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Terran Realm Presents Bonnie Dee



For more info about this world, please check out: What is Terran Realm? and the wonderful contest these ladies worked so hard on: The Terran Realm Scavenger Hunt.

The Terran Realm is a rich tapestry of stalwart Protectors, nurturing Keepers, wise Talismans, evil Destroyers, and heroic humans. The TR world leaves a lot of room for artistic variation and since I’m a sucker for the anti-hero, that’s where my focus as a writer has led me.

Meet a pair of classic anti-heroes, Ian Black from “Measure of a Man” and Elyse Greenwood from the sequel “Fruits of Betrayal.” To me there’s nothing more interesting than a conflicted character who earns redemption against all odds and despite him or herself.


Ian’s story:

IanIf I don’t look out for myself, no one else will. I learned it young and the hard way, by knocking around the streets living hand to mouth. But I had something that gave me an edge on the rest of the homeless losers, a little psychic push I never acknowledged even to myself, but which served me well in keeping me safe and helping me get ahead.

I’m an entrepreneur, the kind of guy who has a finger in a lot of pies some legal, most not. Anything that can be bought, sold, stolen or traded, I deal with. Or did until Mirabai Kashi’s path crossed mine—literally. The Spirit Keeper ran into my life in the dead of night in a park where I was having a business meeting. I heard her screaming for help inside my head and the inner voice I’ve learned not to ignore ordered me to help her.

Measure of a ManAfter we got away from her pursuers, I tried to lose her, but she wasn’t so easy to shake. I soon found myself on a cross-country trip with this woman who spouted nonsense about Terrans, Keepers, Destroyers, and her ability to heal peoples’ souls. With my life in danger, I had no choice but to link my fate with hers and head for the headquarters of an environmental group named KOTE. The bad guys were real enough so I had to take it on faith that the rest of Mira’s world was real, too.

KOTE sent a Protector, Justin Foster to help us and I hated the man on sight. He was everything a hero should be, everything I’m not. But in the end after capture, torture and escape, I’m happy to say I’m the one who got the girl. So fuck square-jawed heroes, right?

They call me a hero now, because of what I did to free Mira, but I never cared about saving the world. I just wanted to save the girl and did what I had to do to accomplish it. Am I good enough for her? Hell, no! But I’m not letting go as long as she’s willing to let me stick around.

Elyse’s story:

They say it’s a fine line between love and hate, good and evil. Well, I can testify that’s true. My name is Elyse Greenwood, a Terran Protector…or Destroyer, depending on who’s doing the labeling or how I’m behaving at any given time. But in my mind, I’m just me. Good, bad or indifferent, it’s all a part of who I am.

Here’s the scoop. My mother was an Earth Keeper, born to the work of nurturing the earth. She was warm, loving, and grounded in the fertility of the soil. She made the extreme mistake of falling in love with my father, who some would term a Destroyer for his voracious appetite for power at any cost. That Mother Earth fertility thing came into play and the result was me, little Elyse, with the strength of a Protector and the convictions of…expediency.

Fruits of BetrayalWhen I was little, I listened to my mother’s words and bought into the whole “love of earth” thing. But seeing how our relatives treated her for getting involved with my dad, and how she tore herself apart over it to the point of suicide, I learned an invaluable lesson. “Look out for yourself first and foremost.” My dad took me away with him and I learned a lot of other very useful lessons about how to always stay on top no matter who you have to push down to keep you there.

Was I “evil” when my job with Raymond Brody required me to seduce a Protector, Justin Foster, and discover his weakness? Is any corporate executive evil just because she’s working to rise up in the company? I don’t think so. It’s all about expediency.

But I didn’t count on feeling Justin’s pain when Ray exploited his most vulnerable spot by taking away what was most dear to him and using it to control him. I didn’t count on missing the mind-blowing sex Justin and I had while we were together to the point where no other man could satisfy me. I didn’t count on getting involved with Justin again and helping him overthrow Brody just to get back in his good graces. And I sure as hell didn’t intend to fall in love.

Funny where life leads you, isn’t it? Suddenly I’m on the side of “good,” I’m a “good” girl and all because I wanted a good lay!

——————————

Who are some of your favorite anti-heroes in books, TV shows or movies? Drop a comment and tell who and why you love them so. Also, don’t forget the deadline for the Terran Realm scavenger hunt is 5 p.m. EST on Thursday. Bam will announce the winners.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Guest Author. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

16 Responses to “Terran Realm Presents Bonnie Dee”

  1. bam
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 8:25 am
    1
    Author Comment

    Fabulous post, Bonnie! I love a man who can lie, cheat, steal, kill, AND STILL SAVE THE DAY. Here are my anti-heroes, in no particular order.

    1) Riddick (Vin Diesel in Pitch-Black)
    2) Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion in Firefly and Serenity)
    3) The Winchester Brothers (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles in Supernatural)
    4) Hellboy (Ron Perlman in Hellboy)
    5) Snake Pliskin (Kurt Russell in Escape from New York)
    6) RJ McReady (Kurt Russell in The Thing)
    7) Angel (David Boreanaz in Buffy and Angel)
    8) Fox Mulder (David Duchovny in The X-Files)
    9) Jesse Custer (Preacher — it’s a comic book)
    10) Marv (Sin City — also a comic book, but Marv is played beautifully by Mickey Rourke in the movie version)

    But my favorite HERO? Bear Grylls. Man, I love him. He taught me know to kill a fish by hitting it with a stick and eating it raw. Awwwwwwwww…

  2. Rae
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 8:38 am
    2

    Ian Black is a very cool hero — yes, hero. He saves the day, gets the girl and manages to stay true to his own set of values — they may not be your or my values, but he sticks to them.

    and I agree with Bam — Vin Diesel’s Riddick is hot, hot, hot.

    Rae

  3. Samantha
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 8:42 am
    3

    Aww, Bam already named most of mine. Except JOHN CRIGHTON! Love him! And he still had some sweet ideals even after all the surviving he did in a hostile environment :) .

    Mmm, Dean. And capn Tightpants.

  4. Bonnie Dee
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 8:44 am
    4

    I have to give a nod to the two characters that I not-so-subtly modeled mine on–Spike from “Buffy” and Lilah Morgan from “Angel.”

    My current favorite anti-hero (although I don’t know about the hero part) is Al Swearengen from “Deadwood.”

    Now, do we really consider Fox Mulder an anti-hero? Is he “bad” enough to earn that title?

  5. linda bass
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 8:47 am
    5

    hi bonnie!
    amy invited me. cool site!

  6. bam
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 8:50 am
    6
    Author Comment

    Now, do we really consider Fox Mulder an anti-hero? Is he “bad” enough to earn that title?

    Of course he is! Sure he spouts a bunch of garbage about the truth and stuff, but he’s A LYING LIAR WHO LIES and broke Scully’s heart all the time and ABANDONED SCULLY WITH THE BABY!

  7. Bonnie Dee
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
    7

    Gotta love the Yahoo. I got your email that the post was going live several hours after the fact.

    Hey, completely unrelated to the discussion of anti-heroes, but…How do you get an icon set up on wordpress? Anybody?

  8. linda bass
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
    8

    fruits sounds so good i gotta get it

  9. linda bass
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
    9

    wow i see you are getting some posts and am glad for amy telling me she adored your books

  10. bam
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
    10
    Author Comment

    How do you get an icon set up on wordpress? Anybody?

    Sure, Bonnie. Just click on the blank icon thing and it will take you to a site called Gravatars. From there, it should be pretty self-explanatory. Don’t forget to assign your gravatar to your email! Most people forget that last part.

  11. Ann(ie)
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
    11

    I have Measure of a Man (and about four other of Bonnie’s books on my harddrive). Andres (my husband) is getting some new PDA because he’s all about the toys.

    This means I’m getting his Lifedrive, which has a very nice sized screen. I’m gonna load that sucker up with Bonnie’s books and take them with me to Dallas. Fast as I read, I bet I devour them by the time I get to the hotel on day one! Mmm mmm, Dee-licious!

    Hey, that should totally be her slogan.

  12. Kimberly
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
    12

    I definitely enjoy a good anti-hero! Gotta second Mal Reynolds and Angel, and add in Spike (when he’s not an actual villain, that is). In Anne Stuart’s Ice Blue, I really liked Takashi O’ Brien because of his purposeful, less-than-heroic qualities. Also (and I’m outing myself as a total geek here), when I was a teen I read the Dragonlance books, Raistlin was definitely a favorite!
    Fun question. And the series sounds great!

  13. Bonnie Dee
    Posted: Jun 27th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
    13

    Thanks everyone for stopping by and for all your comments. Linda, be sure to read Measure of a Man first. It’s not absolutely necessary, but a plot twist at the end gets resolved in Fruits of BEtrayal and so you really wouldn’t want to read them out of order.

    Mal, Mal, Mal. I only discovered Firefly a couple of months ago. When it aired, I was still heavily in Buffy mode and wouldn’t even give it a try. I finally bought the dvd set and fell in LOVE with this show and Cap’n Tightpants. I was disappointed when Drive got cancelled after only six lousy episodes. Nathan Fillion can’t catch a break! What’s the matter with networks these days that they don’t give shows any time to catch on?

  14. Cherie J
    Posted: Jun 28th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
    14

    The only guy I can think of to add to Bam’s list would be from Japanese anime. I would add Sesshomaru from Inuyasha. This series sounds really cool. I love series with elementals in it. I will have to look more into it. Thanks for the introduction.

  15. Devon
    Posted: Jun 28th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
    15

    I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that some of my favorite anti-heroes are from Soap Operas. Most of these folks hail from the late eighties / early nineties (my formative years). Todd from One Life to Live, Tad from All My Children, Jack Devereaux and Steve “Spike” from Days of Our Lives. I think these guys are still around, but lame now.

    I have a total crush on Swearengen, even when he’s awful. I will always have a soft spot for Buffy’s Spike, inspiration for so many paranormal romance characters.

    Probably my favorite anti-hero of all time is Sir John Smythe from Elizabeth Peters’ Vicky Bliss series. Selfish, self-preserving thief who somehow always come to Vicky’s rescue. I’m waiting patiently for the day she writes another. 13 years and counting…

  16. Bonnie Dee
    Posted: Jun 28th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
    16

    My girls have Inuyasha on dvd. I’ll have to check it out now.

    And I remember reading Elizabeth Peters long, long ago, but only a few books. I’ll have to check out the Vicky Bliss books. Love me a thief. Good Lord, how could I forget the main reason I developed an attraction to anti-heroes. When I was nine, I saw the movie Oliver and fell in love with the Artful Dodger. That’s right Jack Wild from H.R. Puffnstuff, and if those two references don’t date me, I don’t know what will.

    I have such a thing for an unrepentant thief.

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