Cover Art by Alison Hunt

I wonder how much I have to say about Clyde.  There weren’t a lot of changes in War of Nytefall: Lost with him aside from the new home and trying to figure out the kind of leader he wants to be.  A key component of Clyde’s personal story is that he has a monstrous rage inside him that is always on the verge of escaping.  This doesn’t make him a full-on berserker with impulse control issues, but it makes him incredibly dangerous.  If he gets too into a battle then he can lose control.  If he is pushed too far then he can lose control.  The thing that he is scared of is that he can’t pull back and have to be destroyed before he decimates the world.  So, his progression is more of a seesaw that is trying to stay level instead of tilting to one side.

For those who don’t know about his past, Clyde was turned by Gregorio Roman and is the brood brother of Nadia Sylvan.  He became a talented and infamous thief who ran a vampire gang that was composed of Mab, the Vengeance Hounds, Chastity Sullivan, and a partial membership of Kenneth Decker.  One day, Clyde decided to test his luck by trying to steal from the temple of Durag the Sun God.  He was captured and nearly executed, but the Great Cataclysm struck before the end.  He was swallowed by the ground along with all of the mortals and the entire city.  It would be 50 years before Mab would dig him out and he’d emerge as the first Dawn Fang.

Since his return, Clyde has faced multiple challenges, but two biggest ones are keeping himself entertained and being a leader.  The first is a problem because he hasn’t found many people who can put up a real fight against him.  So, he has no easy way to release the rage that he tries to keep under control.  The other is more harrowing because Clyde has to face a sense of doubt that feels unnatural to his typically confident personality.  Even when he ran his old gang, he would do heists with Mab while Titus ran the small army that took group jobs.  He was in charge, but only made sure people shared the wealth (except Mab) and nobody betrayed the group.  This makes Clyde think more like a laid back enforcer instead of the ruler of an entire species.  He is trying not to act like a brutal warlord, but also show enough strength that none of his people would consider exposing the Dawn Fangs to danger.  This means a lot of the punishments revolve around pain and death, but Clyde isn’t sure he wants to do it this way.

The post can go on since Clyde is the main character, but I hope there’s enough for people to think of a few questions.  You’ve got his relationships, thoughts about being a Dawn Fang, thief life, leadership, his rage, and just about anything.  Not much is off the table with him, so ask away and see what he says in October.