/Store.html.

***

Tomorrow, we will get to talk with Midnight Hours author, Vivian Zabel.  Please stop by and give her a shout!

Don't forget the contest:

Prize: $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com

Rules:

1. Each person who comments on a blog stop receives one entry. For example, if a person leaves a comment on four blog stops, he has four entries.

2. Each person who purchases a copy of Midnight Hours from the 4RV Store (http://4rvpublishingllc.com/Store.html) or directly from the author receives fifteen (15) entries per purchase. Since we cannot receive notification from other places in time, we need people to use the publisher's store.

A person may have entries from a purchase and from leaving comments.

An email address will be needed to notify the winner and to send the gift certificate.
 

November 5, a random drawing will be held using a program online to choose a winner. I will notify the winner by email and will post the result on my blogs at Vivian's Site and Brain Cells & Bubble Wrap.

Meet Sister Grace, mage of Our Lady of the Miracles of the Faerie Catholic Church
Topic: Character Interviews
 

1.  Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?

The book I live in? That's an interesting way of putting it. I'm Sister Grace, mage of Our Lady of the Miracles of the Faerie Catholic Church, and the book I'm here to talk about is Magic, Mensa and Mayhem: From the Case Files of DragonEye, PI, written by our transcriber, Karina Fabian.

2.  Describe to our readers what your role in the book is.

Vern, my partner, likes to call me the "magical tank." In most cases, that is my role. This time, however, I mainly kept an eye on the Magicals from our dimension as they attended a Mensa convention in your Mundane world. Of course, things didn't go quite as easily as we'd hoped, but magically, it wasn't overly taxing. I'm very grateful for that, incidentally, as being so far from the Gap that connects your world to Faerie meant I could not have replenished my magic.

 

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?

 

Karina came to us, actually. She was interested in our cases and asked if she could make them into stories and novels. It's been a fun process. She had a very vivid imagination.

 

4.  Is your author easy to work with or controlling?

 

Very easy to work with--though she and Vern had to have a discussion about his narrative style. It does give me pause that she's rather open about our lives. She tells more than I'm comfortable with revealing sometimes. However, she does her best not to embellish just for drama's sake. She lets us tell the story.

 

5.  Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?

 

That would be Vern, a Faerie dragon working to earn back all his dragon abilities through service to the Church. When I first met him, I thought he was insufferably smug and lazy. (Sometimes, I still do, actually.) It was a difficult time for me; I was recovering from a sickness of the soul. Your doctors called it Post traumatic Stress Disorder; they helped me to be able to function again, but Vern has helped me come back to life. He has a sarcastic sense of humor that makes me laugh more than it probably should. When I am afraid or upset, he's there. He's my protector and my Simon--but he's also the one to make me push out of my comfort zone when the need arises.  And heavens! Does it arise often in this business!

 

6.  Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?

 

Karina has already written a second book, Live and Let Fly, that will be coming out by Swimming Kangaroo sometime in late 2009. (Magic, Mensa and Mayhem comes out in February.)  In addition, she has several stories coming out in various anthologies:  Mother Goose is Dead (DragonMoon) and The Book of Tentacles, (Samsdot). I suspect she'll be writing stories and novels about our adventures for a long time.

 

7.  What would you like our readers to know about you?

 

That everything I am and everything I do is by the grace of God.

 

8.  Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?

 

We learned some very interesting things about Brownies. We call them quantum creatures, but they're really more understandable with string theory--and I'm very good with strings.

 

9.  Can you tell us what you think is the most exciting thing that happened to you in your book?

 

It depends on what you mean by exciting. I most enjoyed making some new friends, especially Shirley Stark, a fellow harpist and a Mensan. But if you mean action-exciting, I guess that would be the magical "tussle" I got into with Euterpe. No, I won't give you the details. Let's just say she was putting on airs--as usual--during Shirley's Magic in Music panel and I felt it was my duty to humble her a bit...and things got out of hand. No one was hurt, except her pride, which may as well be a living thing.  I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. As you can see, Euterpe does bring out the worst in me.

 

10.  Is there anything in your story you wish you had not done? Why?

 

Well, I probably shouldn't have gotten into such a fight with Euterpe.

 

11.  What was your main motivation?

 

Overall? I just wanted to relax. Attend the convention, listen to the speakers, make a few friends. Neither Vern nor I expected to have to stop an Interdimensional war. Truth to tell, though, Vern did the most of the real work this case. He's very resourceful.

 

12.  Introduce us to your main adversary?

 

In Magic, Mensa and Mayhem? Personally, I guess that was Euterpe, though she was a minor distraction, really. The main "adversary" in this was an ages-old tradition of the Elvesthat caused the trouble in the first place. That and Mundane colas. You'll have to read the story to find out what I mean by that.

 

13.  Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?

 

Oh, no!  Karina writes what we tell her.

 

14.  Here's your chance to speak your mind.  What do you want to tell everybody?

Go to Church. Learn about our Lord, accept His love and give him the praise and devotion He deserves.

 

15.  Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.

 

You can learn more about Vern, me and the DragonEye, PI world at our website, http://www.dragoneyepi.net/. We encourage you to sign up on the website and participate in the forums. Our books are listed on the right column. In the meantime, you can find out more about Firestorm of Dragons, which has one of Vern's earlier cases, at http://www.firestormofdragons.com/.  "Magic, Mensa and Mayhem" comes out in February 2009 from Swimming Kangaroo.

Vern For President--The Best Candidate
Topic: Character Interviews

Meet Range, the upright Canine
Topic: Character Interviews

1. Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?

My name's Range and I'm a little different than the other characters you'll interview in that I'm an upright canine. Called Skuhies, our race compares to nordic breeds you'd be familiar with, in that we have dense fur, pointy ears and distinct markings, such as the dark grey, black or orange masks that outline our snouts. I'm in Strange Sobriquet, the first of many novels in the Split Legend fantasy series.

2. Describe to our readers what your role in the book is. 

I'm the assigned guardian and protector of Mith, an infant boy who was born with the ability to see across time--past, present and future--and is believed to be the prophesied savior of my world Nydimm.

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?

Oh, this was easy. Brent has an affinity for canines, especially nordic breeds. But specifically, when his son was born, Brent noticed how his Siberian Husky Durham always sought to protect the infant boy. In those moments, my character and my task were born.

4. Is your author easy to work with or controlling?

Honestly, he's pretty controlling. But, truth be told, if he weren't, who knows what trouble I get into. What's funny is that I'm one of the more responsible of my race. By nature, we're extremely daring and inquisitive. And surly. Though, I lean toward the inquisitive side. And, even then, I'm more archeologist than adventurer, preferring to identify old texts and rescue relics for the Genizah scholars. On the other hand, some of my comrades prefer a good scrap to the intellectual pursuits.

5. Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?

Hmmm. This is a very difficult question for me, personally, to answer. Most of the book I'm alone with Mith. And when I do encounter my close friend Coriel, I'm not very good to him. He's a great help to me and Mith, and I put him in a great deal of danger as a result. I didn't intentionally bring harm to him, but I didn't necessarily consider unintended consequences either. And, I still carry a lot of guilt.

6. Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?

Because of my aforementioned transgressions, I've signed myself up for every installment, unless duty results in a sacrifice where it's the end of me. So, I will appear in other Split Legend books as they're written. In fact, Grandfather's Tale, is being written as we speak.

7. What would you like our readers to know about you?

Not just about me so much, but all Skuhies have a natural empathy. Our senses are so acute,  we can detect other people's feelings. 

8. Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?

A great deal. Especially about commitment, loyalty and how a being's spirit matters more than any material possession--no matter what you believe that object can do.

9. Can you tell us what you think is the most exciting thing that happened to you in your book?

In the end, I fulfill my duty to Mith. My goal was to keep Mith safe from the Sundu, a fanatical order searching for the boy, and arrive at the Union, a portal capable of spanning worlds. Ultimately, that's what mattered most, and it's very exciting because I get to see a world that's very different than my own. 

10. Is there anything in your story you wish you had not done? Why?

Boy, you're just twisting the dagger now, aren't you? Yes, of course. If I hadn't been tempted to search for the Staff of Ignedya while Solgrave was collapsing all around me, a dear friend would still be with us.

11. What was your main motivation? 

My main motivation is to protect Mith and lead him to the Union, where he can cross to safety, away from the Sundu. 

12. Introduce us to your main adversary?

My main adversary is circumstance. At one point, the Sundu ruin Mith's food supply and, though I defeat them, I'm left with no food for the child and we're weeks from our Union rendezvous point. To replenish Mith's supplies, I'm forced to travel to the nearest city, one that holds a temptation so strong that I jeopardize my commitment to Mith.

13. Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?

I...I still would have liked to have spared the Staff of Ignedya. I truly believe finding it could have saved the city of Solgrave. And its antiquities. A million stories--and answers--have been lost forever.

14. Here’s your chance to speak your mind.  What do you want to tell everybody?

Funny...I speak my mind often, so I don't think I need your permission for the opportunity (remember, we can be surly). In fact, I (or my alter-ego variation daemonrange--in the event an overzealous japanese man has taken my name) comment out in the blogosphere. If you've ever seen some of my comments, you'd realize I enjoy eating bacon (real bacon, not the pre-packaged microwaveable kind; maple bacon's my favorite), drinking wine--by the way, I generally don't eat bacon and drink wine together--reading Scifi and fantasy novels, and worshipping superheroes with YouTube videos ("Save Ian") in their honor.

15.  Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.

Readers who are interested in learning more about me, my compatriots and Nydimm can visit www.splitlegend.com. Noone can purchase it yet because it's not available for sale. You'd have to talk to Brent about getting his act together on pursuing an agent, instead of attending Cons and writing all the time. But everyone can read the first three chapters online and my author will be releasing the book via podcast later this year, into next. He has a pretty nice voice, so you should listen. Really.

Neet Nigel Taimen from Choices Meant for Gods
Topic: Character Interviews
1. Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?

I'm Nigel Taiman and I live in Onweald in the novels Choices Meant for Gods and Choices Meant for Kings by Sandy Lender, and in the anthology What Choices We Made by Sandy Lender. Currently.

2. Describe to our readers what your role in the book is.

Oh my. I have several roles. My first priority, in my eyes, is to help Amanda Chariss, who has come to my family's home for protection. I also run my family's estate and school. I've been offered a position of leadership that my father coveted, and I believe I'll be better able to help 'Manda if I accept it. Wait a minute...my author is yelling something at us. Oh. Chariss. I'll be better able to help Chariss if I accept it. Sandy doesn't want me to call my bride Amanda when I'm out marketing like this.

3. How did you convince your author to put you in this book? For example did you visit in a dream or make yourself known some other way?

Sandy didn't really have much say in the matter. The evil Lord Drake showed Chariss to Sandy many many years ago, I think because he wanted her to rewrite the tale to his liking, and Sandy just couldn't look away from the story. Chariss and her guardian and some of the other players have told it over the years and introduced me when the time was right. So I sort of met Sandy through Chariss.

4. Is your author easy to work with or controlling?

You know, that depends on when you approach her. If you can wake her at 2 or 3 a.m., her thoughts are really malleable. But she has this idea that she knows how to end the trilogy, you see. I'd like to influence that...

5. Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?

I'm going to have to pick Henry Bakerson. He was a friend of mine when we were young boys sneaking cookies out of his father's bakery and when we were stupid youths drinking every tavern in Arcana City dry. We're lucky we didn't get killed in some stupid, meaningless brawl. When we started getting our lives straightened out with military training, my father stepped in and screwed up my part of the plan. Henry ended up with a real career, though, which is surprising considering he remained a ruffian and a rogue. I can't imagine the number of children he must have scattered about Onweald and Bellan - and the number of angry fathers ready to hang him for ruining their daughters. But he's such a fast talker that I guess he can get out of the noose often enough. I thought I'd never see him again when he went off to sea with his shipping business a few years back, but, he surprised me and showed up during the summer festival in 7220 and tried to sweep Amanda, I mean Chariss, off her feet. Old rogue. She's a sly one, too, you know, and ended up getting him to work for us in helping The Master Rothahn. Turns out Henry's got a responsible streak in him. It's buried in there, of course, but Chariss knew it was there. Henry can still drink a tavern dry...

6. Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?

Well, if I can keep Sandy from killing me off in a fit of rage - you really ought to see her when she gets frustrated with my suggestions - I'm going to pen a sort of epilogue novel to the Choices trilogy. She announced that to a group at a convention where she did a reading back in May and the ladies around her got very excited, so I think she's got a reason right there to keep me alive.

7. What would you like our readers to know about you?

I'm nothing without Chariss.

8. Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?

By the gods, yes. Hrazon and Chariss showed up and it's as if a new world dawned at my family's estate. My mother always demonstrated unconditional love for me, but these two...these two are the epitome of love and devotion. Their relationship is a testament to what love is supposed to be. And then they've both been training me in the use of my geasa, which is a power you'd have to read the book to understand fully. My father would never let me develop my geasa so I never understood the responsibilities behind it, but Hrazon and Chariss have opened that world to me. I could go on and on but Sandy's fussing at me.

9. Can you tell us what you think is the most exciting thing that happened to you in your book?

Exciting is a word loaded with meaning. The good exciting thing was falling in love with Chariss the moment I set eyes on her. There were several not-so-good exciting things that I dread coming between us.

10. Is there anything in your story you wish you had not done? Why?

No. All my actions are justified.

11. What was your main motivation?

Protecting my family and Chariss is my motivation for everything now.

12. Introduce us to your main adversary.

The main one? That's a toss-up. My main adversary is Julette, The Dragon, The Betrayer. She is more to me than I realized, and she has partnered with Chariss's nemesis to threaten not only Chariss, but Chariss's charge, The Master Rothahn. It's become a huge mess for us. Julette is problematic for a number of reasons, the main being she's an ancient goddess who turned evil about five thousand years ago. So she's had quite some time to perfect being bad.

13. Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?

I may have to keep quiet on this one. You know. To protect Chariss's honor.

14. Here's your chance to speak your mind. What do you want to tell everybody?

Oh, I'll get censored for sure. Sandy's paying attention, you know. Something not directly related to Chariss's story that I'd like to tell everybody is that I've started to actually enjoy this marketing business out here in your society. Learning how to use a computer, how to post to a blog, how to answer e-mails...it's all new to me, but very interesting. And even though I started doing it because Sandy threatened me into it, I continue now because I enjoy it. I run a blog where she lets me make fun of her at http://sandylender.blogspot.com/, but I'm at a point where I don't really want to make fun of her unless she's in on it. She has a pretty good sense of humor, which I think she got from Chariss.

15. Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.

Sandy keeps a blog of her own where she puts updates about the books from time to time. It's at http://www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com/. What's frustrating is she's also marketing other books she's worked on there, so you hear about other characters besides Chariss. If you want to get the books, they're available at Amazon (well, Choices Meant for Kings isn't available until November and her anthology What Choices We Made isn't available until late October), but you can get the first novel in the trilogy, Choices Meant for Gods, at the publisher's site http://www.archebooks.com/ or at Amazon. Or you can go to a bookstore and see if it's still on the shelf. Special ordering it is expensive, so you might want to go straight to her publisher's site. There's a discount there. Click on: http://www.archebooks.com/BookIDX/Indexes/Fantasy/CMG/CMGDesc.htm

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about Sandy, Choices Meant for Gods, and, of course, my lovely Chariss. It's been a pleasure.

Meet Nick Anderson from Unexpected Love
Topic: Character Interviews

1.  Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?

 

I’m Nick Anderson and I live in a contemporary romance titled ‘Unexpected love’.

 

2.  Describe to our readers what your role in the book is.

 

I’m the hero but a somewhat reluctant one. I think I’m perfectly happy as I am, without getting too close to any woman emotionally until ‘she’ comes into my life.

 

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?

 

I think she just visualized me

 

4.  Is your author easy to work with or controlling?

 

Somewhat easy I would say

 

5.  Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?

 

I don’t really have friends the way other men do. Most of them are business associates. The closest to a friend is Ray Duncan who’s worked in the company with my uncle and who’s been my mentor.

 

6.  Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?

 

Just this one

 

7.  What would you like our readers to know about you?

 

I give the impression that I’m just a hard nosed businessman. I don’t want people to see my vulnerability or weakness. What is it? Or that’s my secret.

 

8.  Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?

 

I’m still being developed. But yes, when I see how easily ‘she’ connects with people, I wish I could, too.

 

9.  Can you tell us what you think is the most exciting thing that happened to you in your book?

 

Being accepted by ‘her’ nephews because I’m ‘her’ friend.

 

10.  Is there anything in your story you wish you had not done? Why?

 

I was a bit harsh at the beginning when I first met her. I regretted it later.

 

11.  What was your main motivation?

 

To give to kids what I didn’t have as a kid.

 

12.  Introduce us to your main adversary?

 

It’s Tom. He’s smooth and what women would call a  ‘perfect gentleman’. He’s an investigative reporter who travels to many exotic places in the world. I’m just a manufacturer of pharmaceutical products.

 

13.  Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?

 

Not yet

 

14.  Here’s your chance to speak your mind.  What do you want to tell everybody?

 

Don’t judge people by what they appear to be. Often it’s a mask they put on in self defense.

 

15.  Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.

I’m still in a WIP.

Maisie Thurlow talks abut Hight Places by Nina Osier
Topic: Character Interviews
 1.  Can you tell us your name and the title of the book you live in?

My name is Maisie Thurlow.  I'm a leading character in High Places.

2.  Describe to our readers what your role in the book is.

I am (or at least I was) captain of a Star Guard patrol ship, the Commodore Dudley Saltonstall.  That's the name of a general who scuttled his fleet at a battle along the Maine coast during the American Revolution, so it's not an especially heroic reference.  When I was 10 years old, the government sent a team of "minders" to round up the religious sect my father had founded.  They'd decided we should be split up and relocated.  They chartered a star liner to take us away from the planet where we'd been living, and all but one of them (the minders, I mean) were killed when the liner's crew mutinied.  I became separated from my big sister, Eve, after I saw our parents murdered.  So when I had orders to take the Saltonstall near the planet where I remembered Eve's lifeboat being pointed, when the mutineers launched it 20 years earlier - well, I couldn't help myself.  I had to find out what happened to her.  I wasn't planning on crashing there, though, and getting trapped without much hope of being rescued!

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?

I started bothering her about three years ago, but I wouldn't tell her exactly who I was.  I came into her head the way characters usually do, by asking a "What if?" question.  In this case, "What if a whole planet's air acted on Humans the way a compressed air acts on scuba divers when they get ‘rapture of the deep'?"

4.  Is your author easy to work with or controlling?

She tries to control me.  I don't let her, though.  I do just what I want to do, and when she's smart she comes along without giving me a fight first.

5.  Would you tell us about one of your favorite friends from this book?

My executive officer, best friend, and lover is Jacques Quiero.  I call him Jack, and the worst thing that happens is having him turn on me when the planet's air makes him crazy.

6.  Do you plan on appearing in another book or are you happy to be where you are?

I'm already in another book.  My author is working on The Minder's Oath, which you could call a sequel.  Or you could call it the rest of the story that High Places begins.

7.  What would you like our readers to know about you?

I hate anyone who tries to control me.  That includes minders, in particular.  I don't agree with my parents' religion at all, now.  I've grown up to have my own life, and it's very unlike the one my folks wanted me to live.  But that's my choice to make!  Not someone else's to make for me.

8.  Did you learn anything during your adventure in this book?

I learned that nothing turns out the way I think it's going to.  And, of course, that life goes on even after you're sure it can't.

9.  Can you tell us what you think is the most exciting thing that happened to you in your book?

When I accidentally found out how to counteract that planet's crazy-making air, is what I think was most exciting.  Readers may disagree, though, because a lot of other things happened; and I guess reading about them would probably be a lot more fun that living through them.

10.  Is there anything in your story you wish you had not done? Why?

I wish the decision I made to look for my sister hadn't cost most of my crew their lives.  I'll never get over that.  But I can't change it now.

11.  What was your main motivation?

I wanted to find Eve.  It was just that simple.  She was all the family I had left, and I needed to know what happened to her.

12.  Introduce us to your main adversary?

I suppose that would be Miles Mindlothian, the "minder" responsible for kidnapping my whole community because the government didn't approve of our beliefs and how we lived them.  I thought he died in the liner mutiny, but I found out otherwise soon after my ship crashed on the planet where my sister was marooned.

13.  Is there anything you would like to have done but your author stopped you?

Yes.  Get home, of course!  She said she couldn't make it too easy for me, because "deus ex machina" endings are a cop-out.

14.  Here's your chance to speak your mind.  What do you want to tell everybody?

If you've got a family, appreciate it.  Love them even when you don't like them, because you'd miss them pretty badly if they weren't there.  Believe me, I know!  And if you're in a profession where this applies, don't compromise your duty to satisfy a personal need.

15.  Please tell everyone where they can find out more about your story and where they can purchase it.

High Places is due for release by eBooksOnThe.Net, an imprint of Write Words, on 9/1/08.  You'll find it at the eBooksOnThe.Net web site, Fictionwise.com, and in Amazon.com's Kindle bookstore.

Meet Vern--Dragon With a Attitude (and his friend Karina Fabian)
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.