{Tour} Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos (Character Intros + a Giveaway!)

***Character Intros***

“Meet the Stones”

• Jared Stone–  Jared is forty-five years old. He is married to Deirdre and has two daughters, Jackie and Megan. He is serving his fourth two-year term on the Oregon state legislature and is also a graphic designer. He enjoys playing games on  the wii, especially golf, and spending time with his family.  Jared just found out he has a high-grade glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor. It’s inoperable. He decides to place an ad online, selling himself in order to insure financial stability for his family.

• Deirdre Stone– Deirdre could be considered a stereotypical suburban mom with a full-time job. She loves her house and her garden. She’s an executive assistant to the CFO of a multinational insurance company. She’s organized and routine oriented.

• Jackie Stone– Jackie is fifteen years-old. Her room is her sanctuary, the only place she feels completely at ease. She never truly feels like she fits in anywhere. She loves the Internet, but more than anything she loves her dad.

• Megan Stone– Megan is Jackie’s younger sister. She’s in eighth grade. She is pretty, strong, self-sufficient and a queen-bee among her peers. She loves clothes, make-up and fashion magazines.

• Trebuchet– Trebuchet is the Stone’s family dog. He is a black lab.

“Meet the Bidders”

• Hazel Huck– Hazel is a seventeen year-old game lover from Huntsville, Alabama. She enjoys games of skill, games of chance, and especially role-playing games. She doesn’t fit in with her well-to-do family. She spends every spare second she can on the Internet in her virtual worlds. An online Warcraft friend sent her the link to Jared Stone’s ad.

• Ethan Overbee– Ethan is thirty-two and lives in Santa Monica. He is completely lacking in empathy, but shows his appreciation through gifts. He’s obsessed with his bicycle and is the youngest man to ever hold the position of deputy executive in charge of programming for the America Television Network (ATN). Ethan came across Jared Stone’s ad while searching on eBay for a gift for his assistant.

• Sister Benedict Joan– Sister Benedict Joan is the prioress of the Sisters of the Perpetual Adoration. She also teaches the third grade at Annunciation Catholic School. She likes the internet… a lot; and runs a blog called christscadets.blogspot.com, which she uses to spread the word of Christ. She came across Jared Stone’s add when one of her blog followers posted a link to it.

• Sherman Kingsborough– Sherman is twenty-three years old and very rich. His father died on his eighteenth birthday and his mother subsequently left to return to her home in Korea. Because he is rich and has no family to speak of, his moral compass was left to drift unchecked. Sherman denies himself nothing. He came across Jared Stone’s eBay listing on his own.