Cross-Novel Character Interview: Silas A Supernatural Thriller Meets Blood of Requiem

And now for something completely different...

Today we are trying something new.  We have two fabulous authors, Daniel Arenson and Robert J. Duperre, participating in a cross-novel character interview where worlds, and personalities, collide!

There has been a temporal rift in imagination’s space-time continuum.  This causes Ken Lowery and his dog, Silas, from Robert J. Duperre’s novel Silas: A Supernatural Thriller, to have a chance encounter with Gloriae, ill-tempered daughter of Dies Irae, the evil villain from Blood of Requiem, the first book of Daniel Arenson’s Song of Dragons series.  See what happens when three characters from two completely different universes meet…

Gloriae:  So... Ken.  That is what the commoners call you, yes?  Let me understand this.  You are not a warrior.  Not a king nor conqueror nor hero.  Your companion is no griffin, no dragon, not even a mighty steed.  It is but a lowly dog, a creature that begs under tables for scraps.  Why has anyone written a book about you and this flea-infested creature?  Who would want to read about two miserable, lowly beings?

Ken: Um...huh?  Someone wrote a book about me and Silas?  I thought this was an interview about me commissioning a screenplay for Dan Arenson's Blood of Requiem.  And why the hell are you talking to me like that?  Lowly, miserable?  I'm a freaking screenwriter, I'm not some "lowly being."  And why the hell are you wearing armor in the middle of summer?  Aren't you a little, er, hot?  Doesn't she look hot, Si?

Silas: Woof!

Gloriae:  Get that CREATURE off me.  Down, vermin, down!  Now. Ken Lowly, that was your name, correct?  Listen, Lowly.  I wear armor because I fight Requiem's weredragons, an ancient, shape-shifting evil.  A "screen play" for the blood of Requiem?  I do not "play" with weredragons.  Shedding the blood of Requiem is no game, Lowly.  It is a war.  A war that I and my father lead.  That is why I wear armor. This armor of steel, gold, and jewels costs more than anything you'll ever own, so tell this Silas of yours to stop drooling on it, lest I "pat" him with my sword.

Ken: Hey, enough with the attitude, huh?  Let's try to be civil here. And it's Lowery, Ken Lowery, not Lowly.  Oh, and please get that thing away from my dog.  I'm a little wary when he's around sharp objects, what with him only having one eye left and all.

So listen, if we're being civil now, what's up with this "weredragon" stuff?  Sounds pretty interesting if you ask me, even if it's a little out of this world - but believe you me, I GET out of this world. Also, I'm curious why someone as young as you would be so...mean-spirited.  Heck, you can't be more than sixteen years old! My daughter's that age, and all she can think about is texting the cute guy who sits next to her in class.  What the hell happened to you to make you so damn contemptuous?

Gloriae:  I'm eighteen.  And I envy your daughter.  I wish I could think about cute guys and be a normal girl.  But I was raised in war. The weredragons killed my mother, and many of my people, and I've been fighting them since.  They are creatures from a land called Requiem, shape shifters.  They can become dragons at will.  In the old days, they'd burn crops, and topple towers, and terrorize the empire of Osanna.  I was only a little girl in those days.  My father hunted them to near extinction, and I'm determined to find the last survivors, and to bring them to justice.  If I'm mean, and contemptuous, and cold, it is because the weredragons put hatred in my heart.  What happened to your dog's eye, Ken?  Did he lose it in battle?

Ken: Did he lose it in battle?  Well, sort of.  He was actually protecting me from a...ah, hell, it's a long story.  Let's just say that when you say "were"-something or other, I completely get what you mean.

In that vain, damn, those dragons sound like bastards.  Which is weird, because in most of the fiction I've read, dragons are honorable beings, and you calling them weredragons implies they're part human, too.  And your dad...well, let's just say that hunting ANYONE to near-extinction doesn't sound all that kosher, even if they've done some bad stuff.  You sure your daddy doesn't just have some sort of Napoleon complex?  Do you even know who Napoleon is?

Gloriae: Oh, the weredragons claim to be noble.  They call themselves Vir Requis, a horrible name that makes me shudder.  They sometimes walk around in human forms, and sometimes grow wings and scales and fly as dragons.  How can such freaks be noble?  I mean, what would you do, if you learned your dog could also take human form?  The weredragons call me a villain.  They say I'm evil for killing them off.  But I know that I'm a warrior of light, fighting to rid the world of their darkness.

Ken: If Silas could be human?  When that hap...I mean, if that happened, I'd probably love him just as much.  He's my bud, no matter what he looks like.  I'm surprised you wouldn't get something like that.  Kinda narrow minded, if you ask me.  Oh wait, that's right...you're some crazy chick wearing armor in ninety degree weather who's evading questions about her father.  Like I should expect anything more.  Right, Si?

Silas: Woof woof!

Gloriae: My father?  My father is a great emperor.  A lord of light. He taught me everything I know -- how to hate dragons, how to fight, how to kill.  Everything that I am, he made me.  I-- Oh!  Silas!  Stop licking my face.  Down, boy!  Oh dear.  His fur is soft, isn't it? All right, I'll just pat you a little... there.  You like that, mutt? I think you do.

Ken: Oh, wow.  Look at your face!  I didn't know your features could soften so much.  You almost look...feminine.  You know, you look a little like my old neighbor, Jacqueline...only if she was tall and blonde and a little scary.  I guess Silas just has that effect on people.

You know what?  Forget about the questions.  I'm not even gonna reply to your stuff about your father.  Hell, we all got Daddy issues.  I know I sure as hell do.  But I like you.  You're interesting.  Frightening...but interesting.  You'd make a fantastic character study.  Maybe, if you met the right guy, you'd even open up to the softer side of Sears, you know?  Looks like Silas sure thinks so.  I mean, my wife's the only person he nuzzles into like that...

Gloriae:  Ken, would you mind if... I took Silas for a walk?  I think he'd like to go to the park.  Ready, boy?  Come on, let's go!

Ken:  I'm not sure if that's such a great...wait a minute, where you going!  Silas, come!  Glor, where the hell you going?  Why're you walking toward that swirling blue portal?  Oh no, not again.  Silas, listen to me!

Silas: Woof!


Thank you Daniel, Robert, Gloriae, Ken, and Silas for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Daniel Arenson and his books, please visit his website and don't miss our past interviews with Daniel and his amazing characters:
Author interview with Daniel Arenson.
Character interview with Eliven (The Gods of Dream).
Character interview with Neev and Romy (Eye of the Wizard).
Character interview with Kyrie (Blood of Requiem).
E.J.'s review of Flaming Dove.

To learn more about Robert J. Duperre and his books, please visit his website and don't miss his fabulous past author interview.
Author interview with Robert J. Duperre.
E.J.'s review of The Fall.