The Proust Questionnaire is one of the most famous series of questions asked in interviews and used for self-reflection. According to Vanity Fair, “The Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised)
by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.” Proust Your Protagonist is a series that interviews authors writing from the POV of their lead characters to answer the Proust Questionnaire.
Here is the basic Proust Questionnaire told from the point of view of Arturo Morales, the lead character in Kristopher L. Campa’s urban fantasy Sentinel’s Strength, the third book in the Sentinel’s Saga series.
Arturo Morales, main character in the Sentinel’s Saga, has been through a lot in the first two books, and when we see him in the third installment, he’s at a pretty low point in life.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
If I could just get a moment’s peace, with the people I love around me, a nice glass of scotch in hand, that’d be perfect happiness.
What is your greatest fear?
That I’m going to lose another person I care about. I can’t lose anyone else.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My belief that I can fix everything on my own. I know it’s not healthy, but I can’t shake that belief that I don’t actually need anyone else’s help.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Dishonesty, especially when they break their oaths to one another. It’s one of the things that the older ganastu never do, and I respect them so much for that.
Which living person do you most admire?
Raum. Despite what I put him through, he understands, he gets what we’re fighting for. He sees a vision for a brighter future for humans and ganastu and sentinels, and that hope is inspiring.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Oh, that’s a toss-up between my scotch collection and my car. At the moment, fixing my car is taking up quite a bit of time and money, but there’s nothing like a nice glass of scotch at the end of the day.
What is your current state of mind?
Fragile, filled with grief at the loss we’ve experienced.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Patience. I used to consider myself patient, but now… I don’t have time for patience. The world needs to be fixed, justice needs to be brought down on the people who have caused all of this, and I need to be the one to seek vengeance.
On what occasion do you lie?
On the surface level, when lives are at risk, when the lie will keep people alive. On a deeper level, when someone asks me how I am doing.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I feel pretty confident about my appearance. For a sixty year old, I have the body of a twenty-five year old, literally. I’m in great shape. There are days I wish I could grow a better beard, I suppose.
Which living person do you most despise?
Kaya, hands down. That woman has taken everything I care about, has taken the world, and smashed it to bits.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Interesting that these two questions are separate from each other, as I know many men and women who share amazing qualities. I think for me personally, the strength of will in both men and women are the quality I most like.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
See above.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Oh, hmm. I say “perhaps” quite a bit as an answer. I picked that up from Oriphiel and just can’t quite shake it.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced true romantic love. I haven’t had the time for that. But the familial love I have for my fellow sentinels, my former apprentices and those sentinels here in St. Louis in particular, that is a love that cannot be broken.
When and where were you happiest?
There have been a couple moments that come to mind. The first is when I was ten years old. This was before my powers emerged as a sentinel, before my family…, anyways, I remember sitting around the kitchen table with my little brother and mom, and we were making, of all things, tamales together. I don’t know why my mom thought it would be a good idea for her children to make tamales. We definitely didn’t have the patience for that, but looking back, it was a happy memory with her. In recent years, it’s been sitting with Jamaal and McLeod on the back porch on summer evenings, watching the sun set and sipping scotch together.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I would like to create something, art or poetry or literature. I feel like we are always focused on our work, on keeping people alive, that I don’t have the time to sit down and create something for the world, for people, to just enjoy.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Honestly, this might be selfish, but in a perfect world, I never would have become a sentinel. I would have gotten to live a normal life, gotten to grow up, get married, have kids. It isn’t in the cards for me, and it’s just wishful thinking though.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Discovering trisharen. This power has the potential to truly change the way sentinels live, fight, survive, and hopefully thrive.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A regular old human.
Where would you most like to live?
If I could live anywhere, and without the responsibilities of being a sentinel is key to this answer, I’d have to say I’d be a bit of a nomad. I would want to constantly be travelling, seeing the world with fresh eyes, exploring culture and food worldwide.
What is your most treasured possession?
My car, or the Saint Christopher medallion I wear around my neck, the same one my father wore.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
I’m living it right now. I have failed in so many ways, people have died, and I had the opportunity to prevent it all but I let it slip through my fingertips.
What is your favorite occupation?
Objectively because I don’t have to do it, I’d say a doctor. The ability to take a set of symptoms and help a person to FEEL better is amazing.
What is your most marked characteristic?
Jamaal would probably say my stubbornness. I think of it more as perseverance. When I set my mind to something, I see it through, no matter what.
What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty, loyalty, and responsibility.
Who are your favorite writers?
Ha, I don’t remember the last time I read a book. Probably when I was a kid. I remember reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and thinking that it would be amazing to go on an adventure like that. Life has a funny way of giving you what you wanted and so much more.
Who is your hero of fiction?
Probably Meg from L’Engle’s book. She uses her wits, and in the end, saves her brother with her love. That would be amazing to have a similar story.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
There was a sentinel in the early thirteenth century named Ibrahim. He was traveling through the European countryside when he came upon an orphanage that was being attacked by shedim. He drove the shedim off, saving the children inside. Several of the children inside were sentinels, brought together because they had destroyed their families with the emergence of their powers. Ibrahim brought them back to the Sentinalia, and then created an initiative to send sentinels to orphanages regularly to find new sentinels. This desire to bring sentinels together, to take care of our people, that resonates with me immensely. There is so much at stake for sentinels, so much that is laid on our shoulders, and we need to keep our people together as best we can to make it through.
Who are your heroes in real life?
Earl McLeod, hands down. A man who believed in the good in the world, who fought to ensure everyone had the opportunity for a good life, who taught me that strength comes from giving to others. And Jamaal, who’s saved my life easily as many times as I’ve saved his.
What are your favorite names?
Favorite names, that’s an interesting question. Rowan comes to mind. Probably Jasmine and Trinity.
What is it that you most dislike?
Hmm, open ended. Greed. Greed has caused so many problems throughout human and ganastu history alike.
What is your greatest regret?
Not being able to save him…
How would you like to die?
Making a difference, saving lives, with a blade in my hand. There are sentinels who content themselves with the bureaucracy of the world, of the dealings with humans and ganastu, and that’s good for them. I can’t imagine that life. I need to be in the field, making a real impact.
What is your motto?
Always Strive for Better.
ABOUT SENTINEL’S STRENGTH
How can you save the world when grief threatens to devour you whole?
The world is forever changed, has come crashing down around every sentinel, ganastu, and human, and there is no chance of ever going back. In the midst of the storm, Arturo Morales is lost, adrift, his confidence shattered. He has failed in his mission and his family has paid the price.
He can’t stop though, can’t take a moment to let himself mourn. The world is on the brink of a war that could end life itself. Arturo must stand alongside some of the most ancient creatures in existence to make one last desperate bid for peace.
But how does he advocate for peace when he thirsts for vengeance? How does he show the world it’s worth saving when he isn’t even sure he’s worth saving? And how does he remember who he is truly fighting for, before they are taken from him?
THE SENTINEL’S SAGA SERIES SO FAR…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kristopher L. Campa received his Bachelors of Arts in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis and his Masters of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Sentinel’s Soul was his thesis novel for the program. He is an avid reader and writer of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror and has the distinct pleasure to teach creative writing courses in all three genres at Washington University in St. Louis’s School for Continuing and Professional Studies.
He lives in St. Louis, MO with his wife, two sons, and two dogs. When not writing (which happens more than he likes to admit), he enjoys playing D&D and board games with the whole family and friends, practicing pyrography, and working with his students in the John B. Ervin Scholars Program.
website: https://kristopherlcampa.com/
Instagram: @kristopherlcampa
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Kristina Elyse Butke 
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