The Characters

 

This has to be the funnest and toughest part of the research for this book.

 

• Earth Animals

  • A Bottlenose Dolphin I went to a number of sources on the internet for dolphins: wikepedia, dolphin fact sheet, why dolphins are deep thinkers and dolphins are using sea sponges as tools. Like most highly intelligent creatures some have interesting (as in not very pleasant) behavior issues. Here are some sources for that information, be warned it is not good: infanticide and job security? dolphins behavior might explain human issues and the dark secrets that dolphins don't want you to know. These are just a very few of the sources I used. Dolphins are also wonderful, complex, playful, and brave. Here are sites which help to collaborate my statements: dolphins helping humans, is a dolphin a person? and wild dolphins. These and more have helped me to create Zeghes. I hope you love him as I do.

  • A Snow Leopard I went to a number of sites on the internet for snow leopards. wikipedia, snow leopard trust and Panthera. Snow leopards tend to be solitary creatures. This made it much more difficult to come to a conclusion about what a snow leopard’s personality would be. Here is a good example of how I achieved what I’m happy with. Leopard purrs when being pet. It was also important to read many sources to get the facts right. Other sites had said snow leopards had a crepuscular activity pattern (active at dawn and dusk). It turns out that where there are few people, snow leopards may be active throughout the day. One of the sources of my inspiration for snow leopards was watching young cubs at Woodland Park Zoo. They were just as playful as any young cat. Sabu, my snow leopard, is very playful, but reserved about making friends and doesn’t like being forced to do anything.

  • A Hyacinth Macaw I would’ve loved to see a Macaw in person. Instead I’ve had to be satisfied with what I could find on the internet. wikipedia, pet parrot, hyacinth macaw videos and hyacinthine or hyacinth macaw. I could and did spend hours reading about the different animals. Skyler with his long tail seemed like a great toy for Sabu. It didn’t take long for their interactions to find a place in the novella.

 

• Aliens

  • Ytell, the giant, alien raptor Who isn’t amazed at the sight of a raptor? They are similar to a snow leopard in their aloofness, but are intensely proud and fierce. wikipedia I looked for information on both their behavior/personality and how big they have gotten on Earth. Finding someone to talk to who lives, breathes, and talks raptors was wonderful. I give credit to Lee Merrick of Alaska Falcons for his help. top 10 formidable birds of prey  This site and others were particularly interesting and led to many hours of reading. The Harpy Eagle with its ruff of feathers it can raise around its head caught my eye. Hence, Ytell and others of his species can also do this. For Ytell it is a red ruff. wikipedia The size this bird could attain and still fly helped me with working out the height and wingspan of Ytell’s species. There were many more sites. The research was fascinating.

  • Stick, Amable, Gursha, teachers, other students, and many others: For these and other alien creatures I looked at how amazingly diverse Earth’s creatures are and realized aliens could be just as diverse. There are ideas about what body structures work best for developing sentience in species, but we are beginning to understand just how much other Earth animals with widely varying body have different levels of sentience.

 

• Humans in the story:

  • A’idah, of the Kalasha People The name has an almost alien sound to it and in the area of the world where they live, they are very different from the people around them. I spent weeks reading about, studying, and thinking about these people. Here are some of the sites: wikipedia, ancient history encyclopedia and The Kalasha and the Crescent. These people have a unique culture for the twenty first century and there are very few still living in that culture. This is a area of research it is wonderful/hard for me to go back to. Wonderful because the Kalasha are so interesting and they live in a beautiful area. Hard because the lives and culture of the Kalasha are fraught with danger. Will their way of life survive all of the pressures around them. I read this book about them: our women are free: gender and ethnicity in the hindukush. And then I spoke with the researcher who wrote the book, Wynne R. Maggi. Initially she did not want me to use the Kalasha in my stories. She feared for the people and how some might react. I had to work hard to reassure her of my intent and of the work. Her help was instrumental in getting the characterization of A’idah right. I appreciate her love for the people of Pakistan and hope to share that love with others, while still recognizing the Kalasha are just one people among many I could’ve written about and learned to care about.

  • Alex It was difficult to decide where he was from. I have left it vague as to where he lived and what his genotype or racial type is. I want everyone to see him as being possibly their cousin many times removed. One thing I did do research for him on was his illness. I spoke with a doctor about it. The doctor said when the cause is unknown there still must be a diagnosis. For Alex this became, ‘Failure to thrive.’ Another part of the research for his chronic illness was very near to home. I too suffer from a chronic illness. I came down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Thankfully I don’t have the worst form of it. I am also glad for what it has given to me. Now when others suffer from a chronic illness I can understand. I love that. It is also the cause of me writing, but enough about me.

  • Other human characters, there are a number of them and some I did research for in order to get them right in the story. If you want to have a certain type of person in a future story, then please let me know.