Private I with Laura Bickle
As the author approaches the door to the interview room a muffled scream can be heard and a shuffling of several feet. Upon cautiously opening the door the only sign of previous movement is the settling of small dust partials shimming in the filtered sunlight.
Thank you for coming in. Were you informed of the reason you were brought in today? I was told that my fire salamander is loose. Again. He really isn't amenable to the idea of a leash...but...are there salamander leash laws? Is he supposed to have rabies shots? Am I getting a ticket for this?
I think I'm screwed.
We believe your character may be involved in suspicious activity. When and where is the last time you saw your character? Um. Well...there was an incident in which he roasted some stuffed animals at a baby superstore. The fire department showed up. But the last time I saw him was in the Detroit Crime Lab. He was playing with a Bunsen burner and set off the sprinkler system.
This is gonna be expensive, right? What did he do now? Did he blow up a car?
For the record, can you please say and spell your characters full name and any known aliases. Sparky... S-P-A-R-K-Y. He doesn't have a last name. I'm pretty sure that he's had other aliases in the past. Rumor is that he hung out with Van Helsing. And that he was responsible for that Hindenburg disaster.
Do know where your character may be now? I suspect that he's hanging out with fire investigator Anya Kalinczyk in Detroit. She moonlights as a ghost hunter, and Sparky likes to eat ghosts. Last I heard, they were investigating some cases of spontaneous human combustion.
Can you please give a brief description of your character? He's a five-foot long speckled hellbender salamander. He glows with a mottled amber light. He's usually not too far from his favorite toy, a Glow-Worm.
Do you have a recent picture of the subject? Sure. This is one I took before he ate the camera.
What was the demeanor of the subject like when you last met? He was kind of cranky. I heard that he has a nest of newts in Anya's bathtub, so he's probably sleep-deprived and feeling protective of the baby salamanders.
Has he been fraternizing with anyone new as of late? He's been hanging out at the morgue with this guy who says he's a psychopomp. He supposedly ferries the dead to the Underworld. His name's Charon, but he looks like some dude stuck in the 1980s.
We understand that you are the author of the character, but can you describe your personal relationship with them? He has been, variously, my muse and chief irritant.
Do you know your character intimately *snickers*? Not that intimately. He's a salamander, for chrissakes. He sleeps at the foot of the bed. With his Glow-Worm.
We found this with your characters prints on it. Can you please tell me what it is? This is a torque - a necklace shaped like a salamander. It's copper, and it's the magical vessel that Sparky is tied to. It's always around Anya's neck. It's bad news if you have the necklace and Anya and Sparky aren't here...
Is there anything else you think may be helpful? Sparky likes chasing cats and dogs. You might find him at a park. He also has an insatiable appetite for electronic devices - microwaves, cell phones, that sort of thing.
If we, or our associates have any further questions, where can you be found? I can be found at my desk. Often with a cat or salamander curled up in my lap.
As a thump is heard behind the bookcase, the interviewer abruptly stands. "I think we are done here, thank you for your cooperation". Hustled out of the room the author stands in shock behind the hastily slammed door.
The door name plate reads: Office of Fictional Unaccounted for Characters or O.F.U.C.
SPARKS by Laura Bickle
Available September 2010
Anya Kalinczyk is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern, who holds down a day job as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department—while working 24/7 to exterminate malicious spirits haunting a city plagued by unemployment and despair. Along with her inseparable salamander familiar, Sparky, Anya has seen, and even survived, all manner of fiery hell—but her newest case sparks suspicions of a bizarre phenomenon that no one but her eccentric team of ghost hunters might believe: spontaneous human combustion.
After fire consumes the home of elderly Jasper Bernard, Anya is stunned to discover his remains—or, more precisely, a lack of them; even the fiercest fires leave some trace of their victims—and she is sure this was no naturally occurring blaze. Soon she’s unearthed a connection to a celebrity psychic who preys on Detroit’s poor, promising miracles for money. But Hope Solomon wants more—she’s collecting spirits, and in a frantic race against time, Anya will face down an evil adversary who threatens her fragile relationship with her lover, her beloved Sparky’s freshly hatched newts, and the wandering souls of the entire city.
We are offering a reward for any information leading to the apprehension of this character. Leave a comment for Laura to win a print copy of SPARKS!
Contest ends October 22nd, 2011. Please leave your email address (name AT domain DOT com). One entry per household. International entries are welcome.
Laura Bickle has an MA in sociology-criminology (research interests: fear of crime and victimology) and a BA in criminology. She has worked in and around criminal justice since 1997. Although she does read Tarot cards, she's never used them in criminal profiling or to locate lost scientists. She recently took up astronomy, but for the most part her primary role in studying constellations and dark matter is to follow her amateur astronomer-husband around central Ohio toting the telescope tripod and various lenses.
Writing as Laura Bickle, she's the author of EMBERS and SPARKS for Pocket - Juno Books. Writing as Alayna Williams, she's the author of DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE.
More info on her urban fantasy and general nerdiness is here: http://www.salamanderstales.com/
