Characters in the Cosmos: Meet Rebecca Catherine Valerie de-Monte
Meet Rebecca Catherine Valerie de-Monte, a secondary character in Adam E. Bradbury's The Namesake. Bradbury has published some non-fiction conventionally, and decided that he wanted the control and freedom that self-publishing had to offer. Recently his manuscript went through beta readers, and he edited according to their comments. Bradbury plans on self publishing the manuscript, and it will go to a copy-editor "this side of Christmas" and will be published in 2018.
Bradbury loves to connect with folks, so hit him up on his Website, and find him on Twitter: @AdamEBradbury.
Who are you? What do you do?
I am Rebecca Catherine Valerie de-Monte, Matriarch of the Family de-Monte. It is my duty to protect the farmlands that produce food for our great city of Amynthia.
What is your greatest fear?
That there is a resurgence of the religious hate that all but wiped human-kind from the face of the earth. I was a senior commander during the wars and know first-hand how faith can be used to manipulate people, make them do dreadful things. The peace that we have enjoyed in the decades since The Conflict is fragile; thin ice resting on deep water. The undercurrents of the fanatic are still there and could break through that ice at any moment. This is what I fear.
What's the worst thing that's happened in your life? What did you learn from it?
If I examine my soul I find only one source of pain, and it is buried deep inside me. It is that I could never have a child. But I have found another way. The work I undertake in the security of the de-Monte estate has made me the mother of our new world.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
For many years it was the pantheon of the gods. My love for them was so strong that it allowed me to do terrible things, to take lives, to destroy. I was not alone in feeling the power of this kind of love, and I am not alone now in rejecting it and embracing a new world.
When and where were you happiest?
I have done many terrible things in my life, but I hope that those days are in the past. I am happiest here and now.
What is your most treasured possession?
My most treasured possession? It is the life of a young and brave woman. She gave it up, gave it to me at the end of the war. Her gift allowed me to lift our world back into the light.
What do you most value in your friends?
Loyalty and honesty.
Tell me about your best friend. How did you meet? What do you like about this person? What do you think they like about you?
My companion throughout my life has been my twin, Laban. We are the same, he and I. Eye to eye, “our feet on the road to paradise and our fists in the face of the devil” as they say.
What's the worst thing you've ever done to someone? Why?
Many innocent people have died on my orders. But deeds done in war and in the fog of faith need no justification, their context is their excuse. No, the shame I carry is for the namesakes, the women who work our land and produce our food. The worst thing I have done in this lifetime is to lie to these women.
What is your ideal world?
Truth. Truth is the only freedom and I would have a world filled with truth.
