Santa Claus

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

Welcome everyone to the last Nighthawk Talks for 2011. We've managed to nab the big red elf himself for a quick interview.


Tell us a bit about the real Santa Claus.
<Ho-ho-ho> The average person over the age of ten would say there’s no such person. But here I am.

You certainly are, red suit and all. But this is a relatively new look for you, isn’t it? You’ve worn white furs, red velvet, coloured robes... Not to mention different names: Father Christmas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle...
Don’t forget Pere Noel, Sinnterklaus, and Basil.

Basil?
Greek tradition. I answer to many names. Festo Spiritu is another one.

Holiday Spirit?
You know your Latin. I predate Christianity and transcend religious differences - or should. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind that they designated my season as the birthday of Jesus. It’s not historically accurate, but I don’t believe letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

You don’t mind that it get’s called Christmas and that you’re called Father Christmas?
<Ho-ho-ho> Call it a gift. That’s what it’s all about, you know. There’s a reason my day falls in the dead of winter and that the earliest gifts I gave were food-related. Winter can be harsh, food scarce. The spirit of the holiday is all about generosity.

And the toys?
Hey, winter is long where I come from. Books and toys make the time pass. Time to play games, visit family and friends. Once the spring came, with the planting, lambing, calving, shearing and so on, things got busy. They'd stay pretty busy too – until the after harvest.

Do you really have a workshop run by elves?
<wink> If I told you...

You’d have to kill me?
<Ho-ho-ho> Not my style. I don't get much harsher than an occasional piece of coal. There's one line of that song you were singing that I really like: "You better be good for goodness sake." I believe doing good is its own reward.


That doesn't answer my question. Santa? Santa?
Oh well, folks - see you next year.

From Whistler's Murder

With Joan Donaldson-Yarmey’s Travelling Detective Series, the trick is to pin down a character long enough to interview them. Elizabeth Oliver proved challenging, until she got waylaid by murder.

Welcome to the show, Elizabeth. You’re a part-time travel writer, what’s your day job?

I work at a long term care facility in Edmonton. While I like my job, my real passion is to travel and write about the places I visit.

And still you find time to get involved with murders.

I was trying to write an article on the resort town of Whistler.

Are the victims anyone you know?

Two people died before I got there and the third victim I only knew briefly.

How did you get involved?

I really don’t know. I came to Whistler with my friend Sally who was attending a Science Fiction retreat. But seems that every time I begin my research I get drawn into a mystery. Like when I travelled to the Crowsnest Highway in Southern Alberta, I hadn’t even made it to my destination when I met a man who had discovered a body in a septic tank. There was another death before the mystery of who the body belonged to was solved. Last year, though, my boyfriend, Jared, asked me to find out if his mother had actually committed suicide when he was four years old or if she was murdered. That was really tough on him because he found out a lot of secrets about his childhood.

Yikes! That would be tough.

Finding out what really happened to Jared’s mother took a toll on our relationship for a while.

I can imagine. But tell us about Whistler. When did things start to go wrong?

As soon as I arrived at the Bed & Breakfast and saw the house next door being demolished. The owner of the B&B told me that there was a rumour that a body had been hidden in the house years ago.

That might distract you from writing.

Actually, solving mysteries has made me decide to branch out into true crime writing. I don’t know if I’m a better person for my experiences, but hopefully I’m a better writer, since I sold an article to a true crime magazine.

Where do you see yourself in the future?
I want to travel across Canada and write about the places I see. I would like to write a travel book and also a true crime book about the mysteries I have been involved with. I can even see myself writing a mystery novel.

Let us know when you do. Meanwhile, anyone out there wanting to learn more about Elizabeth Oliver’s adventures - or should I say misadventures - should check out Whistler’s Murder, published by Books We Love, available in eBook and trade paperback.



Next week, you better watch out, you better not cry... you know who is coming to Nighthawk.

From Safe Harbour

Why is the wife the last to know? We ask Pat Tierney, whose story has been told by Rosemary McCracken in Safe Harbour. Tell us a bit about yourself, Pat.

I'm a 47-year-old financial advisor. I'm also a mother, and I was a wife for nearly 20 years when Michael had his fatal heart attack. I'm a smart cookie in some ways, but pretty darn clueless in others. When Safe Harbor opened, I was the epitome of clueless – a woman too stupid to realize that her late husband had been sleeping around.

Did you know the Other Woman?

I met Jude Seaton only once, on the day before her death. She barged into my Toronto office and asked me to look after her son for a few days. I was gobsmacked. "I'm a financial planner, not a daycare worker," I said.
"I didn't think you'd turn Tommy down."
"Whatever made you think that?"
And then she told me that Tommy was my late husband's son.

Gobsmacked. That’s a great word. Still, you must have had some idea your husband wasn’t faithful?

As I said, I can be pretty clueless. I had no idea what Michael was up to that summer when I took the girls to England for a month. He was supposed to join us for the last week of the holiday, but he called to say he was too busy at the office looking after my clients as well as his. And I felt guilty that I was on vacation and he had all that work to do. Bastard!

How did you get yourself involved in a murder investigation?

When I refused to take her kid, Jude told me that someone had threatened Tommy and that he was in danger. I didn't believe her. I thought she was stringing me a line, and I stuck to my guns: I wasn't taking Tommy.

So she simply walked out of my office. Left me with a seven-year-old boy, a backpack filled with his clothes and his booster car seat  - at seven, Tommy was small for his age.

And you just let her go?

I went over to her home, and she wasn't there. I tried calling her all evening, but she didn't answer her phone. The next day, the police contacted me – they'd found my business card beside her phone and my voice mail messages on her line – and told me she'd been murdered. In her own living room.
Tommy stayed with me for the next few days because the police thought it would be risky for him to be with Jude's relatives. They said the killer might want him out of the way too.

That’s taking a lot on.

Tommy is a special little guy, and it didn't take him long to find a place in my heart. In spite of who his father was, or maybe even because of it. And he was in danger. Well, I couldn't let anything bad happen to him, could I?

How do you feel about Jude now?

It's pretty difficult to hold a grudge against somebody who's dead. And somebody who died so horribly...and long before her time. At some point it hit me that Jude had really been terrified that her son was in danger or else she never would have approached me. She didn't want to leave Tommy with family or friends because that was the first place anyone would look. So she came to me.

I'm a mother, too. I know how it feels to be willing to give up your own life in a heartbeat to save that precious little life. And when I started seeing Jude as another mother, a mother who was trying to save her child...well, I couldn't hate her anymore.

And, as they say, it takes two to tango. Michael had a big part to play in their affair. But he's dead too. I can only feel sorry that he never knew his son.

So now you have a young child again. That can’t make it easy to get on with your life - especially your love life.

The whole thing has actually helped my love life. Michael had been gone for four years when Jude came into my office, but he was still very much top of mind. No one could hold a candle to him. I'd met my current guy, Devon, the summer before but I wasn't sure about him. He lives in the United States, and we hadn't seen each other for months but, as it happened, he was flying in to see me the day after Jude's visit. I was nervous, didn't know what I wanted from him, didn't know what he expected. And then Jude dropped her bombshell. I was so angry at Michael that I turned to the only available man around. For comfort, for revenge, for sex.

And I'm glad I did. I don't know if Devon is Mr. Right, but he's Mr. Right Now, and that's good enough for me at the moment.

How about your career?

What I’ve been through has reinforced my commitment to my clients, even difficult ones like Luella Cruickshank. In situations where an adult child is preying upon an elderly parent, the client may be blinded by loyalty to the child. But it is my duty to work 100% in the client's interests. I have zero tolerance for anyone in my industry who fails to do so.

Do you think the crisis has made you’re a better person?

I don't think I'm a better person than I was before Jude's visit. But I've had my capacity for love and acceptance tested, and I think I passed the test. I didn't turn my back on Tommy, and that may have saved his life. And now he's a big part of my life.

I've learned that when a life crisis occurs you have to pick up the pieces and carry on. I could have turned my back on Tommy and wallowed in my misery, but I didn't. I let Tommy and Devon into my life, and I said goodbye to Michael. Life is for the living.

Where do you see yourself in the future?

Right now, I'm living out in the country, about a two-hour drive north of Toronto. I'm supervising the opening of a branch of our brokerage firm up here, and I'm trying to get to the bottom of another murder: An old man died when he drove into his garage and it burst into flames. And some nasty bikers are hanging around here and they think I'm involved in the local grow-op.

Sounds like you need to move back to the City.

On the whole, I like it up here. Haversham County is a beautiful part of the world and the people are just great. I don't think I want to go back to Toronto. So there may be a move in my future.
   
But first, we need to find out who murdered that old man. And get those bikers to go away.

Any last words of advice for others gobsmacked as you were?

Err on the side of generosity. My daughters call me a pushover, and they're probably right. But you have to be able to live with yourself, and I wouldn't be able to do that if I'd turned my back on Tommy.


Look for more about Pat Tierny in Safe Harbour, being released by Imajin Books in Spring 2012. Visit Rosemary McCracken's website at www.rosemarymccracken.com and her blog at rosemarymccracken.wordpress.com. Follow Rosemary on Twitter @RCMcCracken and at www.facebook.com/rosemarymccracken.

From Asenath

Once again we’ve fired up the Time And Relative Dimension In Space Machine and directed it at ancient Egypt. Out of the sands of time and the pages of Asenath, we've managed to nab Khasekh.

Tell us a bit about yourself, Khasekh.

I am a novice magician in the Temple of Amun. I am originally from an inconspicuous fishing village along the far-flung shores of the Nile river. After a group of invaders ransacked my home and killed my family, I and some other orphans were rescued and brought to the temple at Heliopolis. It was there where I discovered my passion for magic arts, and thus decided that I wanted to become a magician.

How do you know Asenath?

I am her best friend since childhood. Together, we survived our captivity and our adjustment to life in Heliopolis.

How do you feel about life in the big city? Must be quite a change from a fishing village.

I love it. It did take a bit of an adjustment, of course, but I soon learned to love it. There are just so many exciting opportunities here. In the fishing village, life is so stagnant. That is not to say that I am no longer grieving over the loss of my family – of course I am, and will never stop doing so. But I don’t think they would want me to be mourning forever. I am sure if the gods told them where I am now, they would be happy and find peace in the Field of Reeds.

We can hope... I think. How have these events affected your relationship with Asenath?
Well, I love knowing that me and my best friend have gone through so much together, not to mention that we have both morphed from ignorant, illiterate peasants into sophisticated city folk. This was a grand opportunity given by the gods, and it was even grander shared with my best friend. Asenath, alas, seems a bit lost though. I hope that in time, she too will learn to love her new life.

On the whole, things are better for you.

Definitely. I am no longer the naïve provincial boy I was when I first arrived in Heliopolis. Sure it was tragic at first. And as I said, sure I will never stop missing the family I lost. But I was able to overcome all that and I am now a magician. Everything led to the illustrious position I now hold. The gods willing, one day, I will be one of those who personally serve Pharaoh (may he live forever).

Yes... um... Could you be a bit more careful with that staff? Thanks. 

Where do you see yourself in the future?
In the service of His Majesty, the Living Horus. If not that, well then… perhaps one of the senior magicians in Amun’s temple. I have always been excellent at what I do, so I see a bright future ahead of me.

<pouffe>

Gah! <cough> I’m not sure if that was magic or a short in the time machine, but Khasekh has left the building.
If you want to find out more about Khasekh and Asenath, you’ll have to read Asenath, by Anna Patricio, Imajin Books. Available in eBook and trade paperback.

<cough> Is there a Doctor in the house?

From Rowena Through the Wall

We've had a couple of the men from Rowena Through the Wall in the studio, tonight we welcome the ravishing Rowena Revel.

When Rowena falls through her classroom wall into a medieval world, she is kidnapped twice, married – sorry I’ve lost count how many times – and has enough sexy men after her to fill a Chippendale calendar.

That’s me: Rowena Revel, twenty-something, long auburn hair, medium height, medium weight, really bad luck with men. Degree in Veterinary Science, terrific on a horse. Oh, and I can talk to animals.

Like Doctor Doolittle?

Doolittle? Isn't that the guy with the reality show on the Animal Network? Some young chicks told me he didn't understand a chirp! Believe me, it's all cheep tricks with that charlatan.

How does it feel to be the object of so much attention?
Did I mention having bad luck with men? First Steve back home; great looking financial trader with the empathy of a weasel. Then Sargon, the king beyond the wall who just takes what he wants, and finally Cedric, the sexy sociopath – yikes! And there’s more…

More? Yikes! How did you get yourself into this predicament?

I walked through a wall. No, really – a portal opened up in my classroom wall, and I found another world on the other side of it.

Now I ask you – who wouldn’t be curious enough to walk through that wall?

Hey, I’ll be looking for my own wall after we wrap. Still, this must have put a crimp in your career.

My career? There is lots of work for an animal doctor in a land where horses are the main mode of transportation. Indeed, I use my gift for reading the thoughts of animals all the time in Land’s End.

And your love life is active...

In Land’s End, I actually have one! Things were pretty boring before, and – to be honest – I’m the sort of female who likes a lot of loving. So…I’m not complaining. It’s been one wonderful adventure.

What else is better in Lands End?

I would say I am a more generous person now – less quick to judge others. In truth, I had to do things to survive that sometimes conflicted with my own morals. It made me realize that civilization is a veneer, and our feeling of moral superiority is due to the times we have been fortunate enough to live in.

What’s worse?

Women from medieval times had an incredibly tough life. I have so much more appreciation for simple things, such as flush toilets, sanitary items – you get the picture. But truly, the thing that smarts the most is how little control a female had over her own destiny.

Also – I would have thought a world short of women would value women more. Instead, I found females have less power, and less control over their own lives. It makes me worry for places in our time where gender selection before birth has resulted in a shortage of female babies.

What’s next for you?

Now there is the million dollar question! Even I don’t know yet. My friend and author Melodie Campbell tells me the next book will answer this. As you can imagine, I am anxious to know…

Any advice for people seeking their own walls to walk through – assuming they get more than a bruised nose.

Everything comes down to survival. What do you need to do to survive in a different world? Sometimes it means accepting that different times demand different behaviour, and if you insist on maintaining 21st century morals, you may not live long in a more primitive world.

Any final words?

Just my favourite line - even though it was my student who said it: “Is that a broadsword on your belt, or are you just glad to see me?”


Rowena Through the Wall, published by Imajin Books, is available through Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Smashwords
Warning: This book is not a sweet romance. It is a sexy, funny, rollicking adventure with a spunky heroine and the medieval men of her dreams! Continues in Book 2.

Find out more about Rowena and her author, Melodie Campbell at: funnygirlmelodie.blogspot.com and www.melodiecampbell.com

From Cheat the Hangman

Tonight we welcome Leander, Lyris Pembroke's spirit guide.

Lyris Pembrooke’s life is forever changed when she inherits her late uncle’s antique-filled Georgian mansion and discovers a small corpse hidden in the tower room, a 68-year old mystery that becomes her obsession and forces her to acknowledge that she will find the answers she seeks only through the intervention of Leander, her spirit guide, and her own budding psychic talents - if she dares to cross that threshold .

So, Leander, can you tell us a bit about yourself? You know, where you live when you aren't communing with Lyris Pembrooke, how many mortal lives you spent here on earth, that kind of thing?

No.

No?

That's classified information. Against the rules to talk about it.

Well, can you at least tell us what you did when you were last here? Maybe your profession?

Nope.

Okay. Would something cataclysmic happen? If you gave us some personal information does the space-time continuum collapse? What?

Nothing.

Then why can't you tell us?

This is my first gig as a spirit guide and I don't want to screw it up. Believe me, I spent enough lifetimes on earth and once or twice on other worlds, so I've done my time. As soon as Lyris joins us in this dimension, I hope to get a job with someone a little more enthusiastic about the gift of psychic ability. Actually, I hope next time its someone of the male gender. Lyris goes hormonal sometimes and takes up a lot of my time.

But, isn't that what you do? Watch out for your human subject and try and keep them out of trouble.

You're confusing spirit guides with guardian angels. Lyris has three of those and, believe me, they don't have a minute to themselves. My job is to help her develop her abilities, to raise her spiritual awareness so she can accomplish her soul's objectives.

How is she doing?

I guess not too badly. She finally accepted her gift, but only after I spent years poking her in the back, trying to get her attention. Finally I had to pop in without an invitation. That's not recommended but it was an emergency and I knew she would never invite me in voluntarily. Now she's getting used to me but, on the down side, sometimes she calls me just to talk.

What's wrong with that? It sounds like your relationship is progressing well.

She's supposed to contact me when she needs advice. I have a lot of other things on the go and don't appreciate being called away to talk about her cousin, the Family Trollop, or some other member of her fruitcake family.

Okay then. Speaking of your other activities. Lyris tells us you attend rock concerts. Who are the headliners – John Lennon, Rick Nelson, Jim Morrison ?

Pay no attention to Lyris. She keeps trying to find out who I hang out with but it's classified information.

So you said. Apparently, Lyris thinks you were once Winston Churchill because you quote him on occasion.

I also quote the Mad Hatter on occasion. Lyris will do that to you.

I understand that you and Lyris are, um, paired for life.

Her life. Yeah, we were matched by the Divine Source, so there's no getting away from her. Request denied.

Well, Leander, we appreciate you taking the time . . .

Time's nothing to me. But I gotta go, dude. I'm late for racquetball with... Oops, almost spilled it there.

And he's gone, folks. 

That's concludes our first ever interview with a spirit guide. I'm not sure Fred counts and he's no Guide -- maybe a Scout. Next time we'll see if we can get a spirit that's more forthcoming. Fortunately, we can always read Cheat the Hangman by Gloria Ferris and find out more for ourselves.

Clive from the Chasing Clovers

Nighthawk here, taking a walk on the west side. Stepping out of the pages of Chasing Clovers, we have the T Bar Ranch foreman. Tell us a bit about yourself, Clive.

I've known John Taylor all my life. We grew up together in Calgary. Hell, he's my best friend.

I moved away from Calgary when I was 18, but my own circumstances made me come back to my hometown and the friends I knew there. I needed a job and John owns one of the largest ranches this side of the rockies, so I knocked on his door and asked for a job.

And he took you in.

Better than that, I'm foreman on a prospering ranch, and my best friend is my boss. I'm not sure how long I'll stick around. Every now and then I feel the itch to move on, and lately it's pesterin' me somthin' awful.

Tell us about Livy Green.

Well, now Livy is stubborn, ornery, strong, and sweet all rolled into one. She keeps John
in line and looks after his children.

But things didn’t start off that well, did they?

About the time Miss Green showed up, all hell broke loose on the T bar. John and I didn't know where to begin. Accidents started happenin’ and no, things weren’t goin’ well.

Without giving too much away, how did things turn out?

I saw that it’s possible for people to change. I've also seen my best friend learn to love
again, and that's somthin' I didn't think would happen.

Tragedy's happen. People die. But there is always hope. There is always someone there
to hold your hand during those bad times. Allow yourself to be comforted. Don't hold it
in. I've watched two people who were ravaged with guilt, anger, and despair find
happiness. So I guess what I'm sayin' is if John and Livy can do it anyone can.

What about you?

Ah, hell I don't know. Anyone ever tell you, you're nosy? I reckon I'll stay on the T bar
for a while.

What about romance?

Nighthawk, my love life is none of your damn business!

What can I say? Inquiring minds want to know.

To find out more, pick up Chasing Clovers by Kat Flannery, published by Imajin Books. Available in eBook and soon coming out in trade paperback.