Pssst! This is Pete Riley. I’ve gotten rid of C. Lee McKenzie for the day–not easy, I can tell you. She’s almost as hard to ditch as my Aunt Lizzie. Anyway, the reason I wanted to be here today is that I invited two friends over. I just met them in a story called The Deliverers. They’re both into a lot of exciting adventures–my kind of characters.

Eric’s kind of like me. He gets into some messes, but he gets out of them, too. And Stig’s a very important character in the book. The best part about him is he’s an owl and he talks. Yep. A lot.

Here’s what these two have to say about stuff.

Hey, Eric! Great to meet you. Don’t tell anyone, but I could use another friend–one who’s not scared of doing stuff. Weasel, well, he’s okay, but he doesn’t always go along with my plans for having “fun!” You had a major adventure. Wow! Pirates and Dwarves and Bolliwogs. Which ones scared you the most?

Eric:  Hey, Pete! It’s great to meet you, too. I’d love to be your friend, and I’m sure Stig would, too. I can always use another friend; I don’t have too many, either. You might think I’m not scared of doing stuff, but the truth is, the whole Assignment that I went on with Stig was pretty scary. I mean there was a lot of cool stuff, but I was pretty much nervous and worried the whole time. I just tried not to think about all that. We had a job to do and I just tried to do it the best I could, and hope that I didn’t mess things up too bad.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not trying to save villages and stuff like that?

Eric:  Nothing too exciting. I like to read a lot. I also like to go camping and spend time outdoors. After my dad died, I got pretty lonely. We used to spend a lot of time together. That was one of the best things about going on the Assignment, becoming friends with Stig, Kate, Hallo and the Gatekeeper. My mom got my uncle to let me play on my cousins’ hockey team. They’re really good. I really stink, but it’s kind of fun. I think I’ll stick with it and see what happens.

I got real excited when you were tramping through that dead forest. What was it like? What did you think about when you were all alone?

Eric:  Oh man, it was real creepy. There was no sound, everything was dead. It felt like the branches of the dead trees were closing in on us. We were in there a few days. After a while I started to almost get used to the place, until we saw the eyes.

What was I thinking about? Lots of stuff, most of it not good. I was worried about the pirates attacking Calendria and feeling a little bad that my plan didn’t work. I was worried about getting through the dead forest and what we were gonna find beyond it, if we got beyond it. You can probably tell that I worried about stuff a lot. I’ve kind of gotten over that since, thanks to the other Deliverers.

I see you’ve got Stig here with you. Hi, Stig. You should meet my alligator friend, Fanon. He talks, too, so I’ll bet you’d hit it off. What’s your take on being able to talk?  What’s it like working with humans? Fanon kind of likes hanging with me, but he doesn’t like a lot of people. They kind of scare him.

Stig:  Why hello there, my boy. It is a pleasure to meet you. This Fanon sounds like a splendid chap. You know, most people would not believe it, but alligators are quite extraordinary animals—very intelligent and resourceful. They make very good friends and will stick with you through thick and thin. Their appearance can be a trifle off-putting to be sure, but they can be very wise.

As for being able to talk, I never really gave it too much thought. You see where I come from, all owls can talk. My world is ruled by owls and there are very few people. They are not quite as advanced as the humans I’ve met on my travels—a bit neanderthalish to be quite candid.

I find that, on the whole, working with humans has been a unique and rewarding experience. Eric, Kate and Hallo have been excellent friends and companions and I’m quite looking forward to working with them in the future. I can understand Fanon’s reaction to people. I have really been quite lucky to fall in with the proper sort. Unfortunately, there are some who try to take advantage of us. I gather from what Eric says that on his world, people are becoming so numerous that they’re encroaching on the natural habitats of animals, leaving them no place to turn.

If either of you had three wishes, what would you wish for?

Eric:  Hmmm, that’s a great question. I guess the first thing would be to have my dad back alive. My second wish would be to be able to visit Stig, Kate and Hallo any time I wanted, instead of just when we’re on an Assignment. The third would be that my mom chills out and stops worrying about me so much. She thinks I need a father in my life, which is why she’s making me hang out with my uncle and my cousins. They’re okay, but they make me try new things, which can be scary.

Stig:  Well, let me see. I do not do much wishing as a rule. I believe it is up to each of us to make our dreams come true. Still, wishes would come in handy, especially on an Assignment. I think my first wish would be the same as one of Eric’s—to be able to visit or at least communicate with Eric, Kate and Hallo between worlds whenever the mood strikes. I would also wish that groups on all worlds could settle their differences peacefully, without the need for outside intervention. Lastly, and this is purely selfish, I would love to have a pair of hands to go along with my wings. They seemed to be terribly useful things. I can grab things with my talons of course, but it’s really not the same. Still, I suppose that would look rather silly, so perhaps I should just hold the third wish in reserve in case of emergency.

I’m trying to cook up some more excitement around my town–boring, boring, boring! Are you up for another adventure. Say something in a swamp? How about you, Stig?

Eric:  That would be cool, but also kind of creepy. I heard about your last adventure in the Ornofree swamp. You and Weasel sure were brave—Fanon, too. I’d love to check out a swamp, especially one full of witches and talking alligators! Yeah, definitely.

Stig:  I would welcome the opportunity as well. Perhaps we could enlist you, Fanon and young master Wilbur to join the Deliverers on an Assignment. I’m afraid there are any number of worlds in need of some help.

Stig, you owls live a long time, so maybe you haven’t thought about a “bucket list” yet, but if you have, what three things would be at the top of that list?

Stig:  Well now, let me see. I have had the privilege having the opportunity to visit over a dozen different worlds, so travel would not be on the list. I would dearly love to converse with a dragon. Besides owls, it is said that dragons are the wisest of creatures. I’d like to find out if that is true. Perhaps I’ll get a chance in an upcoming Assignment. I would also love to travel back in time. The thought of being able to see what things were like in the past has always fascinated me. Third on the list would be to spend some quality time with the Gatekeeper and find out what he does when he isn’t sending people on Assignments.

Great to meet you guys.

Eric:  You, too. It was really awesome. I can’t wait to hang out with you and Weasel. Maybe we could camp out in the swamp.

Stig: The pleasure was all mine, I can assure you. I’ll tell the gatekeeper to keep you in mind should a suitable Assignment present itself.

Pete: Wow! That sounds like fun. Hope to hear from you soon! Thanks for stopping by and, uh oh. Gotta go. Lee’s coming up the stairs.

Be sure to visit Eric and Stig as well as the author HERE.

And check out this one, too. The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel on AMAZON.

Lee in charge again, finally. There seems to be a lot of stuff on this blog today. I didn’t know about this interview, but it doesn’t seem like Pete’s done any damage, so I’ll let it stay. Today as my celbration of small things, I’m celebrating an Award. This time it’s the Liebster Award. Thanks to Jen Million. Sending hugs. It has taken me a long time to post about this award, but finally . . . here ’tis!

VikLit

The Liebster Rules:
1. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers by bloggers.
2. Each blogger should post 11 5 facts about himself / herself.
3. Each blogger should answer the 11 5 questions that are asked by the nominating blogger.
4. Choose 5 new bloggers to nominate for the Award and link to them in the post.
5. Create 11 5 new questions for your nominees.
6. Go back to their pages and tell them they’ve been nominated.
7. No tag backs.