As an ongoing promotion for my new novel, Null_Pointer, I will be interviewing some characters from the story.  Today we speak to Detective Bill Plait of the Boise Police Department.  He’s the detective assigned to Joshua’s case in the book.

My View: You have appeared in another story besides Null_Pointer right?

Plait: Yes, I was in the short story, “The Safecracker”.

MV: Did you know that I named you after an astronomer?

Plait: No.  Why did you name a police detective after an astronomer?

MV: I wanted to capture some of his famous skepticism.  I named you after Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy fame.  He’ll never read the book, so he’ll probably never find out about it.

Plait: True.  Although the real Boise Police Department is now following your Twitter stream.

MV: Yeah, I saw that.  I thought it was real cool.  Do you think anyone at the precinct has read Null_Pointer?

Plait: Probably not.  Too busy serving and protecting real people to bother with your fiction.

MV: Let’s hope so.  Still, it would be cool if real cops were reading my crime fiction.

Plait: So am I going to be in the next Joshua Jones Mystery novel?

MV: Yes.  You get to help Joshua track down a Sociopath.

Plait: Interesting.  I don’t believe we have had one of those around here in a while.

MV: I don’t want to reveal too much about the plot yet, as I have not even started writing it.  But you will be in the novel and you will have a prominent role to play.  I may even have you in another short story sometime next year.

Plait: I’d like that.  I had fun working in the last short story.  I even managed to get my kid’s bike lock open.  That lock pick kid in the story was pretty good.  Is he based on anyone you know?

MV: As a matter of fact, he is.  One of my friends at work is a safe cracker and he inspired the story.  Of course, Jeremy is nothing like the dude in the story, that part is all made up.  But Jeremy is a great guy and he sometimes gives talks about his craft.  He has so many cool toys.

Plait: I don’t mean to be rude, but I should be getting back to work.

MV: Well, thanks for taking a few minutes to chat with us.  I’ll be in touch about the next novel.

Plait: My pleasure.

As an ongoing promotion for my new novel, Null_Pointer, I will be interviewing some characters from the story.  Up this week is Steve Lancy.

My View: Glenn, the readers get a pretty detailed look into your basement home in Null_Pointer.  Have you done anything new to it since the events in the book?

Steve Lancy: Nope.  Wait, I did put up a new antenna.  I know, more aluminum trees in my forest.  I’m a Ham, what can I say?  Hey, how come I haven’t heard you on the local repeaters lately?

MV: My radios are old and of late are not working at the moment.  Have you been told that you will be in the next Joshua Jones novel?

Lancy: No, you have not said anything yet.  Am I going to be in Kill Dash Nine?

MV: Mmmm, I have not thought about it much yet.  Perhaps, but only in a very minor way.  KD9 is going to be going in a completely different direction.  By the way, do you game much?

Lancy: Sure, I’ve been known to play some WoW.  But to be honest, I’m not all that into it these days.  I’d rather be listening to my radios or rebuilding one.

MV: Yeah, that’s what I thought.  KD9 is going to feature the gaming community more than the Amateur Radio community.

Lancy: Too bad.  I saw your rant last week about the Wave.  Pretty funny.  I knew that’s what they were talking about when I saw Firefly, too.

MV: You read my blog?  That’s cool.  You may be the only one.

Lancy: I know some other people who check you out once and a while.  But you know, you really should do more posts on technology or Ham radio.  All that Left Wing writing crap is boring.  Know what I mean?

MV: Perhaps.  But I don’t talk about politics anymore.

Lancy: Good thing.

MV: So when it comes to system administration are you a Vi user or Emacs?

Lancy: Neither.  I use Zed.  I started using it a long time ago, and just didn’t feel the need to change.

MV: Any new rifles or handguns that you’d like to own?

Lancy:  I’m real tempted to get that new Ruger SR-22.  Got their 10/22 action in an all aluminum frame with AR-15 specs.  Sounds like a lot of fun to play with.  And it’s American made.

MV: Just looked that one up, and yeah, it looks pretty cool.  Hay, you follow football?

Lancy: Yeah, I like the Bronocs man.  Been following them since before they were in the WAC.  My fav NFL team though has always been the Steelers.  Their having another great year too.

MV: I like the Steelers, but my favorite NFL team are ‘da Bears.

Lancy: Right.  They were interesting in 1985, but since then, not so much.  But then aren’t you a Cubs can too?

MV: Yes I am.  Who do you follow in baseball?

Lancy: Yankees of course!

MV: Well, I guess this is where I say goodbye.  Thanks for coming on the blog and talking with me Steve.

Lancy: We’re going all the way this year!  Yankees vs Dodgers, you heard it here first!  Yankees in four!

MV: Whatever.

You can buy the paperback book from GB Press and keep coming back here, for more character interviews from Null_Pointer.

Meet Dancia Rivers from Null_Pointer

In the ongoing promotion for my new novel, Null_Pointer, I will be interviewing some characters from the story.  Up first is arguably the most popular character in the novel, Dancia Rivers.

My View: Welcome to My View, and thanks for coming on the blog today.

Dancia Rivers: No problem, happy to be here.

MV: Is Null_Pointer your first appearance in one of my stories, or have you been in one before?

Rivers: This is my first time in any story, period.  Although I have been told that I will be appearing in a short story sometime next year, if all goes well.

MV: I think I had better ask this right up front, or risk losing some readers, but are you in fact going to be in the next Joshua Jones novel?

Rivers: Yes I am!  I’m not at liberty to discuss the plot or anything.

MV: I understand.  Can I ask if you and Joshua will still be an item?

Rivers: You can ask.

MV: Heh.   Are you?

Rivers: (Rolls eyes) Yes!   What do you think, I’m some kind of floozy?

MV: No, not at all.  I just have a readership that happens to like your character and they want to know these things.

Rivers: Let’s leave my private life out of this, okay?

MV: Understood.  Many of our male readers are computer geeks themselves.  They have been wondering why you use a Mac at home instead of Linux?

Rivers: Oh, you mean the Mac in my bedroom?  That was a hand me down from an old room mate.  She was an art student and had to get a more beefier machine to do Photoshop on.  She gave it to me and I just have not seen a reason to mess with it.  I practically live in the Bash shell at work, so it’s nice to come home and not think about work, if you know what I mean.  But my lappy runs Gentoo.

MV: Vi or Emacs?

Rivers: Please!  Vi.

MV: Not many women your age are war veterans.  What made you decide to pick the Marines instead of the Army or whatever?

Rivers: Because they are the best at what they do.  Semper Fi!

MV: What made you get out after only one enlistment?

Rivers: I didn’t want to die young.

MV: From reading the novel, we know you are a mechanic and drive a modified Karman Ghia.  Do you have any other vehicles?

Rivers: That’s a weird question.  Yes, I own a Vespa that I ride in the summer.  You will get to see it in the next novel.

MV: Did you modify that?

Rivers: Nope.

MV: How’s the recovery been from the gunshot wound?

Rivers: Ah, are you sure you want to reveal that?

MV: Sometimes I just assume everyone has read the book.  Well, we won’t say anything about when or where it happened.

Rivers: I’m fine.  It was not that bad, actually.  But I’m a little worried about what you might do to me in the next novel.

MV: As you should be.

Rivers: Now what’s that supposed to mean?

MV: Never mind.  So when do you finish school?

Rivers: Next year.

MV: Are you a big Bronco Football fan?

Rivers: Not so much.  Sometimes we get student tickets and go to the games.

MV: They are sitting at number five in the national rankings as we conduct this interview.  Must be pretty cool for the students of BSU?

Rivers: I guess.  You’ll have to talk to my brother and my dad about sports.  I’m really not into it.  Geek girl, remember?

MV: Well, for the record, I’m stoked by the Bronco’s success this year.  Did you go to the Fiesta Bowl?

Rivers: No.  Joshua and I had it on when we were coding at his house.  It was cool they won and all.  But like I said, not my thing.

MV: Thanks for coming on the blog and talking to us about the new book and a bit about your life.

Rivers: No prob.  Thanks for having me.

As was mentioned in the interview, you can see Dancia Rivers in the next Joshua Jones book due in bookstores the fall of 2011.  Until then buy the paperback book from GB Press and keep coming back here, for more character interviews from Null_Pointer.