At first, I felt a little timid about writing strong women characters. Not a woman myself, would I be able to write believable women? Once I started, I realized that being surrounded by strong women and raised and influenced by independent women my whole life gave me a tremendous amount of material and experiences from which to draw. Like all of my work, no character is a 1:1 representation of any real person who is now or formerly walked the earth. Instead, each of the women who drive What It Takes to Kill a Bull Moose forward are composites and reimaginings of some of the women who have influenced me in life, politics, faith, and more.
Enough prologue. Let’s meet the incredible leading and supporting women of Bull Moose Series Book #1, set for release on May 14, 2024. Kudos to the geniuses at MidJourney for programming the tech that made this A.I. artwork possible!
Dr. Catherine Piper
By 2043, when What It Takes… opens, Dr. Catherine Piper is one of the leading oncologists in America. Her treatment methods and research are groundbreaking. She is making important strides in helping patients not only beat cancer, but she’s working to cure it. Her husband, Jackson Piper, a former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, has lost his way. She and Jackson had been lauded as future President and First Lady only to be pushed aside from the national conversation by an unexpected electoral defeat. Behind her back, Jackson’s staff call her “Catherine the Great” because she is the woman who has it all – intelligence, a meaningful career, two great kids, and film actress-level beauty. Catherine whole heartedly backs Jackson’s run for the White House, but events in the novel make her question whether the pursuit of power is worth the dangers and sacrifices. The deepest secret she hides from most in the book is her feeling of dissatisfaction with living a life of high pressure and high expectations since entering Brown University 25 years prior. Will the pressures of being the wife of a man pursuing the presidency at a time of national peril be the last straw that finally causes Catherine to buckle or will she find the support and balance that allows herself the permission not to need to be the overachiever at everything she touches? She is near the top of the book’s strong female characters.
Former Governor Reese Tulson
Pennsylvania Governor Reese Tulson broke the glass ceiling by becoming the Keystone State’s first female governor. Jackson worked on her campaign, and since Jackson lost both of his parents early in life, Reese became not only a mentor to Jackson, but a motherly figure as well. She relished every moment of her two terms in office, but now retired and alone after losing her wife to cancer puts Governor Tulson in a position to reevaluate her choices. She openly wonders whether all the sacrifices of time away from her beloved wife were worth it. Perhaps Governor Tulson has had too much time alone in her Philadelphia mansion because she presents Jackson Piper with some wild conspiracies and superstitions when he calls on her for advice.
Vice President Jessica Brown
Jessica Brown was a Congressional leader who saw the 2040 election as her moment to help bring the country together and unify it after an unstated national crisis during that election. Crossing Party lines, she joins Russell Warner’s ticket despite fierce opposition from her Party. Her selection helped solidify Warner’s victory, but few of the assurances and promises he made to her have come through. A health crisis hits the Vice President, but events surrounding it shake her to her core. She is unsure she has the courage nor the stamina for the fight required of her in a moment unlike any other in American history.
Olivia Clay, White House Chief of Staff
A social media star turned model, Olivia becomes bored of the constant pursuit of image perfection and trades the runway for the beltway for a career in journalism. Her powerful features and sharp wit land her a job as a wildly popular cable news anchor, one that catches the eye of Senator Russell Warner. He recruits her in The Senate Deception to join his presidential campaign, running the communications shop, and by the time we meet up with her in What It Takes… she is the White House Chief of Staff, the first female to hold the post in the history of the Republic. She knows how to handle Warner’s fits of rage and fear. But a life on screens leaves her feeling empty. When Juniper CEO Marco Alvarez sees her as a person, not a sex symbol, she falls for him. But she soon wonders if Marco is using her position to get a Cabinet appointment he desperately wants. Soon, she is swept up in Marco’s ambitions, and the idea of a brand new role for the country tests her moral code.
Governor Valerie Lawrence of Texas
There is no tougher character in the novel than Valerie Lawrence of Texas. She is a former Olympic athlete who turned her international competitive drive into a political career to lead the Lone Star State as its governor. She is driven, highly competitive, tenacious, and has a raw sense of humor. She is not afraid of a fight, and openly wears a stylish six-shooter on her hip while she meets with legislators to flip the script about political positions. In the Piper candidacy, she sees a genuine desire in Piper to bring hope to a nation feeling afraid and defeated. Reforming the Bull Moose Party is just the kind of bold move to shake up the Presidential election that Governor Lawrence supports. But when a series of catastrophic events shake the Presidential race, she proves to be perhaps the strongest of the candidates left standing. She might be the only thing standing between the preservation of the Republic and complete chaos. She is arguable the strongest of the strong women characters of the novel.
Senator Eileen Frazier of Missouri
Senator Eileen Frazier was once the star of her own docu-reality show about her mission in Featherbed, Missouri, a small town of less than 2,500 residents. Her show’s driving shtick was her work to secure the repentance and conversion of every single town resident to become true believers and members of her Pentecostal church – God’s Glory Palace. Eileen fervently understood it to be her duty and privilege (as it was every follower of the Lord Jesus Christ) to endeavor to make disciples of all people in all nations. And son of a bitch, if she did not succeed by the fifth season of that show. She turned her television fame into an online church, and by the end of 2030, she had amassed a worldwide church membership of over 75,000 worshippers a week. She translated that fame and prosperity into a Senate seat in 2034, elected as part of the same Class to the Senate as Jackson Piper. But in 2040, she won reelection, and Jackson lost. She is drawn to Jackson by his strong faith, even if they disagree on a host of issues. She is open to switching to the Bull Moose Party if it will help move things finally forward in Washington and for the nation.
Ziggy
Artificial Intelligence has made leaps and bounds by the time of The Senate Deception in 2038. But Ziggy is in a class all her own. Ron Bender is coy about how and from where he acquired this exceptional digital assistant, but her processing powers are extraordinary. She can gain access to data sets that other A.I. assistants can’t touch. Ron Bender has chosen ZIggy to look like the woman of his dreams, and when the two of them are alone, it’s possible she is the closest thing he has to a life partner. Is Ziggy self-aware? Is she truly capable of human emotions, self-determination, and self-advocacy? Does the solution to winning the White House lie in her unbelievable programming, and is it ethical to use it?
Libby
Fresh out of college, Libby joins the Piper campaign full of ambition and idealism. She is clearly Ron Bender’s best hire and soon becomes his chief lieutenant. But the campaign is more than she bargains for as it comes under attack from political violence that has become common by 2044. Her steel spine and sharp intelligence are part of the reason the Piper campaign survives these direct assaults. When the choice is made to become Bull Moose, Libby doesn’t even bat an eye; she’s all in. Soon in charge of coordinating the multi-city Bull Moose National Convention, Libby appears to be a leader Piper will need to not only win the White House, but lead the nation.
In honor of International Women’s Day 2024, I am thrilled to share these character snapshots with you.
