The Cap and Kach Interview

Garlan: This week we have two guests at once, are you ready, Ferune.

Ferune: I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but I am always ready. It says so in my character profile.

Garlan: Our guests today are Caprilla and Kacheena. Welcome to the show!

Kacheena: Thank you very much, it's a pleasure to meet you two.

Ferune: Wait a minute. I see two young women. Kacheena, aren't you supposed to be a dragon?

Caprilla: She's supposed to not let anyone know. What other beans did you spill, Kacheena.

Kacheena: I didn't say anything at all.

Garlan: It's quite all right, ladies. Thomas told us, Your secret is safe with us.

Caprilla: Oh and it's not going to go past you two? You're blogging this!

Ferune: No really, your secret is safe. Nobody reads the blog.

Garlan: She's right. We've had almost zero traffic since these interviews began.

Caprilla: Almost?

Ferune: Garlan, can I treat these as hostile interviewees?

Caprilla: You haven't seen hostile yet.

Kacheena: Caprilla!

Garlan: Ferune! Let's just relax for a moment shall we? That's right, get back in your seat. Good. Now. Caprilla I see that you are an elf. That's a treat. We haven't had an elf on the show yet.

Kacheena: And you still don't have an elf on the show.

Garlan: What do you mean?

Caprilla: Shut it, Kach!

Ferune: Ha! I get it. She's disguised as an elf, just as Kacheena is disguised as a human woman. What is she really?

Kacheena: So you haven't read our story, Path of the Dragon, in Tales of Vorallon? That makes this even more interesting. You don't know anything about us.

Caprilla: And we should keep it that way.

Garlan: In the interest of moving forward, Kacheena, since we already know you actually are a dragon, perhaps you can tell us a bit more about yourself?

Kacheena: That's a great idea. You had Jill Hammond here last week. I am not as big as she is. We met at the Tower a short time ago while she was taking a tour - a meet and greet in preparation for future stories. Anyways, we're about the same age in actual years, but she's much bigger because of her origin.

Ferune: So you are a great dragon too?

Kacheena: Yes, natural born. I don't say that to descriminate against Jill though, she's awesome. What I mean is that I am much smaller. I won't be Jill's size for many years.

Garlan: What is this Tower you mentioned?

Caprilla: Don't answer that.

Kacheena: I don't have to tell them everything, Cap. Trust me.

Ferune: Another secret?

Kacheena: Well, we have a lot of those. We're kind of special operatives, so sorry, but there are a few details we are going to skirt around. The Tower is my home, the place where I was born and raised.

Ferune: So you have parents?

Garlan: Of course she has parents. Dragons don't just spontaneously spring into existance.

Ferune: Hello? Do you not remember Jill Hammond? We were just talking about her, moron. She has human parents, but as a dragon, she did just come into existance.

Kacheena: It's all right. Yes, I do have parents. Karanath is my father, and Seccula is my mother. And yes, they live in the Tower as well.

Ferune: Is there any other significance to this Tower?

Caprilla: Our story in the Tales of Vorallon takes place several thousand years after the events of the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy.

Ferune: I wasn't asking that, but thanks for volunteering. I take it you don't want me to ask any more questions about this Tower? Very well. What is Vorallon like during the time of your story?

Caprilla: It is a new age following the time of growth. Vorallon has been fully repopulated. There are people living on every continent. Halversome is a place of ancient legend. Nobody among the human races has any idea that it truly existed. It's the age of conflict where borders are drawn between the lands of men.

Garlan: And you can Kacheena are special operatives during this time? Like secret agents?

Caprilla: We're just two adventurers.

Ferune: That's not what Kacheena said. Who do you two work for? What's really going on here?

Kacheena: We can't answer that.

Ferune: That seems to be the theme here. Garlan, why are these two even here if they refuse tell us anything? This is supposed to be an interview.

Garlan: We have to run with it. Thomas set this up like he has all of our interviews.

Ferune: I'd rather be talking to him right now, these two are useless and teats on a boar.

Caprilla: Hey, I don't have to take this kind of abuse.

Ferune: Too bad, sweetheart. You two are abusing our show and our patience.

Caprilla: Patience?! That's it, Kach, we're leaving.

Ferune: Not soon enough. Worst interview ever!

Garlan: Ferune, please. Caprilla, Kacheena, please stay. My sister is a bit high spirited. I'll have lunch brought in. How does that sound?

Kacheena: Oooh, can I get lamb, it's my favorite.

Garlan: Lamb it is, perfect. See Ferune, we're learning something about them already. How about you, Caprilla, do you like lamb as well?

Caprilla: Just a salad for me, thanks. Perhaps some wine with that too?

Garlan: Certainly! We'll have that very quickly. The staff here is great.

Ferune: Just a salad, huh? Don't eat meat, Caprilla?

Caprilla: No, I do not.

Ferune: Well, you're not a dragon, that's for sure.

Kacheena: (laughs) No she's not.

Caprilla: You don't have to concern yourselves with my eating habits.

Garlan: I won't lie about being intrigued, but we talk about other things. When Thomas informed us that we were interviewing the two of you, he told us you were among his oldest of characters. Can you tell us anything about that?

Kacheena: Technically that's just me. Caprilla is not one of Thomas' characters originally.

Ferune: Wait. What? Are you from another author, Caprilla?

Caprilla: No.

Kacheena: Let me explain, before you two get into it with each other again. I didn't start as a story character. I began as a player character, as did Caprilla. The both of us began life around the gaming table. We haven't been played for years though. Not since before Thomas began writing.

Caprilla: What you see of us in the stories now is more fanfiction. Thomas isn't telling stories that happened around the gaming table.

Garlan: So these stories are going to be all new adventures for you?

Kacheena: Mostly, there will be bits and pieces that have their roots around the table. All of his stories do. He and his friends used to stop playing for hours at a time to discuss magic and fantasy things as if they were real.

Ferune: I always knew he was a wackjob.

Caprilla: That's not what she meant. Haven't you ever discussed something that's imaginary as if it were real? Like vampires and ghosts?

Ferune: Who says those aren't real?

Garlan: Easy there. I see what Caprilla means. They discussed things as though they were real to really dig into them and create the answers to questions they had about things like how magic works or how dragons could fly. They deconstructed elements of fantasy.

Kacheena: Yes, that's it. Those are they types of things which are threaded throughout Thomas' stories.

Ferune: So we're not going to get a retelling of any table top adventures in Thomas' stories?

Kacheena: No. Never will. Those adventures were part of everyone around the table. Thomas doesn't claim any ownership over what happened. Neither can that gestalt experience be portrayed in a written story where the experience is purely between the words and the reader.

Garlan: I see. Yes, that's an entirely different experience. What we see in the stories, is it Thomas' world then. The world he gamed with?

Kacheena: Loosely. He's recreated Vorallon for his stories. There are many elements in parallel, but it's not the same. Even the name 'Vorallon' is something that was never in the gaming adventures. Aran, Lorn, and Chreen were however. They were the Lords of Balance in his world. They set a lot of adventures in motion. Their backstories exist only in Thomas' books though. Lord Aran does borrow some of his playful nature from his namesake around the gaming table, but that's as close as the two come. Look to the foundations of things for the real similarities.

Garlan: I am not sure I understand.

Kacheena: In a fantasy world, with elves, and dwarves, and ogres, and dragons... What allows civilization to exist. Shouldn't the ogres and dragons have ended up eating everyone else? It gets worse though. We have things like demons and wizards too. How did all these creatures and beings of power not wipe man off the planet while man was still hunting deer with stone-tipped spears?

Ferune: That didn't happen though. Man was never a primitive upon Vorallon.

Caprilla: Exactly. Vorallon was populated artificially by the Celestials, or Old Gods as they've been most often referred to. Beings were placed upon Vorallon in very controlled numbers. Then Dakkar came along and nearly wiped everything out in the Gifts of Vorallon books. Now, thousands of years later, Vorallon has been repopulated. This is the foundation. How these things happened - this is all rooted in those between game discussions. Thomas took ownership of many of those ideas and used them as the foundations of his multiverse.

Garlan: That is fascinating.

Ferune: And very geeky too.

Garlan: No, Ferune, seriously. This is unique worldbuilding. It also means our two guests were roleplayed extensively before ever being placed within a story. It's as though they already existed as roles played by actors. They're one step closer to real people than you and I will ever be.

Ferune: They could always make a movie about us. I'm available.

Caprilla: Oh, please.

Ferune: Is that where your attitude is coming from? I am going to take a guess and say without your elf disguise you're a cow.

Caprilla: That's it. I'm killing her.

Ferune: You and what army, Bessie?

Kacheena: Time to go, Cap.

Caprilla: I am not a cow.

Ferune: I guess we'll never know, you won't tell us.

Caprilla: I've had enough of you. We're leaving.

Ferune: Good.

Caprilla: You're going to be in a story again, Ferune, and when you are, I am going to find you. We'll have this out, count on it.

(studio door slams)

Garlan: Okay, they're gone. Ferune, I have never been so ashamed of you. You were so rude... Why are you smiling? You just made an enemy, and you are sitting there smiling your ass off.

Ferune: You heard what she said, didn't you?

Garlan: Yeah, she's going to have it out with you. Her best friend is a dragon, and you don't even know what she is. You're screwed.

Ferune: No, before that. It's the best news I've heard in weeks! I'm going to be in a story again!

Garlan: But-

Ferune: She can blow me! It's not like I haven't died before.

To find out more about Kacheena and Caprilla's secrets, check out their stories in Tales of Vorallon!

Garlan and Ferune can be seen in the humorous, adult, choose-a-path adventure Damned in the Illmire Swamp - Read for free on WriteOn 

Garlan and Ferun Interview Jill Hammond

Garlan: We're outside today, waiting for our guest, Jill Hammond, to arrive. Are you ready, Ferune?

Ferune: I didn't put on barbacue sauce flavored perfume, if that's what you mean.

Garlan: Do you even have any?

Ferune: Sure, I spritz it on whoever's leading us into the dungeon so monsters find them irresistable, instead of me.

Garlan: (sighs) At least it's a beautiful sunny day in the meadow. Our guest today, for those who don't know, is a dragon. The first to join us on our show.

Ferune: I'm not sure I like the implications of that - are there going to be more?

Garlan: I wouldn't say it's outside the realm of possibility. Dang, where'd the sunlight go?

Ferune: Look up, moron.

Garlan: Oh, our guest is arriving.

Ferune: It looks more like she's power diving us. Crap!

Garlan: She's coming in fast. Brace yourself!

Ferune: Now you're just being nasty - oof! Damn!

Garlan: Welcome to the show, Jill. You'll have to pardon my sister, Ferune, the wind from your landing knocked her down.

Jill: Oh, I'm sorry. I wanted to give your viewers an impressive show.

Ferune: (dusting the seat of her pants) we have readers, not viewers - this is a blog show.

Garlan: You still got some grass stains back there, Ferune. Are you okay? I told you to brace yourself.

Ferune: Yes, and that's something no girl should ever hear their own brother tell them. Welcome to the show, Jill!

Jill: Glad to be here. It's nice to visit Vorallon too.

Garlan: That's right, you're native to the Earth universe aren't you? Let me say you are very impressive. For our readers: I am standing where my gut is telling me is way too close to an almost ninety foot long predator. She's covered in thick scales the color of a deep blue sky, and looks like she could easily pluck a mammoth from the ground.

Jill: Oh, no. A mammoth is too heavy for me to lift. I'd have to just pounce on it an eat it where it fell.

Ferune: You're not hungry right now by any chance? We're fresh out of mammoths.

Jill: That's a shame. (Jill laughs - a deep booming sound that echoes across the meadow) It's okay, I ate before coming.

Ferune: And that's another subject I don't want to get into at the moment. Tell us, Jill, you are from the Terminals books, but you didn't begin life as a dragon, did you?

Jill: I was a human woman, well a teenaged girl, before my transformation. I was one of the Terminals, though we prefer the term 'special'.

Garlan: But you are the only special who underwent such a drastic transformation. What can you tell us about that?

Jill: Yes, the other specials on the team remained quite human looking after their treatment. I didn't even know what I was becoming at first. I was just scared about turning into a monster. I brought some pictures that Thomas graciously painted of me through the process. This first image shows the beginning, while I still looked a bit human.

Ferune: That's wild. I bet you thought you were turning into a werewolf or something. Did this transformation hurt?

Jill: No, I'd endured enough pain with my cancer before getting the mutagen treatment. My transformation was completely painless, though it had it's mental hurdles.

Garlan: It must have been frightening. I read the Terminals books, the monsters described in there were horrifying, and very nasty.

Jill: I was fit to be tied more than a few times. I was more afraid of becoming a monster on the inside than on the outside. The world was full of villains already, and I thought I was becoming another one. None of us knew at the time just what was behind it all.

Garlan: Don't get into spoiler territory.

Jill: I won't. Finding out what was behind the lucky ones, and the Red Event that made them, is a crucial plot of the story. Suffice to say, I am quite happy with how I turned out.

Ferune: Is there any of that teenaged girl left in there at all?

Jill: Yes, I have all her memories, and I retain her name, but I am not that girl any more. I am fully a dragon. Actually, wrestling with the new instincts and desires of a dragon were the most challenging part of my transformation. Up to the point shown here, I was still a girl in a dragon's body.

Garlan: Did you know here that you were becoming a dragon?

Jill: Yes, this is the point where none of us could deny what I was changing into. The dragon instincts where harder to deal with until the girl I was became one with the dragon.

Ferune: How would you describe being a dragon?

Jill: It's wonderful. I relish doing dragon things. I am fast and strong, and I can fly which is freedom itself.

Garlan: You are a superhero as well as a dragon though.

Jill: I am a bit tougher than a normal dragon, and I grew to the size I am now much much faster, but that's about all the difference between me and a great dragon of my size.

Ferune: A great dragon? Is that something special?

Jill: I suppose it is. Dragons come in many varieties. Some grow to be no bigger than your arm, and they aren't terribly smart. The ancestral dragons, the first of us, were no larger than twelve to fourteen feet in length. I am really enjoying reading about them in The Allero Genesis. Thomas is letting people read it for free on Writeon while he's working on it.

Garlan: I am enjoying it too.

Jill: A great dragon grows throughout their life. One I have met, Rizjar, is over five hundred feet long, and massive, but he's also over twenty thousand years old. Great dragons just get stronger and bigger as they age. From here on out, I am going to age as a normal dragon. I'd say right now I am about the size of a sixty or seventy year old, though I only just turned eighteen. My transformation came with this boost in size.

Ferune: Don't be in any rush to get bigger. Why in the multiverse would dragons need to grow so large?

Jill: Well, great dragons are a special case; they were bred for war on the world of Dakkar. War with each other. Very few survived what happened there.

Garlan: Dakkar? Wait, that's the world whose spirit became the God of Undeath.

Jill: Sadly, that's true. Rizjar is one of the few who survived that - I can't say more without spoiling upcoming stories. The story I am in next will be about our journey to find those survivors, or other great dragons that may have evolved in other universes. It's going to be a major exploration of the multiverse.

Ferune: Do you have any idea when we can expect to see that?

Jill: No. only that Thomas plans on working on that as soon as The Fire of Falraan and Behind the Stars are complete - the ideas are still percolating, he says.

Garlan: He's already gone a hundred years into into the future of the Red Event with Another Day in the Forces - which is also free to read on Writeon.

Jill: I know. I am going to keep up with that, looking for clues. Already caught one regarding another dragon. I can't wait till he makes an appearance. Thomas is weaving a lot of stories together, but they stand on their own. It's beyond me.

Ferune: Can you tell us anything about the dragons who appear in Tales of Vorallon?

Jill: Oh, Kacheena? She's a dragon like no other, insanely clever. There's definitely some huge clues in those stories. Many tidbits of things to come within the pages of Thomas' stories. Kacheena has a very big role to play on Vorallon. Read it for free, I'm not going to give anything away.

Garlan: We will find out more next week when Kacheena and Caprilla are here together to introduce themselves.

Jill: Are we done already?

Ferune: We don't have to be. We can go as long as you want. Is there anything you miss about being human?

Jill: I suppose I miss the little things a bit, picking out clothes to wear, wearing them, boys, that sort of thing.

Garlan: That's right, you're trying to find a mate, not just more great dragons.

Ferune: ...And you're naked. I didn't even think about that.

Jill: (laughing again) Dragons are nudists. I got used to that surprisingly quick. Our naughty bits are pretty well hidden.

Ferune: Did you really just say that?

Garlan: I think being a dragon means getting to say whatever you want.

Jill: Too true! To address your question, Garlan, yes, my quest for a mate is going to be another big part of my next book. I am really looking forward to it.

Ferune: I bet, you at least have the memories of a teenaged girl in there. I look for mates on a regular basis.

Jill: You haven't found Mister Right, yet?

Ferune: No, I am really good at finding Mister Right-Now, though.

Jill: I think I am going to take off now.

Garlan: Hold on to something, she means it literally.

Ferune: Crap! Oof!

Garlan: And Ferune is down again. Please join us next week for our pair of special guests, and read their story now for free on Writeon in the pages of Tales of Vorallon!

Garlan and Ferune can be seen in the humorous, adult, choose-a-path adventure Damned in the Illmire Swamp - Read for free on WriteOn 

Be sure to check out Terminals: The Complete Saga  - click below for a free sample!

Terminals: The Complete Saga

Garlan and Ferune Interview Lord Aran

Garlan: I hope you have prepared yourself, Ferune, our guest today is a deity.

Ferune: And how exactly was I supposed to prepare myself, scented oils?

Garlan: Welcome to our little show, Lord Aran.

Lord Aran: Thank you! I am excited to be here. Were those cookies for me?

Ferune: What cookies?

Lord Aran: Oh, never mind. What can I do for you two today?

Garlan: Lord Aran, you are one of the Lords of Balance who appear in the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy. You're worshipped by the pure and you're also the Lord of Heaven.

Lord Aran: (holding up his hands) Easy there, I am the Lord of Jaarda, not Heaven.

Garlan: There are similarities, surely.

Lord Aran: Just Lord Aran is fine. I don't want to be confused with anyone else. Vorallon is a fantasy and there's not meant to be any connection with Christian theology.

Ferune: About those cookies...

Garlan: What about the cookies?

Ferune: Nobody told me we had cookies. I take that 'had' is the operative term?

Garlan: The cookies were just for our guest, Ferune.

Ferune: Lord Aran, can't you make your own cookies? Mister fancy Lord of Waters and all that, surely you can make your own cookies.

Lord Aran: Listen, just call me Lord Aran, please. Yes, I can make cookies by transmuting water, but they're not half as good as home made, more like several day old convenience store cookies.

Garlan: In the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy you appear as both a young boy and an adult man, which are you really?

Lord Aran: Both, I suppose. I stopped aging physically at the time I ascended to become Lord Aran. I was twelve, but by my reckoning that was a great many years ago. You see me now as a man in my twenties but in truth that's just an image which is easy to swallow. I thought Ferune would like this image of me.

Ferune: (laughs) Well you are easy on the eyes, that's for sure. Is there a romantic interest in the life of Lord Aran?

Lord Aran: I have many loves.

Ferune: He dodged the question!

Garlan: Ferune...

Ferune: Don't 'Ferune' me. We need a hard hitting interview here. Surely he knows what I meant.

Lord Aran: (standing) For the third time, my name is Lord Aran. I don't know who this 'Shirley' is, but I am beginning to become offended.

Ferune: Oh my god, are you trying to be funny? Nobody called you 'Shirley'. Stop laughing, Garlan, you're just encouraging him - so juvenile.

Lord Aran: So you were asking if I had a lover? I do not have a physical relationship with anyone at the moment.

Ferune: So you are denying have an intimate relationship with Falraan?

Lord Aran: No. I said I do not have a physical relationship with anyone at the moment.

Ferune: (leaning forward) So you did have a relationship with Falraan. When did this happen?

Garlan: I don't think we need to pursue this level of inquiry, Ferune.

Lord Aran: That's quite all right. My relationship with Falraan is very special. Once we even kissed.

Ferune: Kissed? All you did was kiss?

Lord Aran: Well, I also bathed her, and we did a great deal of practice.

Ferune: That sounds a lot more intimate than just kissing.

Lord Aran: I assure you, I was a perfect gentleman at all times.

Garlan: Does this happen in Thomas' upcoming novel, The Fire of Falraan?

Lord Aran: Why yes, yes it does.

Garlan: And this 'practice' you were doing?

Lord Aran: Sword practice. I instuct young Falraan in the art of the sword over the course of many nights.

Ferune: What? That's what you meant by practice? You deliberately mislead me.

Lord Aran: Yes, but didn't it make for a much more interesting interview?

Garlan: I think you've found your match, Ferune. What else can you tell us about The Fire of Falraan, Lord Aran?

Lord Aran: Well, my brothers and I have very big roles in the story. A lot is revealed about us all, especially my older brother Lord Lorn. His gift allows him to remove people's memories.

Ferune: His gift does what?

Lord Aran: His gift allows him to remove people's memories.

Ferune: His gift does what?

Lord Aran: His... Oh, I see. Very funny.

Ferune: Yeah, payback's rough, Shirley.

Lord Aran: (laughs) You win that round.

Garlan: Not to change the subject - Oh, forget it, I mean to change the subject. One thing I have been trying to get my head around since reading the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy is how prayer works. When someone prays to you, you actually pull them to you?

Lord Aran: I pull a reflection of them to me. It's their spirit and consciousness, really. Their physical body remains behind. Only those who have fairly strong spirits are capable of casting a prayer reflection. Sometimes I come to them as well, in which case their spirit and consciousness remains in their body.

Ferune: Booooring! You didn't get to tell us about Jaarda, except to say it wasn't Heaven. What is Jaarda?

Lord Aran: It is a place for the the spirit to dwell between lives. It is a safe place for the spirits of the pure.

Garlan: So it is an afterlife?

Lord Aran: Yes. I collect the spirits of those who die and bring them there. Their spirits are strengthened or healed and they live in peace, very much like a prayer reflection, until they are ready to be reborn into a new body.

Ferune: That sounds a lot like reincarnation.

Lord Aran: That's because it is.

Garlan: What happens to those who are not quite pure enough?

Lord Aran: If they are truly corrupt, they are taken to Nefryt by my brother Lord Chreen. Instead of being strengthened and healed however, they are cleansed - their corruption and identity are removed completely.

Ferune: Is there any grey area at all?

Lord Aran: No, it's one place or the other. There is often a measure of corruption in the spirit of those who come to Jaarda, though their route to purity may be a long one.

Garlan: There's hope for you yet, Ferune. I know that some particularly bad spirits become demons, is the opposite true? Are there angels in Jaarda?

Lord Aran: There are, but they remain in Jaarda, unlike the demons of the stories.

Garlan: Will we see an angel in an upcoming story perhaps?

Lord Aran: Perhaps. I don't have a definitive answer. Thomas hasn't made any mention of such, but it's always a possibility.

Ferune: Does every universe have its own Jaarda?

Lord Aran: No. Many do, but some universes share their higher and lower planes with others that are similar. My Jaarda is unique to Vorallon's universe.

Garlan: I have one more question for you, Lord Aran. You're not the only Lord Aran, are you?

Lord Aran: No, like the planes of the afterlife, there are many Lords of Balance in as many universes. We're not identical though. The first Lord Aran was actually a dragon. Aran in draconic means Light Giver. We all take up his name when we ascend, as do my brothers with their namesakes, Lorn and Chreen.

Ferune: I knew we would eventually get around to dragons. Have you met any Lord Aran?

Lord Aran: I have indeed, they are magnificent beings, incredibly powerful of spirit. I meet them in an upcoming book called Behind the Stars.

Ferune: Can you tell us anything about them or the story?

Lord Aran: They play an integral role in Vorallon's future. Not that people will see a dragon on every street corner, but they will be around. Behind the Stars - at least in part - is about a group of dragons arriving upon Vorallon from another universe. Each one I have met is a very unique character. I can't wait for everyone to meet Sherakk, she is amazing.

Garlan: We haven't heard about Sherakk yet. She must be something very special.

Lord Aran: I have to give a little hint, she is a gifted one, well they all are, but her gift has something to do with time.

Ferune: Time travel?

Lord Aran: I'm not saying any more about it.

Garlan: Fair enough. Speaking of time, we've gone well over for today's interview. Thank you very much for joining us today, Lord Aran. I think we only scratched the surface of all the questions we had for you.

Lord Aran: It's been my pleasure. I'd love to come back again, once I get more material to work Ferune over with.

Ferune: Now you're sounding kinky. I look forward to it. Who do we have coming next week?

Garlan: Our guest next week is Jill Hammond from the Terminals Saga.

Ferune: Yes! We're going to have to make a lot of room in the studio!

Read the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy!

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City of Thunder link =  http://amzn.com/B00BK9R18O

Lord of Vengeance link =  http://amzn.com/B00C3NTGFW

Garlan and Ferune can be seen in the humorous, choose-a-path adventure Damned in the Illmire Swamp - Read for free on WriteOn

Garlan and Ferune Interview Lady Iris

Garlan: I am incredibly excited about our guest today.

Ferune: Visibly?

Garlan: Can you try to be decent today, Ferune?

Ferune: Oh, I can always try.

Lady Iris: She is a fiesty one, isn't she? I believe we will get along just fine.

Ferune: Thank you, Lady Iris, and thank you for joining us for our little weekly venture into the minds of Thomas' characters. Can I start things off by asking you to tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

Lady Iris: (raises a hand and blue sparks dance up her fingers) I am a sorceress of Vorallon. I am also the Voice of Vorallon.

Garlan: We'll tackle what being the Voice of Vorallon means in a bit, but you're not just any sorceress are you?

Lady Iris: So far I have only appeared in the pages of the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy, but if I can talk about my upcomming story, I could go into more detail.

Ferune: The cat's out of the bag already, Lady Iris. We would love to hear about your role in Thomas' next work, The Fire of Falraan. Niether of us have been allowed to read it while he is doing a few final passes.

Lady Iris: Hmm, what can I say? - Sorry, that was directed toward Thomas.

Garlan: Wait, you just up and talk to him? I thought only my sister did that, and only when she wants to risk life and limb.

Lady Iris: Of course I talk to him. I live in his mind, just as you two do - at least when I am not on the page directly.

Ferune: I keep telling my brother to loosen up. Tell us what you can, Lady Iris.

Lady Iris: Well, The Fire of Falraan takes place eight months after the events of the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy. It's late summer and I am very pregnant with my daughter, Fara.

Garlan: You're not pregnant now.

Ferune: (sighs) Ignore him.

Lady Iris: Allow me to explain. I give birth to Fara over the course of the story, and in another upcomming story she is already coming of age - what's a mother to do? Anyhow, continuity of time aside, The Fire of Falraan pits the good people of Halversome and Vorallon against the threat of Dakkar, God of Undeath.

Ferune: Wouldn't this story be more aptly called "The Sorcery of Iris"? Why don't you have top billing?

Lady Iris: My dear friend, Captain Falraan has that honor, it is her story more than any other, though many of us play pivotal roles. I am the story teller as the tale shifts between my attempts to document present events and Falraan's past - the two are intertwined.

Garlan: So you're not blasting things with fireballs?

Lady Iris: Not a one. While I am pregnant, I am forbidden from using magic, or even communing with Vorallon. Everything I do, I must do with only my wits and the aid of my friends. Falraan, however, lets loose quite a great deal with her gift of fire. We unravel many mysteries of her gift in an effort to once again thwart Dakkar.

Ferune: I thought Lorace defeated Dakkar in the first trilogy?

Lady Iris: He did, and he didn't. A fraction of Dakkar's spirit remained upon Vorallon. My Lord Husband has to act through us since his ascendence as one of the Lords of Balance. There are also complications which I can't get into here - suffice to say, this time around, doing battle with Dakkar is a much different affair.

Garlan: I am looking forward to reading, do you know when our readers can expect to see The Fire of Falraan available?

Lady Iris: It's a sizeable story, nearly the size of the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy, but all within a single volume. Right now, Thomas's best guess is that the story will be available in several months. It's been in the works for over three years and there is a great deal of content.

Ferune: You briefly mentioned another story, one where your daughter, Fara, is coming of age...

Lady Iris: That story is called Behind the Stars and it occurs when Fara is a young woman. It is much more of a action adventure and it opens an entire new era for Vorallon.

Garlan: Does Fara have a role to play in The Fire of Falraan as well?

Lady Iris: You mean other than as the main limitation on my actions?

Garlan: I guess you could say that.

Lady Iris: The foundation for Fara is set. The reader learns more about who she is and gains hints about what the Old God's purpose is for her. It's bigger than even I ever imagined.

Ferune: Are there going to be any dragons?

Lady Iris: Yes.

Ferune: That's all we get - 'yes'?

Lady Iris: (smiling) There are dragons in both The Fire of Falraan and in Behind the Stars. That's dragons plural. They have a huge role in Behind the Stars. Connections will be made.

Garlan: Are you talking about a connection with the Earth universe in Thomas' Terminals Saga?

Lady Iris: To a degree. I can't really go into details except to say that the final disposition of the dragons of Dakkar gets detailed quite fully.

Garlan: Right... I suppose that brings me back around to my final question then. What can you tell us about being the Voice of Vorallon?

Lady Iris: Being the Voice of Vorallon is a unique role. I am the only mortal who Vorallon can speak with directly, and through me, he can communicate to others using my gift. He can alert us to dangers that we cannot sense, threats to his wellbeing. Being the sentient, living spirit of the world, he's still quite young and childlike.

Ferune: Will that role be passed down to your daughter, Fara?

Lady Iris: That's the plan.

Garlan: That must put you in a very powerful position. Being a sorceress, the power for your spells comes directly from Vorallon himself.

Lady Iris: Yes. One of my greatest responsibilities is the exploration of magic and its different aspects. You could say I delve as deeply into the subject as Abigail Danson does into science and technology. Our efforts mirror one another.

Ferune: Do you think the day will come that you and Abigal Danson share the same page of a story?

Lady Iris: I am certain of it. I don't know when or where it will happen, but it will.

Garlan: Are you as smart as she is?

Lady Iris: I would never want to be pitted against her. She has an intuitive intelligence that I cannot match, but let's say for any given situation, we would each have our own answer.

Ferune: I pity the fool who gets in the way of either of you. If you do get together, that's going to be one very miserable fool.

Lady Iris: Or it's going to be one very deadly foe.

Garlan: Are you alluding to a greater villain than even the God of Undeath?

Lady Iris: Dakkar is simply an expression of entropy, we will always be fighting that ultimate foe. The sentient universes out there, those who become the Celestials, or Old Gods, must do constant battle with entropy - the cooling and breakdown of the universe. I am sure there are other foes waiting in the wings, forces of destruction and beings of power with their own strange agendas. Will one of them be greater than Dakkar? Possibly, and they certainly could take on a more personal role in a smaller story.

Ferune: That's all the time we have today. Thank you, Lady Iris, for joining us and blowing our minds with things we have no business knowing. You work on a level way above our pay grade.

Lady Iris: Thank you for having me! It's been pleasure - who's going to be your guest next week? I'm becoming quite a fan of your show!

Garlan: Our guest next week is Lord Aran himself.

Lady Iris: Oh, wonderful. Make sure you ask him about bananas.

Garlan: What?

Lady Iris: It's an inside joke. He's my brother-in-law technically.

Ferune: This is going to be fun!

Read the Gifts of Vorallon trilogy!

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Garlan and Ferune can be seen in the humorous, adult, choose-a-path adventure Damned in the Illmire Swamp - Read for free on WriteOn 

Garlan and Ferune interview Abigail Danson

Garlan: I am really excited about meeting today's guest, Abigail Danson.

Ferune: You didn't prepare any questions, did you?

Garlan: What makes you say that?

Ferune: Because, dear brother, you confuse excitement with stark raving terror. For the record, Miss Danson, I am not afraid. I am rather thrilled to interview a supergenius.

Abigail Danson: Just call me Abby, please. I am thrilled to be interviewed by the two of you, though I probably won't be able to answer many of your questions.

Ferune: You don't want to give much away from the Terminals books do you?

Abby: Not really. There are a great many secrets and odd turns in the Terminals Saga that I think it's best for your readers to discover them for themselves.

Garlan: I have read them and I agree completely. How about we discuss a question about genre. From the cover art of the complete saga volume, anyone can see that there is a dragon in the story. Does this mean Terminals is a fantasy?

Abby: I would root it more firmly in mythology, both a mythology of the cosmology of Thomas Cardin's multiverse, and the Greek mythology of Earth.

Garlan: But there's also superheroes and some hard science fiction as well.

Abby: Correct. The genres are rather blended together because of the events which are set in motion. This in not a case of jumping from one to the next, but a true intermixing. It's a very character driven story, and it's one of discovery and growth.

Ferune: I don't think we're going to get much more out of her, at least not any spoilers. What can you tell us about your role in the saga, Abby?

Abby: I'm a lieutenant in the US Army leading a team of special forces made up of lucky ones and specials.

Ferune: Oh, a woman in a leadership position, I like that - a woman of color as well. Do you think Thomas was making a statement?

Abby: (laughter) He discussed this with me at length. There are no shortages of male superheroes. Readers can readily see what categories they fall into from the troubled, conflicted hero to the pure, do-no-wrong hero. With a female hero, there's an open pathway to develop something different, more powerful. None of the female heroes in the Terminals Saga are encoumbered by gender roles, nor, for all their ethnic diversity, are they victims of stereotype. Thomas aimed to set an example with the underlying theme of the story which is that we can all be who we choose to be.

Ferune: So Earth is a world of true equality?

Abby: Far from it, but strong women exist, and Thomas makes a point of not forcing gender roles on his characters. He shows us an Earth that we'd like to see, then fills it with villains and monsters.

Garlan: I loved the monsters in Terminals. They were really brutal.

Abby: Yes, there were a variety of bad guys. By brutal you must be referring to The Balrog, but he is just one of many and some are far more subtle, even misguided.

Garlan: I did prepare one question for you. What is it like to be a supergenius? You seem pretty normal to me.

Abby: Thank you for that, I like to appear normal (Abby winks) keeps my enemies guessing. I suppose you can think of me as the smartest parts of Stephen Hawking and Sherlock Holmes combined. I can look at a machine and understand how it works, I can take it apart and see how to put it back together as a more efficient machine. People are a bit more difficult, but I can see a lot about them from subtle details. I have another ability as well, but I will leave that for readers to discover in the story.

Ferune: You also appear extremely fit - I'm jealous.

Abby: Don't sell yourself short, Ferune. You gotta be knocking them dead yourself.

Ferune: No comment.

Abby: My physique is part of being a lucky one. The Red Event made even the weakest of us more fit than an Olympic athelete, then gave us strength and heightened abilities on top of that.

Garlan: Can you draw the distinction for us between lucky ones and specials?

Abby: Well the specials are the terminals of the story title. They were terminal cancer patients who were subjected to a mutagen compound which turned their cancers into super powered tissues similar to the transformed tissues of lucky ones, only much stronger. Unfortunately, the mutagen is not a cure for cancer, the transformed tissues remain deadly to the host's body.

Garlan: That places quite a short shelf life on the specials. It's sort of a mixed blessing, isn't it?

Abby: I disagree. Before the mutagen, these people were in a great deal of pain, even the attempts to cure cancer do nearly as much damage to the patient as the cancers themselves. With the mutagen, they become strong and healthy. They know they're still dying, but as their cancer spreads, they grow even stronger. If there were no limit to the supply of mutagen, I would have liked to have seen everyone benefiting from its effects - assuming they could pass a psychological profile test - making more villains would not have been good for our health.

Ferune: What's next for you, Abby? I saw that your name is credited to the forward of The Allero Genesis.

Abby: (Nods) Yes, at some point in the future I become curator of the Nexus Library. What I know of it so far is that it's a repository of knowledge for the multiverse. The story of The Allero Genesis came in many forms - it's a very ancient story - and my intelligence was pivotal in digging out the truth.

Garlan: Could not the Lady of Destiny simply have told you the truth of the tale?

Abby: Most certainly, but she doesn't work that way. She recognizes that there is far more to be gained when we discover the knowledge for ourselves. When she tells us, our destiny becomes much harder for her to predict. She did tell me when I got things right though.

Ferune: I imagine this means we'll see you again in Thomas' stories?

Abby: Absolutely. At the end of the Terminals Saga, a rather extensive project is begun. I am really looking forward to it - it may bridge some of the gap between several stories which Thomas has hinted about.

Garlan: Involving dragons?

Abby: I very much hope so. He has a lot of groundwork to lay in a couple stories nearing completion, The Fire of Falraan and Behind the Stars. They will open the door for my team's next adventures.

Ferune: Thank you for joining us today, Abby, I hope you'll be back to share more hints and insights with us in the future.

Abby: It has been a pleasure. You two are very funny in your own stories and in person as well.

Garlan: Thank you! Want to guess who's joining us next week, Ferune?

Ferune: Tornin from the Vorallon books?

Garlan: No.

Ferune: Lord Aran? Wouldn't he be fun?

Garlan: No, though he's coming up.

Ferune: Is it a sexy person of the male persuasion at all?

Garlan: No, not so much, no.

Ferune: (Sighs) All right, who then?

Garlan: Next week's guest will be the Voice of Vorallon herself, Lady Iris.

Ferune: What a surprise, another smart and powerful woman - I'm sensing a theme here.

Garlan and Ferune can be seen in the humorous, adult, choose-a-path adventure Damned in the Illmire Swamp - Read for free on WriteOn 

Be sure to check out Terminals: The Complete Saga  - click below for a free sample!

Terminals: The Complete Saga