character - L. Darby Gibbs ~ Author

A Stab at a Self-interview: Question 6 ~ Standing Stone favorite character

L. Darby Gibbs — Sat, 27 May 2017 14:00:00 +0000

Who is one of your favorite characters from the Standing Stone series?

The Mabra – cryptic old woman

When I starting thinking about my answer to this question, I knew immediately who I would name and had a pretty good idea why I was choosing him. But the more I thought about it, I realized there was a secondary character that was a strong favorite of mine, so I have chosen The Mabra.

Mabra Camlis – The Mabra is a character in book 2, The Shifter Shard. She is an enigma, oddly all knowing and thought to be functionally mad. Or as Master Clepp describes her, “The woman’s a bit odd, but it doesn’t interfere with the
running of the orphanage.”

She is so slow moving and old that she covers only inches with each step causing her guests to have to wait quite some time for her to join them even though she is very much in sight. She compensates for this slowness by yelling at the top of her lungs so that she and anyone there to visit her can carry on a conversation without having to wait for her to be seated.

“You will come to know that much of me is old, but my lungs
continue to feign youth, so I use them for all they are worth! It reduces the
boredom of both my guests and myself in the interim of our coming together.”

She has excellent hearing and a mysterious history. Jahl, one of the three main characters, hopes she can supply necessary information he needs to put things right, but though she’s willing to give advice, Jahl perceives it as cryptic and possibly proof of her madness.

She sighed, ignoring his rising annoyance. “Even I, the
eternal container of all hope, can no longer deny that some things never
return.”

I enjoyed working with her character because her limitations were a natural outcome of her age while not interfering with her doing her job. And her desire and faith that she would be reunited with her lost love was as believable as it was impossible.

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A Stab at a Self-interview: Question 5 ~ Students of Jump favorite character

L. Darby Gibbs — Sun, 14 May 2017 16:54:00 +0000

Who is one of your favorite characters from the Students of Jump series?

That depends on what you mean by character. Human character: I would say Mick Jenkins from books 1, 2 and 3. Non-human character: Puff from book 4.

Mick Jenkins: I really like Mick because he is a good mix of the tough old bird that won’t take anything from anybody and the kind fellow with a soft spot for those he cares about. (I always imagined he looked like Brian Dennehy. His face always came to mind when I thought of Mick.)


Brian Dennehy was the inspiration	f	or Mick Jenkins

Mick is used to being the boss, running the show, the guy with the last say. At the same time, he pays attention to people, and he has serious limitations that keep him from doing the things he wants to do, so when someone else is facing terrible loss or feeling frozen with uncertainty, Mick can sympathize. But he doesn’t approach the issue soft. He hits you where it hurts so that you know where the pain is coming from and can begin to figure out what will get you through it. And he’s not gentle with his own flaws either. He faces them head on. Mick and his better half, Emily, are the main characters in book 3, No-Time like the Present.

Puff – Book 4 ~ That’s the Trouble with Time

Puff: Well, that’s a critter of an entirely different type. Doesn’t everyone want that secret weapon, the seemingly innocuous thingamajig that in a tough moment can turn Doberman Pinscher on trouble when you most need it. That’s Puff. He’s a soft white frothy furred thing that can fly, squeak, cuddle and when needed tear the eyes and brain matter out of something with claws, high speed reflexes and no interest in asking questions.

In a sense, Puff is Mick in miniature and on split-second steroid injections. And he can hold your hair back in a mean French braid, which is what he does for his best human friend Sarrah Marsh.

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