Other Bios – Supporting Characters
By Jeff Bouley / Deacon BlueAdditional biographical information about supporting characters (origins, background and descriptions) will be added periodically.
Click on the names below to jump directly to that character’s information:
Carl Beacham | Patsy Sheffield | James Pearson | Julian Gregori | Leon Donnelly
Peter Goebel | Francesca DeSantos | Jessica Carter | Ben Glick | Peter Bodswell
Isabella Fuentes | Hayden Dahl | Cynthia Taggert | Dr. Arthur Hawkings
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Carl Beacham
Carl is an attorney (briefly a former prosecutor) with an eclectic practice that tries to combine estate/investment law with a small criminal defense practice. He is an associate of the hero Query and essentially serves as Query’s public face. While the hero investigates in less overt ways and in the darker corners of society—and while he interrogates criminals and criminal associates—Carl conducts interviews with victims and witnesses whom Query is either working for or helping for free and does other research and investigation as needed. Acting as both an attorney for Query’s affairs and as the hero’s lead investigator, many assume that Carl himself is Query, though in fact Carl is overweight, out of shape, and significantly shorter than Query. While Carl does maintain a pretty busy client load in both aspects of his law practice, he could survive on the income from Query alone, who is determined to overcompensate him for his troubles.
Patsy Sheffield
Fiancée of Carl Beacham (above), and an indirect associate of Query (though she is unaware of that fact). Query actually orchestrated their meeting more than six months after Carl began working for Query, as he thought the two might be a good match (Patsy is a lab technician who worked at one of the companies Query co-founded as part of his Alan Millos identity).
James Pearson
Owner of the Shoreline Hero Shop in New Judah, Connecticut—formerly known as Cosmic Comics (when it was still owned by his now-late father). James himself is a transhuman (a Primal with the ability to produce powerful pheromones), though he doesn’t make it known that he is, and he really only uses his powers to ease certain aspects of his personal and business life.
Julian Gregori
A well-regarded fashion designer even before he became involved with transhumans, Julian designs and manufactures costumes and accessories for transhumans (or their devotees) as a very lucrative sideline activity to his more “mainstream” design work in a business he co-owns with life partner Leon Donnelly (see below). He has a reputation for extreme discretion and attention to security/secrecy, making him one of the most sought-after designers by transhumans, whether heroes or villains. Julian himself makes no distinctions about the moral character of transhumans, though he will not create or procure any illegal merchandise.
Leon Donnelly
A former extreme fighting competitor, Leon is not only the gay life partner of Julian Gregori (see above) but his business partner as well. Despite his fitness and fighting skills, Leon does not usually protect Julian per se, as they tend to set up deals with transhumans with an eye toward avoiding potential violence. Leon’s primary contributions to the business involve his organizational, management and logistics skills. Leon had adopted a baby girl along with his previous life partner, who died of a stroke when Lois was one. Leon and Julian met 18 months later, Julian became a legal adoptive parent of Lois a little over a year after that and, as of 2010, their daughter is 7 years old.
Peter Goebel
A clothing and accessories designer who focuses a good share of business on transhuman clients, much like Julian Gregori does. He has a reputation for very good-looking materials, but not always the best reputation for workmanship or overall sense of style. But his lower prices make him fairly accessible to heroes, who tend to have less money to work with than do villains.
Francesca DeSantos
A clothing and accessories designer who is at least the equal of Julian Gregori in skill (perhaps more so) and is the chief competitor to him and his partner Leon Donnelly both in human and transhuman circles. She is known for being opportunistic and ruthless, as well as caring very little about any moral quandaries in terms of outfitting transhumans who are villains, violent vigilantes or shady mercenaries. It has been rumored at times that she is willing and able to connect clients to weapons suppliers as well.
Jessica Carter
A stylist at a relatively upscale salon in downtown New Judah, Jessica is an Interfacer with the ability to create pleasurable sensations in others by voice or touch (more powerfully with the latter), though she keeps this fact secret. Effects can range from mildly pleasant to something beyond orgasmic, and it is theoretically possible that she might be able to influence a subject’s nervous system in other (and perhaps not so pleasurable) ways, though this hasn’t been demonstrated as yet. She uses her powers to enhance loyalty and generosity among her clients, and for other aspects of her personal and professional activities.
Ben Glick
Host of the hour-long “Ben Glick’s America” cable television show on Fox News as well as host of a radio talk show and author of several books, Ben is a well-known and popular (if not always well-regarded) personality and a staunch supporter of the Freedom Party (and of the most conservative elements of the Republican Party). As a conservative political pundit and commentator, he is known for espousing various conspiracy theories that are invariably attributed to moderate and liberal politicians, celebrities and businesspeople. (Astute readers will likely notice that Ben Glick is essentially a stand-in for Glenn Beck in my Whethermen universe, though he is probably less of a Glenn Beck clone than he is Glenn Beck with elements of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity thrown in.)
Peter Bodswell
One of Texas’ two U.S. senators, Peter Bodswell was elected in 2008 as a Freedom Party candidate. He is extremely right-wing/conservative on most issues (gun rights, death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, religion, etc.) and very anti-transhuman in his outlook. Only 45 years old as of 2010, he is reportedly being groomed for a future presidential candidacy.
Isabella Fuentes
Stepsister of Michele Cho (aka Solstice) and her roommate as well. The two became siblings when Michele’s widowed Chinese father married Isabella’s divorced Puerto Rican mother (Michele was 14 at the time and Isabella 12). Although they’ve never been particularly sisterly in their relationship, they did form a strong friendship over the years. Isabella, who works in the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles, is aware of Michele’s double life.
Hayden Dahl
The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transhuman Affairs, confirmed to that post by the U.S. Senate in spring 2010. He is a fairly liberal-leaning Democrat.
Cynthia Taggert
The administrator of the Yosef H. Givens Psychiatric Detention Facility located just outside of New Judah. The institution is a combination prison and psychiatric care facility that mostly houses people with mental illness who are actually dangerous to others and are suspected of (or have been found guilty of) heinous crimes. Cynthia is essentially the “warden” of the facility. Inmates and patients at the institution come from the eastern half of the United States (the Givens Psychiatric Detention Facility, or GPDF, has a “sister facility” in Nevada called the Riverton Psychiatric Prison that handles the other half of the country). Roughly half of the prison/patient population at the GPDF is transhuman.
Dr. Arthur Hawkings
A psychologist, psychiatrist and neurologist, Arthur is the head of clinical and counseling services at the Givens Psychiatric Detention Facility (see Cynthia Taggert entry above), essentially serving as the second-in-command at the facility, though technically and officially that role is served by the associate administrator who works under Cynthia Taggert.