Character Corner: Lily Rhoads
An inside look at a key supporting character from Among Hidden Stars
I enjoy playing with science fiction tropes. It’s fun subverting expectations from one story to another. One specific trope — humans vs. aliens — is always fertile ground for nuanced storytelling. It lets me do unexpected things as an author.
When Calandra and Xttra make first contact with Earth in Alien People, the Earthians they meet are collectively violent, reactionary, and dangerous. My alien protagonists barely survive their encounter with these antagonists. Earthian are given a chance at redemption in Among Hidden Stars when Calandra and Xttra are forced to enlist help from an Earth colony to stop an evil ruler from obtaining a powerful ancient relic. Lily Rhoads, one of the Earthian colonists, proves to be a valuable ally in this battle.
Lily is the subject of my new Character Corner spotlight. If you haven’t read Among Hidden Stars yet, beware that some significant *spoilers* lie ahead.Â
Who is Lily Rhoads?
Lily is a physician from Earth who resides on the planet Colonia (aka the Land of the Three Suns) in the Alpha Centauri B system. Readers are first introduced to Lily in Among Hidden Stars when Calandra, Xttra, Kevin, and Bo’un journey to the Land of the Three Suns to stop Delcor from obtaining possession of the Staff of Onrai. She becomes a key ally in their desperate battle against the tyrannical chief sovereign.
Lily is a native Canadian, born and raised in Vancouver. She is an only child, the daughter of Evan and Celeste Rhoads. Her mother Celeste suffered from clinical depression and took her own life when Lily was barely old enough to remember her. Her father grieved his wife’s tragic death and never remarried. Evan raised Lily as a single father, and they formed a close lifelong bond.
As a child, Lily developed a love for skiing, sledding, and snowshoeing. She spent every available moment exploring new trails and conquering new slopes. Lily harbored dreams for a short time of becoming a competitive skier. Those dreams ended when she tore her ACL after crashing on her skis when she was 14 years old. Interactions with a kind doctor during her rehabilitation led Lily down a new path. She decided she wanted to become a doctor and help heal sick and injured people.
Settling Colonia
Tragedy struck soon after Lily graduated from medical school. Her father was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer and succumbed to the disease only a year later. Losing her father shattered Lily’s heart because he was truly her friend as well as a parent. She coped by joining the Earth Defense Bureau and volunteered to settle on an exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri B. The Earthians named the planet Colonia and called their settlement Cascadia.
Lily misses Earth but viewed living on Colonia as a fresh start to her life. She hoped joining the colony would help her form a new family to fill the void in her life. Settling on an alien planet far from home proved more challenging than Lily anticipated. Widespread crop failures afflicted Cascadian colonists during their first summer on the planet. A neural virus swept through the colony during the winter months and caused many deaths. Lily helped develop a vaccine that eradicated the virus, but the death toll also made her efforts feel like a bittersweet victory.
First contact with Ra’ahm exiles
Lily’s life changes in a profound way when the story told in Among Hidden Stars unfolds. Calandra, Xttra, Alexa, Kevin, and Bo’un journey to Colonia seeking help from the Earthian colonists in their battle against Delcor. Lily quickly forms a friendship with Calandra after their initial meeting and gives her a pair of sunglasses as a gift. Lily travels with Calandra and Xttra to a second colony at Genahm while seeking out leads on the location of the Staff of Onrai.
When Delcor’s fleet attacks Cascadia, Lily works tirelessly to treat victims from the aerial assault. She saves several lives through her efforts. Lily later joins Xttra on a search and rescue mission to free Calandra and Alexa after they are taken prisoner by the Stellar Guard and assists other colonists in subduing remnants of Delcor’s fleet.
Appearance and personality
Lily possesses a total cute-girl-next-door vibe in terms of her looks and personality. She stands about 5-foot-6 and has a runner’s build. She has wavy brown hair, light brown eyes, and light olive skin.
Compassion defines Lily. She became a doctor because she wanted to help others and save lives. Making a positive difference in many lives brings her joy. Lily’s compassion extends to a love for animals. Lily adopted her pet beagle Scout as a rescue and fought with the Earth Defense Bureau to bring him to Colonia with her. Her persistence paid off. She convinced colony officials to allow her and other colonists to bring their pets from Earth to the alien planet. Scout has brought comfort and happiness to Lily while living alone on an unfamiliar planet.
Lily is intelligent, warm and friendly. She loves making new friends and will strike up a conversation at the drop of a hat. Her happy carefree demeanor makes it easy for her to befriend aliens and diffuse potential conflicts with other Earthian colonists. Lily is a peacemaker and bridge builder who strives to make her adopted planet into a place where colonists from Lathos and Earth can forge a peaceful coexistence together.
