Character Interview: Tanner from On A Dark Wing

Today, I'm a part of the blog tour for Jordan Dane's upcoming new release On A Dark Wing Harlequin Teen! As part of this, I have one of the main characters, Tanner Lange, joining us for an interview today! At the end of the interview, I'll include some details on how you can win a KINDLE FIRE from Jordan as the grand prize for this tour AND one of my readers will win a hardcover copy of On A Dark Wing from Harlequin Teen!

Brenna - Tanner, your friendship with Abbey is obviously very close. What do you think it is that makes you two such close friends?

Tanner – She practically lives next door, we carpool to school, and she’s the only girl who’s been in my bedroom, but I guess you’re not gonna let me off that easy.

A guy learns who his real friends are after something bad happens to him. After I found out I was paralyzed—that I would never walk again—I turned into a pissed off asshole. Looking back on those days though, mostly I was scared, afraid of being dependent on my mom and dad, like a big baby, for the rest of my life. Man, things were dark for me back then, except for one thing.

Abbey came to the hospital every day. She didn’t make a big deal about it, but she didn’t miss one day. Not even when I didn’t feel like talking. Abbey knows how to stick and be a solid friend. And when I need a good kick in the butt, she gives me that too. I liked her before the accident, but she made it easy to love her. It just took me awhile to figure that part out.

Brenna - Can you tell us why you two become friends in the first place?

Tanner – I have no idea why Abbey picked me as a friend. You’d have to ask her that question. I figured she could’ve done better, but I’m glad she lowered her standards. We hung out before my accident. At first, she was like one of the guys, easy to be around and she made me laugh. We could talk about anything and she never made me feel like a tool for saying goofy stuff. Somewhere, she became more than a friend to me, but that turned into the one huge thing I couldn’t talk to her about. Stupid, I know. I just knew it would hurt too much if she didn’t feel the same. Can I stop talking about this now, Brenna? I think I’m done. I’m beginning to hit the idiot-zone.

Brenna - Getting a bit more personal now... could you share with us a bit about what your ideal girl would be like?

Tanner – Man, Bren. You gotta be part Vampyre. You’re making me bleed. Okay, so let me get this straight. When you say ‘ideal,’ sounds like you mean perfect. I don’t believe in perfect, but since saying that would make my answer lame and I’d sound like a touchy feely jerkwad, guess I better come up with something real. I like a girl who isn’t fake and who doesn’t play games. It wouldn’t suck if she were funny and a straight shooter when she opened her mouth. A girl doesn’t have to be beauty queen pretty either. If she can look me in the eye, really see me, and speak from the heart, she’s got my attention.

Brenna - Haha, I'm glad you expanded on your answer a bit! :) And no, I didn't mean perfect, so you answered it perfectly... but moving on: What are some of your favourite things to do in your spare time?

Tanner – I collect comic books and graphic novels and I post stuff online and in chat rooms. I have some favorite sites I go to, but I don’t feel like sharing those with you, Bren. If you ever figured out who I was online, guess you’d know I was full of shit and I’d feel like a hypocritical loser. I’m trying to quit. Seriously, I am, but I guess I’m not ready to be the real me yet. Sorry.

I like posting promo stuff for a pop punk band called Archimedes Watch Out! Austin Light, the keyboard guy, is a friend of mine. He used to live in Alaska. I didn’t know him back then, but we met on MySpace and on Twitter. He sent me a CD too. That was cool.

 Brenna - Now I'm kind of curious about your secret online identity! But I'll leave that one alone...for now. Personally, I kind of have a thing for superheroes- I just LOVE them. So if you could be a superhero, who would you be?

Tanner – You’re probably into ripped guys wearing spandex and a mask. I guess if Wonder Woman and Electra came through my bedroom window, I wouldn’t kick them out for not using the front door.

Truth is, it would be easy to deny I’m on wheels if I could be any superhero I wanted to be. That would be no different than me pretending to be someone else online, a guy with two good legs. But since I’m still working through stuff, trying to accept who I am, there’s one superhero I can relate to, without lying to myself.

I have to admit that I was pretty amazed to see the first disabled superhero in a wheelchair come out of Liquid Comics – The Silver Scorpion. Disabled kids from America and Syria came up with a guy who lost his legs in an accident who becomes the guardian of an ancient power. He can manipulate metal. He doesn’t fly. He isn’t invisible. He uses his brain to bend metal. Awesome! I’d turn my mom’s van into a wacked out Batmobile with spinning hubcaps and a decked out stereo system, but only when I drove it. Pimping mom’s ride would be a total waste. Just sayin.’

Brenna - I think that's a really great answer, Tanner. Thank you so much for stopping by today and telling us a bit more about yourself!

Now, for some more blog tour information... the Grand Prize for following this tour is a Kindle Fire and a secret gift from Abbey and you can find the details on YA Bound and enter there.

But I also have a contest here for one of you to win a hardcover copy of On A Dark Wing! Open to US addresses only since this one is coming from Harlequin.





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