Author Archives: wesleyallison

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About wesleyallison

Author of twenty science-fiction and fantasy books, including the popular "His Robot Girlfriend."

Voyage of the Minotaur: Senta

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Spoiler Alert

Senta is a much more interesting character than she was in Brechalon.  In that book she was a six year old child, and as endearing as six year olds are, they are not the stuff of an adventure book.  Even at 8/9 as she is here, she is mostly interesting for the trouble she gets into.  She has run-ins with wizards, a child molester, and velociraptors.  But she also begins to learn magic for the first time, something that gives her more power than the average nine year old.

I think Senta gets more interesting with each book, and I suppose that’s how it should be, since she’s the title character.  She has a destiny that she is growing into.  I think she might come off as a bit of an airhead in this book, but kids are like that sometimes regardless of their potential.

Voyage of the Minotaur: Iolanthe

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Spoiler Alert

Iolanthe Dechantagne is in some ways the main character in The Voyage of the Minotaur.  She is very much the same character that she is in Brechalon, at least in the beginning.  By the end of the story, she has undergone some subtle changes, mostly a result of the isolation which is in part her own making.

Iolanthe has had troubles in her past, but during the course of this story, she falls in love, is seperated from her lover, moves to a primitive colony on a distant colony, leads the colony, fights off frightening aborigines and has to deal with one brother who is a drug addict and one who is possibly a serial killer.  One of my favorite scenes is when Iolanthe finds a blood-soaked shirt in Augie’s cabin, and in a characteristicaly Dechantagne move, tosses it overboard to cover it up.

I suppose Iolanthe is a character people love to hate, but I just love her.  I think I have more fun writing her than any of my other creations.  As I was writing this, I would read the completed chapters to my wife and always enjoyed it when she said, “Iolanthe is such a bitch.”

Voyage of the Minotaur is availble wherever fine ebooks are sold, and you can find links to it in paperback to the right.

The Voyage of the Minotaur: Characters

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I finished discussing the characters of Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 0: Brechalon.  This week, I’ll be discussing the characters in the Voyage of the Minotaur.  Many of the characters are the same in both books, but in some cases they have grown from one to the other.  Each of the books in the series take place several years apart– Here is a timeline.

1897  Book 0: Brechalon
1899  Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur
1901  Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land
1902/1903  Book 3: The Drache Girl
1905  Book 4: The Young Sorceress
1907  Book 5: The Two Dragons

Each of these postings will carry a spoiler alert, because hopefully I’ll be getting into a few character secrets.

Casting Brechalon

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Terrence is still in his twenties in Brechalon and Henry Cavill would be a good choice to play him.  Of course I would want British actors for all these characters.

Emily Blunt would make a great Iolanthe.  She is beautiful but can be scary cold too.

I really like Charlie Cox in Stardust and he would make a great Augie.  I think though Augie would be the easiest character to cast.

Annabel Scholey might be a tad too sexy to be Yuah, but Yuah is described as being more beautiful that Iolanthe and there aren’t many actresses who would fit that bill.  I really liked Annabel in Being Human.

Zeah is probably the hardest character to cast, but I could imagine David Thewlis speaking his lines complete with stutter.  He’s actually the right age, though I think he might need make up to look a bit older.

Prisoner 89 aka Zurfina.  As soon as I saw Lynn Collins with blond hair (it’s usually dark brown) I thought she was perfect.  The fact that she is Dejah Thoris in the upcoming John Carter makes her a must for the part.

Andrew Garfield would make a great Nils Chapman.  In fact, I think he would make a better Nils Chapman than a Spiderman, but that’s just me.

Karl Drury is a scary guy and needs to be intimidating, especially to Nils.  Rufus Sewell could pull that off in spaces.

Have a different actor in mind?  Let me know.

Casting Women of Power

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Fantasizing about one’s book being made into a movie is always fun, especially wondering who migh be tapped to play your characters.  I decided to take a look at who might be good choices for the characters in Women of Power.

Elisha Cuthbert really works as Stella (aka All American Girl).  She looks great in short blond hair and could easily pull off Stella’s sassy, ass-kicking style.

I like Blake Lively for Linda (aka Skygirl).  Linda is on the surface a sort of vapid farm girl, but is more than she appears underneath.

Bruce Willis as Professor Destruction.  Bruce Willis can play all kinds of parts, but I’d really like to see him as a villain.  His voice is perfect too.

Ryan Gosling as Perihelion, Stella’s ex.  He’s described as being just about perfect, as spokesmodel for Italian suits, and the most handsome superhero on the planet, so there you go.

Perihelion’s new squeeze Omega Woman has a very unusual golden look, but is also beautiful in an unearthly way.  Lesli Bibb could pull that off.

Omega Woman’s BFF Dynagirl has a quirky, retro thing going on.  Zooey Dechanel could pull off the cape, mask, and gogo boots.

Sam Worthington as Dark Energy.  He’s a bad guy, but Stella finds him kind of attractive too.  She would never tell him so, partially because she’s too busy pounding on him.

Sam Rockwell would be a great Irving.  Stella’s agent Irving is one of my favorite characters, particularly since I’ve never seen a superhero’s agent before, so I can claim to have come up with the idea.  To be Irving, you have to be able to do comedy and drama and Sam Rockwell could/has done both well.

There you go.  Let me know what you think.  If you haven’t picked up Women of Power yet, you can get it for 99 cents wherever fine ebooks are sold.

Update: The Young Sorceress

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I just finished chapter 8 of The Young Sorceress.  My enjoyment of this project has waxed and waned, but it is high right now as I get to some of the more exciting parts of the plot.  Originally plotted to be 17 chapters, I’ve combined a few things as I write (something I always do) and right now it’s looking like 14 chapters which will make it the same length as The Dark and Forbidding Land.

A note: My son, who is the world’s biggest Senta and the Steel Dragon fan, having read each book (including the unpublished book 5) six times, tells me The Dark and Forbidding Land is his favorite. 

I think when I finish Book 4, I’m going to go back and read 1, 2, and 3 before editing it.

Facelifts: Coming this Summer

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One of the things I have planned for this summer is a facelift for my complete line of books.  I don’t plan on a re-edit, though I have a few error corrections to make.  What I plan is changing the margins and indents to work better with ereaders.  I did this with Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike and I like the results.  I’m also going to add more book informtion, sample chapters, and coming soon features in the back of the books.

There will also be some price changes in the works.  Pricing is always difficult to judge.  The way that royalties work at least at Amazon, I get 30% of a 99 cent (or 30 cents) book, but 70% of  2.99 book (or 2.03.  In other words, I have to sell 7 times as many books at 99 cents to make as much as selling one at 2.99.  If lowering the price to 99 cents would guarantee a 700% increase in sales, I would lower them all.

Finally, I’m going to make sure that all my books are available in paperback.  I’m getting Astrid Maxxim out because I think some kids might actually buy them.  In all other cases, it’s just for additional exposure, though I have been selling a few paperbacks of His Robot Girlfriend lately.

Nook Friends

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If the number of people asking to be my nook friends is any indication, Barnes and Noble sold a LOT of nooks this Christmas.  This is great, because the more ereaders there are out there, the greater my books’ exposure.  I think the nook is a great little reader and I’m glad that B&N is doing well.  I don’t think it serves anyone for the last major bookstore chain to go under.  So good luck B&N, and welcome all you nook readers.  You can find all of my books on your new readers by following the store links.

Brechalon: Magicians

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Spoiler Alert

And finally, we have our last characters from Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 0: Brechalon.

Madame De La Rosa: Madame De La Rosa is a very old seer. She is an expert in divination, and it is she that Smedley Bassington comes to for information. This is her only appearance in the story.

Amadea Jindra: In Brechalon we meet Amadea Jindra as Madame De La Rosa’s apprentice. She is a major part of the storyline in Book 3: The Drache Girl. I’ll fill in more about her when I get to that book.

Professor Merced Calliere: Calliere is a brilliant scientist and inventor. He is Edison, Westinghouse, and Babbage all rolled intellectually into one, but his attitude is all Tony Stark. He is a happy go lucky academic, who is clearly smitten with Iolanthe, though whether she thinks of him as anything more than another resource remains to be seen.

That’s it for Brechalon. In a day or so, we’ll start looking at the characters from The Voyage of the Minotaur. Many of them are the same as this book, but two years have passed and things change.

Update: Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

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I am currently nearing the end of chapter six of Astrid Maxxim 2.  I am working on it and The Young Sorceress, which means, when I get stuck in Sorceress, I write for a while in Astrid.  Astrid is easy to write and I imagine I will finish it first of the two.  There will be 20 chapters in all, so I’m just shy of 1/3 way done of the first draft.