Abby was Elder Calhoun’s beloved daughter. There was a ton of stuff he did wrong, but he truly loved and cherished her, and he wanted her to be happy. Abby was deemed unfit for service and basically left alone by everyone as a child, so she never received an education or combat training. People didn’t even really talk to her, which contributed to her language disorder. They’d pat her on the head and send her on her way.
However, Elder Calhoun wanted his daughter to have honor and glory, and after the debacle with Edward Yazzie, he felt that the time was right for her to go out in the world. He purposely chose a large, powerful team led by the distant nephew of his friend, Elder St. James, and placed her there. He genuinely believed that Abby would forget all about Edward if she were to busy herself fighting crime.
Tag: Battlecry Series
What would/did happen to trainees who never got a spot on a Superhero Team (due to no vacancies, or maybe being pregnant when a vacancy did appear)? Was there any stigma to that?
There were always vacancies, since team members were constantly getting cycled out because of age, injury, pregnancy, etc. However, theoretically the camps would’ve asked Bell to eat the cost to the city that took the extra superhero.
In such a situation, there would’ve been an enormous stigma.
How late could someone in the camps present powers before they were deemed non-super and adopted out? Did any of the rejected children then manifest powers in later life?
The very latest is around age six, since there are systems in place to help children find their powers. Even really subtle powers, like Eleanor’s, would be discovered early.
Very, very rarely they’ll get it wrong. In that circumstance, they evaluate on a case-by-case basis. A child with a combat-worthy power would be returned, but a non-combat one wouldn’t.
Was Jill’s dad ever considered for a strike team, like Ember was? If he was, why didn’t he serve? Even short range power blocking seems like it could be incredibly useful to a strike team.
All people in the camps are evaluated on powers and personality. Jill and her father were knocked out on the latter; Toby is just a jerk who was deemed likely to argue with his commander, and Jill was determined to be too independent.
Hi, Ember hater here. Did she ever get verbally called out for being such a cruel, self-involved hosebeast? Not only did she let Benjamin think his wife was dead, she made him experience the loss TWICE because she wanted a minute to still be his friend. Not to mention she took Reid’s virginity and then dumped him for not becoming enslaved to her thoughts and opinions. If they had been gender reversed we’d be calling for her head on a stick for that last part,
Hi Ember hater!
I’ve been waiting for this message. I didn’t know who was going to send it, but I knew it was coming. Frankly, I’m surprised it took as long as it did. This might surprise you, but I completely agree. Ember is kind of a jerk. Her trick in the helicopter to hurt Benjamin was nothing more than cruelty. It fell in line with the main theme of Mercury–the horrible, foolish things people do when they’re in pain.
Gonna be blunt: Ember is selfish. Ember is emotional, manipulative, and her morality is deeply Ember-centered. I’d hinted at this in the first two books, but Jill’s narrative filter always explained away Ember’s choices. Jill is love-starved and responds to kindness; watch carefully how she describes people. If she perceives someone as a friend/force for good, she’ll describe them as attractive. Benjamin, however, did not worship Ember the way Jill does, and what we see of Ember is a much more neutral depiction. Ember is at the end of her rope in Mercury, and what we see of her is truly her worst side. But it’s definitely her.
As for Ember dumping Reid, I’ll say that I’m kind of on both sides with that. For one thing, the Sentinels were an extraordinarily violent and unpredictable group of men, and I’d be deeply concerned if Mr. Dodge were to suddenly join them and start gunning people down, no matter the reason. Ember’s goal from book one, page one was to keep herself safe. She had to wonder if Reid would even turn against her for some reason. After all, he’d turned against his upbringing at the drop of a hat, and the Sentinels were openly hostile to superheroes.
As for the gender reversal, I’d argue that the pain of his personality transformation was underlined by the fact that he’d taken her virginity days before. She’d given herself completely to him, believing that they’d always be the same, and that he’d keep his promises to her. And he was being a hypocrite–he’d been so anti-criminal for so long, and he had been against Benjamin joining the team merely on those grounds, despite the extenuating circumstances. There was no way around the fact that he should’ve been against the Sentinels on the same grounds.
On the other hand, Reid at least apologized. He tried to understand where Ember was coming from. He tried to protect her even after the breakup, never once choosing the easier path of letting Ember handle her own affairs.
So, what’s the verdict on Ember? I say: very, very flawed. Far more gray than white. She never did get the verbal dressing-down she needed, but the reason for that is explained by the arc words I chose for Mercury: we don’t always get what we deserve.
is there any “outtakes” or “deleted scenes”?
I have an enormous body of extra scenes/outtakes/deleted scenes. To wit:
Deleted Scenes
Some scenes fit perfectly within the novels, but added nothing to the narrative. I had to cut them. Battlecry has the most of these. My favorite conversation between Ember and Jillian was one of these.
Outtakes
Several scenes were removed because I changed a plot line. Again, Battlecry had the most of these. I cut a major plot line from Battlecry in my biggest revision.
Extra Scenes
I write side material if there is a major event that’s off-page, so I have a concrete version of events to allude to. I’ve written the following extra scenes for my personal reference:
- Benjamin and Jillian’s wedding night (heh heh heh)
- Jillian’s captivity with the Trents
- Patrick’s attack on Ember
- Marco receiving the news that he’d been summoned into service
- Most of the Baltimore team’s time in service
Side Stories
I’ve also written a few side stories from Benjamin’s point of view, and a few others. These were primarily written before Mercury, when I was still experimenting with voice.
Brothers was a story about Benjamin’s first few days on the team. It was about his relationship with Reid, who was rather hostile towards Benjamin for a while. The story covered how Reid warmed up to him.
Lola was a piece I wrote when I was playing around with the idea of Marco having a secret girlfriend. I never could get comfortable with it, so I labeled Lola as non-canon and left it alone. I still like the story, though.
Christiana, Queen of the Horses was a middle-grade short story written for a preteen relative of mine who inspired Christiana. It was a gift for her.
Light One Candle is my favorite, and it was written for a dear friend of mine. It’s about Reid and Benjamin bonding over their shared Jewish heritage. It’s also the closest thing I’ve ever written to a “holiday special.” I may post it next month if there’s enough interest.
The Winds of Change and Chance was the first chapter to a story I wrote about Eleanor and how she met Dean and the Sentinels.
The Beautiful Canvas was a short story from Jillian’s point of view about Will Rowe, and delved into his psychology a little bit.
Thanksgiving was an exercise in which I practiced team-wide dialogue, as well as played around with a few plot ideas I’d had. It takes place a few days after Battlecry’s epilogue.
What were Jill’s sister’s and parents’ powers? And how is Jill’s relationship with her Mom and Mason? (My apologies if either were killed at the end of Sentinel, it’s too hard a scene to go back and reread)
Allison Johnson had low-level precognition, which usually presented as a feeling about an event in the near future. Before she died, she’d felt a terrible dread all day.
Grace Johnson can cause confusion/disorientation in people through touch. However, it immediately ceases when she’s not touching them.
Tobias Johnson could cancel out the powers of anyone nearby, up to about ten feet.
Jill’s relationship with her mother improved after the penultimate chapter of Mercury, and by the time of the epilogue they were friends. Jill worked very hard to make sure her mother was given a good home, education, vocational training, and appropriate post-cult mentoring. Grace was approached several times by journalists who wanted to interview Jillian St. James’s daughters (Marco’s mom was approached, too), but only after years of recovery was Grace comfortable speaking about her mother. Grace found a great deal of solace in her new career as a hair stylist, where she can spend the day with other women and make people beautiful. She now works in one of Gabriela’s salons.
Jill’s relationship with Mason is complicated. Mason bears the same emotional scars from an abusive father that Jill does, and it’s hurt his ability to bond with his siblings. After the camps closed, he struggled to find his place and identity. His fiancee, Justine, ended things with him, wounding him further. It was Reuben who reached out to him (after Jill confessed her troubles to him) and offered him a job as a handyman around the Fischer’s enormous home. Spending time with the Fischers, seeing how they treated each other with love, and getting time to reflect on the future softened Mason a lot, and by the time of the epilogue, he’s working for a handyman company and dating a lovely young woman. He calls Jill occasionally, and while they’ll never be best friends, they’re both happy with how things are.
Dear Berenice, how is your relationship with Jillian these days? With Benjamin?
Jill and I are cool now. I really admire the work she’s doing to help camp people integrate with society, and she’s generally just a nice person. We hang out whenever she ends up in Baltimore, so about every other month.
My relationship with Benjamin is simply, I’ve made my peace with the fact that he’s in my life, but you can’t make me love it. He and I will never be friends. I don’t hate him. I don’t wish him harm. I’m even happy that he’s married and stuff.
But the man tried to murder me. Period. No amount of do-gooding after that changes the past. We say hello from across the room when we are together and then don’t talk to each other.
Dear Berenice, what’s your favorite kind of pizza? What’s your *least* favorite movie? Would you rather go out in public wearing a kilt, a penguin suit, or scuba gear?
Pizza makes my stomach hurt. Lark says it’s the cheese. But I do like ham and pineapple together, so I’d probably like Hawaiian pizza the most.
I’ve watched a lot of movies in the last few years! My least favorite, so far, was the Hobbit trilogy. I’d just read the original book for school (my GED, technically), and I was so excited to see it on the big screen. Man, what a soulless bunch of movies. And did I mention that I hate unnecessary romance? Ugh.
I’d rather wear scuba gear. There’s something very commanding about it, and if I fall into the water, I’ll be okay.
Dear Berenice, in your own words, what went wrong between you and Jillian Johnson growing up?
Jill took me out to dinner last year. We talked about our childhoods over sushi. It turns out that I don’t like sushi, but I enjoyed the conversation.
Short answer: we were both immature.
Long answer: we both have big personalities, and we were both jealous of each other. I was jealous that she had, in my opinion, the superior powers. I was stronger, but she was faster, more agile, and had better reflexes. She could outsmart me in fights and make me look stupid. She, it turns out, was jealous of how petted I was by my parents. I have a great relationship with my parents, and my sister before she died. This did not go unnoticed.
There was a lot of posturing and bullying, though I have to admit that I was more likely to be the bully. I did and said some things that I’m truly sorry about, and I hope that Jill doesn’t think back on them with pain. We’re friends now, and I’m happy about it.
Wide Spread Interests 