Rose and William Moore

February Character Interview

Patricia Parrington ~ February 15, 2025

Hello my lovely readers and fellow book-lovers! For those of you who are new here, I, your magical host Patricia Parrington, have the pleasure of interviewing characters from books all over the world.

Today we have here with us Rose and William Moore from the adult fantasy book Motherland by Mark Runte. Mark writes urban fantasy with (for some of them) dystopian themes.

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Meet Rose and William

[Patricia settles onto an orange suede couch across from her two guests.]

Welcome to Fable Features!

[Patricia frowns at the coffee table. It’s currently floating five inches above the hardwood floor.]

Excuse the . . . oddities. We had some magic malfunctions earlier. So what are your thoughts on magic?

[William puts a foot on the table to keep it on the floor.]

In . . . books? I’d ask if this was a television set trick. Magic isn’t supposed to be real, outside of folklore.

Fair enough!

Magic things aside, do you have any pet peeves?

[Rose and William exchange looks then speak at the same time,]

Americans. Western capitalistic corruption.

Well that’s quite a pet peeve! I take it you’re not from America then? If you don’t my asking, where are you from?

[Rose hesitates.]

[William gives a slight cough. He takes Rose’s hand and starts rubbing circles on it.]

No, we’re not American. We spent most of the last four years in London after some . . . difficulty. Sorry about Rose, our families were difficult to say the least. The less mentioned of my own father or his . . . belt, the better.

Oh, I’m so sorry to hear your families were difficult. That can’t have been easy.

[Somewhere off camera there’s a crash as a sound cart tips over and a startled yip.]

[Rose stands.]

Bloody . . . excuse me, Patricia.

[Off camera there’s a short, sharp strike and a whimper, then some muffled words,]

Unless you want to hang yourself by accident, stay away from the equipment.

[Rose comes back slightly breathless. She tucks a strand of hair behind one ear.]

Sorry, apparently the wolf pup’s new game is climbing the furniture without touching the floor.

[Patricia’s green eyes light up at the mention of “wolf pup.” She smiles and waves a hand.]

Oh, that’s alright. I’m glad the pup is having fun. Well, let’s move on to the next question!

What’s your day-to-day life like?

[Rose squirms, looking slightly uncomfortable.]

William works as a mechanic. I take care of the twins. It’s not much to write about, to be honest. Those two are a handful even on their best behavior.

[William chuckles and rolls his eyes.]

Selene and Arden wandered off after pigeons in the Underground. I think my daughter tried to catch and eat one once.

[Patricia chuckles as well.]

Ahh, children. They sound like a handful. How old are they?

[Rose puts her head in her hands and both reply together,]

Six, you’d think they were raised by bloody wolves, the way they act sometimes.

[Patricia laughs.]

Maybe they learned from the wolf pup! Sounds like you’ve got a handful.

In emergency situations, how do you react?

[There’s an uneasy silence for a moment between them. Then Rose speaks,]

Generally, if it doesn’t piss the emergency off, shoot it. Otherwise . . .

[She fidgets with the hem of her shirt.]

We’re prepared to leave if worst comes to worst. Arden and Selene know enough to go to their aunt’s home for protection.

I think that sounds reasonable and a logical course of action.

Do you have any enemies right now?

[There’s another long silence between the two. William rubs his hand across his eyes.]

That’s . . . up for debate, I suppose. We try to live as quietly as we can, but we came to London as refugees before the Soviet Union collapsed. We haven’t . . . spoken a word of Russian since but I’m not always sure if that’s enough for some people in the government. The twins were two when we arrived.

[Rose adds somewhat sourly,]

We hitchhiked across the border into Finland and went from there. They tried to arrest William under suspicion of espionage when we made it into the UK.

[Patricia frowns sympathetically.]

That sounds terrifying. I can’t imagine having to leave my home, let alone getting wrongly arrested for espionage. Let’s move on to a more lighthearted question!

How would you react if you opened your eyes and suddenly you were in a haunted house?

[William shrugs.]

Compared to what? Haunted houses are just poor wiring and tricks of the light.

[He takes Rose’s hand, squeezing for a moment.]

There’s . . . more to fear from raids in the middle of the night, personally, for us.

[Patricia nods.]

Sounds like very little scares or fazes you after what you’ve been through! A haunted house attraction would be a walk in the park.

What was the situation where you laughed the hardest you ever have?

[Rose manages a brief smile and glances at William.]

Probably Selene’s pigeon hunt attempt, though this interview might be the next one after that. If only for the relief of getting through it. We don’t normally agree to this sort of thing.

[Patricia smiles warmly.]

Well I’m glad you did. You sound like lovely people from what I’ve gotten to learn so far!

You mentioned your kids had been two when you left your homeland. How are they doing with the tension of your current situation? Do they know much about your family’s situation?

[Rose responds carefully,]

Tension? Well, we’re trying to protect them from that. As for how much they know, why not let them be kids first and worry about politics when they’re old enough to understand?

I think that’s a great idea. Let them be kids now and not have to worry about such heavy topics.

Looks like we have time for one last question, so here it is: How do you want others to perceive you?

[William catches the wolf pup as she wriggles out from underneath a black box and responds dryly,]

Preferably as English, not where we . . . grew up. The country means nothing to us.

[Rose slightly grits her teeth.]

Some of us, anyway.

I understand that. Times like these are difficult and come with mixed emotions, yes?

Very cute wolf pup, by the way. I didn’t even realize he got underneath there!

[Patricia stands.]

Thank you for coming out today! I enjoyed getting to know you and I hope the future grows brighter and safer for your family.

End of interview.

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Want to Read More?

Rose and Williams’ author, Mark Runte, can be found on X/Twitter and Instagram. You can buy Motherland here.

Motherland, an adult fantasy novel

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See Ya Next Time

Aaand that's all the time we have today. Thank you, readers, for coming. And thank you, Rose and William, for letting us get to know you! See y'all next time.

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If you would like to submit a character to be interviewed for a future issue of Fable Features, please send an email to linnae.writer@gmail.com with the subject line: Fable Features.

Please note that erotica and content with excessive vulgar language will not be accepted.

If you have questions you'd like Patricia Parrington to ask in a future interview, please submit them to linnae.writer@gmail.com with the subject line: Interview Questions.