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Interview of Fiction Characters by Fiction Character – Part 16

26 Sep

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

Writing is a dog’s life, but the only life worth living.

–          Gustave Flaubert

Bast Overture takes on the hoity-toity Madame Honor Rita Lanscombe, her widowed sister-in-law Amelia and “their” dog, Brutus. II. These characters are some of the questionable clients of private investigator C.U. Fly in “The Couch,” one of 13 short stories in Sharon A. Crawford’s collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, October 2012). Bast gets more than his share of the unexpected when these three come through the doorway.

The door opens suddenly and a huge husky dog charges in, looks a Bast and begins growling.

Honor Rita: Down Brutus. (She grabs the dog’s collar). Sit. (Brutus sits but keeps a wary eye on Bast). Sorry, about that. He’s a bit rambunctious.

Amelia: So that’s what you call it when you claim he is your dog.

Honor Rita: Well, he is.

Amelia: No Brutus is mine and Karl’s.

Honor Rita (turning up her nose): Karl is dead so I don’t think he has a say in the matter.

Amelia: How dare you? I’ve just lost my husband and you dishonour him.

Honor Rita: Well, he did lose…

Bast (raising his hands): Ladies, please. Let’s keep this civil.

Brutus, baring his teeth: Woof. Woof. Growl. Growl.

Bast: You, too, Brutus. Pipe down.

Honor Rita: Where’s C.U.? I thought this was a session with our Private Investigator.

Bast: C.U. will be here next week…alone. I told you over the phone that I’m another PI and…

Amelia: We don’t want to change PIs.

Bast: I realize that. I just want to try to understand some of your shenanigans in “The Couch.”

At the word “couch” Brutus gets up and starts prowling around the room as if looking for a long-lost friend.

Honor Rita: Now you’ve done it. He’ll keep circling around looking for that damn couch. It’s his favourite you know.

Bast: Why? So he can chew on it. I understand he wore out a patch on one of the arms of the couch.

Amelia: So what? That’s what dogs do? Where is the couch anyway?

Bast: You’ll have to ask C.U. or Annie Everglades. As you can see it’s not here. Now ladies…and er, doggie, I have a question about your association with C.U. Fly.

Honor Rita: That’s client confidentiality. You as a private eye should know that.

Bast: True, but that’s not what I meant. I’m just wondering how you came to hire C.U. in the first place.

Honor Rita: C.U. Fly was recommended by one of my friends. She hired C.U. for something shall we say discreet and it was kept discreet. We don’t even know what it was.

Amelia: Oh for goodness sake sister-in-law. Her husband was cheating on her and she wanted to catch him and the other woman in the act.

Bast: Ladies. Okay, okay. I know that wasn’t your business with C.U. But without going into details about what, I understand the two of you ended hiring C.U. on a long-term basis.

Brutus: Woof. Woof.

Bast: And you, too Brutus, for dog-sitting I believe

Amelia: Hey, client confidentiality.

Honor Rita: She’s right. I think we better leave.

The ladies get up. Brutus gives a final growl at Bast and follows the ladies out the door. Bast scratches his head.

Bast: What was that all about?

You can read more about Honor Rita, Amelia, Brutus II and other clients of C.U. Fly in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

Sharon A. Crawford continues to take Beyond the Tripping Point to several readings and even using it in a workshop she will be teaching with Brian Henry this Saturday, Sept. 28. For more information on this event go to http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html October events will be up there shortly. But meantime go to the Crime Writers Association of Canada website http://crimewriterscanada.com/eventsnews/authorevents/month.calendar/2013/10/26/-and check their calendar of events for October. Some are posted there

Next week Bast interviews C.U. Fly.

Cheers.

Sharon A.Crawford

 
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Posted by on September 26, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

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Interview of Fiction Character by Fiction Character – Part 15

19 Sep

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

I try to leave out the parts that people skip.

–          Elmore Leonard

Today, Bast Overture, the crime reporter turned PI interviews one of C.U. Fly’s clients, Guido “Ratty” Rattali, a self-professed blackmailer. How Bast found out about this client is how anybody else would. He read “The Couch” the first story in my mystery short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012).

Ratty slinks into the room. He’s dragging his dirty beighe trench coat, half off, behind him. He looks around the room.

Ratty: Hey, buddy, where’s Old Horsehair. Ya know, that couch. C.U. let me collapse there.

Bast: Sorry that couch is buried in the short story of its name. Please sit in one of these padded chairs. They are quite comfortable.

Ratty: Jeez. I don’t know if I can manage a chair. It’s the arthritis you know.

Bast (looking at him as if not believing what he’s hearing). You can stand. Suit yourself.

Ratty walks slowly to the chair the furthest away from Bast, lifts up the back of his coat, and eases himself into the chair.

Ratty: So whata you wanta with me? My dealings with C.U. are confidential, ya know.

Bast: I know. I’m just interested in your impressions of C.U. Fly and how you hooked up with…

Ratty: I didn’t hook up with C.U. We met ata one of them business networking events in downtown Toronto a few years ago. I was alooking ya know for someone to handle my confidential business and C.U. was alooking for clients.

Bast: So you clicked?

Ratty: Ya could say that.

Bast: What was your first impression of C.U.?

Ratty (looks around as if to check no one is hiding in the room. He notices Bast’s tape recorder for the first time): Hey what’s dat? Ya aren’t taping me.

Bast: Just for accuracy.

Ratty: Turn the damn thing off or I’m outa here.

Bast: Very well (hits a button on the recorder). I repeat, what was your first impression of C.U.?

Ratty: Kinda naive, but in a nica way. C.U. was willing to ya know, help me with shall we say certain parts a my business.

Bast: You mean the blackmailing.

Ratty: Now cut it out. What did I say?

Bast: Okay, okay. Tell me how the couch fit in.

Ratty: Well, CU. let us sit or lie on the couch, sorta like talking to a shrink.

Bast: But isn’t the couch itchy? It is made of horsehair after all. And didn’t it make you sneeze?

Ratty: So what? I said I have arthritis. Jeez. Are you sure you don’t have Old Horsehair hiding around here? Maybe in that room? (He points to a closed door at the back of the room, eases his ass up off the chair and starts barrelling for that far door.)

Bast jumps up and chases after him.

Bast: I thought you said you have arthritis.

Ratty: Maybe I a lied. Heh. Heh.

Bast catches up with him and steers him back to the table and chairs. Ratty will have none of it.

Ratty: I gotta go. Business ya know.

He sneers and slinks out the main door. His trench coat is dragging behind him on the floor. He is heard to mutter, “Where is Old Horsehair?”

 You can read more about Ratty and other clients of C.U. Fly in  Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

Sharon A. Crawford continues to take Beyond the Tripping Point to several readings and even using it in a workshop she will be teaching with Brian Henry – all September events. The next one is this evening September 19 where Sharon A. will host the Canadian Authors Association Toronto branch season opener of readings at the Victory Café in Toronto. Sharon A. will also be reading at both events. More information on these and other September 2013 gigs, go to http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

Next week Bast interviews three more clients of C.U. Fly – two eccentric sisters and their sort of shared dog, Brutus.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on September 19, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

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Interview of Fiction Character by Fiction Character – Part 14

12 Sep

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.

–          Isaac Asimov

For the next few weeks Bast will be stepping into his area for interviews as he tackles the people connected to a too successful private detective agency from the short story “The Couch,” the first story in Beyond the Tripping Point by Sharon A. Crawford (Blue Denim Press, 2012).  Today, he talks to the secretary, Annie Everglades.

Bast: Sit down Ms Everglades or may I call you “Annie.”

Ms Everglades: Ms Everglades will do. I don’t like to get too familiar with people, if you know what I mean.

Bast (looking at Annie who is wearing a tight short dress and five-inch heels): No worries there. I’m gay.

Ms. Everglades: Oh, okay, Annie will work if you wish.

Bast: Good. Now, I understand you work for a very busy PI Agency. How did you come to work there?

Annie: Simple. I answered an ad in one of the Toronto dailies.

Bast: I see. Okay, can you tell me what your PI Agency handles?

Annie: A little bit of everything, but mainly adulterous spouses, jewel robberies, blackmail, con artists, even dognappings and the occasional murder. We keep busy.

Bast: That’s for sure. Okay, your boss is somewhat of an anomaly for a PI – age mid-twenties and running a very successful business. Can you tell me something about C.U. Fly and what’s the secret to success?

Annie: Just being C.U. Fly.

Bast: What does that mean?

Annie: Well, Fly is a real go-getter and is good at listening. Comes from the background. Fly used to listen to everyone’s problems when growing up, even Mom. And Fly once told me that the psychiatric route didn’t cut it – too much schooling I suspect.

Bast: But you have a couch in the office.

Annie (sighing): You got that right and it’s been a blessing and a nuisance. Clients seem to gravitate towards it and well, I guess it helps to loosen their lips.

Bast: But you’ve had or have some shady and unusual clients, like Brutus the dog and Ratty…

Annie: Don’t mention those two. That dog has chewed away at the arm of the couch and Ratty, well his name says it all, doesn’t it?

Bast: So, I gather you are not too happy with that couch.

Annie: Well, it’s made of horsehair and it itches.

Bast: But you wanted to get rid of it, didn’t you?

Annie: That was C.U. moving it down to the basement – the clients complained, so it had to be moved back upstairs.

Bast: I repeat. You wanted to get rid of it, didn’t you? You gave your boss an ultimatum?

Annie: I suppose so.

Bast: How did all those clients affect you? Did you have to do any of the PI work or?

Annie: C.U. took care of that – surveillance, interviews – some at clients’ places, but most here. I just took notes and typed up the reports on my laptop.

Bast: I see. Now about all those clients, didn’t your boss come up with a unique way to decrease the number of clients?

Annie. C.U. did have me send out notices about downsizing.

Bast: But that didn’t go over very well, so what else did your boss do?

Annie: That would be telling. Anyone who wants to find out will just have to buy Beyond the Tripping Point and read about it. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to go. Work calls.

Annie stands up, smoothes down her short skirt and clicks out in her five-inch heels.

You can read more about Annie Everglades and her boss C.U. Fly Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

Sharon A. Crawford will be taking Beyond the Tripping Point to several readings and even using it in a workshop she will be teaching with Brian Henry – all September events. The next two are this Saturday, Sept.14, 2013 at Du Café in Toronto, where Sharon will host a Murder and Mayhem reading by Crime Writers of Canada members and Thursday, September 19 where Sharon A. will host the Canadian Authors Association Toronto branch season opener of readings at the Victory Café in Toronto. Sharon A. will also be reading at both events. More information on these and other September 2013 gigs, go to http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on September 12, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

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Interview of Fiction Character by Fiction Character – Part 13

05 Sep

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

The scariest moment is always just before you start.

 – Stephen King

Today Bast is hoping to interview Lilly Clark, the mother of Trish who was interviewed last week. Trish avoids the limelight but Trish promised she would persuade her mother to show up for a brief interview. Bast and Trish have been exchanging texts on the progress Trish has made getting mom to come to the interview.

Note: Trish and Lilly Clark are the main characters in “Unfinished Business” one of the 13 stories in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012).

Bast’s I-phone buzzes.

Text from Trish: Mom’s coming. See u in 5.

Five minutes later, Trish and Lilly enter the room.

Bast (extends his hand): Bast Overture. Good to meet you Lilly. Have a seat.

Lilly (remains standing): I prefer to stand. And Trish has to stay.

Bast: Hm. Okay, but the interview is with you.

Lilly: I understand. Trish is only here for moral support.

Bast (leans over the table and turns on the recorder): Okay. But feel free to sit down if you wish.

Lilly (points to the recorder): What is that? I don’t want you recording any of this. What are you going to do with it? You’re not going to put it online are you?

Bast: Very well. (He hits the power off button). Now, Lilly, tell me something about your background. You grew up in Toronto, in the east end?

Lilly: Yes.

Bast: Did you have any siblings? I’m asking because your daughter mentioned she wanted to know about your background?

Lilly: Well, she already knows now. I had no brothers and sisters just my parents.

Bast: Sounds like you wish you had a sibling?

Lilly (shrugs): I don’t know.

Bast: Do you think if you had a brother for instance that things would have been different when you were 12?

Lilly: I don’t want to talk about it.

Trish interrupts: Mom, you said you would. And remember what the therapist said – it is part of your heeling. Sorry, Bast. I’ll keep quiet.

Lilly: Very well. I think I’ll sit down now. (She sits down and so does Bast). Maybe a big brother would have helped. Maybe with a big brother that awful er “thing” wouldn’t have happened.

Bast: Do you want to talk about that awful thing?

Lilly: Not really.

Trish interrupts again: That would be telling the reader. Oops sorry. I’ll shut up.

Lilly: Yes, the reader does have a sort of intimate relationship with me when he or she reads my story, so spinning it out in my story for the reader I guess is okay. But I can’t talk about it in an interview.

Bast: Fine. So, let’s talk about the after effects. You moved around the US and Canada a lot. Can you explain why?

Lilly: Well, obviously because of what happened. But in therapy I’m learning that I was acting “normally” for someone in my position. I was trying to block out, run away from what happened because if I could block it out then maybe it never happened. But it isn’t like that at all. It followed me around and I had to return to Toronto. My parents were both dead by now and Trish was turning 12 and I kept thinking what if something like that happened to her?

Bast: And you had to confront this because your demon showed up? How did this affect you?

Lilly: I think it scared me but it also shook me up. No way was that creep going to hurt Trish. So I faced him and I think in doing so, I started to get it out of my system.

Bast: Sort of mother protecting the cub?

Trish snorts.

Lilly: Of course. A mother will do what she has to do for her child even though she won’t…won’t do it for herself. (She starts crying). Sorry.

Bast: That’s okay. One more question. And I’m going to apologize ahead of time, but I have to ask. Do you forgive your parents for not being there for you?

Lilly stares right at Bast. No. Never. (She stands up.) Come on Trish. We are out of here.

You can read more about Trish Clark and her mother Lilly Clark in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

Sharon A. Crawford will be taking Beyond the Tripping Point to several readings and even using it in a workshop she will be teaching with Brian Henry – all September events. For Sharon A.’s September 2013 gigs, go to http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on September 5, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Interview of Fiction Character by Fiction Character – Part 12

29 Aug

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

The role of the writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.

Anaïs Nin

For the next two interviews Bast Overture, crime reporter-turned PI talks to the mother and daughter in an unsettling family situation in the short story “Unfinished Business” (from Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, 2012). The daughter, Trish Clark (no relation to the crazy Clarkes from the last four interviews), is 12 and curious about her mother’s background forcing her mother to face her past. Today, Bast speaks with Trish.

Trish enters the room carrying a pile of newspapers, which she places on the table. She nods at Bast, and with a comment “Have to get these ready for delivery” she hauls out a small knife and cuts the binding holding the papers together. She pulls out a small notepad from her other pocket and starts ticking off items on it.

Bast, clearing his throat: I heard you were very industrious with your paper delivery. Which newspaper is that?

Trish (looking up): The Barrie Advocate. I deliver papers throughout the north end of Barrie.

Bast: How long have you lived in Barrie?

Trish: About three years.

Bast: Where did you live before?

Trish: All over North America, sort of.

Bast: Can you be more specific?

Trish: Fine. I was born in Seattle, but Mom and I lived in Montreal, Miami, LA, Calgary, and now Barrie, Ontario.

Bast: Travelled around a lot, I see. Why is that?

Trish: At first I thought Mom was just restless and needed a change of scenery. But as I got older – I’m 12 now – (She smiles as if she’s hit a milestone) and looking back it was more than that. You see in every place we lived there was a man involved with Mom. Sometimes we lived with him and sometimes not.

Bast: I see. Did any of the men mistreat you or your Mom?

Trish: I think some took advantage of Mom. Mom is fragile. And I suppose I got mistreated by Harry in Miami. (Trish lowers her voice). He pushed snow – and I don’t mean the white wet fluffy winter stuff – up my nose. Well, that got to Mother and she moved us out of there fast. You won’t tell her I told you this? Please.

Bast: Of course not.  I’m just curious why Barrie?

Trish: To be honest with you I think Mom got homesick but she didn’t really want to go back to her exact home until I pushed her to do so.

Bast: Why was this?

Trish: I wanted to know more about my background. She had already told me about the dirt-bag who was my biological father but Mom came from somewhere and I wanted to know if I had aunts and uncles and grandparents on her side.

Bast: So you goaded her back to Toronto?

Trish: Yes.

Bast: Do you think she would have gone back on her own?

Trish: I don’t know. She told me afterwards that she had tried once. She went down with a girlfriend but hid down on the car floor. She couldn’t look up at the place.

Bast: I understand you had something of a wild ride into your Mom’s old neighbourhood.

Trish: Not really. Mom was driving a bit fast but I stopped her in time before she hit anything.

Bast: So, what did you think of your mother’s family home?

Trish: It’s an old bungalow. Now prime real estate…

Bast: And you know this how?

Trish: Hey I deliver the newspapers and I read the ads, including the real estate ones – well for Toronto I checked with one of the Toronto dailies online.

Bast: So, without giving away what happens at your mother’s old place, did you find it surprising or?

Trish: Not so surprising as somewhat unexpected. I knew there was something terrible in Mom’s background but I didn’t know it was that.

Bast: And when “that” showed up and came after…

Trish: I thought you said you weren’t going to give away anything that happens?

Bast: Correct. Okay, I guess readers will just have to read “Unfinished Business” in Beyond the Tripping Point. And stay tuned next post when I talk to your mother, Lilly Clark.

Trish: If she’ll come. She’s shying away from the interview but I’ll have a talk with her and tell her she has to do it. It’s part of her healing process.

Bast: Thanks, Trish. And thanks for coming today.

Trish: No problem.

You can read more about Trish Clark and her mother Lilly Clark in Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

Sharon A. Crawford will be taking Beyond the Tripping Point to several readings and even using it in a workshop she will be teaching with Brian Henry – all September events. For Sharon A.’s September 2013 gigs, go to http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on August 29, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

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Interview of Fictional Character by Fictional Character Part 11

22 Aug

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

Character gives us qualities, but it is in actions – what we do – that we are happy or the reverse….All human happiness and misery take the form of action.
– Aristotle

Today, Bast Overture the Crime Reporter turned PI interviews the last of the main characters in “For the Love of Wills.” William Clarke Jr. is a lawyer and like the general take on most lawyers he is cagey. However, William Jr. may be hiding more than most lawyers. Bast has his work cut out for him. “For the Love of Wills” is one of 13 stories in my mystery collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012).

Bast sits at the table, twiddling his thumbs as he waits for his interviewee to show up. He starts rereading his questions when William Clarke Jr. enters the room.

William Jr.: Sorry, Mr. Overture, I was delayed with a client. Nice to meet you. (He extends his hand.)

Bast (standing up and shaking William Jr.’s hand): That’s okay. Take a seat and we can get started so you can get back to your valuable clients.

William Jr.: Okay, point taken.

Bast: You are the eldest child – for want of a better word – of a shall we say eccentric couple. How was it growing up with Heidi and William Sr. as parents?

William Jr.: Interesting. Never a dull moment.

Bast: Were you close to your sister Clara when growing up?

William Jr.: Until I got into my teens. Clara is four years younger than I. And to answer your other question a bit fuller. Clara and I were always getting into shall we say scrapes, often instigated by one of Mother’s weird ideas. Dad was sort of the calming factor.

Bast: Hm. What were some of these scrapes?

William Jr. (chuckling): Well, there used to be a tree house in the backyard. It’s long gone now. Clara and I used to hide up there when Mother got a little loud and unreasonable about what she wanted us to do or not do. Mother and Dad never caught on about this until one day – I was about 10 and so Clara would have been six – we stayed up there all night. Mother and Dad couldn’t find us and called in the police. They looked all over the neighbourhood and didn’t find us until Clara got the bright idea to throw rocks down into the yard. You should’ve seen their faces when they looked up. (William chuckles again.)

Bast: Was this how you got the idea to try to hide things from the police in “For the Love of Wills?”

William Jr.: What do you mean? I answered their questions.

Bast: True. But you insisted on talking to your father away from the police and you and Clara had a whispered conference away from that constable who was supposed to be keeping an eye on you.

William Jr.: Now wait a minute, Mr. Reporter…

Bast: I’m a PI now.

William Jr.: Well then, Mr. PI. Speaking to my dad was lawyer-client privilege so no cops should be present and well, Clara and I had to compare notes. Anyway that cop watching us wasn’t exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Bast: Interesting that you use that analogy as the murder weapon in “For the Love of Wills” isn’t a knife but a…

William Jr.: Now, let’s not give the plot away.

(A commotion is heard just outside the door and Heidi Anastasia Clarke charges into the room).

Heidi: William, my good lawyer son. Your father, my poor Will needs your help. He’s got himself into a devil of a situation.

William Jr.: Now calm down Mother. Let’s go outside and talk. (He turns to Bast). That’s about it, Mr. PI. Duty and family call.

William smirks and leads his mother outside the room.

Bast shakes his head and mutters something about having enough of the Clarke family.

Stay tuned for next week when Bast goes into a most unsettling family problem and interviews the 12-year-old daughter from “Unfinished Business.”

You can read more about the Clarke family in my mystery short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point, (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on August 22, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection

 

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Interview of Fictional Character by Fictional Character: Part 10

15 Aug

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?

— Henry James

For this interview, Bast tackles Clara’s father William Everett Clarke in “For the Love of Wills.” “For the Love of Wills” is one of 13 stories in my mystery collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012).Clara’s father has dumped her mother for a much younger secretary nicknamed behind his back as “The Bimbo.” Hopefully his wife, Heidi Anastasia Clarke will stay out of the picture today,  but she is a loose cannon so you never know.

Bast (seated at a table): Please sit down Mr. Clarke. I don’t bite.

Clarke: You are a reporter.

Bast: Not any more, I’m now a private investigator and with my sister, Dana, I run the Attic Investigative Agency. But right now I’m more concerned with you and your situation.

Clarke (looking around the room): What do you mean my “situation?” Hey, you don’t have any hidden cameras or bugs anywhere here.

Bast: Nope, just my trusty digital recorder.

Clarke (jumping back): Shut that thing off.

Bast: Why, you got something to hide?  Okay, sorry. I just use the recorder for accuracy. Now, let’s get down to some basics. And please sit down. Now, Mr. Clarke, you were married for how many years?

Clarke (now seated across the table from Bast): Forty.

Bast: Tell me something about your wife, Heidi.

Clarke: What do you mean?

Bast: Where did you meet? Your children, that sort of thing.

Clarke (sighing audibly): Heidi was a secretary where I worked as a clerk. We went out on a few dates and seemed to hit it off. We were married a year and a half later. William Jr. came along four years later and then Clara was born a few years after that. William is a lawyer and Clara, well she is Clara. She likes climbing up walls, did you know that?

Bast: Yes, and it seems that she got your wife involved in that in the beginning of “For the Love of Wills.”

Clarke: More likely the other way round. (Clarke chuckles).

Bast: In what way?

Clarke: Heidi is well, what they call her own person with a mind of her own. She’s spontaneous and doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone.

Bast: Is that why she and Clara snuck into the matrimonial home via the walls because you threw her out for your secretary? Do I see a pattern here with secretaries?

Clarke (jumping up and leaning over the table). Now see here young man. I still love Heidi but well, when you’ve been married as long as Heidi and I, you get too familiar with each other and you want something different.

Bast: I can see that, but you did more than have an affair. You moved your secretary in with you and Heidi had to leave.

Clarke: Yes, I suppose so, but I was having second thoughts when the m…”

Bast: Sh. We don’t want to give anything away to the readers.

Clarke (now sitting down): Right.

Bast: Did you trust your wife?

Heidi storming into the room: What kind of question is that? Of course he trusted me. My poor William.

Bast: Heidi, you had your turn last week. And William did throw you out of your home?

Clarke: Now wait a minute…

Heidi: But it was only temporary. I was…

Bast: Stop. Heidi, you have to leave. My interview is with your husband.

Heidi: But…

Clarke: No, this interview is over. Come Heidi, we have things to talk about.

The two leave the room. Bast stares after them and then at his tape recorder, muttering, “I’ll get at the truth next week when I talk to William Jr.”

You can read more about the Clarke family in my mystery short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point, (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on August 15, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Credible Fiction Characters, Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Interview of Fictional Character by Fictional Character – Part 9

08 Aug

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

Be obscure clearly.

–          E.B. White

Anastasia Heidi Clarke (mother) in “For the Love of Wills” is calmed down somewhat from her tirade last week with her daughter Clara. Today, Bast Overture, crime reporter turned PI interviews this eccentric family member. “For the Love of Wills” is one of 13 stories in my mystery collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012).

Bast: Anastasia Heidi – those are interesting names. How did you come by them?

AH (Mother): Well, young man, my parents named me. My father read Russian novels and my mother read Heidi that Swiss Alps novel. So I’m doubly famous. (She smirks).

Bast: Okay. In “For the Love of Wills” you seem determined to see your ex-husband’s will…

AH: He is NOT my ex-husband. We are still married. He just didn’t want me to live with him anymore. And there was no way I was giving him a divorce and get half the house with that Bimbo living there. So they could live in sin. What was the question?.

Bast: Why did you want to see your husband’s will?

AH: To make sure I was still in it and he wasn’t leaving everything to that Bimbo, of course.

Bast: But as things turned out that didn’t matter.

AH: Sh. Sh. Do you want to spoil it for the readers? I don’t think Sharon A. would be too pleased if you gave it all away.

Bast: Point taken. Then, without giving the plot away, and because we did mention this last week, why did you and Clara do a climbing act to get into the house?

AH: I wanted to sneak in without William seeing or hearing us.

Bast: But it didn’t work out quite that way, did it?

AH: What did I say about not giving away the plot?

Bast (making hand-pushing motions). Very well. Let’s go to the police when they arrived. You seemed concerned about what they were up to. Why is that?

AH: Well I had to make sure they didn’t arrest the wrong person and they seemed too controlling. It was my house they were invading.

Bast: But that’s their job – when there has been a crime, the police investigate to find out persons of interest and suspects so they have to ask questions.

AH: But they herded us into separate rooms. I couldn’t make sure that my family was okay if I couldn’t get at them.

Bast: I see. Was there anybody in particular in your family you were concerned with? Clara?

AH: Clara can take care of herself.

Bast: Your son, William Jr.

AH: He’s a lawyer. ‘Nuff said.

There is some noise outside the door and it opens. William Clarke Sr. walks in.

William: She means me…

AH: Whatever gave you that idea, William? After leaving me for that twenty-something secretary.

William: Yes, but you did say “my poor Will” to one of the cops and I don’t think you meant our son.

AH: So what?

William: Well…

Bast (trying to get control of the interview): Okay, folks. William, your turn will be next week. Now Anastasia, I have one more question…

Anastasia: And I’m done. Good day.

Anastasia Heidi Clark leaves the room, followed by her husband. Bast shrugs his shoulders and mutters “Talk to you next week.”

You can read more about the Clarke family in my mystery short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point, (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on August 8, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection

 

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Interview of Fictional Character by Fiction Character – Part 8

01 Aug

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

The things that you know more about than you want to know are very useful.

–          Robert Stone

Bast Overture stays in 2013 and will have his hands full with the next few interviews as he will be talking to members of the wacky Clarke family who appear in “For the Love of Wills” in my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). When a body turns up in their Rosedale home (ritzy area of Toronto, Canada) each member tries not to get arrested for the crime. Bast will start with the main character, Clara Clarke.

Bast: Clara, it’s not every day that a body is found in the family home. How did you react when you and your mother found the body in the attic den?

Clara: Sounds like an old Agathie Christie mystery when you put it that way.

Bast: But it’s not. It’s present day.

Clara: Right. Well, I did wonder if Dad was involved somehow. I mean he did find the body.

Bast: But didn’t you feel a little bit glad? The main reason your mother was kicked out of the family home was now dead?

Clara: I don’t think so because like I said, I was worried about Dad.

Bast: What about your mother? She had the most to gain from the murder?

Clara: No way. Mother was with me.

Bast: When the body was found, but before?

Clara: You forget that Dad changed the locks so Mother’s house key didn’t work.

Bast: Aw, come on, she could have knocked on the door earlier and your dad could have let her in.

Clara: No way. Mother didn’t want to even confront Dad.

Bast: Very well. Now you and your mother made a rather unconventional entrance. Was this your idea?

Clara. No. Mother’s. Even though I did rock climbing at the gym, Mother, whose only previous climbing experience was stairs, suggested we climb the walls of the house to the balcony and then sneak in.

Bast:  In this story by Sharon A. Crawford, your mother and you discuss why the two of you have to get into the house.

We’ve got to see his will.” [Mother said]

“His will? What the hell for?”[Clara said]

“I need to see that he’s still leaving me everything and hasn’t changed it to the Bimbo.”

“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just ask William, Jr.? He is the family lawyer?”

She’d smirked and muttered something about keeping her ideas close to her mind. (Excerpted from Beyond the Tripping Point, copyright 2012 Sharon A. Crawford)

So, Clara, why didn’t you persuade your mother to talk to William Jr.?

Clara: Well, because she is Mother. Once she makes her mind up about something, nobody can change it.

(Heidi Anastasia Clarke – Mother –  stomps into the room): And I had my reasons. It had to be done this way and only this way.

Bast: Mrs. Clarke, please, this is Clara’s interview. Your turn will be next week.

Heidi (waggling a finger at Bast): Now, listen here young man, it was my husband who cheated on me, who kicked me out of our home after 40 years of marriage. I think I…”

Clara: Mother, shut up.

Heidi: Now, listen, Clara…

The two continue arguing. Bast throws up his hands in disgust, covers his ears with his hands and walks out of the room.

You can read more about the Clarke family in my mystery short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point, (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

The video link to my thatchannel.com interview and reading from Beyond the Tripping Point on You Tube can now be accessed via the new page “Video” at the top of this blog.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on August 1, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

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Interview of Fictional Character by Fictional Character – Part 7

25 Jul

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

Sometimes your destiny is wrapped up in a veil of fear to check if you really have the courage to face it.

— Marcus Hades

Bast Overture, crime reporter turned PI, stays in present time (2013) and interviews Jessica Myers, the terrified passenger in the car with the brakes that don’t work. Jessica is Millie’s best friend when the story “No Breaks” starts out. But do the two remain friends after their ride, harrowing in more ways than one? And “breaks” is spelled correctly as it refers to something else beyond car brakes. You’ll have to read Beyond the Tripping Point to find out.

Bast: (referring to the near crash – see last week’s post). That was close. Everyone okay?

Millie scowls and nods. Jessica curles into the corner by the window and gives a slight nod.

Bast:  Okay, Jessica, in the story, “No Breaks,” you were the passenger in a car with no brakes. How did you feel about that?

Jessica: Scared. (Her voice is low and soft).

Bast: How did you react?

Jessica: Tried to find a bay – that’s what Millie said we needed. So I tried to go online but there was no wireless connection. I kept trying, I really did. (Jessica holds up her BlackBerry). See – connection now but not then.

Bast: You don’t drive?

Jessica: No. I left that up to Millie.

Bast: Hm. But what about now after your harrowing experience?

Jessica: What about it? The brakes failed. Millie used her parking brake…

Bast: Millie does something else, something unexpected?

Jessica: What do you mean? She drove until she found a bay and then she drove in to the bay.

Bast: Yes, but something happens in the bay.

Jessica shrugs. So?

Bast: Would that be the result of a conversation you and she had at a pit stop for something to eat?

Jessica: That’s between Millie and me.

Bast: And what about that deep dark secret Millie keeps referring to – a deep dark secret you have.

Jessica: That’s between Millie and me. I’m not saying anymore. I want my lawyer. I want… (She begins to cry).

Millie hits the accelerator and the car jerks forward into high speed. Jessica tries to shrink even further into the passenger seat corner. Bast starts talking into his tape recorder.

Bast: I’m in the car with Millie Browne and Jessica Myers and it looks like we are having a repeat of their adventure in “No Breaks.”

You can read more about Millie, Jessica, and Eddie in my mystery short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point, (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to my profile – including book reviews – at www.amazon.com. The book is available there in print and Kindle. For Kobo e-book  go to http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=Beyond%20the%20Tripping%20Point or go to any bricks and mortar store and order in a print copy.

The video link to my thatchannel.com interview and reading from Beyond the Tripping Point on You Tube can now be accessed via the new page “Video” at the top of this blog.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on July 25, 2013 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Interviewing fictional characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Short Story Collection, Writing

 

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