Dog

Dreamland is an action-adventure book, completely plot-driven. It's air battle after air battle after air battle, with an occasional pause for a land battle.

But for myself, and I think for Dale, too, it's always been about the people.

The characters take on lives of their own, especially after you've lived with them for so long. You start thinking about them as real people. Even some of the characters you could take or leave - Mack Smith springs to mind - are literally real to you.

Dog - Colonel Bastian - has always been my personal favorite. Dale said something once that described him - I forget how he put it exactly, but it was along the lines of "d-o-g" is God spelled backwards, and that's not a coincidence. But right from the start, Dog hasn't been conceited at all. I think if anything he's been humble. Now granted, he doesn't take no bs from anyone, and he expects things done when he says do them . . . but he always tries to be decent to people, treating them the way he would like to be treated.

I think Dog's character works well, and gives the book a good feel, adding to that epic quality I mentioned the other day. But sometimes I wonder - what if he was a bit more conceited? What if he was a jerk? We'd've had more conflict in the books . . . different plots.... more intrigue ...

Maybe the stories would have been better, maybe not. But in any event, I just couldn't do that to those people . . .