Who is Tai Reed?
If you’ve read Leslie Kim #101, you might be wondering about Tai Reed. She’s a side character in the story, described mostly as Leslie’s ex- girlfriend. If you haven’t read #101 then keep in mind there are some spoilers in this post. Tai is also featured in The Departure and The Gnome Situation, but this is mostly about her in regards to Mythical Investigations.
Spoilers!!!
Spoilers!!!
Spoilers!!!
Spoilers!!!
Okay, now that is out of the way, I’m here to give you the details.
Tai Reed is a character that I dreamed up when I first sat down to write the serials. I wanted a character that could really get under Leslie’s skin. Like Leslie, she’s a mash up of cultures and races. She has black curly hair, that is sometimes streaked with colors, and she’s Zendaya thin.
We meet Tai on Kapaton in #101, when Leslie is absolutely shocked to find out she’s involved in the case. She followed him from Earth and is somehow connected to the missing person’s case on Kapaton. Why did she follow him? What does she want? Leslie alludes that she is kind of an ex-girlfriend, though they weren’t official. Her slow blinking almond eyes pretty much wrap Leslie around her finger from the moment they meet.
(Please note the following description is part of “The Departure”) That moment is at her own engagement party when she meets our protagonist. He’s been hired as security by her very wealthy father, to protect the party guests from vampires. A whirlwind love affair ensues at the prominent country club. Several politicians and guests are killed at the engagement party, in part to Leslie’s negligence. He barely escapes. This is the last he sees of Tai.
But Tai was determined that she would see Leslie again. She finds out where his father is living and manages to get the information from him.
All of the above is actually written into its own book in the serial, as sort of a “side story.” I chose not to release it because beta readers were pretty horrified. I did keep the plot more or less the same, however, and included that in the eBook, The Departure.
“I mean, it’s a book.” – a quote from one very enthusiastic reader of the original side story.
I’ll admit, it wasn’t the plot that disturbed them. It was that the book is written from a first-person narrative while Tai is a very unreliable narrator. So, for the first half of the book it’s truly written like a romance novel. Obviously, it takes a dark turn. I’ve mentioned this before, but you really can’t mess with the “happily ever after” in a romance novel because it will not be well received. It also is a real dick move for a writer to make all these promises in the beginning and then turn the whole thing on it’s head halfway through.
So, I didn’t release the book and that’s where this post comes in. I wanted to give the reader some explanation about who Tai is and why Leslie feels equal parts sympathy and hatred for her. It’s absolutely not a healthy relationship, but it is a relationship of sorts.
When Leslie meets up with Tai in the serials, she is somehow involved in Albert Line’s disappearance. She’s been following him and when she finds out about Nora and Layla, she can’t help but get mixed up in it.
I won’t say that I won’t ever release Tai Reed’s story, but I might wait until I have a few more serials out. I think if a reader is first introduced to Tai from Leslie’s perspective then it won’t be quite as shocking to read from her perspective in her stand alone. It’s like reading about Harley Quinn without any context about why she’s obsessed with the Joker.
So, there you have it! A very brief introduction into one of the Leslie Kim “villains”. Tai is one of my personal favorite characters. It’s always fun for me to write a female antagonist that really comes off as harmless until you get to know what she’s all about.
Do you want to read Leslie Kim Serial #101 for free? You can download it for free for a limited time on Amazon starting today!
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