WEbook: Hi Angel, Congratulations on winning! You chose a very powerful subject for this month’s challenge - what inspired you to write about this particular female figure? 

Angel: This character, Destiny Travers, is the main character of my novel, 'Manifesting Destiny'. I chose her for my subject in this challenge because she is a very strong, yet very vulnerable, female figure. She has immense power to effect the lives of those with whom she comes in contact, but is helpless to save her own life.

WB: This is a very emotive piece of writing, is it a subject that you feel strongly about? 

Angel: Yes, I do feel very strongly about the slow and agonizing death that we are causing to our planet. The Earth is our home, our mother, we cannot exist without her. Humans as a race tend to be too self involved to realize the damage that we inflict on our environment. We can't see past the ends of our own noses.


WB: You mention several items in the story such as bacon, coffee and cigarettes and you reference the Industrial Revolution, was it your intention to highlight these in order that you could demonstrate the lack of care we take of our bodies as well as the planet? 


Angel:  The short answer to this question is 'Yes'. I reference the Industrial Revolution to illustrate that once humans attained sufficient power to make our own lives easier, we began to dump hazardous toxins by the ton into the air, water and soil that we require to sustain life. I frequently use bacon as a tongue in cheek metaphor to illustrate how we destroy animals by the thousands and consume an excess of protein and meat, just because it tastes good. I use tobacco and coffee to show that we take nature's gifts, natural medicines, and we abuse and misuse them in spite of the life threatening illnesses that come from this behavior. Tobacco use is particularly abusive not only to ourselves, but to those around us. Many of us continue to pump toxic smoke into our lungs and the lungs of anyone nearby, with little consideration. 

WB: Do you think that the Sci-Fi aspects of Destiny's history and character help to distance the story from connotations of religion and creationism? 


Angel: I use the sci-fi aspect of this character to illuminate some of my ideals that may not be 'mainstream'. I believe that it is simple arrogance to believe that we are alone in this universe, whether we were created or evolved. Also, I believe that we are all visitors to this planet. She existed long before we did, and will continue to exist for long after we're gone. We must pass her care on to our children, the next generation of visitors, in better condition than we received it in. That is not happening.