Saturday, June 16, 2018

Lightporter Release Tour & Hero's Perspective: Blaze!

Hello, and welcome back to the Lightporter release tour and to the second episode of Hero's Perspective, a relatively new feature in which I interview the heroes and heroines of various speculative fiction. (See? I told Jarek that this wouldn't be a one-off thing.) For this episode, we have a very special guest: Blaze, one of the heroes of Lightporter

Now, usually, I would be the one interviewing our hero. However, when one of my own characters, Rebecca from the Teenaged Superhero Society, found out who our guest was, she begged to take my place. I may or may not have let her read the IDIA books, and she may or may not have become a bit of a Blaze fangirl as a result. Anyway, she made a very convincing argument, so . . . take it away, Rebecca.

Rebecca: Thanks, Sarah! I guess now we just have to wait for Blaze to arrive . . .

Blaze: *teleports in* 

Rebecca: Oh! Hi! You must be Blaze! It's so cool to meet you; I'm a really big fan of yours. Oh, I'm Rebecca, by the way; I'm going to be interviewing you for Dreams and Dragons. Thanks so much for agreeing to this!

Blaze: *shakes hand with Rebecca* It's very nice to meet you, Rebecca! It's my pleasure to do this. As my friends usually point out, I enjoy talking about myself. *sits and makes himself comfortable* 

Rebecca: *giggles and sits down in the other chair* Ok, so you should enjoy this first question. I know about you, but not everyone who reads the blog does. Can you share a little about who you are and what you do and a random fact or two, just to kind of introduce yourself?

Blaze: *grins* Of course. Blaze isn't my real name, obviously. It's my superhero code name. I work for a superhero agency called IDIA, and I like to call myself a lightporter. Basically I can manipulate light, and that allows me to teleport. For a random fact... well, I do like to travel, which makes teleportation helpful. I also really like donuts.

Rebecca: Oooh, teleporting! I have a friend who c— who knows someone who says she can teleport and does the same thing, using it to travel. That's really cool! What do you think is your favorite place that you've visited in your travels?

Blaze: *quirks an eyebrow* Interesting. *leans back* Well, I really like most of the places I've visited, although I prefer the ones that aren't infested with tourists. But I'd have to say that one of my favorites is Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia. It's very beautiful.

Rebecca: I've actually never heard of that. It sounds nice, though. *glances down at notebook* So, I'm supposed to ask you now about your adventure that C.B. wrote about in Lightporter, how you feel about it and what you wish you could change and that sort of thing. So . . . how do you feel about all that? Was there anything you enjoyed, or anything that was especially hard?

Blaze: Hmm. Well, it's hard to say a lot about it without spoiling it, or what happened afterwards, but... well, most of it was unpleasant, but kind of necessary. I will say that meeting a certain person caught me off guard, a lot. Overall, I feel like the experience taught me a lot.

Rebecca: Ok. *nods slowly* That makes sense. Buuuut since you're an IDIA agent and an actual superhero, I bet you've had a lot of adventures besides the ones actually in the books, right? Can you tell me about one of those? Or are they all classified?

Blaze: Oh, definitely. I've been an IDIA agent for quite a while now. Most of the really exciting missions are classified, but one time I was on a mission with Push and Finch--Finch can morph into birds--and Finch transformed into an ostrich, and Push and I got to ride him. That was a lot of fun. Not very incognito, but fun. That's still the only nice ostrich I've ever met. 

Rebecca: *laughs* Ok, I wasn't really sure what you'd say, but I wasn't expecting that. I guess the why of that situation probably falls in the classified category?

Blaze: Yeah, it does. It was a fun mission, though! Maybe someday.

Rebecca: Aw, ok. So, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but can you tell me how you ended up with IDIA? You said you've been with them a long time.

Blaze: I actually can answer this one. I was lucky enough to have parents who have powers, and Data approached the three of us about joining IDIA once she found out about our powers. My parents didn't want to be active, but I went ahead and joined. My family was actually one of the first that Data and her mentor asked to join when they started IDIA.     
   
Rebecca: Oh wow, I didn't think I'd get an answer on that one! You're lucky to have parents who have powers too, even if they're not active superheroes. A lot of supers don't, after all. 

Blaze: I know, it's definitely been a blessing. Less lying, for one thing. I don't have to keep my powers a secret, and I didn't go through the initial confusion many supers do when they first get powers. Although as a teleporter, I was definitely a problem child. 

Rebecca: *laughs* Oh, I bet. I can just see you teleporting into the weirdest places and using your powers to sneak cookies. But, moving on . . . *mischievous look* I said earlier that I'm a big fan of yours, but I'm not the only one. How do you feel about having so many fangirls?

Blaze: *grins and his face reddens slightly* It's definitely flattering. It would be pretty cool to meet everyone, of course, but I might also regret that. But in all honesty, it's cool, but also really weird, if that makes any sense.

Rebecca: Mmm, yeah, I think so. 'Cause we all know stuff about you even though most of us have never met you; I can see how that would be weird. *glances at notepad again* Ok, last question. Do you have any advice you could give to other young supers trying to find their place, especially those who might not have something like IDIA to lean on?

Blaze: Good question! I would definitely suggest that any supers, especially younger ones, should have at least one person that knows about their powers who can help them, and that they know they can trust. Whether it's a parent or a sibling, a friend, an older mentor, a super or someone without powers, we all need someone else to help us out and sometimes give us advice. So find that person (or people) you can lean on. It will make everything so much easier. And don't be afraid to test the limits of your powers or try to find new uses for them  It can really help you out if you go into crime fighting. 

Rebecca: *nods* That's good advice. I'll remember that. Quick side question, if you don't mind— do you think all supers should go into crime fighting? Or not necessarily?

Blaze: I think it's a personal choice. I don't think that crimefighting is for everyone. Pop, for example, tends to stay at headquarters, and I know Data has several agents that work clean up after missions, who aren't exactly fighting crime. So I really think it's up to the person with the powers.

Rebecca: Ok, that makes sense. Well, thanks again for letting me interview you; I really enjoyed our conversation! Good luck with your future IDIA adventures!

Blaze: Thanks for having me! It's always fun to spend time with fans. Hopefully I'll get to come back to visit. See ya around! *teleports*

Rebecca: And that's it! I hope you all enjoyed meeting Blaze as much as I did! Don't forget, if you want to read more about his adventures, Twinepathy and Lightporter are both $0.99 on Amazon this week!

Thanks, Rebecca. I'll take it from here.

Rebecca: Ok. Bye, everyone! 

Thanks for reading, everyone. As Rebecca said, you can still get the IDIA books for only a dollar on Amazon. And don't forget to check out the rest of today's tour stops! (List below.) 
Have an awesome day!
 -Sarah (Leilani Sunblade) 


Tour Stops for Saturday, June 16th (Release day!)

Marlene Simonette – Lightporter Review and Book Spotlight
Dreams and Dragons – Character Interview
Elven Padawan – Lightporter Review
 

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