Building Character with William Bradshaw, King of the Goblins
Yippee – it’s Friday! Friday’s begin the weekend and
weekends offer all sorts of READING time! So to help you make your reading
decisions, I’d like to introduce you to William from his book William Bradshaw,
King of the Goblins by Arthur Daigle. First a little about the book:
Hello, my name is William Bradshaw, and through no
fault of my own I am King of the Goblins.
I made the mistake of applying for a management position advertised by
the law firm of Cickam, Wender and Downe.
Thing is, they didn’t say the job was to ‘manage’ the goblins on the
world of Other Place as their king.
Goblins don’t really want a king, and it’s a rare day when they do what
I say. They’d rather cause trouble, set
traps and generally annoy everyone.
Okay. So, you like to cause conflict, but what conflict
are you up against?
Conflicts, plural. I
have two big problems as King of the Goblins.
The first is my goblins. They’re
not as bad as everyone makes them out to be, most of the time, but they like
causing trouble. Pit traps, pie
throwers, putting skunks in your underwear drawer, they can do all that and
more before breakfast. I’m trying to
get them to be a little less idiotic, and just as importantly I’m trying to get
them to believe in themselves.
That leads into the second conflict. You see, goblins are the smallest and
weakest race on Other Place. They’ve
been pushed around throughout recorded history. Men, elves, dwarfs, ogres and others think nothing of robbing
goblins. That includes stealing their
land. Many goblins live in wastelands,
dumps and other ruined places because those are the only locations where no one
will try to drive them off.
What are some of the biggest stumbling blocks you’ve
encountered trying to resolve all of this?
My biggest problem is that the goblins have no interest in
winning. With all the losses they’ve
taken over the centuries they figure why bother trying when they’ll get beaten
anyway. It’s taken a lot of effort to
get them to believe that they’re better than anyone thinks they are, and that
their enemies aren’t nearly as tough as it seems.
Problem number two is that just about everyone on Other
Place hates goblins. Goblins are looked
down on by most of the people on this world.
This means when a big problem comes up, I have a really hard time
getting help from anyone but goblins.
Okay, goblins don’t go out of their way to be friendly, but the
different races aren’t model citizens, either.
Tell us about your best friend or side kick.
I have a crew of loyal followers I can count on, which makes
it hard to pick one as best. I figure
I’ll go with Domo. He’s the closest the
goblins ever came to having their own leader, and while we didn’t get along too
well to start with, we’re good friends now.
He knows a lot about Other Place and he understands goblins more than
anyone else. I can turn to him for
help, and he hasn’t run off no matter
how much trouble I find myself in.
Loyalty is awesome, isn’t it? What is your strongest
personality trait?
I think fast in tough situations. Being King of the Goblins means being one step away from disaster,
with a fifty-fifty chance of it being caused by outsiders or my own
goblins. You have to react fast when
trouble comes up.
Wow! Challenging. Is there anything about you that people
are always giving you a hard time about? How do you feel about it?
Nobody on Other Place likes goblins, and since I’m their
king nobody much likes me. They figure
I’m responsible for their pranks and traps, or that I’m as bad as they
are. I thought that would change after
I helped them out by destroying the Staff of Skulls, but instead it made me
more despised than ever. You see, there
are goblins just about everywhere on Other Place, and people are used to
ignoring them or pushing them around.
When I proved goblins are capable of doing amazing things, it made those
people scared, because they wondered what would happen if their local goblins
started standing up for themselves.
How do I feel about an entire world looking down on me? Most days it’s not that big of a deal. I see the goblins improving and that’s what matters. I’ve also run into a few people who
appreciate what I’ve done. It’s rare,
but it happens. That gives me hope that
things are going to get better.
Let’s get to know you a bit better with some personal
questions. What are your three favorite leisure activities?
#1 People not trying to kill me. That’s so rare it feels like a leisure activity.
#2 Gardening. This
one is hard since the Kingdom of the Goblins used to be a dwarf strip
mine. Getting weeds to grow here is a
challenge.
#3 Looking for ways out of my king contract. Cickam, Wender and Downe gave me a contract
when I became King, a nightmare of legal jargon, doublespeak and outright lies. If I can find a loophole in the contract I can go home.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Grown up? Hey, I
graduated college! As for what I want
to be, I’d say anything besides King of the Goblins looks really good. I like these guys, I do, but I’d go back to
Earth in a minute if I could.
If you could change one thing in this world, what would
you change?
Besides going home?
I would love it if everyone on Other Place realized that goblins deserve
the same rights and respect as anyone else.
I think half the goblin pranks and trap making would disappear right
there and then if they were treated better.
I wish I could say all of it would vanish, but I know goblins well
enough to say that’s not going to happen.
And finally, Williams, what words of wisdom would you
like to share with our readers?
First, don’t look down on people. They may be doing worse than you, and they may have done
something to bring bad luck down on themselves, but no one deserves to
suffer. Second, have faith in yourself
and your friends. The goblins could
have won more often over the years if they’d believed in themselves and really
made the effort. Third and last, avoid
the legal profession at all costs.
Trust me on this one.
Now that you’ve enticed our readers with your story, share
with us how they can acquire your book.
I am including the book blurb for my first book and the buy
links for all three books.
William Bradshaw, King of the Goblins:
There's a new
King in Town! That's the good news. The bad news is that Will Bradshaw has
problems. He's new on the job but he's already made enemies with a
fire-breathing dragon. His friends are not much better: goblins whose favorite
pastime is messing things up, trolls with anger management issues, an
over-achieving fire scepter, and an un-cooportative magic mirror. Aside from
all that, all he has to worry about is a war. And that's the trouble.
Throughout recorded history the goblins have never won a battle, much less a
war. But things are going to be different this time around. William Bradshaw is
determined to win, using every means at his disposal, including stealth,
subterfuge and exploding outhouses.
Links: William Bradshaw, King of the Goblins:
William
Bradshaw and a Faint Hope:
William
Bradshaw and War Unending:
Readers, here is some information on William’s author:
Arthur Daigle was born and raised in the suburbs of
Chicago, Illinois. He attended the
University of Illinois Urbana Chapmaign and received a degree in Biology, which
seemed like a good idea at the time. He
has worked in such diverse jobs as zoo intern, research assistant, grading
essay tests, water quality tester and garden associate. It was pretty much inevitable that Arthur
would take up writing since he has been a fan of fantasy and science fiction
since he was old enough to walk. Arthur
has written three novels, William Bradshaw King of the Goblins, William
Bradshaw and a Faint Hope, and William Bradshaw and War Unending. Readers should expect more books in the
future, as all attempts to stop him have failed.
Contact (or cyber stalk) Arthur Daigle:
Bookise: https://www.booksie.com/portfolio
Interesting interview. I know nothing about goblins, but feel sorry for the ones in the story. I hope everything works out and William gets his wish and so do the goblins. Sounds like a really fun read. Best of luck to you, Arthur.
ReplyDeleteIt does sound fun, doesn't it? Thanks for stopping in, Beverly.
Delete