Welcome to the Meet the Character Blog Tour!
First, thank you to author Laura Ann Hill for inviting me to participate. If you have a moment, please check out her post about her character, Juanita Elise Jame-Navarro, here.
Here goes:
1.) What is the name of your character?
Lady Rachel Jade Griffin
2.) Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
Rachel is a little sorceress from Gryphon-on-Avon in Devon, England who attends Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Art.
3.) When and where is the story set?
The story is set in 2023, though this is never mentioned in the books.
It takes place in an alternate world that is much like ours, except there are is a secret magical world called the World of the Wise. Also, there is no knowledge of Jews, Christians, or Muslims–but there are signs that suggest such things once existed, such as statues of angels and mysterious words like friars and steeple.
It takes place on Roanoke Island, which is located where we Unwary see Pollepel Island, in the middle of the Hudson River, just north of Storm King Mountain, in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York.
4.) What should we know about him/her?
Rachel is thirteen. She is extremely short for her age. Everyone else at school is older and taller.
Her mother is part-Korean. Rachel has her mother’s Asian features, though some of her siblings look more like their British father. Her father is the Duke of Devon, so Rachel is a lady, though titles are not used at school.
Rachel has also inherited her mother’s perfect memory. She can instantly recall anything she has ever seen or read. This is quite useful in itself, but it also has the unusual ability of allowing her to recall hidden supernatural creatures that she cannot see with her eyes—including a mysterious Raven who is said to bean omen of the Doom of Worlds.
Rachel is a superb flyer. She flies a steeplechaser, a very complicated model of bristeless broom. She is, however, only a middling sorcerer, her magical abilities being additionally handicapped by her dislike of practicing her flute, which is necessary to play enchantments.
She does have a handful of spells she has practiced at length, which she is reasonably good at, but she is often being show up by her best friends the orphan boy Sigfried the Demon Slayer and Nastasia Romanov, Princess of Magical Australia, who are the best sorcerers in the freshman class.
Rachel is eager to make friends but is awkward in social situations, making the process difficult.
5.) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Before coming to Roanoke Academy, Rachel Griffin had been an obedient girl—but its hard to obey the rules when the world is in danger, and no one will listen.
Now, she’s eavesdropping on Wisecraft Agents and breaking rules. Because if the adults will not believe her, then it is up to Rachel and her friends—crazy, orphan-boy Sigfried the Dragonslayer and Nastasia, the Princess of Magical Australia—to stop the insidious Mortimer Egg from destroying the world.
But first she must survive truth spells, fights with her brother, detention, Alchemy experiments, talking to elves, and conjuring class. Oh, and the Raven with blood-red eyes.
As if that were not bad enough, someone has turned the boy she likes into a sheep.
6.) What is the personal goal of the character?
Rachel wants desperately to keep her loved ones safe.
She also suffers from wanderlust. She wants to stand upon high peaks and catch glimpses of distant sapphire waves. She wants to drink from “yet untasted wells.” She wants to met fairy creatures she had read about in books. She wants to kick sand on the beaches of Neverland, to pick a ripe volume from the book trees of Oz, to drink the Mad Hatter’s tea in Wonderland.
Rachel Griffin wants to know everything. But everything is a big subject, and even she has to occasionally admit that some things are more interesting than others. What she wants, most of all, is to know everything secret, everything new, everything unseen by eyes other than hers.
7.) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?
The first two books of Unexpected Enlightenment are done.
The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin is available: http://www.amazon.com/The-Unexpected-Enlightenment-Rachel-Griffin/dp/1937051870
The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel will be available in October.
I am currently hard at work on the third book: Rachel and the Technicolored Dreamland.
***
Next week, Monday, September 8th, the MEET THE CHARACTER BLOG TOUR continues with these fabulous authors:
Sondra Allan Carr: http://sondraallancarr.com/blog/
Tee Morris: http://teemorris.com -or- http://ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com
Misty Massey: mistymassey.com
Sarah Hoyt: accordingtohoyt.com
Here's a little bit more about next week's authors:
Misty Massey is the author of Mad Kestrel (Tor), a rollicking fantasy adventure of magic on the high seas, and the upcoming Kindle ebook Kestrel’s Voyages. Misty is one of the featured writers on Magical Words (magicalwords.net). When she’s not writing, she studies Middle Eastern dance and performs with Mythos Tribal and Chimera. You can see more of what Misty’s up to at her website, mistymassey.com or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Sondra writes fiction that is a blend of fantasy and romance. Her first novel, A Bed of Thorns and Roses, is a Beauty and the Beast-themed historical romance set during America’s Gilded Age. Readers have called it “a page-turner,” “very moving,” and “one of the best romantic stories I have ever read.”
She is currently writing an adult (18 and over) fantasy series, The World of Pangaea, a projected five-volume family saga set in an alternate pre-history. Book One, The Beast, introduced the troubled patriarch of the family. The soon-to-be-released second book in the series, The Savage, tells his eldest daughter’s story.
Sign up for Sondra’s newsletter to get your free copy of The King’s Man, the short story prequel to The Savage. Just click on the link to her website, or go to her Facebook page here, to sign up. Subscribers will get the latest news about the series plus bonus materials and notice of upcoming sales, giveaways, and contests.
Sondra loves to hear from readers. You can connect with her online at:
Website: http://SondraAllanCarr.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSondraAllanCarr
Twitter: @SondraCarr
Tee Morris has been writing for over a decade from science fiction to fantasy to horror. His first novel, MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana, was a nominee for the 2003 EPPIE for Best Fantasy, but in 2005 the book became the first novel to be podcast in its entirety, ushering in a new age for authors — podcasting. He went on to write several books on social media initiatives and tour around the world with a variety of seminars and workshops covering blogging, podcasting, and social networking.
Sarah A. Hoyt was born in Portugal and like Miss Marple she was born in a village, which means she knows about everything about drama and human wickedness. At 18 she became an exchange student to Stow Ohio where she fell in love with the boy down the street. Since the course of true love never does make any sense, it took them four years to realize they belonged together. They now live in Colorado, where Sarah writes too much and has been instructed by her husband to warn people that no genre is safe from her. Her most recent traditionally published book is Noah's Boy; her most recent (and first) indie work is Witchfinder. She's hard at work on sequels for both, but must finish the sequels to her award winning space opera series Darkships, first. She would like to promise that she'll never write man's adventure, but her husband is reading over her shoulder and laughing. She blogs at accordingtohoyt.com
