BB: Tell us your name and a little bit about yourself
Dace: Dace. Just Dace. Nothing else. I graduated from the Patrol Academy on Eruus a few months before everything happened. I've got my pilot's license and an assistant engineer rating. Pretty impressive for an orphan from Tivor. Yes, I'm from Tivor, the most backwards planet in the Empire. I only got out because of Patrol survivor benefits. My dad was Patrol, though I never met him. My mother died in the food riots when I was small. My name? I changed it as soon as I got off Tivor. I'm trying to forget I ever set foot there. It was not a pleasant childhood.
BB: What role do you play in your book?
Dace: It's my story, the way I told it to the Patrol officers interrogating me afterwards. Well, mostly. I glossed over some of the more personal bits in the official report. This version has almost too much personal information. You really don't need to know how I felt or what I thought about Dadilan or the people there, but this Jaleta Clegg person wouldn't let me alone until I told her.
BB: How did you meet your author?
Dace: Jaleta Clegg walked in my ship one day, said she was a storyteller. She followed me around for weeks. She wouldn't let me alone until I told her what happened. She's a pest.
BB: Do you get along with your author?
Dace: I'd be happier if she'd go away. Like I said, you don't need to know what goes on in my head or how I feel, especially about Tayvis. *blushes* I didn't say that. Erase it.
BB: Is this your first role in a publication?
Dace: Nexus Point is the first book. Jaleta Clegg wanted the whole story. So I finally gave it to her. All of it. I think it's eleven volumes. I'm glad its over, to tell the truth. I'm still curious to see if she glassed over anything unpleasant or changed it to be more salacious. Like those vidcasts that make everything sound so much worse than they really are. She has a flair for the dramatic.
BB: Do you plan on returning in other books?
Dace: Ten more books to go, then maybe I can go back to being a nobody again. It's easier to trade and travel when no one recognizes you. When your face is over all the vids, people can't help but notice you. It's a lot harder to do anything.
BB: Do you like how you were written?
Dace: I hate how she wrote me. She makes me sound so incompetent. How would you act if you were suddenly dumped into a world with no technology? I didn't speak the language, I knew nothing about the culture. And then there were the drug smugglers. It was a mess on Dadilan. I had no idea what was happening or who to trust.
BB: What is the most interesting thing that happened to you in this book?
Dace: Most interesting? How about least dangerous? I spent the whole time on Dadilan running away from people and trying to stay alive. I did have a great conversation about god and religion with Roland. He's a monk with the Order of Myrln. They're the ones on Dadilan trying to keep technology alive. They didn't do very well, but two thousand years is a long time to keep something functioning when you don't have the knowledge or culture to fix it when it breaks. His collection of artifacts from "the time of the landing" was fascinating. I would have loved to spend more time there with Roland. Except it all burned down in the fight.
BB: Who is your favorite character in your book, besides yourself? Why?
Dace: *blushes* Favorite in what way? I hope I meet Roland again some day. And Sergeant Clay. He understood the way authority should work. I could learn a lot from Tisa, even if she is from a primitive village on Dadilan. Her sister, Librette, though, she had nothing holding her ears apart. I hope she's happy with her Patrol husband on Dadilan. He did promise to take care of her. Don't look at me that way. Yes, I admit, I fell for Commander Malcolm Tayvis. Big, tough Patrol Enforcer, he was everything I thought I detested. But he was nice to me. No one had ever been nice to me that way before. How could I not fall in love with him? Yes, he did threaten to shoot me. And drown me. But he didn't know if he could trust me. Not until later.
BB: Is there anything we should know about you that we haven't been told in your book?
Dace: Me? I'm a no one, not important to anyone, except myself. I'm not very good at lying. I found who I was on Dadilan. Good and bad. I also realized how lonely my life was.
BB: How do you feel about the way your story ended?
Dace: Jaleta Clegg left too much unresolved. She said she'd answer the questions in a later volume. She did record what happened on Dadilan, though. It did end that way, much as I wish it ended differently. I still want to know what happened to the people there. Jaleta said she'd interview those people and write their stories, too.
One word of advice, don't read this book. It's my story and I don't want you knowing what's in my head. I don't want you to suffer Dadilan's culture, or lack thereof. You really shouldn't meet Shomies Pardui or Leran Sovalis, they're both evil all the way through. Avoid them and any mention of the drug shara. You'll have a more boring life, yes, but you'll be safer.
BB: Thank you for your time Dace. As much as we'd like to accomodate you, you've left us hanging and we'll HAVE to read the book. Sorry. For more information on Dace, check out Nexus Point by Jaleta Clegg.
Book Description: Dace's wants are simple - a trading ship and the freedom to fly where she chooses. But on her first trip, her crew betrays her, her ship explodes, and she finds herself stranded on Dadilan, a planet locked in a feudal age. Survival is hard enough when you have no technology or resources. It's even harder when you have drug smugglers hunting you. Dadilan is the source of shara, a drug that enhances psychic abilities, a commodity so rare and precious people will kill for it. Trapped between rival smugglers and the Patrol undercover investigation, Dace has one hope of rescue: convincing Tayvis, the undercover agent, she's an innocent bystander. But those don't exist on Dadilan. No one lands without authorization, unless they are smuggling. Her ignorance may cost her life.
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