Fraterfamilias by Peter Ferrer

1 - Tell us a bit about your book.

Fraterfamilias by Peter Ferrer (pseudonym for Judith Doloughan and Paula R. Stiles).

It's a mystery/SF thriller set in pre-9/11 New York. Quiet architect Paul Farrell, wanted for four murders in Paris, walks into a hail of police gunfire at JFK. Suicide-by-cop. Case closed. Then Paul's eccentric Russian brother, paleoanthropologist Alan Kedward, steals the body, putting Interpol and a disturbed NYPD homicide cop back on the case together. But Paul is still dead--isn't he?

2 - Tell us about the best friend - gender, age, appearance, how they came to be with the hero or heroine and anything else we need to know about them.

Alan Kedward has a graduate student named Bobby Corazon. She's in her early twenties, Puerto Rican and from a very broken home. Alan is the first person to care what happens to Bobby since her policeman father died when she was four. He's become her mentor in academia, and in life. He sees potential in her that no one else wants to see.

3 - Who does the "best friend" help in the book?

Bobby helps Alan, which gets her into a huge amount of trouble.

4 - Does the best friend have a specific purpose in the book?

Yes, she's the only person that Alan can turn to and trust at the beginning of the story when his brother does something terrible.

5 - How does your hero or heroine feel about the best friend?

Bobby is absolutely loyal to her academic advisor and even has a bit of a crush on him. But that doesn't stop her questioning his actions whenever he does things that she thinks are screwy. A lot of what Alan does looks pretty screwy, so she has a lot to say.

6 - How would your hero or heroine handle their problems or difficulties with the best friend?

Alan is torn between his loyalties to his brother and to his grad student. He makes light of Bobby's objections, but in the end, he refuses to abandon her. This gets him in a whole lot of trouble.

7 - Are there problems between the best friend and your main characters?

Not really. She mainly interacts with Alan for most of the book. She does stand up to a villain all by herself, though. Successfully, too.

8 - Do you see the best friend ever having their own story?

I don't know about her having an entire book to herself, but I do see her having her own storyline within a book not far down the road.

9 - Was the best friend inspired by anyone you know?

Oh, yes. Judith and I each had certain characters that we created and that were particular to our respective experiences. Bobby was one of mine. I modeled her (in general) on my own experiences in graduate school. Unless you come from a family of academics, getting a higher degree can be incredibly difficult. Without those family connections, you have a hard time finding the support you need to find the funding and do the research, not to mention maintain your concentration long enough to finish. People outside that culture tend to both envy and disparage it, while those inside the culture don't necessarily want to welcome you with open arms. This is especially true for women and minorities, who are not traditionally well represented in academia. People think that the "Ivory Tower" is an easy place to be, but they forget that you have to get in there, first. Bobby and Alan's relationship reflects the harsh realities of academic culture for grad students like Bobby and lower-level instructors like Alan, the apprentices and journeymen of the academic guild.

10 - Is there anything else about the best friend that we need to know?

Feel free to share.Bobby is a tough cookie. I liked writing her. Even though she got some good resolution in this book, I'm hoping to give her more to do in the future. She's just somebody trying to pull herself up by her own bootstraps instead of whining about her lot in life and inflicting her pain on everyone else. I like that about her.

11 - Please provide your website link.http://www.geocities.com/rpcv.geo/other.html

12 - What is the link to buy your book?

http://www.virtualtales.com/StoryProducts~tn~Fraterfamilias.html