About the Author
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Author Annabell Cadiz opens up about why she chose to go down the route of including parents in her debut novel, LUCIFER (Sons of Old Trilogy, #1).
An Absentee Parent is defined as the way a parent “fails to relate to their children”, or a better definition, as a “parent who doesn’t make a positive, meaningful, constant impact on their child’s life.” This is probably the best definition for the Absentee Parent Syndrome that has been plaguing the literary world, particularly the Young Adult genre, for . . . well, since forever.
It’s hard for me to remember a book that included parents as an actual part of not just the storyline, but in the life of the characters as a primary role, or at least as a semi-important one. I can only think of a handful of books when I try really hard: the Harry Potter Series, the Caster Chronicles, the Percy Jackson Series, No Good Deed, and the Unearthly Series. But that’s all I can think of and even those books discuss the absence of one parent or both (as is the case with Harry Potter but he had GROWN UPS who DID care about what was going on his life).
I have always thought it was a strange occurrence for no one to seem to have cared very much that a parent (or both parents) was either dead in a book, or a single parent, who never pays much attention to what his or her child is doing, or just no type of real guardianship on any level. Perhaps there are many authors who grew up that way and that’s why they feel the need to portray parents as aloof so much of the time. Or perhaps it’s just more convenient to a plot to not have a parent snooping around asking a bunch of questions.
I can’t be certain why other authors do not choose to portray parents as a vital role to their stories, but I can tell you why I decided to include both Zahara and Becca’s parents in my debut LUCIFER (Sons of Old Trilogy, #1).
I grew up with parents who weren’t just curious about what I was up to all the time, but wanted to be involved, wanted to listen, wanted to show that they cared about the details. I consider myself very blessed in that regard.
When I approached writing LUCIFER I hadn’t actually really thought about either Zahara’s parents—Solomon and Mia—or Becca’s parents—Adam and Ariel. I had been so focused on what was going to happen to Zahara, Becca, Rekesh, and Bryan, that when I wrote the second chapter to LUCIFER, I suddenly discovered Zahara’s parents weren’t going to just sit in the back and wait to be heard. Solomon, as ill-tempered as he can be, demanded I pay attention to him and as loud as he is, I could hardly hear myself think!
So from then on Solomon, Mia, Adam, and Ariel became important secondary characters. Even though they don’t get as much screen time so to speak as Zahara, Becca, Rekesh, and Bryan, when they do come on the scene, they remind the reader (myself included) how essential a parent’s role is in a child’s life—no matter the age.
Parents are the first and greatest example a child has. Who a child becomes, how a child learns to interact with the world, how a child tells right from wrong—all of that
begins with the parents first and the parents in SONS OF OLD TRILOGY understand that.
Solomon and Adam are great dads. Solomon is loving, charming, carries himself with strength and courage, and genuinely enjoys life. Adam is bold and outlandish with his wardrobe, a natural jokster, and nerdy. Mia and Ariel are wonderful mothers. Mia is patient, reasonable, kind, and undeniably strong in heart and character and Ariel is quiet and reserved, an observant person by nature, but at the same time, speaks her mind and is the steady hand that keeps her husband calm and the heart that keeps her family together.
BUT the parents aren’t perfect. Solomon is quick to lose his temper, overwhelmingly protective of those around him (especially Zahara), and prejudice. Adam treats Becca like he’s her permanent bodyguard and NO boy will EVER get through if he has any say about it. Mia likes to be in control and doesn’t take kindly when she’s not and Ariel likes to keep her feelings locked up until she explodes over something small from holding everything in for so long.
They are also EXTREMELY over-protective, particularly Solomon and Adam. If you’re a dad and you have a daughter, you will probably relate very well with Solomon and Adam, especially when they freak out over boys coming to close their daughters. It’s like when dogs go crazy when the mailman comes around. You don’t really know why the dogs go all bonkers but they can’t stop themselves. That’s how it is for Solomon and Adam. To them their daughters are too important for the outside world to be privileged to have. (insert all the heartfelt “awwwes” and clutching your chest as you swoon)
On the one hand, this can be seen as a sweet and totally understandable. After all, Zahara, like Becca, is an only child. Parents tend to over compensate for only children (I have learned this through watching my nephew with his parents). Also, Mia is a Light Witch and the Faraday family work for the Royal Court—the league of soldiers that protect the Supernatural Kingdoms. Mia, along with her sister Catalina, and Solomon, hunt rogue supernaturals (as their night job)—supernatural creatures who are more naughty than nice. Adam and Ariel are aware of their double life. If you had either a soul-stealing or a memory-eating or a blood-drinking or a child-stealing supernatural attacking your family, you would be less likely to let your kid anywhere near a window let alone the outside world. But sometimes Solomon and Adam, even Mia, take the overprotective thing WAY too far, to the point that they are suffocating the girls.
But it’s because of the flaws of the parents and even more importantly, because they take the time to LISTEN to their daughters (at least most of the time) and treat them with kindness, love and respect, Zahara and Becca are STRONG women. They can stand on their own two feet and make the right decision even in the face of incredible fear. Their parents offer them unconditional love and safety. Zahara and Becca know they can always go home, no matter what, because that love and security will always be there. No matter their mistakes. No matter their failures. Their parents will love them period.
Isn’t that something we should be reminding our youth as much as possible?
The Book
 Series: Book #1 of Sons of Old Trilogy Author: Annabell Cadiz Genre: NA (Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Supernatural) Synopsis. Have you ever wondered what could be hiding in the shadows? Well, for eighteen-year-old Zahara Faraday, she doesn’t have to wonder. You see she comes from a lineage of Light Witches, those who have chosen to help protect and serve between the supernatural world and the human world. The only problem is Zahara, like her father Solomon, is as human as a human being can be whereas her mother, Mia, and her Aunt Catalina, were born as Light Witches. As a family they hunt down rogue supernaturals—creatures who harm humans or who have committed an act against their kingdom. Zahara’s hunting skills are usually kept dormant since her parents would prefer she live life as a normal human girl without knowledge of the supernatural world. She plans on doing just that—except when she finds a couple being attacked by fairies, she has no choice but to step in. Before she can return to pretending to be blissfully ignorant, Zahara encounters a problem she isn’t the least equip to handle: Bryan Hamilton, the good looking new co-worker she has to help train. In a heartbeat, her best friend, Becca King, has set her up on a double date with herself and her new crush, Rekesh Saint-Louis, who happens to be the most powerful leader of the biggest Imago Coven in South Florida –supernatural creatures with the ability to control water . . . and suck out human souls. Zahara has no time to focus on how she’s going to explain her double date with her best friend and the enemy they have a tentative truce with to her parents because soon one of the members of Mia and Catalina’s coven is found murdered with a strange tattoo of a snake with wings carved into his arm. Zahara is then thrown into a whirlwind battle with an angel determined to have revenge against God, an Imago coven she doesn’t think they should trust, and slew of dream-eating fairies and powerful Nephilims, hybrid children of angels and humans, more than happy to rip her to shreds. Normal just got a deadlier definition. |
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With love,
Margaret
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Thank you so much, Margaret, for featuring me through the month of FEB! ~Annabell
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