Milestones and Visions

Q@A responses!

Thanks to those of you that submitted questions for myself, Rain-Born and Jespar as part of my 50 follower milestone! I promised you answers, and I'm here to deliver! Well, not only me to be fair...

In no particular order, here are the questions people asked and the responses. There were some really great ones in there that I admittedly got more into than I thought I would, so enjoy! And thank you all for your continued support and awesome comments. Look forward to more chapters of Callisto as well as some other projects from me soon.

Is the world Jespar and Rain-born are in Earth after the apocalypse or just has similarities before it became what it is now?

Definitely Earth after a series of apocalyptic events. For now, those events will remain unspecified.

How long has the world the characters are in been an arid wasteland?

Approximately fifteen years. If you look into some of the story details, you'll see that makes Jespar a very very old dog.

Obviously Jespar was some kind of science experiment but he is indeed a dog right? Not a human turned into a dog?

I think it's best you hear the answer to this from the horse's mouth. Or in this case, the terrier's:

Jespar: 'Course I'm a dog. Four legs. Gorgeous tail. Huffing capabilities beyond your wildest dreams, baby. The whole shebang. If I was a human I'd have been dead and buried by now. You folks got it rough. I tell you if a human guy curls up in a ball and licks at his family jewels in public he gets a one way ticket to an early grave at worst. Me? I get treats. Maybe even a belly rub.

And, science experiment? I mean...I guess I'm an experiment. But there ain't nothing scientific about it. Hell, I don't even really get it. But I could tell you everything I do know honey. I could tell you exactly what I am. But this dude needs to write his novella and told me to keep the 'spoilers' away. Sounds like a bunch'a crap if you ask me but, hey, I don't make the rules.

What gave you the idea for Callisto/how did you come up with the story and its characters?

A lot of different inspirations go into everything I write. I read and watch some varied stuff – classical literature, pulp sci fi, and Japanese anime/manga to name a few. If I had to narrow down the main inspiration for this story's basic premise I'd probably say Harlan Ellison's 'A Boy and his Dog'. It's another post apocalyptic story about a young man and his telepathic canine companion but its very different tone wise from Callisto and also much much darker. Both of its characters are also clearly depicted as villainous and in writing Callisto I tried to make my main cast more empathetic.

Do you have a favorite character, either from Callisto or any character you've ever created, and why?

That's really tough to boil down but I think the best characters are those that stick with us for whatever reason. Some people, even fictional, you just can't shake off. My favourite character is from a story I wrote years ago titled 'The Last witch,' about the final hours of the last witch on earth after a brutal hunt is carried out against her sisters. The main character is probably the most detailed I've ever written mainly because most of the story is a monologue about her life. I also don't think you see a lot of older female characters in fantasy-fiction especially as the main protagonist. I really really need to find the script of it somewhere, re-write it, and upload it because I honestly still think about that character from time to time.

If Rain-Born and Jespar lived in the 'real world' what would their jobs be and what would they be doing in their free time?

You know what? I'll let them answer that for you: