Lizbeth Carter

I would like to introduce you guys to Lizbeth Carter. She's the new gal in #RaziaAlliances, and the other half of the titular subject. 

Lizbeth is loosely based on my bestest friend in the universe, the one who I've known since I was 8 years old. When I thought about creating a friend for Lyssa, I knew that it needed to be based on someone who wouldn't suffer fools, or let Lyssa get away with half the crap that the guys (Sage, Harms, Vel) let her get away with.

Lizbeth works for the Universal Beings Union Intelligence Agency, Major Crimes Directorate, Insurance Fraud Division, Piracy Branch, a government agency dedicated to finding and eradicating insurance fraud. While they give a pass to actual piracy, thanks to the runners, they do crack down on those folks who operate outside of the pirate web system.

If you think that's bad, you should see some of the actual business processes in our real government.

For as much as Lizbeth is based on my BFF, she's also got a lot of my day job frustrations. Her team is full of ineffective slowpokes who move at the pace of government, and that's why she spends most of her time in the field, getting her hands dirty in her investigations. Which is how she runs into everyone's favorite bounty hunter.

Their full "meet cute" will be posted in this space tomorrow as part of my #TeaserTuesday series, but it's everything you would expect it to be and more.

Lizbeth manages to outwit Lyssa and force her into helping her with her current investigation. Lizbeth needs Lyssa's money-tracking expertise and knowledge of the inner workings of the pirate underground to figure out what's really going on. And, as you probably can guess, Lyssa needs a bit of... persuasion to play along. Or to put it bluntly:

Lizbeth has a lot of the same qualities that Lyssa has - stubbornness, dedication to the task at hand, and a little bit of an independent streak. But she's the polar opposite of Lyssa in very important ways - for one, she embraces help, and for another, she is incredibly feminine. I'm going to explore this second topic next week, so come back for that.

Their dynamic is a fun one to write because they are so similar, and so different at the same time. At the end of the day, they begin to mutually respect each other and what the other brings to the table. And that, as they say, is the start of a beautiful friendship.

Don't forget to pre-order your copy of Alliances on Amazon Kindle today!

Thelma and Louise? Lucy and Ethel? Who's your favorite female duo? Sound off in the comments!