My favorite characters…
I have many characters sprinkled through my stories, of course. Most of my favs are found in my seven series. That’s no surprise: One reason authors create series is that they want to develop the characters present in the series’ novels a bit more. That’s probably why readers follow a series as well, but their main reason might just be their increasing familiarity with those characters.
I’ve created so many characters since I started publishing in 2006 (Full Medical) that it’s hard to signal out the favs. All my characters differ, of course, and I even like many of the secondary ones a lot too, not just the main characters (the priests in Son of Thunder, Soldiers of God, and Muddlin’ Through, for example). Two of those secondary characters I killed off, causing some complaints from editors and reviewers. (Always problematic.) The favorites I select here seem are longer-lived, though.
Readers won’t be able to accuse me of being sexist when I list my favs—many of them are women. My favorite female protagonists are: Ashley Scott (an exception to the rule—while she appears a lot in the “Chen & Castilblanco” series, she shows her mettle in the stand-alone novel The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan); Esther Brookstone, from the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series; Mary Jo Melendez, from the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” series; and Penny Castro, from “The Last Humans” trilogy. Among the male characters, I’d single out Rolando Castilblanco, from the “Chen & Castilblanco” series; Brent Mueller, from the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy”; Dr. Carlos Obregon, from many sci-fi short stories; and Vladimir Kalinin, from many series and stand-alone novels.
Penny Castro, the obvious MC in “The Last Humans” trilogy, most recently appearing in the third book Menace from Moscow (just published), might be evidence for my most recent fav being the one from my current work in progress or a novel I’ve just finished. All the rest become blurred in my old brain until I add another book to a series!
The entire “Last Humans” trilogy is Penny’s extended story, a post-apocalyptic saga of struggle and survival, but, as her adopted son Sammy points out in Menace from Moscow, the third book in the trilogy, she and Mary Jo Melendez are somewhat alike—strong, smart women, a bit fragile at times, but quite capable of handling what life throws at them. Readers probably expect that from my male characters; they should also expect that from my female ones as well. And yes, men can be fragile as well! All of my characters are complex.
All characters listed here are protagonists except for the villain Kalinin, who spans several series and stand-alone novellas and novels, all the way from The Midas Bomb to Soldiers of God on one extended fictional timeline. The only protagonist who comes close to competing with him is Bastiann van Coevorden from the “Chen & Castilblanco” (cameos), the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, and the “Inspector Steve Morgan” trilogy (cameos). (Brent Mueller plays an important role but has an alias in one stand-alone book as well—readers can have a bit of fun deciding which one that is!)
How do I keep all these characters straight? The answer is obvious: I must do as my readers do. I refer back to previous stories. I certainly couldn’t remember all of them! (Although they seem to remember me, haunting my dreams and asking for more prime time!)
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Menace from Moscow. For your consideration and enjoyment: The end of Penny Castro’s post-apocalyptic adventures. In this third novel of this post-apocalyptic sci-fi trilogy, the critical and difficult management of geopolitics in a post-apocalyptic world caused by a worldwide bioengineered virus continues: Survivor Penny Castro and her friends’ new task is to recover nuclear-armed missiles aboard a US submarine that sunk off Cuba’s coast at the beginning of the pandemic. As if the train trip from Colorado to Florida across a dangerous, desolate, and devasted US isn’t enough, what awaits them in the Caribbean and beyond will put any fan of sci-fi thrillers on the edge of their seats. From SoCal to Cheyenne Mountain and on to Florida, Cuba, and what remains of the Russian Federation, Penny’s adventures are full of mystery, thrills, and suspense. This novel will soon be available at most online retailers (but not Amazon!) and at most library and lending services.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
