Helyna L. Clove

Once upon a time (last summer) I had a lovely book tour for Skylark in the Fog with Escapist Book Company, organized by the lovely Justin Gross. The site and their service have since then retired, but during the tour, they did make a cool Q&A session with Jeane Blake, my horrible daughter who is one of the main characters in my book, that I’d like to keep online for people to enjoy. Hopefully. I mean I enjoy it a lot. The others also chime in, and it was very fun to do, and perhaps it will inspire you to read my chonky space opera!

So, here it is. The questions, as described above, came from Escapists and the answers…from a chasm in spacetime my characters have unexpectedly bridged. Somehow. They tend to do that sometimes, tbh.

Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Jeane: Alright. Well, hello readers, I’m Jeane Blake, lanehunter and captain of the Skylark. I was born on the Ranch…I think. Not that I can prove it. But I’m usually on the move these days, from dead world to dead world to lanehunter outpost, transporting stuff. I’ve got a crew of two, Kliks and ALU—more than enough if you ask me. We get by. It’s an okay life when those Union brutes keep away from us.

Kliks (from somewhere in the background): But they usually don’t.

What music do you listen to?

Jeane: Huh, I don’t really, these days. During quieter runs, I like to watch those vids Hollis had made back in the day. He was my…uh, he basically raised us. And some of his buddies had a band on the Ranch. They played old-school instruments like violin and accordion and stuff. They always bragged that their repertoir is full of lost-and-found folk songs from Old Earth but I think they’d made half of them up on the spot. I should also have some records from Gertie. She’s a friend. When we lived together in the Foggy Cities she liked this singer, Elida Storm. Really upbeat, sweet music. Not too bad.

Kliks: You know I can hear you listen to that album over and over in your cabin. You love it.

Jeane: Shut up.

What are 3 items you can’t live without?

Jeane: My ship, a gun, my tablet. Wait, coffee. I’ll switch the gun for coffee.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what is one thing you’d like to have with you?

Jeane: A drink. Make it Rixian rum. I’m gonna sit around, drink rum, and enjoy the silence. If I wanted to actually get off that island, I’d take ALU except they’re not a thing.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Jeane: Human cargo. Stop making me do human cargo. For skies’ sake.

What do you do in your free time?

Jeane: Uh, drink? Sleep? I don’t have a lot of free time.

What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?

Jeane: Oh, gods, you wanna get all introspective with me? Listen. My ship needs fuel. My crew needs food (well, Kliks needs it, ALU is kinda just indulging us, I think). What else am I gonna do?

What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Jeane: Hollis told me to get out there and kick some ass. Seems reasonable.

What do you carry in your bag?

Jeane: Bunch of doubloons. A knife. Cables and useful gadgets. Ammo. And Kliks makes me haul his science crap around sometimes.

Kliks: They’re not crap, they’re important experiments I’m doing for the sake of all of us, so we survive another day in these murderous spacetime rifts that you—

Jeane: Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

What’s your favorite animal?

Jeane: Stars, when was the last time I saw an animal? Probably when those wolf-things raided Blackbones on Duplex-1. They’re usually fine with gravitational waves, but they went all nuts for the Window that one time. It was not fun. But I do like birds. And cats. I wanted to have a cat but I’d probably end up killing it on a mission so, no dice.

What do you think about Maura and Roy (the other MCs)?

Jeane: Right. Well, Maura is cool. She seems so unassuming at first glance, but she’s got this quiet strength. You just can’t ignore her. Gets annoying when you’re being dragged into a war (or two!) because of her, though. Gods damned princesses…sorry, queens.

Maura: Forgiven. But only because you think I have a ‘quiet strength’.

Jeane: And I’m really not sure about Roy. He’s a Union agent, so, immediate blaring alarms, right, but he’s a fucking strange one at that. Half my gut is telling me I can’t trust him, but the other half wants to. I think he’s lost. That’s, you know, familiar.

Roy: Aw, I knew you loved me.

Jeane: Why’s everyone horning in on my interview?!

Do you have favorite saying?

Jeane: “Something for something”. Oh and, “expect the worst”—do sayings have favorite people? Because this one sure picked me out of the crowd.

What is your favorite holiday?

Jeane: I don’t do holidays since leaving, but the Ranch had casting-off days for young pilots and crew. Those were fun. Lot’s of drinking, playing cards, and telling stories.

If you could go anywhere in the galaxy, where would you go and why?

Jeane: I can go anywhere. And I do. The places I can’t go, like Union territory, I don’t fucking want to. But it would be cool to leave the galaxy one day. It’s super dangerous, but…come on. I do want to know what’s out there. I’d probably immediately fucking die, though.

What do you do to relax?

Jeane: I sleep. I know, riveting stuff. I do like to read too, but don’t tell Kliks. I read his boring files about history and humanity and lanes, sometimes. I think he also writes a diary but I couldn’t decrypt it yet.

What is your favorite food?

Jeane: Coffee.

What is your favorite season?

Jeane: When Union agents hibernate and don’t bother me. Heheh. Okay, I don’t know if they hibernate. They might. I can just imagine them sleeping their little sadistic hearts out in their little tubes, regenerating or whatever. I gotta ask Roy one day.

Roy: You won’t like the answer.

How would you define happiness?

Jeane: My ship healthy and fueled, a good job ahead of us, and everyone leaving me the hells alone.

What are you passionate about?

Jeane: Punching jerks.

How do you feel about your government?

Jeane: Eh, the lanehunter clans are fine. Never really crossed them so far, so I might have a different opinion when I inevitably do. Some of the clan heads and most people in their circles are just rich assholes, though, who never followed a proper vector out of a lane on their own and that sucks.

Maura: Oh, can I talk about my goverment? No? Maybe next time.

If you could change one thing about your galaxy, what would it be?

Jeane: The Union can go to hells. That whole thing right there is fucked up. Clones are creepy. And the way they keep taking over planets? Gertie is more intense about this but honestly, I tend to agree.

Roy: Me too.

Jeane: Seriously, everyone, out! No privacy on this ship anymore, none.

What’s your biggest secret?

Jeane: Apart from the disembodied voice in my head?

What do you hate?

Jeane: People sticking their dirty toes into my business.

What’s your biggest fear?

Jeane: That none of this means anything. That there’s nothing more. And we’re all alone and then stuff just ends, and that’s it.

What do you think your best quality is?

Jeane: I’m very good at ignoring those fears I just mentioned. A pro, actually. Proud of me.

How would you describe the world you live in?

Jeane: Chaos. Not always a good one either. But as long as I do what I gotta do, I keep my part of the chaos in control. That’s all. I’m good. I’m not even thinking about stepping out of it. Why would I?