Cal was a young freebooter who'd been in two battles so far, and got knocked cold in the second. He awoke on the field, left for dead, his master gone or killed, with no idea what was going on. Seeing no point in finding his master, whom he never liked, he scavenged what he could and walked on. So he's wearing black boots, a green baldric, has an old sword, etc. He's looking for more adventure, which shows enterprise.

Elizebith is the runaway daughter of an evil sorceress. Her mom lives behind The Wall, which is a dense murky mess like smog. Growing up, Elizebith never realized her mother was an evil schemer, murderess, and worse. Mom was just mom. But there were weird hints of trouble. In her rebellious teens, Bith asked some questions Mom didn't care to answer. They had a spat and Elizebith walked out. She says. Actually she worries that her mom tried to kill her: it's not clear. Figuring she better put some distance behind her, Elizebith walked outside The Wall and found a brighter, if shabbier world. She also learned that her fledgling powers were WAY more effective outside: seems the Wall has a dampening effect on everything within, including magic. There was a line in the notes that said Bith strongly resembles her mother, and I exploited that: when she runs into the army's chief, he thinks Elizebith IS her mother, and spills a few beans before getting wise. Elizebith deliberately posing as her mother was a theme worth reusing in later books, but I don't think t'was. (And if I had a dollar for every time I misspelled "Elizebith"...)

Hathor is a troll. They're usually yucky cave dwellers - or under bridges - who eat people in the night. For some reason, Hathor was blessed with intelligence and wanted more: more intellectual stimulation, which is a powerful motivator. Anyway, he decided to venture out into the human world. But smart enough to realize his drawbacks, he foreswore his people's cannibalism and became vegetarian. Thus he's ALWAYS gnawing on some root or fruit or tree bark that would break a human jaw. Hathor realizes that he might, in fact, he shot down like a dog wherever he goes, but is willing to take the risk. After all, if he stayed home, a cave might collapse on him, or he might get sick and be killed and eaten by his "friends". Blessed, or cursed, with curiosity, and new to human worlds, and fairly indestructible, Hathor finds *everything* interesting, no matter how trivial. He's also fun to have around, because who knows when he might get tired of nuts and berries?

Someone asked, "In Outcasts, the four had to pass through the Dark Lord's army to reach the castle with the Sword in it. Hathor took Bith and Cal through as 'prisoners', but Endril couldn't go that way. He came some other way, but was still injured. They never explained how he came through, and I'd really appreciate knowing." My answer: Endril got to his destination by going through Elfland (for lack of a better name). My take on Elfdom fits with the old English concept: that Elfland exists all around us, but we can't see it. The land of the elves would look much like the normal world, except cooler and more beautiful. There are some spots where you can cross over, but humans can't see them. They CAN stumble through if they're not careful, which is why medieval people were careful not to walk widdershins (counterclockwise) around a tree, or crossed their fingers before entering a stream, and so on. That said, Endril got back to the normal world by passing through Elfland (like slipping behind the curtain). He was spotted by some elves who gave chase, and was wounded just getting away. If he'd stayed to fight, he'd have been killed. I mentioned the wound to make him seem more mysterious, but even then I had a logical explanation. Congratulations to the reader who thought to ask!

A fifth character, sort of, is the god Vili. Vili is never seen directly, but being a Cold Lands god, appears as a face in pools of water, steel swords, and such surfaces. He tries to come across as omnipotent, but how can he be if he can't even appear in person? He's sort of a cut-rate Loki, god of mischief, and has his own purposes for gaining power. He's not much help to the quartet, but gives them something to pursue and occasional advice. At one point the god appears in a pan of water and berates the heroes. Cal jiggles the bowl and breaks Vili's concentration. Hathor suggests they drink the water and piss the god onto a bush, and they all laugh. Which pretty much sums up their attitude. In a land of a thousand gods, you can't worship them all.

Another question is... Did I write any other Runesword books? Nope. Wanted to, but all five books were written by different people (two teaming up) so the "volumes" (very pretentious) could get out FAST, within months, not years. The full series is:

The books have different slants but stay true to the characters. Skryling's Blade (a "skryling" is a "screamer" like North American Indians were to Vikings) is very Norse. The Dreamstone is mystical. Horrible Humes ("hume" is an omen?) stars Hathor, who's exploited for a devious plot by a Snow Queen. Dark Divide has a skunky vampire. The Stone of Time is supposed to be "the epic conclusion", but it's just another big adventure. Which leaves the characters free to sally forth to new adventures, which is cool.

Where can you buy them? WWW.half.com is your best bet. Type "runesword" but also try "rune space sword, because some listings break up the single word.

All the books have gorgeous covers by Larry Elmore, the hardest working guy in fantasy art. And a wonderful person. I bumped into him at GenCon, and he remembered all the covers he'd painted for my books, said he'd read them to get details (when possible), and gave me a signed flat of the cover!