Becoming Promise Paen

Why Promise Paen? Where'd I get that name from? Promise is an odd name for a character, don't you think? Couldn't you have come up with something else besides Promise Paen? Really? 

Before I hike into the weeds you should know a bit of back-story about Promise. My kid sister is named Promise. No, I didn't set out to name my character after her. I don't see it that way at all. The name fit my character so I went with it. “Promise” just happened to be my sibling's name too. It is an unusual name, I'll give you that. But, to me it's no more unusual that Katniss or Hermione or Triss. 

Someone will inevitably raise this point so I'll make it now. Sigh. My sister can be a PITA. All kid sisters are at some point. Mine is a blunt, no nonsense lady. She's a killer mom and wife. She's a fierce friend. I'd gladly take a bullet for her.   

Now the weeds. I have a tragic view of life. Pain is inevitable. Maybe it's now, maybe it's later, but life is going to suck at some point. BUT, and it’s a big one, I'm an eternal optimist too. Life is ahead; it always is. Life is dualistic. It's tragic and hope filled. It's full of pain but also great promise. That duality is at the heart of my character.

Promise loves the suck. She thrives on it.

UNBREAKABLE is in some ways as much a critique of suffering as it is a romping-good military SF read. Yes, it's about the mil spec'd hardware, the Marine ethos, and peeling back the fog of war. Bullets fly and beams slay aplenty. I love mil history so you’ll get a bit of that in the book too. But, on a primal level, it's also about thriving in spite of tragedy and maybe even because of it.  

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? For Promise, what doesn't kill her also makes her more lethal.