Readers often ask where my characters come from.
The answer is usually complicated.
But in the case of Lieutenant Alastar Kar, the answer is surprisingly simple.
I've known him for more than thirty years.
Long before The Ghost Ships: Journey Into the Void was ever written, before the trilogy existed, and even before I seriously considered becoming an author, Alastar was already part of my life.
Back in the 1990s, I participated in online role-playing games. Like many writers, I created characters, worlds, and stories simply because I loved imagining them. One of those characters was a young half-human, half-feline officer named Alastar Kar.
At the time, I had no idea he would stay with me for decades.
But he did.
Over the years, Alastar evolved. His history became richer. His personality deepened. New stories appeared. New adventures unfolded. Piece by piece, he became more than a fictional character.
In many ways, he became an old friend.
People often ask if Alastar was inspired by a specific character from a movie or a book. The truth is that he wasn't.
He was born from an accumulation of influences.
As a child, I was fascinated by science fiction. I devoured books, watched movies, and spent countless hours imagining distant worlds. I loved stories about aliens, shape-shifters, and explorers venturing into the unknown. I was particularly drawn to feline characters and stories involving people who lived between two worlds.
One of my earliest daydreams involved helping a shipwrecked alien with catlike eyes avoid capture by soldiers here on Earth.
Looking back, I can see pieces of Alastar hidden inside those childhood imaginings.
Some ideas simply stay with us.
From the very beginning, I knew Alastar would be the central character.
I never seriously considered anyone else.
Even when the details of the story changed, some things remained constant. For thirty years, he has always been half Felarian. He has always been driven by duty. He has always felt a little out of place. And he has always been searching for answers about who he is and where he belongs.
Like most writers, I think I put a little bit of myself into every character I create.
Alastar is no exception.
He reflects many of my values and beliefs, although he is certainly braver than I am.
His defining traits have always been determination, courage, loyalty, honesty, and a willingness to keep moving forward even when the odds seem impossible.
But what makes him interesting to me isn't his strength.
It's his weakness.
Alastar struggles with self-doubt.
He questions himself.
He worries that he isn't enough.
He carries the burden of not fully understanding his own past or where he truly belongs.
Those flaws make him human, regardless of his alien heritage.
Perhaps the biggest surprise has been where his journey eventually led.
When I first created Alastar all those years ago, I never imagined he would one day find himself facing an extinction-level threat to the galaxy.
I certainly never imagined The Ghost Ships Trilogy.
Yet somehow, that's where the story led us.
And through it all, Alastar has remained fundamentally the same person he was when I first created him decades ago.
Maybe a little older.
Maybe a little wiser.
But still the same man.
If I had to summarize what Alastar represents in a single sentence, it would be this:
Duty. Responsibility. Loyalty.
Not blind loyalty.
Not obedience for its own sake.
But the belief that we have a responsibility to do what is right, even when it is difficult.
In many ways, I think Alastar would live by the words of the Serenity Prayer:
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."
For more than thirty years, Alastar Kar has been part of my imagination.
Today, as the final chapter of his story approaches publication, I find myself grateful that a character created so long ago chose to stay.
Some characters come and go.
A few become lifelong companions.
Alastar is one of those rare few.
— Dawn Steinman