Raised from day one of her life to live duty over personal desire, we caught up with Serall, the main character of the science fiction novels DANCING SUNS and MENTOR’S LAIR, as she was coming out of a bakery in Venice, California with two chocolate éclairs in her hands.

Q: Welcome to old Earth, Twenty-First Century. Bet you never thought you’d come back in time this far.

SERALL: (said with mouth full of éclair) Certainly not. But it was worth it for the chocolate — we had no such thing on Riatha.

Q: Riatha?

SERALL: The planet I grew up on, long, long from now in a galaxy far, far away. (stuffs more éclair into mouth)

Q: You seem hungry.

SERALL: (shrugs and finishes chewing) Well, I never really got over having to live on drammer meat when Kafa and I were on the run.

Q: Sorry for being so naive — drammer meat?

SERALL: Your equivalent of rats. And mind you, though it hasn’t really happened yet in your time frame, I did that long before this “survivors’ game aired on television. Anyway, a diet of drammer and collected odds and ends has kind of stuck with me. When you’re running for your life, well, food becomes of little concern. But now, (holds up remaining éclair) I’m not on the run. And with my duties fulfilled I can eat what I want when I want.

Q: Isn’t it true that in actuality you haven’t even been born yet?

SERALL: That’s right. The events that led to humans fleeing Earth haven’t even been brought into play yet. Heck, my ancestors that started that deadly breeding program which results in me, aren’t even a notion in conception yet.

Q: Wasn’t it because of the Bioguards that humans were forced from here?

SERALL: Again right. They were hired to exterminate our species. We ran and ended up hopping from planet to planet. Always the Bioguards found us. But when we settled on Riatha, we thought we were safe — and we were until my generation when they came and destroyed our city, our home. Which brings us back to the reason for the drammer meat.

Q: I see. Would you mind telling us of this Bond you had with the zaddack Kafa?

SERALL: That was the most amazing thing. We were mentally linked when I was, oh, a toddler, and she was just a kit. I tell you the first time she came into my mind it was indescribable — it was a joining so complete I felt whole. And without Kafa, well, I never would have survived the wilds of Riatha. She was everything to me. I’d really rather not talk more about it since she can’t be here with us.

Q: Of course. Would you mind telling us how it is you came to be friends with a Bioguard?

SERALL: Sure. When we fled Riatha on the Bioguardian scout ship, we needed Minack to drive for us. I mean, Riatha was a low-tech planet. We had nothing like this ship so I was forced to utilize his skill.

Q: So you trusted him?

SERALL: Heck no. (laughs) We had vicious fights at first. It was a long, hard process, and then when some of us ended up stranded on mentor’s ice planet, well, I thought we’d never see the ship again. But over the years Minack and I became the best of friends — so much so I trusted my children’s future with him.

Q: Let’s speak of your love partner for a moment. Jeriah. One of the most frequent questions we receive about your story is why you waited so long to be with him — you know, intimately. He was your duty. You were raised and trained to seek him out and have offspring with him. Yet, after you did find him, you resisted.

SERALL: It’s hard, you know, being forced to live a life that’s not your own. I might have been bound by duty to my people but I still had feelings of my own. That was the constant battle within. Talk about stress.

Q: But you liked Jeriah.

SERALL: Yes. Very much. And I grew to love him. But I needed to do that in my own time and not jump into it because of some requirement that I have children with him so the human race could live on.

Q: That’s quite a burden to carry.

SERALL: It certainly is.

Q: But you seem to have carried that burden with more panache than others might.

SERALL: Thank you. Keep in mind, I was trained in many skills to help in my quest, and there was Kafa. Always Kafa. (gets teary eyed and throws out remaining éclair)

Q: And there was that teacher you had — Ie?

SERALL: Yes. (wipes eyes) She was something. An old lady but so darn amazing. She really forced me to face myself and to learn how to use some of my gifts.

Q: Gifts?

SERALL: Like being able to see the colors of life.

Q: Colors of life?

SERALL: Yes, you know the energy that surrounds all living creatures. I can see it and sometimes use that ability — as it helped me at the end of Dancing Suns and in Mentor’s Lair when I had to work with crysolium. (holds up hand) Before you ask, crysolium, the ore that can hold the mindsparks of the dead.

Q: That’s a lot to get a mental grasp on.

SERALL: I know. I had the same feeling once. But after events on mentor’s ice planet, things made more sense to me.

Q: Tell us about mentor.

SERALL: I can’t really. You’d have to ask Jeriah. All I know is what he told me. And the fact that mentor saved my ass by providing our ship with fuel. I made a terrible mistake and well, mentor bailed me out. Otherwise my descendants would still be living there. They would never have reached old Earth, or KPrime as it becomes known at that future point — the subject of MindSpark, book three in the Zaddack Tales series.

Q: So, you’re not in MindSpark?

SERALL: Well, not in the usual sense but I do make my presence known. Mindspark is really my childrens’ story. And my friend Jaspen, who was born on Riatha, is a major player. Course he’s already transformed into an oreseeker by then. And then there’s Kafa’s kit, Ryn, and Ryn's mate, Terru. So, there is some character carryover all the way from Suns to MindSpark.

Q: Now your death actually occurs between Mentor’s Lair and MindSpark. Would you mind telling us what did happen?

SERALL: I mind. I mean, who knows? Perhaps the adventures on Biztek12 could be turned into a book by itself.

Q: So you’re saying we haven’t seen the last of you?

SERALL: You can be sure of that.

Q: What are you going to do now while you wait for that book to come about?

SERALL: I thought I might study to become a pastry chef. And get a dog that I’ll try to Bond with.

Q: To replace Kafa?

SERALL: Never. She has a place in my heart and mind that’s all her own. There is no replacement for that kind of link.

Q: I see. Are you going to stay here in Venice then?

SERALL: I thought I might. It reminds me a bit of Riatha. Backwards. The people here don’t seem to care much what’s going on in other parts of the universe. They just kind of do their own thing. I like that.

Q: Okay then. Maybe we’ll talk with you again sometime.

SERALL: I’d like that.

Q: Thank you, Serall.

SERALL: You’re welcome. (heads back into bakery)




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