When my hero contacted me on Facebook....by Sheila Claydon

Dedication

To the real Dirk Van Allen with many apologies for unwittingly stealing his name

Writers are used to strange things happening to them. Those moments of serendipity when the story they are struggling with suddenly becomes clear thanks to a chance remark overheard, or the glimpse of a stranger's face on an everyday journey. From such things whole books are born. From them, too, characters spring to life, and for most writers those characters are almost  real. Almost, but not quite. So imagine how startled I was when the hero of my book Empty Hearts contacted me on Facebook.

Of course it wasn't quite like that. I'm a writer, so I exaggerate! But it was pretty spooky all the same. You see nowadays most of my heroes have ordinary names like Matthew or Sean or Daniel, but for some reason I gave the hero in Empty Hearts a much more exotic name. I called him Dirk Van Allen.  Because I wrote it a long time ago I don't remember where the name came from although I do remember the person I modelled him on (never to be revealed) and I remember too that he had a double-barrelled name, so I guess that was the trigger for Van Allen.  My choice of Dirk, however, remains a complete mystery to me. So when the name Dirk Van Allen popped up on my Facebook page I was more than startled.

So was the real Dirk Van Allen. How he found my book I have no idea, but he wanted to know why I had used his name, and he had a point because it is unusual. Van Allen is unusual and so is Dirk, so marrying the two together for a fictional hero and then discovering the name belonged to someone after all was an almost unbelievable coincidence, so that is why I have dedicated the 3rd edition of Empty Hearts to the real Dirk Van Allen.

Written in the 1980s it is now a vintage romance that has stood the test of time sufficiently for a 3rd edition to be republished by Books We Love, in print and as an ebook, so the least I can do is acknowledge the success of a very unusual name. Thank you Dirk, and because you and I are now Facebook friends, I know your own romance was one of the great ones, so this is in memory of your wonderful Lanny too.

Go to Sheila's Books We Love author page to see the rest of her books, which are available on:

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Also visit her on Facebook and have a chat :

Sheila Claydon on facebook

Ghosts and Haunted Houses by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

 

 

As far as I know, I have never seen a ghost. However, I did live in a haunted house, although without my knowledge. When my husband and I and my brother and sister-in-law first moved to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island we bought a house that had been converted into a duplex. My sister-in-law told me that she was continually seeing a man coming and going from their side. I saw no one on our side.

I returned to Alberta to visit family and friends and was describing where our place was to a friend. She began asking questions about it and said that a friend of hers had lived in that house years earlier. She also asked me if I had seen the ghost who occasionally wandered through the house there. I said no, but my sister-in-law had.

She said that a man had died in that house and her friend had seen his ghost often while living there.

I’m not sure if the reason I did not encountered that ghost nor any others in my life is because I don’t believe in them or because I’ve been lucky. However, if a ghost is reading this, this is not an invitation to come to me and prove you are real.

My Story With Illustrations

For more information about Susan Calder's books, or to purchase visit her Books We Love Author Page.

A year ago Loft 112 accepted my short story "When a Warm Wind Blows Off the Mountains" for its Calgary neighbourhood series. About 20 people gathered in the Loft apartment in Calgary's East Village for a lunch of sandwiches and roasted red pepper soup. I read an excerpt from the story set on our city's Glenmore Reservoir pathway, talked about my inspirations for "Warm Wind" and answered questions. Attendees all received a handmade chapbook of the tale. It was a fun event and I was glad my story had found this warm home.

A few weeks later, the Loft 112 organizers hatched a plan to publish an anthology of the Calgary neighbourhood stories. Now "Warm Wind" was officially published. I assumed this was it for the story, but the Loft had other ideas.

They sent me and the other writers an email asking for permission to have our stories turned into works of art by artists from Alberta Printmakers.

"Sure," I said, intrigued.

In January Loft 112 learned they'd received a grant to produce 12 art books, to be displayed and shared with the public. Our first step was to meet at the Loft to meet the artists. They matched me with Sylvia Arthur, who loves drawing pictures to songs and poems. Sylvia and I chatted that night. Later, I checked her website and was thrilled to find that her work resonated with my tastes.

Sylvia & me at Loft 112

  

I gladly left my story in Sylvia's hands. Actually, when she read the story, Sylvia noticed a recurring image of hands. She used this in a number of her illustrations.

Our hands reveal so much -- I hadn't realized I'd used them so often in my story

Sylvia visited the story setting, the Glenmore Reservoir trail, and followed the route my two characters walked. She invited me to the Alberta Printmakers workshop to view her creation process. 

How the story's words look when added to one of the above pictures

The book-as-art is finished. I haven't yet seen the physical product but The Loft tells me it's great. In January, the public will be invited to various events showcasing the art/books. Sylvia and I will be there on January 13th to talk about our experience.

Now I understand how authors of children's books feel when a talented artist collaborates with their work and brings their story to life. It's terrific.