This post discusses Zen from Dove Without Wings (No More Heroes)
Spoilers have been “whited out”

So, in my Often Clueless way, I just noticed that Raeven tagged me in the character blog hop. (You can read her post here, which I strongly suggest if you are, like myself, a Seth fan.)

I decided to go with Zen for this one. I’ve drabbled about him a couple times, and also I recently ordered 30 copies of his book, so the guy’s been on my mind. 🙂 Incidentally, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m sort of paranoid about spoilers. So, any answers that give away important plot points are ‘whited out’ and between (( these )). If you’ve already read his story, or aren’t bothered by insider knowledge, you can highlight them to read them.

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

His full name is Dr. Zenaida Macroura Dove. He prefers being called Zen, but will generally answer to “Dr. Dove.” His is, at the present moment, one of only three characters I’ve given middle names. (Four if you count my alter ego,  Hannah). Zen is quite fictional.

2) When and where is the story set?

FASCINATING question, actually! I can’t take credit for his world; all of that goes to the lovely editors of the anthology: Wayne Goodchild and Bill Tucker. Here’s the premise for No More Heroes: We have a world filled with Superheroes and Supervillains. Familiar, right? Villains make trouble, Heroes swat them down, repeat. Except prior to page 1 of the anthology, the Villains win. (Yeah, you heard me.) So, the anthology explores the question of “Now what?”

When the anthology opened, they introduced the world and provided a big cast of Heroes and Villains and challenged authors to create stories within this shared world. (Zen is still mine, though. We were allowed to bring in our own characters to supplement the Supers.) I thought this was such a neat idea, had an enormous amount of fun with my story, and was just plain giddy when they decided to include me.

3) What should we know about him?

Well, he’s a math guy, rather on the brilliant side, which is why he is ‘recruited’ by a select group of Villains. He specializes is Julia Sets (Which are awesomely pretty. Do a quick Google search when you have a minute.) He’s very mellow, in a jaded kind of way, which made him fun to work with since so many of my characters are extra emotional.

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

You mean besides the fact that his world is overrun by Villains with free reign? Well, the set up for the story is that a subgroup of these villains kidnap him and want to use his mathematical genius to create a secret machine (( that will allow them to return to their own worlds. They are weary of the other villains and hope they can manipulate Zen to play for their team. )) Zen isn’t easily manipulated, but finds his own reasons for helping them. The thing that really messed up the guy’s life happened prior to the story’s beginning (( His teenage son was killed in the Cataclysm, and he never quite recovered from losing him. ))

5) What is the personal goal of the character?

(( Zen wouldn’t do anything if he wasn’t playing a double angle. As he helps the group of Villains, he secretly works with the underground network of Heroes who survived the last attack. But even THAT is a front for a more personal motivation, which…. Argh! You know what, friends? I can’t make myself post the ending. It’s one of my favorites. If you’re really dying to know, send me a message through my contact page. Sorry to be a tease…))

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

Zen’s story is called “Dove Without Wings” – a play on his name and how he feels trapped by the sorry state of his world. The title of the anthology is No More Heroes. And you can read more about it on Amazon here, or Goodreads here. Or if you had any questions and wanted to post them in the comments, I just love chattering about this book!

7) When can we expect the book to be published?

‘Tis published right now! 🙂 Available through Amazon, Createspace, and I’m also planning on selling copies at a Comic Con in Deleware this August. (More on that adventure later!) I’m also toying with the idea of doing a giveaway on the blog here if I get enough interest in it.