04-09-2009, 08:59 PM
Hi Memmia
First of all, thanks so much for reading "Gladiatrix." I'm made up that you liked it :-) )
Making Lysandra so arrogant and pig-headed was a bit of a risk. But I reckoned that I should try to be true to her character - I mean, she's from a washed-up former super-power and still believes that the Spartans are the most perfect race ever created. To be fair, she's been indoctrinated into this since she was seven! But you have it spot on - despite being very "book-learned" she's naive, not very "street-smart" and all the rest of it. So whilst she thinks she's being very clever, often she's having the wool pulled over her eyes or people are taking the wee out of her, or they're just manipulating her for their own ends.
As for the barbarians and secondary cast, I wanted to try to make sure that everyone had their motivations and that because the other fighters weren't the main characters, they still had more about them than just being people for Lysandra to beat on her way to the top (though, they were that too, I guess).
I hope its accurate. I've took some liberties with the fighting styles but other than that, I tried as much as I could to keep it real. The guys here and at UNRV were (and continue to be) a great help.
Again - thanks so much for checking the book out - I'm really chuffed that you liked it, and I'll keep trying on that second one!
Cheers
Russ
First of all, thanks so much for reading "Gladiatrix." I'm made up that you liked it :-) )
Making Lysandra so arrogant and pig-headed was a bit of a risk. But I reckoned that I should try to be true to her character - I mean, she's from a washed-up former super-power and still believes that the Spartans are the most perfect race ever created. To be fair, she's been indoctrinated into this since she was seven! But you have it spot on - despite being very "book-learned" she's naive, not very "street-smart" and all the rest of it. So whilst she thinks she's being very clever, often she's having the wool pulled over her eyes or people are taking the wee out of her, or they're just manipulating her for their own ends.
As for the barbarians and secondary cast, I wanted to try to make sure that everyone had their motivations and that because the other fighters weren't the main characters, they still had more about them than just being people for Lysandra to beat on her way to the top (though, they were that too, I guess).
I hope its accurate. I've took some liberties with the fighting styles but other than that, I tried as much as I could to keep it real. The guys here and at UNRV were (and continue to be) a great help.
Again - thanks so much for checking the book out - I'm really chuffed that you liked it, and I'll keep trying on that second one!
Cheers
Russ
