HI CALEB! *waves emphatically*
 |
| Hey, babe. |
Caleb is 25 and an Elyon Community cult member living in the wilds of Oregon in a secret community his father created.
Thank you so for this interview, Caleb. Now that the book has been written, can you tell us how your friends see you?
What friends? I have none. I've lived a life of solitude ever since my father stole me away to this community he created. Except for the occasional night of passion, I've not connected with another. Even before we moved here, I was an outcast. The other kids thought I was weak because I used my powers to heal, not to hurt. They just didn't understand me. I didn't fit in there, and I don’t fit in here. I fit in nowhere.
What is your most prized possession? Why?
There are two things that I can never have, yet cherish the most–my twin sons. They are five years old now and were born in our community where they are raised by the masses. I cannot be with them but every day I whisper their names out loud as an offering for some higher power to answer my prayer to be with them. Someday I will become my own master and take my sons away from this place. But if I try and fail—they will die. If my father discovers my plan—they will die. I am destined to be alone, but I am fine with that if someday my sons can have a normal life. The scars of not knowing them are seared on my heart.
Name five items in your pockets.
There is only one item in my robe pocket, the final poem I wrote for the one love I had once–and the mother of twin boys I will never know, Rachel. She was assigned to breed with me and we fell in love. Poems for her poured from me, and I’d planned to give her this poem one special night, but she never came to me again. Our bond was severed, per my father’s orders. She was sent to mate with another…and then another and another. I never touched her again.
Do you have any special things you do?
I help others in my community. I save them from severe punishment, and even death, and in doing so put myself in the position to be punished by whipping. I've healed many in our community and released them secretly into the world to find a second chance at life. To live and love with others. To be cared for. All the things I wish for myself, and my sons. I can stand the whippings—if it means sparing the punished some pain. Those scars I can bear. The scars of my lost love, Rachel, and my lost sons are a never ending pain.
What in your past had the most profound effect on you?
Finding my mother dead in a well when I was seventeen. She was the biggest light in my life, and my champion. She guarded me from my father and kept me safe. With her gone, my world grew dark. I had to survive, alone. I may never know how she died. An accident? A murder? It haunts me still.
Did you get along with your parents?
I loved my mother dearly. She was a gentle soul in a bad marriage. My father…well, he is all things I cannot be. Evil, remorseless, egotistical, and a murderer. He forces me to do his dirty work and tries to mold me into his likeness. He believes I’m weak and I can never be as strong as he, and I think he may be right. But I should still try to stop him, even while he threatens to kill my sons if I don’t obey him! Even while I despise my father, part of me still loves him and yearns for his fatherly love that I once had as a child. I never will succumb to his life of hate, and I often think if I were like him I would kill him myself. But I try to live my life guided by love, not hate.
Thank you for this interview, Caleb! Will we be seeing more of you in the future?
I am hopeful I can become a part of normal society and that one day the world can accept me–that a woman can accept me…that my sons can accept me as their father. Don’t judge me by what I’ve been forced to do, rather judge me for the love in my heart that wants desperately to do what’s right.
ABOUT A HIDDEN ELEMENT
Evil lurks within…When Caleb Madroc is used against his will as part of his father’s plan to breed a secret community and infiltrate society with their unique powers, he vows to save his oppressed people and the two children kept from him. Seven years later, Laura and Ben Fieldstone’s son is abducted, and they are forced to trust a madman’s son who puts his life on the line to save them all. The enemy’s desire to own them—or destroy them—leads to a survival showdown. Laura and Ben must risk everything to defeat a new nemesis that wants to rule the world with their son, and Caleb may be their only hope—if he survives. But must he sacrifice what he most desires to do so?
ABOUT DONNA:
Donna Galanti writes murder and mystery with a dash of steam as well as middle grade adventure fiction. She is the author of books 1 and 2 in the paranormal suspense Element Trilogy, A Human Element and A Hidden Element, the short story collection The Dark Inside, and Joshua and The Lightning Road (Books 1 and 2, 2015). She’s lived from England as a child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer. She now lives in Pennsylvania with her family in an old farmhouse. It has lots of writing nooks, fireplaces, and stink bugs, but she’s still wishing for a castle again—preferably with ghosts.
Blog: http://www.elementtrilogy.com/blog/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DonnaGalanti
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DonnaGalantiAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5767306.Donna_Galanti
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ON SALE THROUGH 8/31 FOR JUST $.99cents!
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