{Character Interview} Elliott of 'Day Moon' by Brett Armstrong




We’re thrilled to be talking to Elliott from Brett Armstrong’s Day Moon.  It is a pleasure to have Elliott with us today at Pimp That Character!

Thank you for your interview, Elliott.  How old are you and what do you do for a living?

Well I’m seventeen and I’m part of a special work/study program for kids identified as “exceptional”. I’ve been in the program since I was nine, but in the past three years I’ve been doing my master’s work on Project Alexandria, the global software initiative meant to give the whole world equal and unencumbered access to all accumulated knowledge.

Can you tell us about one of your most distinguishable features?

Um, I don’t know. I’ve never considered myself “distinguishable” from most others out there. A couple time I’ve been told my eyes are “pretty”. They’re a kind of sage color, if you can tell. And I have long lashes, but I really hope that doesn’t get through the editing room.

Maybe I should say something more meaningful? Like about myself? I’m a Christian, and I’m the only one I know. There aren’t many of us left. It was my grandfather who really started me on that path, though my parents did too. I just never have seen much of them. Work keeps them at arm’s length so to speak.

What makes you laugh out loud?

I have a roommate who’s pretty crazy. Shane Parsons. He, uh, he’s just out there, you know? He’s big on video games and he’ll do the silliest things in them like run off ledges he knows he shouldn’t or sneak up on enemies and run past them even though he could’ve taken them out. Shane jokes a lot, though I won’t torment you by trying to replicate one of them. I could never tell it the way he does anyway. There’s just an intangible quality about how he does it that makes you laugh. Sometimes cringe or sigh, but mostly laugh.

What is in your refrigerator right now?

Oh man, I haven’t been to the store! It was my turn to pick up the groceries for the week. Ugh. Shane is probably plotting all the ways to torment me over forgetting. I’ve just been really distracted with school, and then there’s this girl, Lara, and the book my grandfather left is about to be recycled like all the others…I’ve just had so much on my mind lately, I suppose groceries didn’t make the cut. Hopefully there’ll at least be cold pizza for Shane. That should keep his griping to a minimum.

What is your most treasured possession?

For a little while longer, anyway, my grandfather’s book of Shakespeare’s complete works. He left it to me in his will. We lost him a few months ago to a car accident. You know those almost never happen anymore with the cars being controlled by the city networks. It’s really impossibly high odds that something like his crash would happen…But um, yeah. That book is probably my last tangible link to him. Beyond DNA of course, and his house. My cousin John is living there now, so I suppose I could visit it, but I don’t think I’ll ever want to go there again now. It won’t feel right without him there.

What is your greatest fear?

We’re really hitting deep with this interview, huh? Sure. Ok…If I’m honest, I guess it would have to be failure. Failing those I care about. It’s been on my mind for a while now with my advanced placement program ending soon and Project Alexandria nearing its full go-live date. I can’t say I’m in love with the work I’m doing now or will be doing. Art has always been my thing, you know? I could spend hours just sketching. That doesn’t pay the bills though and my aptitude tests placed me on the engineering/sciences track, so I guess that’s what I should focus on, but I just don’t feel as comfortable with it. I don’t want to let anyone down, but I don’t know I’m headed the way I should be right now.


Are you a loner or do you prefer to surround yourself with friends?

I don’t know when it started, but I guess I’m kind of a loner. I’m not by choice or anything. I guess I just never had a huge friend pool to start with and then my first roommate, Terrance, and I kind of drifted different ways a bit and Shane works a lot on top of school, so I don’t really hang out with anyone. I mean there’s Lara, but she, uh, she I don’t spend enough time with. To be considered surrounded by friends. That is. Erhm.


Someone is secretly in love with you.  Who is it and how do you feel about that?

Are you serious?

I can’t believe I’m talking to you about this.

Ugh, if I tell, make sure this goes nowhere, okay? Because I can’t have her knowing. Not like this. But…if I had my choice of who is secretly in love with me, it would be pretty great if it were Lara. She’s been in my art classes I take on the side for a while now, and she’s, well she’s beautiful, of course, but she’s just everything you could hope for in a girl. The way she smiles you’d think you didn’t know what beauty was before and she’s so clever. And she’s kind and thoughtful and incredibly opinionated. Like feisty even. I don’t know, it just makes her more endearing to me. Not that she knows that, because I’m pretty sure it would take an act of God for me ever see us become more than friends. I think sometimes she knows I like her, maybe I’m goofy when I’m with her or something, but I feel like she knows. Anyway, she’s a friend and if it turned out she wanted to be more, then I would be all for that.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

What didn’t I want to be? I mean they pretty much coined the term “dreamer” for me. Or at least that’s what I’ve been told. I know I’ve always loved art. Maybe be an architect or an illustrator for graphic novels, because I really like reading as well. Something creative I’m sure.  I mean I think an archaeologist a ’la Indiana Jones was in there somewhere, but it’s been a pretty long time since I’ve had a say in the matter, so I don’t know. For most of my life that I can remember I’ve been training to be a programmer or analyst so everything else seems kind of fuzzy. Give me enough time and I might be able to piece something together, but even then, it’s all just very hazy.



If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?

Wow, it’s not something I’ve really thought about before. At least not in terms of what I’d want done right before it happens at least.

I don’t know, maybe I would finally tell Lara I like her. Maybe not even then though, because who wants to find out someone loves them in that kind of scenario?

Whatever I did on that day, I would want it to matter, you know? For my life to mean something, to accomplish more than pushing bits of data around. I’d like to play a part in saving someone else’s life, physically or spiritually. And I’d definitely pass on my grandfather’s book to someone else. Maybe then they won’t be able to recycle it. That way we’d both be living on in a way.

About the Author

Brett Armstrong, author of the award-winning novel, Destitutio Quod Remissio, started writing stories at age nine, penning a tale of revenge and ambition set in the last days of the Aztec Empire.  Twenty years later, he is still telling stories though admittedly his philosophy has deepened with his Christian faith and a master’s degree in creative writing.  His goal with every work is to be like a brush in the Master artist’s hand and his hope is the finished composition always reflects the design God had in mind.  He feels writing should be engaging, immersive, entertaining, and always purposeful.  Continually busy at work with one or more new novels to come, he also enjoys drawing, gardening, and playing with his beautiful wife and son.
His latest book is Day Moon (Tomorrow’s Edge Book 1).

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About the Book:

Title: DAY MOON (Tomorrow’s Edge Book 1)
Author: Brett Armstrong
Publisher: Clean Reads
Pages: 389
Genre: Christian/Scifi/Dystopian

BOOK BLURB:

In A.D. 2039, a prodigious seventeen year old, Elliott, is assigned to work on a global software initiative his deceased grandfather helped found. Project Alexandria is intended to provide the entire world secure and equal access to all accumulated human knowledge. All forms of print are destroyed in good faith, to ensure everyone has equal footing, and Elliott knows he must soon part with his final treasure: a book of Shakespeare's complete works gifted him by his grandfather. Before it is destroyed, Elliott notices something is amiss with the book, or rather Project Alexandria. The two do not match, including an extra sonnet titled "Day Moon". When Elliott investigates, he uncovers far more than he bargained for. There are sinister forces backing Project Alexandria who have no intention of using it for its public purpose. Elliott soon finds himself on the run from federal authorities and facing betrayals and deceit from those closest to him. Following clues left by his grandfather, with agents close at hand, Elliott desperately hopes to find a way to stop Project Alexandria. All of history past and yet to be depend on it.

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