Posts filed under 'characters'

Daphne

Daphne was originally Carl’s dog. It’s not known where he found her, but he first brought her home a couple of days before the final Kingdom Come gig at the Quarter.

At first, Pete was against the idea of having a dog in the apartment, which is ironic since Daphne ended up being his dog. They were often seen walking around U-town together, frequently with Daphne running ahead at the length of her leash, pulling Pete along behind her.

Daphne was quite widely known in U-town, and Pete often ran into complete strangers who turned out to know Daphne.

Daphne is a major character in the story “One Night at the Quarter.”

1 comment April 30th, 2006

Randi (part 2)

I was discussing Randi with a friend of mine, and he asked if it was a problem having a character who is all-knowing and all-powerful, since, well, she can do anything. In other words, if there is a problem, she can just solve it, so how can you explain it if she doesn't?

My reply was:

So, I have to answer the "if God is all-powerful and good, why is there so much suffering in the world?" question? 🙂 I remember that bothered me a lot when I was younger.

But, and this is sort of the point, Randi is not God. Obviously, in terms of her motivations (and limitations, or lack of them) we have to take her word. But it does seem we can say that she is not in any way divine, and doesn't have any interest in being god-like (this is indicated a couple of times in U-town). She is more interested in drinking, having sex, gossip and so on. She is willing to assist her family, occasionally, but she has no interest in curing the ills of the world (though, of course, we don't know what she may do without talking about it).

The analogy is to superheroes. In comic books, someone gets superpowers and immediately they put on a funny suit and go out to fight crime. If you had superpowers, would you put on a funny suit and go fight crime? I don't think I would (and I've been reading superhero comics for 40 years).

It's appealing to think that, were we given enormous power, we'd use it to cure all the ills of the world, but evidence indicates that most people don't do as much as they could with whatever they have already.

As Vicki says to SarahBeth, "All the powers you do have, what have you ever used them for?"

2 comments March 12th, 2006

Philip Henshaw

Philip Henshaw runs the band Kingdom Come. He sings and plays rhythm guitar, and he writes the music (the drummer, Carl, writes the words).

He lives with his girlfriend, Jennifer Owens, with whom he enjoys a very tempestuous relationship.

What is not generally known is that Henshaw had another life, under another name, with a wife and children and a good job. All of which he left apparently on impulse when he came to visit U-town and decided to stay.

On his first visit, he was mugged, though the mugging didn’t go as planned. Henshaw ignored the knives he was being threatened with and went after the men with his bare hands, beating them nearly to death. The police came eventually, and locked them all up.

In the holding cell, Henshaw met Pete and Carl, learned that Carl and Tom Drenkenson were thinking of forming a band. and Kingdom Come was formed.

Henshaw does not appear in A Sane Woman. His first appearance in U-town is in the chapter A World So Alive, where he is getting ready for Kingdom Come’s gig at The Quarter.

Add comment February 19th, 2006

Frances Chan

Nothing is known about Frances’ life before she arrived in U-town, but she is a fixture there. She is the manager of The Quarter, one of the main bars and hangouts in the area, and everybody knows who she is. She is difficult to describe, though, since her hair color and skin color often change from day to day, depending on her mood.

Frances is very well informed about what goes on in U-town, people often drop by The Quarter just to find out the latest news from her.

She had a rather casual relationship with Philip Henshaw from the band Kingdom Come (until he met Jennifer Owens), or at least both of them insisted afterwards that it had been casual, though some of their more romantic friends think it may have been more serious than that. But, as I say, both of them deny this.

Frances does not appear in A Sane Woman. Her first appearance in U-town is in the second chapter, A World So Alive, where she is, as usual, finding out the latest news (in this case from Chet).

Add comment February 5th, 2006

T.C.

Theresa Carbonieri (“T.C.”) lives in a small apartment, which she shares with her ex-husband Finch, David Little (Sam and Sarah’s brother), a table tennis fanatic named Nancy (though everyone knew her as “Nasty”) and anybody else she can manage to squeeze in, as long as they have the money to pay rent to her.

T.C.’s main occupations are smoking cigarettes, accumulating cash and drinking coffee. She also cooks, when the spirit moves her, and hosts the (more or less) weekly party known as “movie night.”

She first appears in A Sane Woman when she learns of Sarah Little’s mysterious new lover.

She first appears in U-town as she attempts to pry enough money out of her roommates to pay the rent. Before very long, she will have three new tenants, though it seems that she squeezed them in by renting out at least one bed which was not really hers to rent.

She does not appear in the new novel, so far, but her sister does.

Add comment January 15th, 2006

Dr. Lee (and the Jinx)

Dr. Lee is the leader of the Jinx, a motorcycle gang. She is rather small, with dark hair, and not much is known about her, or about the Jinx in general.

Because they are disciplined and organized (which almost nobody else in U-town is), they have from time to time served to maintain order there, but only in situations where it would benefit them in some way. Various members have expertise in medicine, construction, wiring, engines, plumbing, and other fields, but those skills are not used except when they will help the Jinx.

Dr. Lee knows a good deal about whatever goes on in U-town, but she keeps most of this information to herself. She sometimes gets interested in a particular person or subject and investigates it quite thoroughly, even to the point of having the Jinx grab specific people off the street so she can ask them questions.

For this reason, among many others, the Jinx are often in conflict with the police, who of course operate in u-town with as few restrictions as everybody else.

The Jinx did not appear in A Sane Woman. They are first mentioned in U-town when CJ (the guitarist who is sitting in with the band Kingdom Come) enters the Quarter, and there is some question about why she is not being asked to pay at the door.

Dr. Lee first appears in the hospital, right before the Battle of the Emergency Room.

December 18th, 2005

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