Jarrack from The Havenshire Resistance

When chaos erupts in the kingdom, Havenshire falls to Jarrack. Krystal must devise a plan to rescue Donovan and keep her daughters safe. She forms an underground black market to finance her “resistance army” of ragtag peasants, Samurai women, and renegades among the gentry. Can willpower and fortitude defeat Jarrack?

They say one man's villain is another man's hero. With that in mind, let's welcome Jarack to the studio.

How did I get here? Last I remember I was entertaining two of my wives and now I’m cast into this dingy, windowless room filled with archaic looking equipment.

I'm Nighthawk and this is my virtual radio station.

Radio equipment? I read about such devices in history books as a child, but since the Institute spread through civilized space, we’ve used hyperlink communications. I knew Drako was a backward planet, but employing radio to broadcast messages? Ridiculous!

Be that as it may, you've been invited here for an interview. Inquiring minds want to know your side of the story.

Ask me what you must, but your ploy won’t work! I know you’re in league with Krystal’s underground resistance. No matter how long you interrogate me you won’t learn how to release your precious King Donovan from my stasis device.

Not my king. Not my problem. But maybe this is a good place to start. Why do you have King Donovan in a stasis device? What is him crime?

(Gasp) Did I see one of those blasted telepathic wolves staring at me through the door? Keep them away or I’ll make you sorry you cast eyes on me.

I'm sure you're mistaken. We only brought you through. Look can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea? ... I'm not sure if you really want ...

(Sigh) Yes, thank you for that draught of whiskey, I feel much better.

Actually, that was my colon-cleanse. The doc thinks I've been eating too much fast food lately and...

You know my breeding program would not have been necessary if Donovan and Alexander allowed me access to their hidden Transfer equipment. I can’t stand the thought of aging for another span!

Breeding program? Span?

Span? It’s usually a period of fifty years, but as a valuable officer working for the Institute, I was granted Transfer more often. I’m proud to say that I’ve undergone twelve Transfers over the spans.

(Shuffling papers) Ah yes. The transfer system allows human consciousness to be transferred into a clone. With that technology, you could be immortal. I understand it has other benefits too.

Yes. I developed the ability to use mind control due to Transfer. No one is supposed to know about the side affects (chuckle) and I make sure they forget.

Yet, your adversaries must be aware of the side affects. Donovan, Alexander and Krystal all have enhanced abilities. 
No comment? How about the cloning program -- or lack there of? It must be awkward not having clones at your disposal... but that's why you've got a harem isn't it? To breed children to be your future hosts.

What? As King these wives and children are my property and I won’t explain my future plans to an underling like you. On the other hand, you could be quite helpful. Do know where Krystal hid her precious daughters? If you answer willingly, I can summon a chest of gold for your trouble.

So you can use them too? I don't think so.

No? Perhaps you’d like to feel my mind painfully strip the information! Weak minds like yours take less trouble to control, just look into my eyes.

Hey! That's enough of that!

Too bad you didn’t explain about your ignorance before I expended valuable energy. Let’s finish this sham interrogation.

Feel free to leave any time, Jarrack. Could someone get me an aspirin? This guy has given me a headache.


A headache is the least of your problems. Your army will never catch me and if it does I have a secret plan that will rock this world to its core. I need not wait forever, you know, since Institute’s battle drones will eventually hone in on this backward planet. I’ll be restored to my proper rank. (Laughing followed by screaming) I told you to keep those wolves away from me! Don’t come near me….


Well, maybe we brought a few wolves through as insurance.

If you want to find out more, I suggest you leave Jarrack alone and go straight to the source. Heirs to the Throne Series by Diane Rapp -  Book 1: Howl of the Wolf and Book 2 The Havenshire Resistance. If you want to learn more about the author, check out Diane's website: www.quicksilvernovels.com

Igor Thorsen from Deadly Legacy

I usually leave this blog up to Nighthawk, but I thought you might be interested in knowing a bit about Igor Thorsen's origins. He was inspired by the picture of a viking on a gift bag from York, UK. I visited the newly found viking digs with my parents in 1976. Getting that close to an active archeological site was amazing. And that viking on the bag... well I developed quite a crush on the guy. 

Someday I'd like to go the Jorvik Viking Centre and see how the place has changed over the years... but mostly I need to replace my bag.

I'm Nighthawk and this is no place for authors. Instead, I have a real character: Igor Thorsen, Chief of Detectives, City Police Services, brought back from the future. 


Welcome Chief. You're a close friend of Joe Garrett, our previous guest, right?

I’ve known Joseph most of my adult life. He was a community cop back when I was partnered with him as a rookie. Even then, everyone knew Joe and Joe knew everyone. He wasn’t so much older than me, but it took me a while to figure it out. He seemed like he’d been a cop forever.

You also know Joe's daughter Kate.

I’ve known Kathleen all her life. I drove Joseph to the hospital so he could be there when she was born. He was so proud and he wanted her to be proud of him. She was the reason he took the detective’s exam. I don’t think he was all that ambitious for himself. He preferred dealing with people over collecting evidence.

Is it true that Joe pushed Kate to follow in his footsteps?

He was pleased when she chose to become a police officer. I think he wanted her to become a detective. He never came out and said it, but he was always setting her puzzles to solve and playing observation games with her when she was growing up. I know that’s what she thinks he wanted.

Kate didn't get a lot of time to process her father's death.


Life doesn’t stop just because you lose someone you love. You know about the murder of Delano Gage, but my detectives had another dozen or so violent crimes to investigate at the same time. Even so, I gave Kate time off.

I soon saw that wasn’t what she needed. She needed distraction and I needed the manpower. Having her babysit one of the potential targets of our killer seemed like a good idea at the time. To be honest, I didn’t take the threats against him seriously. He was like the boy crying wolf to get attention. But there’s always a real wolf eventually.

In your future, police sometime use consulting detectives. How do you feel about that?

Funnily enough, Joe was one of the biggest opponents of the consulting detective idea. He embraced community policing – not all our colleagues were on board with it – and like I said, he didn’t originally want to be a detective. The hours stink. You’re always on call, even when you’re not supposed to be. You’re always having to upgrade your skills... and it’s nowhere near as glamorous as say Tactical. Sorry. I didn’t mean to go on a rant. The point is that Joe didn’t like the idea of consulting detectives until he became one.



That's not what I asked, Chief. What do you think about consulting detectives working with the police?

The reality is, we don’t have the budget a big city has to have all the detectives we need all the time. Even the OPP is stretched with the cutbacks we’ve had over the years. Like the idea of consulting detectives or not, there are times when I need to engage them. Most of them are former cops, which takes the sting out. Joe’s the only one I’ve brought in on violent crimes though.

You must really miss your friend.
<grunt> I’m really pissed off at Joseph. Not only have I lost my best friend, but because of his death, I’ve had to give up one of my most promising detectives... temporarily. Kathleen Margaret Garrett will be back in my department, legacy or no legacy. You can count on it.

Will she? Maybe we'll ask Kate Garrett that question. Later.

Deadly Legacy, by Alison Bruce, is available in Kindle format and paperback.

Alison Bruce is on a virtual mystery tour of blogs for the coming week. Check out links here. 

Nighthawk is seeking interesting new characters to interview. Direct message @alisonebruce on Twitter if interested.