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

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!

My latest author letter starts with this paragraph: " I remember a great short story that I read many years ago. This is a short summary: A murderer escapes a prison and the people in the entire region are in panic because of it. All of a sudden, there is a string of break-ins, and soon dead bodies are found. Victims of the murderer, it seems. There is no trace of the fugitive, however. He remains elusive. Winter comes and goes. As the snow melts, another dead person is found: It is the killer`s body. It turns out that the other murders were committed long after the escaped prisoner had frozen to death. The allegedly oh so innocent people in the area had exploited the situation in order to commit crimes that would be attributed to the murderer. A ingenious story."
Every month, I send out an author letter (for which you can sign up on the homepage of my website www.bernadettecalonego.com) with news that I normally don't share anywhere else. You get more than one glimpse of my life in a tiny fishing village on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland.
The snow has disappeared now, but I haven't discovered any bodies like in the short story above. They are entirely on the pages of my mystery novels. But on the beaches, there are carcasses of seals that were crushed between the ice pans of the pack ice. Nature is not always benevolent. Nor are the humans.
In this rural, rugged existence of mine in an isolated, mostly COVID-free environment, everything is reduced to the essentials. With so few distractions and stimuli, I can concentrate on my writing - and publishing: My mystery thriller “Cries from the Cold” is almost ready to launch in the paperback version. Publication will be before the end of May. I’m so excited! You can also preorder the e-book that will be out June 25. It is the first case for detective sergeant Calista Gates. A German reader wrote to me: “I like Calista Gates, she is tenacious but very good at handling people and she also has a vulnerable side to her. I hope you keep her as a character in your next book.” I do, and now I have a Calista-Gates series! I hope to have the second book translated soon.
Four days ago, I discovered the first flowers under the snow-free bleached old grass. My life is complete!

Our house in northern Newfoundland is small and rather dark. Luckily my fisherman built a room just for me onto the back of the house. A retreat which is bright and airy. It has huge windows on all sides which is not so practical in the strong Newfoundland winds but beauty and comfort come first.
I live now with a roommate in our house. Her name is Calista Gates and she is the detective in my new mystery thriller series. I spend many hours with her, think about her, write about her, put her in place, let her move around, ask her what she wants to do. A very interesting roommate with strong views and a big heart. But she doesn’t always want to be the good cop. She is quite headstrong and wants room to develop new character traits. I’m very fond of her, and so are many readers. Which makes me happy.
I hesitated a long time to write a series with a female detective although I really wanted to. But I knew that my heroine had to be really captivating, likable, irresistible. Only if I was able to create a really convincing strong lead, my series could take off. I took the plunge, and Calista Gates was born. Will she win the hearts of my readers? Now that the series is a success in Germany and the first English translation has been published (title: "Cries from the Cold"), I am happy to see that she conquers the imagination of people.
I am not like Calista, in case you wondered. But we share one experience: culture shock.
I thought it would be interesting to send a big-city detective to a God-forsaken fishing village in Labrador in the middle of a bone-chilling winter. I can relate to the challenges she faces because of my own experiences in Newfoundland.
The dynamics in these insular settlements are very interesting. People live in each other's pockets, however a lot of things are swept under the carpet. They can resurface when it is least expected, and not always in a good way.
So whenever Calista Gates misses Vancouver and her family there, I take her into my bright, airy room at the back of the house and cuddle her. After some loving care, she is ready to take on a new murder case and a another fight for justice. Don`t we just love her?
CRIES FROM THE COLD

I don`t really see myself as one of the people who flee the Canadian cold and overwinter in places like Florida. But as a matter of fact, I am one of the so-called "snowbirds".
I spent the winter in the mild climate of the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia and I'm glad I did. The snowstorms in northern Newfoundland were relentless and frequent while I was away. Now that I'm back, there is still pack ice in the bay and huge piles of snow everywhere.
This is nevertheless the place I want to be now. Driving up from the airport in Deer Lake, I saw caribou and moose. And I stopped to take a video of the raging ocean which fascinates me endlessly. I almost froze my fingers doing it.
Today the sun is out. The locals haven`t seen it for the entire month of April. I have started to walk the neighbours' dog again and I take care of our foster cat. Covid has spread in the area which makes it difficult to meet people.
I've already encountered the first tourist, though. She asked me when the ice will be melted in the bay. I don't really know. Chances are that the wind will drive the floes out onto the North Atlantic before it melts.
During the winter months, I missed several polar bears wandering through the coastal communities. One of them climbed on a roof and when the lady in the house opened the door, there it was, in all its glory. She quickly shut the door! Her neighbour's surveillance camera caught it all on film.
There are snowbirds in the yard, too, and it is not me. When these birds turn up in northern Newfoundland, it is a sure sign of spring. I should know by now that spring looks very different here from anywhere else. This is one of the reasons why I`m happy to have arrived. It's an adventure!

Bernadette Calonego

Readers ask me intriguing questions which I like. Somebody wanted to know how the dead are buried in very cold regions in the winter when the ground is frozen.
Here in northern Newfoundland, a few men with pick axes can do the job by digging a grave. In the Arctic, they sometimes use sledgehammers.
I have read that generations ago there were designated sheds where the dead were kept until the ground was ready for a burial in the spring. They were called the Dead House, Mort house, Corpse-House, or Charnel House. You can still see Dead Houses in Labrador, for instance, in Hopedale, Hebron and Nain (of course not in use anymore).
On Battle Island in Labrador where a lot of fishermen from other areas used to work in the summer, the bodies were preserved with salt, until they could be shipped to their final destination for the burial.
As an author of crime novels, death is a constant factor in my books. I try to treat it respectfully and not only for entertainment. It is harder for me to accept death in real life. I have this childlike wish that people can live long lives and that their passing is peaceful.
A contradiction to my mystery thrillers, I know.
If you like to know more about my life in Newfoundland, you can subscribe to my newsletter on my website wwww.bernadettecalonego.com/eng
All the best to you.
A Dark Chill

It is a funny coincidence but as I'm writing about a polar bear in my new mystery thriller in the Detective Calista Gates series, people I know have posted pictures on Facebook of a polar bear wandering through one of their coastal communities. It happens almost every spring in northern Newfoundland. You don't have to go to the Arctic to encounter polar bears. If you live on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland, chances are good that you'll see one through your living-room window! My favourite fisherman told me that his ancestors used to call them "water bears" because they are incredibly good swimmers. I have only seen a polar bear in nature in a net. He had been tranquilized by wildlife officers and a helicopter flew him dangling in a net across an ocean strait to Labrador.
The polar bears in northern Newfoundland and Labrador are healthy and thriving because there are so many seals and sufficient pack ice. A few years ago, a polar bear broke into a shed in Goose Cove and ate some tame ducks. And another one stuck his head into a kitchen. That was quite a scare for the family in the house, as you can imagine, But nobody was hurt or killed.
I will be back in northern Newfoundland at the end of April (right now I'm in British Columbia), and chances are small that there will still be a lonely polar bear trying to find his way home. But you never know. In my book, Detective Calista Gates will be up close and personal with one of these giants. I don't know whether I should envy her or whether I should be glad that it never happened to me... What do you think?
Bay of Evil


Bernadette Calonego

February, along with March, is the worst month when the snowstorms whip over Newfoundland and Labrador. Today is such a day, we expect 75 centimeters of snow. I can't see the other end of the bay in the white whirlwind.
So far, however, the winter has been manageable despite the cold. On the really bitterly cold days I wasn't outside at all.
I am lucky that right behind our house there is a hiking trail leading up a hill from which you have fantastic views. Up there, I can let the neighbors' dog, which I take for walks, run free. Maggie follows snow hares and mice and startles the hawk, which is also hunting.
The bays were not frozen over for a long time, and I asked my fisherman if there had been years without ice on the ocean near the settlements in northern Newfoundland (yes, there were, but rarely). Now the most daring among us are already driving their snowmobiles over the thick ice cover on the water. In some places, however, ice floes have piled up and besiege the shore like hungry crocodiles.
During an excursion in the snow, we made an interesting, albeit sad find: a dead whale was pushed to the shore. Some locals claim it is a sperm whale. I can't say for sure, because it would have been too dangerous to get any closer to the poor animal on the ice.
Instinctively, people turn to things that offer warmth, coziness and distraction. I bake Swiss apple pie with puff pastry, play cards with the neighbors, meet other women for a coffee chat, keep the wood fire burning in the oven, plan a vacation in warmer regions and read exciting books (biographies, adventure stories and crime novels). By the way, if you subscribe to "Bernadette's Letter" on the homepage of my website bernadettecalonego.com/eng, you will learn even more about my everyday life in northern Newfoundland. Lots of love from Noddy Bay!