Meet My Character (Bruno the Elfy) Blog Hop

Folks, I was tagged by author Dina von Lowenkraft for the “Meet My Character” blog-hop. (Her take on this particular blog-hop, by the way, is here.) This particular blog-hop is designed to help you meet the author’s main character, and know a little bit about him. It’s a fun little exercise designed to help you intrigue people enough to buy your book . . . and what’s wrong with that?

Since my main character is Bruno the Elfy from AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, and I feel like talking about him anyway, let’s get started!

1) What is the name of your character? Is he a fictional and/or historic person?

My character’s name is Bruno (originally Jon, but never “Jonny-wonny,” which means “bunny-lamb”). He’s an Elfy from a parallel universe. And as such, he’s definitely not a historic character. As Elfys are a short, magical race from a parallel universe where none of them are taller than four feet, two inches (and Bruno is much shorter than that at three feet exactly), I think the odds-on way to bet is that they’re fictional.

2) When and where is this story set?

AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE is set during the present-day, on our Earth, in Knightsville, California — a fictional place set near the Sacramento River, with the biggest nearby municipality being Davis.

3) What should we know about him?

Bruno is an orphan from the Elfy Realm, and is the equivalent of a teenager. He lost his parents years ago in a catastrophic accident. He, himself, had to go through a great deal just to be able to walk and talk again. Before he came to California and our Earth, he had never stepped foot outside the Elfy Realm (as most students don’t). And he doesn’t know how strong he is, magically, nor really much about himself at all . . . but he’s about to find out.

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his life?

Well, there’s two main problems.

First, Bruno was captured immediately upon coming through the dimensional gate to our Earth by two humans — the parents of his eventual love-interest, Sarah. They won’t tell him their names, they won’t feed him, they barely let him go to the bathroom and their house is a magical trap that doesn’t allow him to use much of his magic.

But the reason these two captured him was on the orders of a Dark Elf, who’s been masquerading as a human priest and going by the name of Dennis. And that Dark Elf has plans for any Elfy he can capture . . . big, bad plans.

Second, the reason Bruno was sent to our Earth at all is because the Elfy High Council (rulers of the Elfy Realm) did not trust Bruno due to his prodigious magic talent. So they threw him out, even though he’s still a very young man — er, Elfy — and was told to fend for himself.

So when Bruno’s teacher Roberto the Wise quite rightly said, “Hey, there’s something wrong with that!” and tried to save Bruno, Roberto instead ended up in the Human Realm with Bruno, and all Roberto could do was (in effect) substitute himself for Bruno.

After that, if Bruno hadn’t been hidden by Sarah (who again is the daughter of the two nasty humans who captured Bruno in the first place), who has an unusual amount of magic of her own, both he and Roberto would’ve been tools for the Dark Elf.

Instead, Bruno has to figure out how to get Roberto back while keeping himself and Sarah alive and free in the process. It’s not a good place to be in, to put it mildly.

5) What is the personal goal of the character?

The short-term goals: Stay alive. Keep Sarah Alive. Keep Roberto Alive. And master his magic before the magic masters him.

The medium-term goals (forthcoming in book 2 of the Elfy duology): Get Roberto back in one piece, and drive the Dark Elf away so he can never subvert any more gullible Humans again.

The long-term goals: Figure out who he wants to be (probably a world-famous scholar and mage, as the Elfy Realm needs those), marry Sarah, and have a passel of kids with her. (But I don’t think the last thing is likely to happen for a few more books. Truly.)

6) What is the title of the book and where can it be found?

AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, part 1 of the Elfy duology, is available as an e-book at Amazon, BN.com and through Twilight Times Books’ own website directly (here’s a link to the five sample chapters to get you started).

Now, does anyone else want to play?

‘Cause I thought, just for kicks, I’d tag Jason Cordova, Chris Nuttall, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, Jeff Getzin and Betsy Lightfoot . . . (or should I say in a deep, mysterious voice, “Your mission, if you choose to accept it…?”)