Characters

Unlucky Hero: Meet Ben Fieldstone from the Element Trilogy + Book Giveaway!

Meet Ben Fieldstone from A Human Element, book 1 in the Element Trilogy! He often finds himself in dire circumstances. You may wonder, can he be saved? More importantly, can he be saved from himself? YES or NO. Choose one and comment why you think so to enter for a chance to win one of three Kindle copies of the award-winning, bestselling A Hidden Element, book 2 in the Element Trilogy! Win and you could follow Ben into a new world of paranormal mystery and murder. Winner picked September 8th.

For now, get a glimpse inside Ben from A Human Element to understand the torment behind the hero and make your choice!

Where do you live?

Nowhere. I am a nomad. After being a photographer in the Navy, I started up my own business… after I hit rock bottom and cleaned up my drinking. I travel with the rich on vacation all over the world. I don’t have a home. And that’s the way I like it. Especially the one-night stands that come with it.

What is your problem in the story?

I never dealt with my parent’s death. They were crushed under a meteorite when I was nine. Years of foster homes left me cynical and a loner. I eventually wised up and figured out I needed to come to peace with my parent’s death if I ever wanted a real life. One that involves people.

Do you embrace conflict?

The first time I did was when I hit my foster father back. I was sick and tired of him beating on me. Yeah, sometimes I look for a fight. Like the time I tried to rescue a girl from a bully Marine in a bar and ended up getting my face smashed in on the street. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the girl either.

How do you see yourself?

A loner and I like it. Next to my blond Norse-God friend, Andy, I look like a scowling, rebellious teenager mad at the world with my dark looks, and hands shoved in my pockets. I’m fine with that.

How do your friends see you?

My best friend, Andy, says I’m missing the big picture. He thinks I should stop running from my past and find love. Andy says everyone has a past, but it’s your future you can change. He calls me a skinny James Dean wanna-be.

Do you have any special weaknesses?

Yeah. The first one was booze, but I overcame that. Sink or swim, you know? Second is women. Love them all. And after three years stationed at Pearl Harbor in the Navy, I sampled them all too. Chinese, Korean, Hawaiian, Philippine, Tahitian. Anything exotic.

What do you regret?

Running away the night my parents died. They wanted me to play an instrument and be in the band. Dumb to run away over that. But when you’re a kid everything is so dramatic. I wanted to scare them, that’s all. To find me gone and be upset. Then pharmacy-no-rx.net/xenical_generic.html when they found me they’d tell me whatever I wanted to do was fine with them. Only they never did find me. They died. I feel guilty as shit about it. I know I couldn’t have prevented their deaths. But part of me still feels if I hadn’t run away they wouldn’t have died.

What makes you angry?

Injustice. Bullies. Mean people. I have no tolerance for any of that. My foster father was a bully. I watched him go up I flames and enjoyed it. That’s how much I hate bullies. And the man that killed Laura’s loved ones and chases us now. Give me the chance to take him down and I won’t miss. He’ll suffer long and hard. It won’t be a quiet death. That’s if Laura and I survive.

What, if anything, haunts you?

Laura. I fell in love for the first time with her and then, like that, one morning she was gone. We could have made a life together. Why did she leave when she was the only woman I ever loved? I felt like I had no destination after that. She had been my destination and now that was gone. I would do anything to find her again.

Are you lucky?

Most definitely unlucky. What do you think? Parents crushed under a meteorite. Foster father that beat me. Nearly did myself in with drinking. Dudes in Hawaii that whipped me and almost killed me. Fall in love with a woman who’s being chased by a killer. I hope I got all my bad luck out of the way early on. It’s got to change sometime, right?

Have you ever failed anyone?

Laura. I wanted to protect her from this killer that chased her but discovered it was out of my control. There was no way I could hope to save her and that frustrated the hell out of me. I so wanted the chance to make that up to her.

What in your past would you like to forget?

Man, all the prostitutes I hooked up with in Honolulu. Thank God, I stayed clean. But one of them damn near got me killed by her pimps. She turned out not to be a woman either. Not fun.

What is your most closely guarded secret?

That I was nearly raped by some big ugly dudes and thrown off a cliff. That was a night not to remember. Didn’t share that story with anyone for quite some time. Oh, and my foster father’s death. I never spoke of that to anyone until I met Laura.

If you were stranded on a desert island, who would you rather be stranded with, a man or a woman?

Umm, let’s see…being that I had a “close encounter” with a man once and didn’t know it I heartily opt for a woman. Only one though. The kind with long chestnut hair, perky breasts, and large brown eyes. Laura.

**Originally posted on Pat Bertram’s blog.**

The Monsters Inside Us: Fiction and Real

By Donna Galanti

I’m over at author Kristina Stanley’s blog this week talking about some of my favorite characters – monsters! In some movies and books the monsters are obvious. But are the monsters inside us? Come share!

And if you haven’t met X-10, the villain of A Human Element, I dare ya….

Exclusive X-10 Interview…Evil lurks within…

Did you have a happy childhood?
What’s happiness? A word you people use when you have nothing else to say. An empty word representing your pitiful emotions. I didn’t have a childhood. I grew up in a room, alone except for pathetic doctors who made me take tests over and over. And then I killed them all. That was a day I felt happy. Killing takes away the loneliness.

Who are you opposing and why?
Laura. She gets to live a life I never had. A life with a name. I want a name. Charlie. It’s a nice name, right? But I’m the freak while Laura looks normal. I hate her for that.

Do you think maybe medication could help you? This vengeance thing isn’t healthy.
Medication? Yeah, I’ve had medication. That decrepit doctor pumps me full of drugs to dull my powers. I feel powerless and weak. Like you humans. Like Laura will feel someday, and her stupid lover. You’re annoying me. I don’t like to be annoyed. I don’t need to be near you to kill you, you know.

Okay, okay. So what is it you plan to do once you reach your goal?
When I escape for this pit I’ll kill that bitch, Laura. But I’ll never kill her from my mind’s eye. This one has to be done in the flesh. Soon her time will come. And she will know what I am. She will watch her lover die and then I will watch her die. I’ll squeeze her perfect limbs between my hands and hear her cry out in pain. Lovely.

What would your mother think of all this?
I didn’t grow up with a mother, you idiot. I never needed a mother. Mothers are something you humans whine to. I killed my mother before she could have a chance to raise me as a human. Ripped her apart when I was born. I was more powerful then, as a child, than she would ever be. Serves her right.

Nice. So how would you describe yourself?
Tall and handsome (laughs). More powerful than any one on Earth, with amazing powers of telepathy, healthcpc.virusinc.org/xanax/ telekinesis, and strength. I am the ultimate puppet master of you people. I’m invincible. You can’t kill me. I have the power to heal myself. I hate wearing your human clothes too. I enjoy being naked and admire my bulging muscles. See?

Hmmm, yes. So who are your closest allies?
The people I kill. That fat guard whose neck cracked so easily. He was an ally. His truck got me far down the road until it ran out of gas. And the scientist who imprisoned me. He was an ally. When I ripped out his throat he left me his stash of food to gorge on for energy. He served his purpose. The doctor who delivered me and sold me to the government. He was my ally when he led me to Laura. But then he had to die for that.

EXCERPT WITH X-10:

X-10 hovered over the doctor’s body. His anger drained away and he felt relief. He returned his mind to his body in the car. He needed to rest before continuing north. Travelling with his powers expended such energy it left him weak. But he needed to leave the car and hide out. He walked into the woods, breathing deep of all the life around him. After heading half a mile into the woods away from the dirt road, he found a hollow and lay down on the ground covering himself in a mound of leaves.

Within a few minutes his body heat warmed him inside his cocoon and X-10 slept. It was his turn to dream of the girl. He chased her as he always did, toying with her before he shredded her throat. But this time she stopped running and turned to walk back towards him. He stopped in his tracks, amazed she would do that when she knew he would kill her.

“Charlie, come with me. I know what you are. We are the same.”

He shook his head, wanting to hate her. How did she know he wanted to be called Charlie? His mission had been to kill her. It had always been so. If it changed now what would he do? What would he become?

“Don’t give into hate.”

“What do you know about hate?”

“I know hate. And it’s short lived. Love lives forever.” She held out her hand. “Come.”

“No!” He rushed towards her but she disappeared and he was left alone, as he had always been.

The Man in Black: Could You Trust The Man Who’s Watched You All Your Life?

By Donna Galanti

Photo from Wikipedia Public Domain

Meet the mysterious man in black from the newly re-released paranormal suspense novel, A Human Element, and read an excerpt with him. He is a Watcher! Read how watchers are my favorite kind of characters.

Interview with The Man in Black

Where do you dream of traveling to and why?
I wish to go the place my natural father came from. A place thousands of light years away. Their planet is dying. Their sun is nearly burned out. But if I can be with my people, perhaps I can belong somewhere.

Tell us about your family.
I have none. I was a violent birth. I unknowingly ripped my mother to shreds. I was the only survivor of many government experiments. I was left to be raised in a government facility, and then ordered to do their undesirable work.

What was the scariest moment of your life?
Going outside for the first time. I was 18 years old when I left the facility. The walls in my windowless room had been painted yellow like the sun. But I had no idea how bright the outside world really was.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be with others of my kind. I see things that will happen in the future, bad things. I hoped to change those things, especially when it came to Laura; the one who I believe will save my people from extinction. Instead I am the government’s garbage man. I take out the trash. I do the dirty jobs others don’t want to do.

Do you play any sports?
The only sport I do is killing. It’s what I’m ordered to do or I will be killed. I would choose fencing if I had time for real sports. I would like for this mammoth body to learn to fight with grace not blunt force.

What are you passionate about these days?
Having my people go on, to save them from dying out. And Laura. I’ve always loved Laura, as deep as someone like me can love. I am not tempered by emotion. I feel things but not with the intensity you do. I am a dispassionate bystander who follows the authority that created me. It’s all I know, all I can do if I want to survive.

If you could apologize to someone in your past, who would it be?
Laura. I watched her parents die and did nothing. I watched her best friend die and did nothing. I had to, or our kind would not go on. I have to live with myself every day with this knowledge. I have to believe I made the right choices.

Who should play you in a film?
Marlon Brando. He was cool, hulking, tormented. Like me.

Excerpt:

The man in black waited at the facility’s back door holding an envelope and a small bundle wrapped in a ragged towel. His long coat kept his muscular girth dry from the storm’s deluge. His wide-brimmed hat slung low over his jagged face, as water poured off its edge in a steady stream. This weather did not bother him. He waited patiently in the chilled spring night to deliver his packages and receive one in return. The door opened, spilling fluorescent light onto his feet. A plain-looking nurse held a crying bundle in her arms.

The man could hear the child’s bellowing cries coming from underneath the blanket covering it. She pushed the child into his arms as if eager to be rid of it. He reached down and hung his head lower, to shield the bundle from the rain and his own face from the glaring light. He took the bundle and handed the nurse his packages. The nurse grabbed the envelope but quickly placed the lump on the ground as if the contents were distasteful. The nurse began to close the door when he heard another far away cry.

The man wedged his foot in the door.

“What was that?” He had to nearly shout over the din of the rain.

“Nothing.” The nurse looked up.

The man risked looking her in the eye.

“The girl is in pain and won’t keep quiet.” She clutched the envelope and folded her arms across her sagging bosom.

“It sounded like another baby,” he said.

“It’s just the whimpering slut. Now she’s paid double for what she’s done.”

The nurse took a step back as if aware she had said too much already. She glared at him. “Now go on. You have what you wanted. And so do I.” She picked up the lump from the ground and shut the door in his face.

The man in black stood there for a long moment, considering the woman’s choice of words. He was sure he had heard another baby. What if another child had been delivered and the frigid woman and country doctor kept it secret? Fascinating. He decided to keep this information to himself. He would find the opportune time to use it. He was a patient man.

But first, he had to see for himself.

He peeled back the child’s bunting and looked for the first time into its yellow eyes. For that moment, the baby fell silent.

“Welcome to Earth X-10.”

The baby resumed its wailing.

The man turned with his noisy package and melted into the darkness satisfied, as the doctor had been, that the night’s events had provided him with more than he had asked for.

Watchers in Fiction: Guardians to Help the Hero

By Donna Galanti

Watchers. My favorite fictional figures that hover on the sidelines weaving in and out of the story. They change lives.

You may know them as guardians, guides, mentors, or allies. They help the hero on his journey by blocking them, guiding them, or even saving them. They can be a mysterious and dark overseer or a jolly and light eccentric. They ultimately save the hero or motivate him to save himself.

Photo by Pixabay

In my suspense novel, A Human Element, I created The Man in Black as a watcher. He is a guardian, a guide, and a hero. He connects to both the earthly and the other-worldliness in my characters. Sometimes he is there, like a lifeguard, and sometimes he’s watching and you simply sense his presence, more like a god. In the end he suffers and is a martyr-like figure for the greater good so his people can go on.

How did The Man in Black evolve and how do I perceive his function? He evolved as an instrument of light to help others survive so his own world would survive. His presence allows me to push the protagonist truly beyond the brink and eventually be saved. He also represents hope and acts as a catalyst to keep hope alive. He is like a god because he changes the destiny of others for a greater good (an entire people). And, like a god, he chooses not to always interfere unless it’s for the greater good. In a way he is a mythical figure.

My favorite mythical watcher in fiction is Merlin from the Arthurian legend. He’s a man of mystery and magic with roles as a sorcerer, prophet, bard, adviser, and teacher. In Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy, Merlin is an ordinary mortal but one with intuitive intelligence and clairvoyance. He has foreseen that Arthur will become a great king who will unite all of Britain.

Just as The Man in Black’s mission in A Human Element drove him to facilitate a child’s creation to carry on the line of his dying people, Merlin’s vision led him to facilitate Arthur’s creation as well. I like the idea of connecting medieval to modern times knowing that Merlin and The Man in Black share the same mission. They both originate as earthly and mystical watchers who change destinies so their people may conquer. And don’t we, as authors, often look to the past to create something new in the present?

It appeals to me that often the watcher figure is a hero too, willing to sacrifice his life for the one he oversees. He gives the protagonist what he needs to finish his journey and outwit death, and in doing so may need saving himself.

Literature is full of such heroes whose actions require that they, too, be saved. Like Arthur “Boo” Radley in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. He’s a mysterious character we slowly get to know. At first, perceived as a dark, ghostly figure he ends up saving the children, Scout and Jem. He’s a self-exiled loner who appears as needed to save the children from evil. In the end Scout and Jem save him back, providing justice for Boo.

One of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz, is known for his watchers. In his book, Lightning, Stefan Krieger is a watcher hero who needs saving himself. He’s a time traveler and a guardian of Laura since she was born. He interferes when necessary to save her life many times. In doing so he changes the course of her destiny for good–and bad. His fate eventually interweaves with hers until they are caught in a life or death situation. He saves Laura, but in the end she saves him too.

I can’t forget my beloved animal watchers in fiction. In Watchers (great name!) by Dean Koontz, Einstein is a genetically altered golden retriever with human intelligence. He’s also saved by the couple he watches too. Escaped and on the run, Einstein acts as a guide to bring these two lonely people together and transform them. He becomes their guardian inspiring them to save him from his nemesis, who in turn watches him. Check out other fictional dogs in literature including my favorites, Buck and White Fang.

I didn’t realize I had an obsession with watcher figures until pulling book after book out from my shelves. And then I knew why. I adore tormented characters and that’s often what watchers are. And that’s why I write them. They are wounded heroes that travel with us to the dark side and help draw us back. They may not always save the hero by their own hand, but at that critical moment they drive the hero to take control of his own destiny. And sometimes the watcher needs saving right back.

Do you have favorite watchers from other books or movies? What “saves” you, as author, when you’ve spent too long on your dark side? Do you have a “watcher” to help pull you back from the dark side and save you?

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Interview with The Man in Black

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**originally posted on The Kill Zone**

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originally posted on The Kill Zone