characters

Character Interview: Phenex from Whispers Of Nowhere

~ ChanAtkins ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to a new feature on The Glorious Outsiders where I’ll be interviewing unique characters from other people’s books! You’ll find a character interview at the start of each month and today, I am chatting to Phenex from Whispers of Nowhere by Shannon Rohrer. You can find Shannon’s links at the end of the interview!

1.How old are you? – That depends on whether we’re talking about my current life, or all of them put together. Three-hundred and thirty-one as of this year; pushing nine-hundred altogether. Give or take a few decades.

2. Where do you come from? – The sun, in a manner of speaking. A solar flare birthed me. Ra saw it happen, and came to my rescue as I was plummeting towards Earth. You could say he was my first parent, though definitely not my last.

3.Where do you live? Describe it to us. – The Spectrum. I never know how to answer this question, because it’s always just been, y’know? I mean, not literally, but it’s been around longer than I have. You could ask five different entities this same question, and they’d all give you a different answer: a world between worlds, a waystation, a tactical base, a place of refuge from the ravages taking place in other realms, a political forum… Imagine living inside a world instead of on its surface. Now imagine if this place was filled with a network of crystal walkways—railings of which are few and far between—winding staircases, and an ever-present aurora borealis, all branching off from a single point. There are rooms that don’t resemble anything close to that description; rooms that open into gardens, that change on command from forests to celestial bodies, places that lead to only the gods-know-where. The Spectrum is home. That’s all there is to it.

4.Do you have a family? If so, tell us about them – I have the Regulations Force and the High Council; they are my family, dysfunctional as it is. If we’re talking about actual parental figures? As I told you before, Ra was my first father, and his grandson Horus my second—but by far the god I’m closest to is Apollo. His son, Asclepius, is like a brother to me. Asc and I have a something of a rocky history, but we’re learning to work through it. Mostly.

5.What are your talents? -Let’s just say I have a penchant for fire, and all it entails. I’m also no slouch in hand-to-hand combat, and thanks to both my natural abilities and Asclepius’s training, I’m one of a handful skilled in healing magic. It’s kind of annoying, actually; who do you think gets summoned every time one of the units comes back from a battle, bloodied and broken? It’s a good thing I don’t need to sleep much…

6.What are your flaws? – If you ask me, none. If you ask anyone else? I suspect they’d say my temper. Or that I’m apparently reckless on missions—like I’m the only operative that’s blown up half a city block! Hey, don’t look at me like that—it was already evacuated. Oh, and I’m sure they’d also tell you I’m lousy at covert operations, despite the fact that I carried one out for a decade. Successfully, I might add.

7.What do you think people think of you? – I can’t say that I worry too much what anyone thinks. Okay, that’s not true—I care sometimes. I care what the High Council thinks, since they kinda determine whether I remain an operative or not. I care what my closest friend (that’s Forneus) thinks. But humans? I can’t really afford to worry about their opinions; you get stared at enough because of your eyes, or because of any number of things that make you stand out, you sort of have to build up a thick skin. Mostly I figure they’re either afraid of me, or intrigued. Sometimes both.

8.What do you wish people knew about you? – Can’t say that I really wish for them to know anything. Anybody close to me knows all there is to know, or at least as much as I permit them to. Everyone else? In the grand scheme of things, they don’t matter. But for those afraid of me, maybe I’d just want them to stop seeing me as a monster. I’m not; if anything, I’m the defensive line between them and the real monsters out there.

9.What’s your biggest fear? – You expect me to just bare my soul like that? Do I look like the type of guy who goes around sharing his feelings with every person nosy enough to ask? Tch, oh, all right. I guess I can throw you a bone, at least this once. I’m afraid of being unmade, coming completely undone. It’s a dark place, going through the things I’ve gone through. Never again.

10.What’s your biggest hope? – You know, I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that before. I’m more of a “here and now” guy. I don’t focus too much on the future—just on what I can do today. I guess if I had to pick something to hope for, it would be that everything I’ve done, everything I’ve suffered, every setback and accomplishment… It wouldn’t all be for nothing.

11.What’s your biggest secret? – Heh, bold of you. That would be telling, wouldn’t it? And if I did that, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.

12.-What’s the worst things you’ve ever done to another person? – Depends on who you ask. If you ask Reeves, it’s that I locked him away in Nowhere—never mind that he had it coming. If you knew the things he’d done, the kinds of experiments he performed on humans…well, you’d have wanted him locked away, too. Or worse. But if we’re talking about someone undeserving… Well, I’m not proud of it, but I was a pretty big asshole to Gwen when we first met; much harder on her than I should have been, projecting a lot of my anger from…well, other things. But we won’t talk about any of that.

13.What kind of friend are you? – I’m not perfect, if that’s what you’re asking. But once I’ve made up my mind that I trust someone, especially if they’ve shown me that I can… Well, there isn’t a damn thing I won’t do for them.

14.Is there anything about your life you would change? – Honestly, no. It’s not that I don’t have past regrets, I do—but I’m where I am now because of those mistakes, because of my choices. I had to make them in order to learn from them, and hey, I think the lessons finally stuck after all these centuries. So no, there’s nothing I’d change. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and even if I can still feel the anger burning beneath the surface sometimes? That’s fine, because I’ve got beings in my corner, those who would go to bat for me—and have—if/when the chips are down.

15.-Where would you like to be in five years time? – This kind of goes with my whole “hopes” thing. I don’t really know where I’d like to be, and five years is a blink to my kind. I’m happy with my position in the Regulations Force, First Unit, and I’m damn good at what I do. I can’t imagine being anywhere else—beings like me don’t really do the whole retirement thing, you know?

16.Do you have any regrets? – Of course I do. Anyone who’s ever lived does. If they say otherwise, they either haven’t done that much living, or they’re lying. But like I said before, I don’t let myself get bogged down by past mistakes—I’ve got too much to do, too many other beings relying on me to let myself dwell.

17.How would you like to be remembered? – If the whole death thing ever becomes permanent for me, I guess I’d want to be remembered as someone who tried: tried to help, tried to protect, tried to heal… And hopefully, succeeded enough times to outweigh all the times where I’ve failed.

18.What are your hobbies? – You’d think for a nearly-immortal being, I’d have more of those, but I really don’t. I train a lot—with ops in my unit, and quite a few outside of it. Forneus and I get together in the Lounge sometimes (it’s one of few recreational places in the Spectrum we get to use), talk over drinks. Sometimes if enough of us get together, we play cards. Nothing too exciting really, but with our work, I’d say our lives are plenty exciting as is.

This was a really intriguing interview with an unusual character and if you’d like to find out more, here is the Amazon link to Whispers of Nowhere:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whispers-Nowhere-Shannon-Rohrer-ebook/dp/B079ZJTWM3/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Shannon+Rohrer&qid=1685693984&sr=8-1: Character Interview: Phenex from Whispers Of Nowhere

When Gwen, a curator’s daughter unwittingly breaks the seals on a mythical prison realm, she is whisked away by the watchful Forneus and the hot-blooded Phenex, and into a world beyond her wildest imaginings. With malevolent forces now on the rampage, intent on revenge against the gods whom imprisoned them, Gwen and her two mysterious allies must reclaim the lost artifacts before someone far more sinister does…

You can also follow Shannon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SRsRamblings/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17736308.Shannon_Rohrer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorshannonrohrer/

Character Interviews: Amelina Scott (The Curse of Time series by M.J Mallon)

~ ChanAtkins ~ 7 Comments

Welcome to a new feature on The Glorious Outsiders where I’ll be interviewing unique characters from other people’s books! You’ll find a character interview at the start of each month and today, I’m chatting to Amelina Scott from the YA series, The Curse of Time. I’ve read and enjoyed Bloodstone and will be starting Golden Healer very soon. So, let’s find out what Amelina has to say!

1. How old are you?

I am sixteen now. My story includes flashbacks to my thirteenth birthday when my dad disappeared. Since then, nothing has been the same.

2. where do you come from?

Believe it or not, I originate from this long line of Krystallos (crystal) magicians. It came as a shock to me when I discovered that.

3. where do you live? Describe it to us

I live in Cambridge in the UK, in a normal suburb. Don’t let that fool you! Our house has a hexagonal hallway, with a magical attic study, overseen by a key that talks and there is a much needed lookout point on the upper floor. If you visit, check out the clocks and the mirrors, too. You will find some mysterious surprises! Our house and the surrounding land is creepy and oppressive. I swear the house is a living entity; it makes a lot of grumbling, whispering noises! As our circumstances changed – with Bloodstone magic – the house reflected this by becoming altogether quieter.

Nearby, a short walk takes you to the river and the train tracks, where there is a pathway representing light and darkness. At the beginning, my mother warned me off going there, but how could I resist when there is a magical crystal cottage hidden there?

4. do you have a family, if so tell us about them

Yes, we’re a peculiar lot! There’s my dad who disappeared. He’s musical like me, a talented guitarist who lost his way. It is a long story… He surrendered his powers and succumbed to a terrible aging curse. It was up to me to cure him, to improve our life. Mum suffered too… and this manifested in her vicious tongue and her scary face. At the time, she wouldn’t have looked out of place as a scary wax exhibit in Madam Tussaud’s. I don’t have a sibling but I have a ‘sister,’ Esme. Some evil person, imprisoned her in the mirrors of our house. In the past, poor Esme used to self harm and suffered terrible mood swings whilst locked in the mirror.

My gossipy Aunt Karissa is such a hoot! We’re really close and I often confide in her. She has this habit of crushing you when she hugs you. I call her hugs corset-cinching. No family portrait would be complete without mentioning Shadow, my vanishing, mysterious black cat who knows a lot more. If only he could speak! Or can he?

5. who is your best friend and why?

Jade is my best friend, but we’ve had our ups and downs. Life became complicated when we both fancied the same boy, Ryder. I discovered some creepy things about him and warned her off. She doesn’t listen to advice about boys. She has her flaws, but I’ve known her since we were little. There is never a dull moment with Jade. That’s why I like her so much.

6. who is your worst enemy and why?

Ryder. Appearances can be deceptive. He’s beautiful, but his heart is anything but. He has this hypnotic personality that draws you in, fools you into believing everything he says. I discovered the real him, his darkness within, his shadow demon, which mars the sunshine, hiding the truth.

7. what are your talents?

I’d sum that up with five words: magical, poetic, artistic, musical, Krystallos. I harness the power of crystals. It was my destiny to meet Leanne and Eruterac, to discover the crystal cottage and harness the power of the crystals. I’m brave, and always a loyal friend.

8. what are your flaws?

I lose stuff. I should listen to Leanne. She advises me on all things crystals. I’m frightened of horses! I can be naive, but I’m learning not to be.

9. what do you think people think of you?

My friends think I’ve been here before. I caught them gossiping about me one day. Most people think I’m peculiar – if you saw me painting during my art exam – you’d think I was strange too. My aunt gives me gifts and sometimes they give me unexpected superpowers!

10. what do you wish people knew about you?

I wish they would be me for one day. It would be fun to see what they would make of all the crazy things that happen to me… meet the ghoulish repugnant spirits, fly aboard the grasshopper of time, and spirit walk out of your body to a crazy rollercoaster ride. If you stick with me through this series, you’ll see what I am talking about.

11. what’s your biggest fear?

Art coming alive! When I first met Eruterac, I nearly died. I painted him – and like a Halloween apparition; he came knocking at my door. Only joking, he’s not as scary as he looks… No, my biggest fear is the rollercoaster of time, and the master who controls the grasshopper. You’ll find out more about them if you read the 1st Bloodstone and the 2nd book in this YA Fantasy series, Golden Healer.

12. what’s your biggest hope?

To save civilisation from darkness… we are in great danger and I want to prevent disaster. I hope that light will prevail.

13. what’s your biggest secret?

I know how dangerous Ryder could become. He’s toying with his abilities like a cat with his prey.

14. I what is the worst thing you have done to another person?

I used to fight with my mum. She was horrible to live with after Dad disappeared. I hated her sometimes.

15. what kind of friend are you?

Loyal, and kind, I’m one of the good gals.

16. Is there anything about your life you would change?

I’d never take my aunt Karissa’s mad dog out for a walk. Never again, just saying, he’s a nutter! And I’d avoid taking my aunt, Shadow, and Toby to the cottage all together. Cats, dogs and crazy aunts and magical flying mats, say no more.

17. where would you like to be in 5 years time?

I’d like to be in Edinburgh sitting on a park bench in the sunshine. The one o’clock gun will sound and there’ll be fireworks in my heart because I’d know that my family and Esme are safe and free.

18. do you have any regrets?

My only regret is keeping this story a secret for so long! I kept it hidden in my camphor wood chest. I’d love The Curse of Time series to become more widely known. Please read this series, find about my family, review and share this story so everyone will know.

19. how would you like to be remembered?

Krystallos Girl, my mission is to save the earth from lies, darkness, and shadows.

20. What are your hobbies/how do you relax?

I play music, drums and guitar, write poetry and paint, harness the power of crystals… Heck, I bring art to life, and yes, my brushes talk! Pretty cool, hey?!

If you’d like to know more about Amelina and her amazing adventures, here are the links to follow author MJ. Mallon

Author Bio

I write YA fantasy, paranormal, horror/supernatural short stories, flash fiction and short form poetry. 

I’ve been blogging for many moons at my blog home Kyrosmagica, which means Crystal Magic. 

My eclectic blog shares my three loves: reading,  writing, and creativity: https://mjmallon.com/

You can access all my links here: https://linktr.ee/mjmallonauthor

April Writing Challenge: My Top 5 Authors (plus my top 5 books ever…and more…)

~ ChanAtkins ~ 4 Comments

At the start of every month I ask my Facebook followers to suggest some writing prompts and challenges and then I post the one I chose at the end of the month. For the second time I was most tempted by a non-fiction challenge from Becky Bekstar Paroz: What are your top 5 favourite authors ever? This question led me to creating more than one list and turned out to be the most expensive blog post I have ever written. Read on to find out why!

Top 5 Authors:

  1. Stephen King – for his character driven stories, writing style, sheer volume and reliability and unforgettable horror! He really is the master and I got hooked on his writing aged 12.
  2. Charles Bukowski – for his raw, honest, beautiful words about everything. The only author’s words I have tattooed on me. I picked Ham On Rye up in a book shop one day having never heard of Bukowski. That soon changed as I worked my way through his novels, short stories and poems.
  3. Chris Whittaker – for the best, flawed, beautiful, heartbreaking and memorable characters you will ever come across. Plus his writing style and incredible plots.
  4. SE Hinton – for inspiring me to keep writing as a teenager, for characters I fell in love with, for teaching me the skills of creating believable characters you root for.
  5. Kate Rigby – for being my favourite indie author with a huge and varied catalogue of gritty, character-driven books.

Top 5 books:

  1. The Catcher In The Rye – JD Salinger – one of the only books I can read time and time again and still get something new from
  2. Watership Down – Richard Adams – for inspiring me to write as a child
  3. The Outsiders – SE Hinton – for luring me away from animal stories and making me want to write about harder hitting topics
  4. Ham On Rye – Charles Bukowski – for being the book that introduced me to one of my favourite writers and poets.
  5. IT – Stephen King – for just being utterly epic and a book I could read again and again forever.

Top 5 Need to Read More From authors

  1. Amy Reed – Nowhere Girls and The Boy and Girl Who Broke The World are two of my favourite books so I need to read more of her. After I wrote this post I ordered Invincible.
  2. Alice Feeney – recently read and loved Daisy Darker, so have just bought Sometimes I lie.
  3. Andrew Michael Hurley – I had The Loney for years begore I got round to reading it and after that quickly devoured the intensely creepy Starve Acre. I’ve just ordered Devil’s Day and I can’t wait. His writing and settings are so atmospheric.
  4. Amy Engel – I was blown away by the disturbing The Roanoke Girls, then mesmerised by The Book Of Ivy and heartbroken by The Familiar Dark. I need more!
  5. Sarah Pinborough – I absolutely loved 13 Minutes a few years ago then recently fell in love with The Death House. These are both YA books. I then tried one of her adult books, Insomnia, so have just bought A Matter of Blood to try!

(Thanks to this list I ended up ordering four books from four of these authors, hence this turning into an expensive blog post!)

Top 5 Everyone Should Read These Books

  1. The Hate U Give – to have a better understanding of racism
  2. Nowhere Girls – to have a better understanding of misogyny
  3. The Outsiders – to have a better understanding of class inequalities
  4. Tender Is The Flesh – to think about how we treat animals
  5. The Forcing – to face the frightening future of climate change.

Top 5 Books that are as good or better than the TV show/movie

  1. Lockwood and Co series – Season One was amazing and had me so hooked I bought the first book in the series. The writing is superb, and I’ve read the first three!
  2. I’m Thinking Of Ending Things – the book was strange but brilliant. For me, the movie was just strange.
  3. The Walking Dead comics – in some ways as good as the TV show, in many ways better
  4. All The Bright Places – I just much preferred the book! The movie was just missing something.
  5. Any Stephen King adaptation – many of them are brilliant but none of them will ever match the books!!

Character Interviews: Andorra Pett

~ ChanAtkins ~ 1 Comment

Welcome to a new feature on The Glorious Outsiders where I’ll be interviewing unique characters from other people’s books! Today, I’m chatting to the intrepid intergalactic explorer Andorra Pett – the protagonist from Richard Dee’s unique series.

  1. What is your name?

I’m Andorra Pett, but you can call me Andi.

2. How old are you?

Oh dear, we’re not off to a good start, are we? I would have thought that you’d ask me some easy ones first before we got on to the personal stuff. You should never ask a lady her age. Let’s just say that my biological clock is ticking along nicely and leave it at that.

3. Where do you come from?

I’m a child of the world, my father was a diplomat, hence my name. Apparently, it’s where he was working when I was, well you know. My sister is called Argentia, enough said.

4. Where do you live? Describe it to us

I’m currently living on a space station, orbiting Saturn. That’s when I’m not off on one of my adventures. I came here for a new start after I caught my fella, Trevor with the person who’d been my best friend. Not my best day. I needed a change and together with my business partner, Cy, we left Earth for here. The station mines the rocks in Saturn’s rings for rare earth metals. I do a bit of that, as well as run a café. Life out here is quite fun, in a dangerous sort of way. We grow our own food on a farm, on part of the station, there are cows and crops, my boyfriend Derek runs it.

5. What do you look like?

I’m as tall as Napoleon. Alright, I’m short and curvy. My mother said my best feature would be my Queen Anne legs. I think it’s my hair. It can be a bit uncooperative, but there’s lots of it, it’s very dark brown and it shines. My appearance is not a subject I like to say too much about. On the space station, we don’t go in for showing off, it’s more a working gear place. Suits me, we can’t all be slim and sophisticated, like my sickening sister.

6. Who is your best friend and why?

It was Maisie. We grew up together and shared everything. There was a clue, if ever I saw one. We don’t talk now. You’d better ask the cheating scumbag, Trevor, why that might be. I don’t talk to him any more either. Now it has to be Cy. We’re not attached, he’s got a fella of his own but we’re best buddies. He’s been with me through all my adventures, knows all my secrets and has my back. Between us, we make a good team.

7. Who is your worst enemy and why?

That’s whoever fate seems to have put in my life at any particular moment. When I first arrived here it was Munro, the owner of the other café on the space station. After I found the body and people started to try and kill me, I’m not sure anymore. To be honest, it could be anyone.

8. What are your talents?

I discovered that, as well as being a pretty good clothes designer, I can fly spaceships. It’s nothing to be proud of but I also appear to have a certain knack for attracting trouble. From when I was at school, I excelled at saying the wrong thing, to the wrong person. Now, wherever I go, there seems to be a trail of dubious characters following me.

9. What are your flaws?

I’m accident-prone and can be a little slow on the uptake. On the plus side, I’m pretty good at spotting what others have missed, working things out and doing the right thing, eventually.

10. What do you think people think of you?

That I’m a dumb blonde who’s dyed her hair a few shades darker. I’m not complaining though, being thought of as stupid can have its advantages, especially when it comes to fighting crime, it’s good to be underestimated. Just ask Miss Marple.

11. What do you wish people knew about you?

What I’ve actually achieved. The biggest thing I’ve come up against is that when I’m wrong, nobody forgets and when I’m right, there’s always some reason why I’m not allowed to tell everyone how clever I was.

12. What’s your biggest fear?

I used to be frightened of spiders. I thought there wouldn’t be any on a space station. Wrong! I was cured of that phobia, in the best possible way, by Derek.

13. What’s your biggest hope?

That one day, I’ll wake up and there won’t be someone trying to kill me, or I won’t be in the middle of some ridiculous situation, wondering how I got there.

14. What’s your biggest secret?

I’ve accumulated some money that maybe I shouldn’t have. Not through doing anything naughty myself, it just came my way in the course of things and as nobody can claim it without admitting their own guilt, I decided it was best to keep it for myself. I used some of it to help friends and family who were having a rough time but the rest is my reward for a job well done.

15. What is the worst thing you have done to another person?

I’ve always tried to be a good person, even when people didn’t really deserve it. I might have made a few bitchy comments but that’s about it. Honest.

16. What kind of friend are you?

Probably the best one you could hope for, until you mess me about. You get one chance, upset me and you’re out.

17. Is there anything about your life you would change?

If you had asked me this when I first left Earth, I would have wanted to turn the clock back and try again. When something bad happens, people always wonder if doing something different might have been better. Now I know that it doesn’t matter, you’re where you are and can only ever go forward.

18. Where would you like to be in 5 years time?

If Derek’s reading this, isn’t it about time you put a ring on it?

19. Do you have any regrets?

Not really, like I said before, things happened and whether you think they were for the best or not, you can’t change them. I thought Trevor and I would grow old together, turns out I wasn’t the only one he convinced. I wish I’d listened to my mum more, I miss her advice.

20. How would you like to be remembered?

As a crime-fighting space hound, with killer wit and nerves of steel. Fat chance of that, Ha Ha!!!

21. What are your hobbies/how do you relax?

I’ve been spending time on the farm, with Derek. It’s surreal, farming on a space station but it works and is a great antidote to flying about mining asteroids. It’s fascinating trying to solve all the problems and produce food out here, I’ve even had a hand in inventing a way to produce Lobsters, which I’m really proud of.

22. What is your favourite food?

Anything that is moving slowly enough for me to grab. I’ve never met a calorie I didn’t like. My favourites are cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, you get the idea.

23. What is the worst thing you’ve had to eat?

My own cooking. Cy reckons that I couldn’t do toast without a recipe and a video. When you think about it, opening a café, selling food to hungry miners was the logical thing to do, wasn’t it?

If you want to find out more about Andorra and her adventures, here is the universal link to the first book in the series: http://mybook.to/Andorra

Here is the blurb for Andorra Pett on Mars

“Andorra Pett shouldn’t have been on a space station. It was all Trevor’s fault.

But there’s no time to mourn her cheating boyfriend. She has to open her new café. And there’s a big problem, the freezer’s filled with the body of the previous owner. Everyone she meets is a possible suspect, from the customers to her rivals, they all have a motive.

Andorra discovers that the dead man had a book, full of secrets and gossip about everyone’s life on the station. It’s certainly not the quiet backwater she hoped for, out here orbiting Saturn.

The information in the book is a prize worth killing anyone for. And it’s hidden somewhere in the café.

It all means that Andorra’s in danger. Can she stop being out of her depth long enough to turn detective and find it, before anyone else does?

If not, she could be the next one in line for a long, cold sleep.”

And here is my review:

This is a must read for sci-fi fans! Andorra Pett and her friend Cy have just landed on a space station orbiting Saturn. The story starts with them taking over an abandoned cafe and promptly discovering a dead body in the old freezer. This discovery automatically propels them into several mysteries and imminent danger, as a stranger breaks into the cafe to attack Andorra. Who is the dead man? Who killed him and why? And who is now after Andorra?
As well as solving these mysteries, the story takes us on a fascinating journey around the space station, which has its own farm among other things. The world-building is sublime, the characters memorable and the plot fast-paced!