Well, David Burkhead has tagged me to take part in the 'meet the character' blog tour. Find David's own post from last week here; http://thewriterinblack.blogspot.com/2014/09/character-blog-tour.html

While I've created hundreds of characters, I'd be remiss to my fans if I didn't do this about one Minu Alma, heroine of the Earth Song series (http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Aria-Earth-Song-Book-ebook/dp/B00L5HCVNQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411879221&sr=8-2&keywords=the+lost+aria).

Follows are the questions about Minu;

 1.) Is he/she fictional or a historic person? 

Yes, Minu is a fictional character created by me as an amalgam of a number of real people. A little Winston Churchill, a little Ellen Ripley, a little Ender Wiggin, and just a dash of Julius Caesar. Minu is a fiery redhead who isn't capable of taking no for an answer, and becomes quickly known as someone who couldn't fail if her life depends on it. 

2.) When and where is the story set?

The Earth Song series takes place over more than 500 years of human history, from our darkest time to our brightest moment of galactic fate. Minu first appears in the second book of the series, Earth Song - Sonata in Orionis, as the descendant of the storied Minu Patoy, the heroine of the first book in the series. 

3.) What should we know about her?

Minu is a very real person with flaws we can all understand. She deeply wishes to follow in her father's footsteps in a world where women are still, in many ways, second class citizens. From the onset of her introduction, she must strive against a variety of forces that array against both her personally, and humanity in its quest to become independent galactic citizens. She follows her father into The Chosen, an organization who works for the alien Tog to repay them for saving humanity from its doomed homeworld. 

4.) What is the main conflict? What messes up her life?

At first it's just opposition from others in her own organization who don't believe she should be where she is, then it quickly moves to alien species plotting to destroy humanity before it can become a real power. 

5.) What is the personal goal of the character? 

Minu is driven by a deep desire to make her father proud, and knows she can never achieve this because he has been missing since the day of her trials to follow him into service in the Chosen. As she matures, her main goal becomes making humanity both powerful enough to resist any aliens attempt to destroy it, and to ally with any other species tired of being oppressed by the more powerful Higher Order species. 

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

Even better, it's already out! You can click on the link above to go to the most recent book in the series, The Lost Aria, or just enter my name (Mark Wandrey) in Amazon and check out any of the books in the series. All are available as eBook or paperback. The series will have 7 books in all, with three in print right now. The 4th book, Earth Song - Etude to War, will be out in spring of 2015. 

I'm sorry, but I didn't end up tagging anyone because none of my friends have books far enough along to want to go into them at this point. But this was a great exercise. Hope you check it out.