© 2020 Ransom Stephens
Characters
Queen Dafina, Dewey, and Loretta from
The Book of Bastards
Born the First Princess of Nantesse and married off to King Gledig to assure peace and trade, Dafina’s life has been assigned by kings. When she ends up alone in a pirate port, Daffy has to face life from the other side. She’s got a lot of baggage but a good heart. Daffy is deliciously naive and the halfling proprietor of The Gold Piece Inn is happy to take advantage of her. Imagine, a royal serving lass! Could destiny be so sweet? The Book of Bastards is an adventure in a raucous fantasy world where friendly faeries keep the peace. But for Daffy, it’s a coming of age tale of redemption and revenge. Dewey Nawton, the cursed, halfling innkeeper is a grumpy, greedy, curmudgeon. Why do I love writing from the points of view of guys like him? The heart of gold? Well, for Dewey, maybe a heart of mold. Thing about Dewey, is that he’s got plans, lots of plans, and lots of connections. It’s the curse that makes him decent. Isn’t it? The serving lass, Loretta, is based on a woman of tremendous passion who helped me a great deal when I was a single parent. She has a way of setting you on the righteous path, whether you like it or not.Simon Wentworth from Too Rich to Die
and The 99% Solution
Simon might be my most lovable character. As caring as he is needy, smart as he is daft, and as innocent as his beagle, Winter. But the best thing about Simon is his relationship with Fiona and Volodya. I hope that you get the same feeling of hanging out with friends that I do. When I sit in my black chair and write Time Weavers stories I spend (waste?) a lot of time at The Intoxicating Page bookstar/bar/cafe cracking wise with these three “keyboard-wielding musketeers.” The real question, of course, is can Simon really see timelines and choose between them? If I get around to writing The Time Prisoner, the last in the Time Weavers series, we’ll find out.Lucy Montgomery from The 99% Solution
A tough, brilliant young woman who navigates the world with a rock-steady moral compass but is too naive to see through a clever deceiver.Eben Scratch from Too Rich to Die
Eben is far more innocent than he seems at first. It’s hard to believe that he has a warm caring heart, until the world breaks away its icy coating.Johnny from The Left Brain Speaks,
the Right Brain Laughs
Some people might think that a nonfiction book on neuroscience wouldn’t have characters, but we know better. Johnny is the country boy who puts a chord chart and his guitar in a gunny sack and carries it to some trees near a railroad track where he practices. He shows us the transition from “playing chords to playing music,” that magic process of learning where mechanical skill joins talent and makes a human a musician. Or maybe it’s the bit where he gets nervous in a bar trying to muster the nerve to hit on Starla, the rainbow gazer, and they demonstrate “spatial resonance” together. Sure, that’s what the kids are calling it these days. Veronica, the lady in the old folks home, who teaches us neuroaesthetics, and Vanessa Mommylove who demonstrated the link between intelligence and intuition, tied for second.Chopper from The Sensory Deception
The migraine-tortured, cigarette smoking, neurologist villain. In a thriller like The Sensory Deception, the villain is the most important character. I’m not a violent or vindictive person, so it took hard work to come up with a villain who you could identify with, care about, but who could still scare you. To make Chopper believable and truly nasty, I built him on my worst prejudices, the most vile opinions I suffered in my youth, and then made him lead a life ruled by migraine headaches. This writing thing can be a tough racket. The name Chopper came from a dog I used to know. A fearless blond lab that played extreme sports.Katarina from The God Patent
Katarina really got under my skin. So sharp, so alive, irreverent, and wild. A real teenager, skate rat, and, of course, mathematical prodigy. But if one word can describe Kat, it’s “curiosity.” And she was absolutely confident that if it could be known, she could figure it out. You might have noticed that Katarina had a lot in common with Lucy Montgomery in The 99% Solution. Lucy was just older, but yeah, I had to get her back in a book. By the way, watch for Kaetie in The Book of Bastards, she’s a sarcastic, teenage badass too.
© 2020 Ransom Stephens
Characters
Queen Dafina, Dewey, and Loretta from
The Book of Bastards
Born the First Princess of Nantesse and married off to King Gledig to assure peace and trade, Dafina’s life has been assigned by kings. When she ends up alone in a pirate port, Daffy has to face life from the other side. She’s got a lot of baggage but a good heart. Daffy is deliciously naive and the halfling proprietor of The Gold Piece Inn is happy to take advantage of her. Imagine, a royal serving lass! Could destiny be so sweet? The Book of Bastards is an adventure in a raucous fantasy world where friendly faeries keep the peace. But for Daffy, it’s a coming of age tale of redemption and revenge. Dewey Nawton, the cursed, halfling innkeeper is a grumpy, greedy, curmudgeon. Why do I love writing from the points of view of guys like him? The heart of gold? Well, for Dewey, maybe a heart of mold. Thing about Dewey, is that he’s got plans, lots of plans, and lots of connections. It’s the curse that makes him decent. Isn’t it? The serving lass, Loretta, is based on a woman of tremendous passion who helped me a great deal when I was a single parent. She has a way of setting you on the righteous path, whether you like it or not.Simon Wentworth from Too Rich to Die
and The 99% Solution
Simon might be my most lovable character. As caring as he is needy, smart as he is daft, and as innocent as his beagle, Winter. But the best thing about Simon is his relationship with Fiona and Volodya. I hope that you get the same feeling of hanging out with friends that I do. When I sit in my black chair and write Time Weavers stories I spend (waste?) a lot of time at The Intoxicating Page bookstar/bar/cafe cracking wise with these three “keyboard-wielding musketeers.” The real question, of course, is can Simon really see timelines and choose between them? If I get around to writing The Time Prisoner, the last in the Time Weavers series, we’ll find out.Lucy Montgomery from
The 99% Solution
A tough, brilliant young woman who navigates the world with a rock-steady moral compass but is too naive to see through a clever deceiver.Eben Scratch from
Too Rich to Die
Eben is far more innocent than he seems at first. It’s hard to believe that he has a warm caring heart, until the world breaks away its icy coating.Johnny from The Left Brain Speaks,
the Right Brain Laughs
Some people might think that a nonfiction book on neuroscience wouldn’t have characters, but we know better. Johnny is the country boy who puts a chord chart and his guitar in a gunny sack and carries it to some trees near a railroad track where he practices. He shows us the transition from “playing chords to playing music,” that magic process of learning where mechanical skill joins talent and makes a human a musician. Or maybe it’s the bit where he gets nervous in a bar trying to muster the nerve to hit on Starla, the rainbow gazer, and they demonstrate “spatial resonance” together. Sure, that’s what the kids are calling it these days. Veronica, the lady in the old folks home, who teaches us neuroaesthetics, and Vanessa Mommylove who demonstrated the link between intelligence and intuition, tied for second.Chopper from The Sensory Deception
The migraine-tortured, cigarette smoking, neurologist villain. In a thriller like The Sensory Deception, the villain is the most important character. I’m not a violent or vindictive person, so it took hard work to come up with a villain who you could identify with, care about, but who could still scare you. To make Chopper believable and truly nasty, I built him on my worst prejudices, the most vile opinions I suffered in my youth, and then made him lead a life ruled by migraine headaches. This writing thing can be a tough racket. The name Chopper came from a dog I used to know. A fearless blond lab that played extreme sports.Katarina from The God Patent
Katarina really got under my skin. So sharp, so alive, irreverent, and wild. A real teenager, skate rat, and, of course, mathematical prodigy. But if one word can describe Kat, it’s “curiosity.” And she was absolutely confident that if it could be known, she could figure it out. You might have noticed that Katarina had a lot in common with Lucy Montgomery in The 99% Solution. Lucy was just older, but yeah, I had to get her back in a book. By the way, watch for Kaetie in The Book of Bastards, she’s a sarcastic, teenage badass too.
