Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

P is for...Pete of the Viridian System, and Peggy of Skunk Corners So why do the best characters keep falling on the same letters? I couldn't miss either of these, so you get both! From the Viridian System stories by Jemima Pett, we have Pete Garcia In a nutshell: One of many exiles from Corsair waiting to be called to arms to rescue the planet from the Imperium, and biding his time with wine, women and asteroid mining. Biggest secret: His ear-ring Favourite line: "Any chance of some food, mate?" As an adventurer and a miner, Pete has his priorities straight! Pete is one of the central characters in the Viridian System books by Jemima Pett .   Book 1 of the series, The Perihelix, will be reissued around November, and work is underway on Book 2! Meanwhile, check out the short stories that started it all: And, from the Ninja Librarian books, we have Peggy Rossiter In a nutshell: the smartest kid in the Skunk Corners school, and the best mathematician for a long w

O is for Kevin Olsen, of the Pismwallops PTA mysteries In a nutshell: Kevin Olsen is a high school senior who plays a minor role in each of the Pismawallops PTA books. He plays football and gets his heart broken a lot. Biggest Secret: He isn't much for keeping secrets, really. JJ finds it easy to get information out of him, most of the time. Favorite Line: "But man, you know, I really liked her." What do you serve when all you have in the freezer is an ice-cold corpse?  JJ and her best friend Kitty struggle to hold the Pismawallops PTA together, and new volunteer Letitia LeMoine isn’t making it any easier.   But when Letitia’s strangled corpse turns up where the ice cream bars should have been, things get a whole lot worse.   JJ has to shoehorn in a search for the killer along with all her other problems: divorce, a 15-year-old son with his first girlfriend, a desperate race to complete the Yearbook on time, and her own tendency to get all wobbly-kneed around the C

N is for...the Ninja Librarian, of course! In a nutshell: A calm, quiet, moderate man who walked into Skunk Corners library one day and became a fixture.   And of course, he's a ninja. Biggest secret: His past. Favorite line: “Does that completely answer your question?” The series is The Ninja Librarian, with three books, suitable for ages 8 or 9 and up (way up--adults love the books too!). And while the narrator is Big Al , there is no question that the star is the Ninja Librarian himself. A mysterious character, he has only a single name--Tom--and has never told Al much of anything about himself, though bits leak through--everyone knows he grew up in the city--some city--and doesn't know country stuff very well. He's quick study, though, and can think of things no one else would dream of. Then he turns around and gets others to think as creatively.   The Ninja Librarian is a humorous set of tall tales set in the highly fictional gold-country town of Skunk C

  #M is for Melly But first, a bonus M character. Mariusz: In a nutshell: bullishly confident ruler of Castle Hattan, and head of the Wozna cola 'global' enterprise, explorer of time tunnels and places he shouldn't put his nose into.   Strong sense of right and wrong, as long as right is in his favour. Biggest secret: he's really very kind and considerate, especially with his employees, as long as they don't notice. Mariusz is from the Princelings of the East series .    Now for the featured character! In a nutshell: Melly is a kitchen-wench in a village in Duria, where Halitor meets her under difficult circumstances. She has a mission to accomplish and she’ll do whatever she must to do it. Biggest secret : her real name. (What? You think I'm giving that away?) Favorite line:  Halitor is worried that Melly might be a princess, since she's just needed rescuing from an ogre. She responds, "Princesses don't peel potatoes.

Two-for One: L is for Lars and Larry Today it's one from my stories, one from Jemima Pett.  Lars Nilsson In a nutshell: Asteroid miner with a murky past and uncertain temper, trying to get through life with as much leisure to enjoy women as possible Biggest secret: His motto may be 'if you can't beat them, join them' Lars is one of the central characters in the Viridian System books by Jemima Pett . The second character is mine: Larry the disembodied eyeballs. In a nutshell: Larry is the manifestation of the AI/onboard computer of the good ship Wanderlust, home of Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer. Being an AI, he thinks fast and knows everything, but has a little trouble with things that require hands. Biggest Secret: Larry is trying hard to develop a sense of humor and other human attributes. Xavier, Larry, and the Wanderlust (and the ship's cat, Kitty Comet), feature in a series of flash fiction on this blog. Stories about the intrepid space explorers appear

K is for Kitty Padgett, of the Pismawallops PTA mysteries In a nutshell: Kitty is JJ’s best friend (see yesterday's post), and she's as patient as JJ is hasty. Kitty actually seems to understand teens. Biggest secret: She has far fewer answers than her kids think she does. Favorite line: "If only she'd learn to say please and thank you." Because Kitty believes that a bit of courtesy will go a long way toward making the world a better place. A favorite scene where Kitty yanks JJ's chain, just enough to prove she's no push-over. From Death By Trombone, Chapter 4. We ate and drank in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the sunshine, blue water, and bluer sky. June sunshine was rare enough on our island that we never took it for granted, and it had felt like a particularly long and wet spring. Or maybe that was my mood, my own struggles affecting the weather, or at least my perception of the weather. At last, mellowed by

  J is for JJ MacGregor In a nutshell: The protagonist of the Pismawallops PTA mysteries is grumpy and tactless and willing to work her fingers to the bone for the school or for her kid. Under it all, she is totally committed to justice and the kids. Biggest secret: Totally has the hots for the police chief. Favorite line: "Tact wasn't one of my strengths."  The Pismawallops PTA is a cozy mystery series (adult, not children's, but not *that* kind of adult), with two books out and a third on the way.  Book One: What do you serve when all you have in the freezer is an ice-cold corpse?  JJ and her best friend Kitty struggle to hold the Pismawallops PTA together, and new volunteer Letitia LeMoine isn’t making it any easier.   But when Letitia’s strangled corpse turns up where the ice cream bars should have been, things get a whole lot worse.   JJ has to shoehorn in a search for the killer along with all her other problems: divorce, a 15-year-old son wit

  In a Nutshell: Aunt Isabel is the aunt of the main characters in Fiona Ingram's The Secret of the Sacred Scarab. She's an experienced world-traveling journalist on the trail of something interesting that just happens to get her nephews (Justin and Adam) into a lot of trouble. It's been too long since I read it for me to pull out a favorite quote, so instead, I'm just going to share my review of the book from January 2015. And it makes a nice reminder that I'm overdue to read the second in the series!   Click the cover for purchase link. Title: The Secret of the Sacred Scarab Author: Fiona Ingram Publisher: iUniverse 2008, 272 pages Source: I'm actually not sure; it's been on my ereader for quite a while. I either won it in a give-away or picked it up on a free day, I think. This fast-paced adventure is by one of my fellow BookElves .  Publisher's Summary: A thrilling adventure for two young boys, whose fun trip to Egypt turns into a dangerously e

  H is for Halitor the Hero In a Nutshell: Halitor is a hero-in-training who has a terrible tendency to be klutzy. Biggest Secret: He is scared to death of girls, known to him as Fair Maidens. They make him especially clumsy. Favorite line: " The Hero's Guide to Battles, Rescues, and the Slaying of Monsters say so." Doesn't matter what's going on, Halitor expects it to match the instructions in his textbook. A Fair Maiden who breaks all the rules. A Hero who fails everything by the book. It'll be the adventure of a lifetime...if they live past breakfast! Publisher's Blurb: Halitor has failed at every apprenticeship under the Ice Castle. He figures it’s his last chance when his parents foist him on Bovrell the Bold as an apprentice Hero, and he pores eagerly over the Hero’s Guide to Battles, Rescues and the Slaying of Monsters. But Halitor infuriates his master when he drops his sword and gets rattled around Fair Maidens. When his master abandons