Bernadette Calonego's Blog: Eventful - Posts Tagged "adventure"

I walk a dog named Coco almost everyday, it is not my dog but belongs to a family in the remote fishing village in Northern Newfoundland where I am staying. Coco is shedding her winter fur right now: instead of looking like a lion she resembles more a seal (she is a labrador/husky mix). I wonder if there is an analogy with humans. Am I shedding something, too, now that it is April?
There are still ice floes in the bay and heaps of snow everywhere but luckily I don`t need any crampons and long johns anymore.
When one is shedding something, one must feel lighter, I suppose. I think I'm shedding books (smile). I'm in the process of publishing a German mystery novel and an English title: "Cries from the Cold". The latter is a crime thriller set on the wild coast of Labrador, with RCMP detective Calista Gates as the main character. It is the first book of a series, my first series, by the way. "Cries from the Cold" can be pre-ordered now on Amazon, the paperback will be out in approximately three weeks, the e-book on June 25.
You probably assume that I'm fascinated by cold regions, and you are right. I've never been a person who can stand searing heat. I would probably be a good candidate for a heat stroke in that kind of temperatures. I just spent my first entire winter in Northern Newfoundland but it turned out to be an exceptionally mild winter for this area. I've come to realize that the crucial thing is to dress appropriately. Even a face covering, if necessary.
I've just read the mesmerizing book "Ghost of Everest", about a search expedition in 1999 that found the body of famous climber George Mallory who died in 1924 on the highest mountain on earth. Mallory had none of the modern clothing that today's mountaineers have. Just silk underwear and layers of sweaters made of wool, jackets made of canvas, simple leather boots and a pilot hat for his head. It is hard to imagine how Mallory could venture like this into the Death Zone on Everest. But he did.
I like to be adventurous, too, but with a calculated risk. The heroine of my latest book "Cries from the Cold", Calista Gates, cannot afford that luxury. She is thrown into the brutal Labrador winter without any ropes or guard rails.
Would you like to find out how she was doing?
Three more weeks to go!

Bernadette Calonego My crime thrillers are always set in places that I know personally. The detective Calista Gates series for instance takes place in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Some of you might know that every year I live several months in a tiny fishing community in northern Newfoundland. Detective Calista Gates is the police chief in St. Anthony, a town about half an hour from the village where I`m staying.
For my next crime novel, I have set my eyes on a very remote but stunning northern region between Labrador and the province of Québec. I love remote areas in the North: I was in the Arctic twice and also in the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. But this time, I really have to get creative to be able to travel to my desired destination. There is a tourist lodge that offers accommodation and exploratory trips with seaplanes and hiking guides. But like everything that is far up in the Great North, it is expensive. Very expensive. A seven-day trip (two days for getting there) would cost me around 16000 Canadian dollars or 12000 U.S. dollars. How many books do I have to sell to make that kind of money? I know that there are really great novels written by authors who had never been in the location they wrote about - but you could never tell because the book is that good.
I`m torn between using my life savings to make the trip of my dreams in order to write the book that I want. Or maybe I just stay put and do a lot of research and let my fantasy go wild. In my new mystery thriller "Bay of Evil" (out on January 20, 2023), part of the action takes place in the Torngat Mountains in Labrador, another area that I would have loved to visit but it is very expensive, too. Luckily, Covid 19 made the decision for me: the destination was closed. I was allowed to use the experiences of a couple who trekked through the area a few years ago. It worked splendidly for my mystery thriller.
Isn`t reading to live on borrowed life? When we read about far-away places that are unattainable, don`t we go there in our imagination and they become very real?
Hey, maybe I make a lot of money with my new book and then I pack my bags and just go North! I will let you know, one way or the other. A Dark Chill

My German editor told me recently she had noticed that there are a lot of cabins in my mystery thrillers. She's right. Cabins play an important role im my stories. How could they not: My crime novels are set in northern and other remote areas where a lot of people have cabins. Fishing cabins, hunting cabins, weekend cabins, party cabins, icefishing cabins, cabins along snowmobile trails, cabins in the woods, cabins on the lakes, cabins in the wilderness, cabins to get away from everybody.
There is a distinct cabin culture in isolated and rural areas. It is part of people's lifestyle and traditions. In my small community in northern Newfoundland, not many people can afford to go on cruises or beach holidays in Cuba or even to cities like Halifax or Montreal. But they do build a cabin to enjoy a getaway, especially in the winter when they can reach these wild locations on the snowmobile.
As it is tradition to visit people in their cabin, the cabin dwellers aren't alone for any stretch of time. Usually, visitors are welcome. They are offered tea and some cookies or they bring a bottle of rum or "screetch" with them and the chatting and hollering can begin.
Everything is simple in the cabins: old sofas, used cutlery, worn blankets, ancient calendars on the wall. But it is a great way to spend a day or two, to forget about village life and chores, to gossip and relax.
For me as an author of mystery novels, cabins are a fitting location for crimes, hideouts or eerie encounters. For this reason alone, I cannot promise there won't be any cabin in my next book. There is certainly one in "Missing in the Dark", my latest crime novel! And morbid things are happening there, I can tell you.