I had the opportunity to ask Ms. Ardell to talk
about her favorite character of all time and here is what she had to share with us:
What a
hard question! This is like choosing your favorite friend for a person who has
several best friends who were all given that title for different reasons. I
thought about book characters, comic book characters, TV show and movie
characters, and my eyes swam.
So I
ended up with a sea of people to choose from, and finally cracked down and
said: OK, which of these characters are you nervous to write fan fiction about
because the words ‘I’m not worthy’ ring through your mind every time you
try? Ding...ding...ding!
My
favorite character of all time is:
Merlin
When you think of Merlin, you
think great magician and tactician; the man who manipulated the future of
Britain by making sure Arthur was born to be king and then ensuring that Arthur
took the crown unchallenged. Merlin is the magician who sets the fantasy
standard of magician. He’s usually characterized as having a great sense of
humor while being driven and utterly dedicated his cause. Merlin... was a Slytherin.
:D
The character of Merlin is used
and interpreted by many different authors in multiple book series, graphic
novels, television shows and movies. My favorite Merlin is Merlin Ambrosius
from Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy.
This Merlin had strong magic, but he was also a genius and a lot of his clever
inventions (all ahead of their time) were mistaken or interpreted as wizardry.
He could talk anyone into almost anything, using his in-depth knowledge of
various subjects (that most normal people wouldn’t know squat about) as a
weapon. He would have made a fine king (being that he was a prince by blood and
son of Uther Pendragon’s older brother, King Ambrosius) if not for his aversion
to being around people. He did love his solitude. He was a scholarly hermit. It
also didn’t hurt that he was described as being kind of hot. :D.
There’s also L.J. Smith’s Merlin
from her book Heart of Valor. He
appeared to be just as young and handsome as his student Arthur who he was
raising up to be an amazing king. However, Merlin in this story is half fey and
half human, and hybrids of this nature are highly dangerous because they have a
lot of power, but can be a little...nuts. As Arthur’s reign begins, Merlin is a
sage advisor, but as it continues, Merlin gets bored and causes mischief and
discord, in the end destroying his king.
Then, there is the more
traditional Merlin, like in The Once and
Future King by T.H.White and The
Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy, a sage, old wizard who
says funny things and finds himself in strange situations. He loves Arthur and
will do anything to see him succeed, and laments his failures.
I’m curious about all things Merlin, and if a book
summary drops that name, it has my attention. Now, I’m not saying that I like
all the representations and stories of Merlin out there, but I’m more likely to
give a book, movie or show a chance if I think Merlin might be in it. (Extra
attention if it mentions Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot, Gawaine and Morgan Le Fey.)
Meet Author E. Ardell:
E. Ardell spent her childhood in Houston, Texas, obsessed
with anything science fiction, fantastic, paranormal or just plain weird. She
loves to write stories that feature young people with extraordinary talents
thrown into strange and dangerous situations. She took her obsession to the
next level, earning a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern Maine
where she specialized in young adult genre fiction. She’s a big kid at heart
and loves her job as a teen librarian at Monterey Public Library in Monterey,
California, where she voluntarily shuts herself in rooms with hungry hordes of
teenagers and runs crazy after-school programs for them. When she’s not
working, she’s reading, writing, running writers critique groups, trying to
keep up with a blog, and even writing fan fiction as her guilty pleasure.
The Fourth Piece
(Order’s Last Play #1)
by E. Ardell
Publisher: 48fourteen
Publication Date: 8 July 2016
Pages: 338
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Admitting what you are will end everything you know. Embracing who you are will start a war...
Life is great when you’re good-looking and popular…so long as no one knows you’re a vulatto. Being half-alien gets you labeled “loser” quicker than being a full vader. So it’s a good thing Devon, Lyle, and Lawrence can easily pass for human—until the night of the party. Nothing kills a good time faster than three brothers sharing a psychic vision of a fourth brother who’s off-world and going to die unless they do something. But when your brother’s emergency happens off-planet, calling 9-1-1 really isn’t an option.
In their attempt to save a brother they barely remember, Devon, Lyle and Lawrence expose themselves to mortal danger and inherit a destiny that killed the last four guys cursed with it. In 2022, there are humans and aliens, heroes and monsters, choices and prophecies—and four brothers with the power to choose what’s left when the gods decide they’re through playing games.
Excerpt from Chapter Five:
I bite into a kolache. “It was okay,” I mumble,
mouth full.
“Must not have gone well if that’s all you got to
say,” Monica says, passing me a napkin.
She sits back down on her stool and I stare at her.
She’s in a tight T-shirt that makes her boobs pop and
low-rise jeans that fit her like a second skin. She’s probably
got on cowboy boots too. Monica doesn’t care how
hot it is; she’s always got on jeans and boots, always
ready to ride.
I set the napkin on the counter and lick sticky cheese
off my lips, thinking about what I want to say to Monica
about the party. Hmm. So, it’s like this, Monica. The party
was going great until I had a seizure and ripped apart
a chair. Oh, and I can’t leave out the part where Lawrie
almost drowned.
I grind my teeth. I almost killed that idiot when he
wasn’t dead. I thought for sure when I got down there
and saw him stretched out on the ground that he was a
goner. But then he sat up and clung to Lyle, and the both
of them looked at me like I was as useless as the rest
of the losers standing around watching. And from that
spazz look in Lyle’s eyes, I know he and Lawrie were
probably doing that mind-to-mind telepathy crap.
Giveaway Information: Contest ends October 21, 2016
·
Three autographed book plates with a personalized message (the book
plates have a unique design)
·
Two autographed posters
·
Two $10 Amazon gift cards.
Ciao Bellas,
Ashley
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