April A to Z Characters: F

F is for Fa'yet.

Fa'yet is actually Isnar's last name, but it's how he's known for the majority of Trust and the name by which the MC calls him on into Chain of Gray.

Isnar Fa'yet works for the High Council along with the MC. He's a good friend, confidant and ally. In a rough spot, he's the guy the MC turns to. However, that might not always be the best move.

Fa'yet is a surgically modified Artorian, set apart fom the genetic ideal of the majority of his race by blue eyes and light brown hair. He is a good ten to fifteen years older than the MC and has been a close friend to his boss for the entire length of her employment with the High Council. He is a fount of information on her past and ready with a nerve-balming glass of liquour when she rubs the MC the wrong way.

In Chain of Gray, he grows even closer to the MC, becoming the one he can trust in a world full of confusing changes in loyalites. It's not often you can still be friends with a man you nearly killed, but the MC and Fa'yet make it work despite all the crap the known universe throws at them.

Likes: A good glass of liquor, a neat house and his own space

Dislikes: Long-term house guests, people who try to kill him, being ordered in to compromising positions by the High Council.

April A to Z Characters: E

E is for Emily.

Welcome A to Z visitors. I hope you enjoy this alphabetical parade through some of my characters.

Emily is a two year old kidnapped girl from my short story, Healer, which is currently in the virtual 'to revise' pile.

Emily was shot at a streetside playground by teen gang members doing a drive by. Her new mommy is afraid to take her to the hospital because they might figure out Emily has been kidnapped. When her new mommy hears about a healer named Jillian from the wife of a patient who has just been miraculously cured, the solution becomes clear.

But Jillian has just performed a major healing and she can't repair all the damage the two bullets have wrought on Emily's little body. Her new mommy is going to have her baby back and she won't take no for answer.

Likes: Her real mommy, learning to use the potty by herself, sugary treats.

Dislikes: Her new mommy, getting shot, driving long distances in the car.

April A to Z Characters: D

D is for Darkious Maximus, Evil Overlord Extraordinare, Master of the Nine Darknesses.

The Evil Overlord himself, straight from the dark depths of Not Another Bard's Tale. Well, not straight exactly. He's probably crooked, really, really crooked, but you get the idea.

You can call him DM. It's embroidered on all of his clothing and the uniforms of his minions in case your memory gets foggy while basking his gloriously evil presence.

From the pointed tip of his neatly-trimmed black goatee to the bottom of his black souled boots, he's evil through and through. Don't let him hear that you doubt his evil rating or question the actual existance of nine levels of darkness. He'll have his wizard, Tim, turn you into a corpse frog. You don't want to spend the rest of your days hopping about and croaking "Riiiibrains" do you?

Likes: News that the people of countryside fear him, interior decorating with skulls, finding his long lost son and heir.

Dislikes: Interfering knights, incompetant minions, Sheep Gods.

April A to Z Characters: C

C is for Caroline.

Thank you to all the A to Z visitors who have joined me for this alphabetical parade of my characters.

This creepy little girl is from, Found, a short story published in Allegory Magazine. A five year old girl caught in an alternate plane of grey, Caroline seeks out a friend to keep her company. She wants to play, and in the grey, they can play all they want without anyone finding them or yelling at them to be quiet. Caroline could be the perfect playmate and the grey could be just the thing her new friend needs to escape his abusive father.

Likes: Not having to pick up after herself, reading books, having a friend to hang out with.

Dislikes: The times when her friend goes away, people who aren't nice to her friend and ruining the story by listing the other thing.

April A to Z Characters: B

B is for Bruce.

Bruce comes from the fantasy land of Not Another Bard's Tale. He is a not-so-stellar knight between jobs until he talks a dragon into leaving a tormented town alone. At least, for a little while, while it gets a drink from the lake he directed it to so it wash it's last meal down. He's going to enjoy his glory for every second he can.

This awe-inspiring deed lands him a job as bodyguard for pair of a rich merchant's daughters while they go on a business trip to expand their sheep-themed hotel empire in foreign lands. Things work out wonderfully for Bruce until he discovers that he is the new chosen one of the Sheep God and is now hindered by a flock of holy sheep while on his obligatory mission to overthrow the local evil overlord.

Likes: Mydeara (the previous chosen one of the Sheep God whom he slept with), large breasts, and following the knight code only when it is convenient.

Dislikes: Sheep he can't eat, evil overlords, and female troll-fairy stalkers who can't take a hint.

April A to Z Characters: A

A is for Arpex.

Arpex visits us from the novels Trust and Chain of Gray. For a long time, Arpex was simply known as "the blue creature". After he was upgraded from the creepy creature that threatens the MC in a single scene to a full out Council Member hidden under robes that threatens to eat the MC and does eat his ex-girlfriend and then goes on to play a big role in the sequel, the creature got his own name. Or name for his alien self, really. All Arpex share the same name.

Arpex is described as a tall, blue-shelled biped with small frontal appendages ending in claws. It's feet are sharp, being covered with the same (unfortunately...depending on which side your on) bullet-proof covering as the rest of it. It has no visiable head and speaks the common language only through a speaker box attached to its upper body. It prefers its own language of clicks and hisses, but few seem to understand his threats this way. It has large wings, or jaws depending on if it's eating or flying, that spring from its back which are used to engulf its prey. These wings are edged in sharp talons and secrete a disgusting ooze of digestive acids. Or hey, maybe they're really appealing acids if you happen to also be Arpex.

Likes: Eating soft-skinned things, unflattering bright yellow light, the idea of turning the MC's homeworld into nesting grounds.

Dislikes: A messy plate, slaves that forget their place, brain-dead food.

April A to Z Characters

April is nearly here and that means it's almost time for the A to Z parade through my characters. I'm pleased to announce that I managed to pull 26 characters with names from A to Z from works both published and languishing on my hard drive without having to resort to a single discarded character.

Okay, that's not exaclty true, one was previously a Victim of the Knife, but he was placed back into a story long before this challenge was issued.

The entries will be short, but will hopefully give you insight to some of the stories that I've been working on and/or have published. They come from short stories and novels. Some are main characters, others are supporting characters or have small roles but I did try to stick with the bigger players when I could.

Things I discovered when pulling these posts together:

• I like characters with M and J names. There was a lot of competition on those two days.

• I was surprised to learn that I'd used every letter as the starting point for name over the course of the years. I guess only having two that I keep repeating isn't so bad given the amount of variation.

• I really hate not reading things not in manuscript format. Some of my earlier novels haven't yet made into the correct format. My eyes, they blur and burn.

• After skimming through Swan Queen, the novel I'm currently rewriting my way through, I'm reminded of how much I've missed those characters, and yet, how much time and effort that novel is going to need to make it work.

If you haven't signed up for the April A to Z Challenge yet, there's still time.

April is looking blogtacular

In an effort to be more on top of blog posts this year, I had a crazy moment (if you believe that was really just a moment, you don't know me very well) and signed up for the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

I hope to be busy revising a novel during April as my Camp NaNo effort so this means I'm going to be extra busy writing. But what the hell, I like writing and I'm all about me this year.

To get back to my long neglected host of discarded darlings, my theme will be Characters. Specifically, my characters and not just the discarded ones. I'm pretty sure I have enough to cover the entire alphabet. I'm also pretty sure at least one of them will be force feeding me those words at some point in April.

Until then, I have some brain wracking to do. On further thought, I'm should also probably brush up on some self defense tactics.