Meet Evan Gabriel of Steve Umstead's Gabriel Trilogy

K.Victoria Smith:   Through the magic of time travel, we are here today with Evan Gabriel. Some of you already know him from the events on Poliahu as re-told in Steve Umstead’s thrilling novel, Gabriel’s Redemption. I’ve read Steve’s new novel, Gabriel’s Return. I am a big fan of you and Steve Umstead.  I think it’s time for your fans to get to know you better, Evan.  I can call you, Evan? 

Evan Gabriel:         I'm normally referred to by rank, but as you're a civvie, Evan is fine, thank you.

KVS:        Good.  So shall we begin? 

Evan:      Yeah, I've got a mission debrief to get to.

KVS:        Let’s start with the basics.  Tell us about yourself. Where were you born? Family? Childhood pets? What did you do for fun?

Evan:      I was born in Phoenix Arizona in June, 2148. Parents Scott & Ekaterina, both deceased. My mother…died of cancer when I was very young. My father was…he passed away during the aftermath of the Shanghai Event when I was twelve. Sorry…anyway. I've got a brother who after not seeing him for several years, turned up quite unexpectedly on my last mission. He's older, but more…academic than me, I suppose. I was always bigger and stronger than he was, so I was always sticking up for him in school. Go figure. Before my father died, we did a lot of traveling to the Caribbean, along with my uncle and my cousin. After the Shanghai asteroid, things…changed. That was the end of a lot of childhoods.  


KVS:        What attracted you to military service?

Evan:      My uncle was Special Forces, and I was always fascinated by his tales when he came to our house. He couldn't tell us everything, of course, but what he could was…thrilling. After my father died, I was sort of on my own - well, my brother and I. And when Zack went off to college, I fell in with what most would call the wrong crowd. Instead of college I enlisted, and found I was very good at what the Navy needed. I rose very quickly through the officer ranks, and into the Special Forces. Sort of saved my life.


KVS:        What is the hardest part of your job? Why? What keeps you going?

Evan:      Being SpecFor in the Navy means a lot of traveling, relocating, not a lot of settling down time. I guess that can be hard, not having friends outside the military. But the hardest part, by far, is watching people die. And sometimes feeling responsible for it. As a commander, I am ultimately responsible, and when a mission like…Eden. Damn. Sorry…when a mission goes wrong, and people die, it stabs at a man's soul. What keeps me going? This is my calling. I'm good at what I do, like I was meant for this. And I'm responsible for a new team now. They depend on me, and I cannot let them down.


KVS:        If we were to ask your team to describe Evan Gabriel, what words would they use?

Evan:      They'd better use good ones, or there'll be hell to pay. I'm no taskmaster, but I do expect results. Determined…driven…knowledgeable…trustworthy. Maybe a bit too easy on them, actually, now that I think about it...


KVS:        Is there something you won’t tell anyone?  I promise I won’t tell a soul.

Evan:      This is off the record, correct? I cannot have this showing up in some tabloid on Mars. There was an…incident. During the Ganymede Uprising a few years back, miners had taken control of an ore-producing facility on that moon. They had taken hostages, several of which were children. My team and I had gone in to ensure their safety during negotiations. I had come across a single miner who had taken a child and was holed up in an ore transfer dock. We were…under orders. No casualties, even the miners. But this guy…he was different. I saw it in his eyes. 

                I was alone, I tracked him down, and shut down my comms, powered off all weapons. I was off the official grid. He…refused to let the boy go, claimed he needed leverage. The boy wasn't more than twelve. Same age as I was when my father died. It's a very impressionable age. We struggled, I got him away from the miner and secure in a storage locker, then it was just he and I.  I used my neuretic brain implant to hack into the dock's controls, and opened the outer airlock door. I forced him back against the inner door, took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut, and ordered the inner door open, bypassing the safeties. I watched his body in my heads-up retina display fly through the door, then immediately closed the inner door. The boy was safe, and the miner's body was never found. It was off the record, and none of the other miners complained - apparently they all knew him as a piece of trash.

                Bottom line: don't mess with kids. 

-

KVS:        So Evan, for the ladies out there:  Are you single? If not, tell us about the lucky lady.

Evan:      Technically? Single. However, don't let Renay hear that. For five months or so, from shortly after the Poliahu mission, Lieutenant Renay Gesselli and I have been together. We, along with my team, were deployed to Mars for security, and, well, things just sort of happened. I've been away from Mars for over a week now, with this Eden mission, and I'm looking forward to sharing a cup of coffee with her back in Nuovo Portofino on Mars.


KVS:        So what’s next for Evan Gabriel?

Evan:      Apparently some political maneuvering has been happening on Mars while I've been away. Those South American Republic snakes always seem to be behind all the problems my team and I run into. I received a message from my good friend Governor Mubina Tarif in Arsia Mons dome that two domes now belong to the SAR, and that something of a personal nature happened. Something…I can't talk about. Not now. I've got to get this briefing over with, and get back to Mars as soon as I can. I just…I need to get there. It's important. It's…Revenge.


KVS:        It has been a real pleasure for me. I want to thank you for taking time away from your responsibilities. I hope you will continue to work with Steve Umstead. We all want to know what happened next.  

Gabriel's Return is available as an ebook by clicking the link for the :
 Kindle                          or            Nook           and at          Goodreads


 More information about Steve and his books can be found at his website: http://steveumstead.com/

Some previous stops on Steve's blog tour include the websites of:

Leah Petersen  and Shay Fabbro


Keep an eye out for future visits to other websites, including:

Al Boudreau    and  AJ Powers

Steve is giving away one set of the Books One and Two of Gabriel Trilogy.  Leave a comment or question here for Evan Gabriel to qualify.   A winner will be drawn at random.




Who knows, Evan or his avatar, Steve, may answer.