Valerie Diaz is one of the two Valeries in Astrid Maxxim, and therefore supplies one of the running gags. Valerie is a shy, pretty girl who has strict parents. Her father is head of Maxxim Industries Security and her mother is one of the few women in the story who are housewives.
I enjoy writing Valerie’s mother, who is one of the few people in the series who doesn’t think that Astrid is perfect. Like the parents of all the other kids, I plan to flesh her out a little more with each book.
Christopher Harris is one of the six (or seven) main characters in Astrid Maxxim. Christopher, who doesn’t like to be called Chris is Astrids friend, but also competitor in most things. They rank about the same in fencing class, have many of the same academic classes and compete for the highest GPA among the freshmen at Rachel Carson High School.
I knew I wanted one of my main characters to be African American, and I didn’t want him to be stereotypically good at sports. I’ve had plenty of students with black skin who are very smart and are almost as bad at sports as I am. There are little bits of them all in Christopher and hopefully others will be able to identify with him too.
I’m really happy to say that November has set a new record for the number of visitors stopping by at WesleyAllison.com. There were 1049 distinct visitors during the month. What’s really cool is all the places that those visitors hail form– all around the world. To everyone, thanks for stopping by and thanks for your support.
The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton is now available for the nook at Barnes and Noble for $2.99. Follow the link to take you right there.
Denise Brown is one of Astrid Maxxim’s best friends. Denise is one of the few kids in the story that isn’t an only child. I realized after I had finished Astrid Maxxim 1, that I had made many of them only children.
Denise has a brother named Dennis. My friends pointed out that with the names being so similar, the readers might get confused. On the other hand, that’s just what people tend to do– name their kids in groups or with similar names.
Denise and Dennis live with their two dads. I haven’t actually worked out their back story yet, so I haven’t decided if they had a mom at one time. Their dads have different last names, so they probably live in a state where gay marriage is not legal. I may never actually illuminate the whole issue, as it’s not truly important to the story and Dennis and his fathers barely appear.
My books have gotten many reviews– mostly good. I’m proud to say that I have more 2 star reviews than 1 star, more 3 star than 2 star, more 4 star than 3 star, and more 5 star than 4 star. Some of those are very well-thought-out and some not so much.
I usually try not to look at reviews, but sometimes I see them and can’t help myself from reading them. I recently spotted the only review for Women of Power on US Amazon. It’s a 2-star review, but I really enjoyed reading it. First of all, though it has some real criticism, it is constructive. Secondly, it has some positive things to say too.
Here’s a part I like.
“The sad part is that this author writes amazingly well. The whole book is modern
language type writing, making it easy to understand. And the author certainly
knows how to craft an action scene. It’s exciting and you’re never lost or
wondering where one character is, in relation to another, or even to the
environment. The author creates great superhero/villain names for the
characters. I’m a big fan of the Atomic Jack-O-Lantern, the name alone tells you
what an awesome character it is. I cannot sing enough praises for this author’s
ability to make me want to keep going one more chapter. Just one more… just
one more… till I suddenly find myself at the end of the book.”
The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton now has its own Facebook page. Follow this link and “like” it.
This page replaces the seperate pages for Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven Princess and Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress.
**** SPOILER ALERT ****
One of the characters in Astrid Maxxim is a robot. She’s Robot Valerie, imprinted with the memories of Astrid’s friend Valerie Diaz.
Robot Valerie has two purposes. The first is just that I wanted a robot character. Orignially she was going to be a robot version of Astrid’s other friend Denise. I had Denise and Robot Denise for a long time in the draft, but Denise already has a complicated family life, so it just seemed natural to change the robot to Robot Valerie.
The second reason for Robot Valerie was as a plot device. The bad guys are after Robot Valerie, naturally, because she’s a cool robot. It’s just one more thing for Astrid to worry about.
For some reason, people just like robot characters. People generally love Patience in His Robot Wife, and of the comments I’ve gotten so far about Astrid Maxxim, probably 75% talk about Robot Valerie.
Astrid is the title character and the main character in Astrid Maxxim. As a character, she has two facets. On the one hand, she has to be interesting, so she has her foibles and flaws, but on the other hand, it is her eyes from which we see her world. Therefore, she has to have a solid center.
Astrid is extremely intelligent, but she is also intuitive and empathetic. She is kind and friendly, but shy and unassuming. She loves science and technology and is easily frustrated by superstition and silliness. She is supremely confident about herself, but not so confident in her interactions with others. This along with a certain rigidness regarding change, I associate with her being an only child.
Astrid is a fun character to write and I hope to do a fairly long series of her stories. It all depends on how long I last, I suppose.
The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton is now available at the World Famous Diesel Ebook Store.
City of Amathar 