Dear readers, tonight with us is a police homicide detective, who assisted the world’s original medium and ghost hunter in unravelling a very strange case.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

Are you sure you don’t want to ask about John? He’s much more interesting than I am. Two childhoods, for example. He was originally born centuries ago, somewhere in Europe, raised by a sorcerer and left to make his own way when he was about fifteen. His second childhood is coming along much better. At least, that’s what I’m trying to do. I can’t give him a normal life but I can give him that.

Anything left over from that first childhood? No cherished mementos?

Every memory I have of him, every day, is a cherished memory. I can’t have children of my own, so John is a blessing. And a bit of a trial, I must admit. His birthright makes life…complicated, so my best days and my worst days are often the same ones. He has a complete set of grimoires from his foster father, the greatest sorcerer in the world. I can’t wait until he manages to decode those. And that sword he used as a Ghostkiller, the one that John left sticking out of the street? I have nightmares about that sword, you know. It’s gonna come back, I’m sure of it. It’s going to come back and stick itself in John’s hand and say ‘use me’, that’s what it always does. What happens after that? No idea. That’s when I wake up.

For most people parenthood is simpler.

I’m a mother, raising a son who has already changed the world once and will again. Fortunately, thanks to the circumstances that gave me that son in the first place, I have a lot of high-powered help. The head of the Wizard’s Union, for example, and the local representative for the Medium’s Guild. And Colonel Saxe on speed dial. John may not have power yet but we’ve been teaching him how to handle it when he does.

What circumstances are those?

I was the detective in charge of the investigation into the death of Francis Smith. John was a person of interest in the case, that’s how we met. He was high on whatever it is Ghostkillers got high on, at the time. Good thing, too. He might never have told me about the Revenant otherwise, and where would we be now? Nowhere good, I can tell you. That’s the case that ended in the Night of Echoes. I was there but I have no idea what happened. No one does. You can see me in some of the images, I’m the smudge walking away with a bundle of clothes.

The Revenant sounds pretty frightening. Was it the worst?

Not at all. Once I would have said it was being noticed by a demon, but less than a day later the same demon noticed John, so I’ll go with that. He handled it better than I did, but he was always like that.

Always? Right from the start? What was he like?

Older than he is now (laughs), but a lot younger than I expected. He looked like he was in his early twenties, but you could never tell with Ghostkillers. Serious, though. Very controlled. I didn’t know he was high until his Director told me, a couple of days later. He knew his stuff, too, you could tell this wasn’t his first time. He knew more than my partner, that’s for sure. Not pushy or arrogant, but he sort of…dragged you along, in his wake. Miho, sorry, Ms. Tanaka, the head of the Medium’s Guild here, she called it ‘density of soul’ and I’ve never heard any better description.

It must be interesting being friends with so many famous people.

I don’t have many friends. Unless Miho’s around, I’m not really big on warm and fuzzy. Most of the friends I have are because of John, one way or another. He dragged Miho into our case to interrogate a ghost. Ron-sorry, The Grandmaster-was originally the quartermaster where John worked, and Saxe worked there too, in security. John dragged Ron into our case too, while Saxe went in to try to drag John out of it. That didn’t work too well. My partner Matthias Kidd met his wife Mary on the case, so I guess you can say that’s John’s fault too. Everything because of him. So he saved my life too, in a way.

What do you do with that life? Any time for yourself? Romance, hobbies?

Who has the time? (laughs) Maybe later, I don’t know. I don’t have much ‘warm and fuzzy’ and right now all I have goes to John. The only man I spend much time alone with is Saxe, so that’s a no on the romance. Mostly we practice our small arms together. He and I get along much better now that the case is over. I was the detective in charge of the investigation and he was in charge of the cover-up.

Sounds like you had to work at it to be friends. As a former police detective I imagine your enemies list is a bit longer.

Not really, not anymore. There’s only one person worth the time, isn’t there? I don’t know his name, no one does, no one ever will. Bastard sorcerer. If it had been up to me I would have kicked his ass, thrown him in jail for a couple hundred years, and every year on John’s birthday I would have gone to the prison and kicked his ass again.

What does the future hold for you?

God, I wish I knew. Who were Superman’s parents, I’m sure they would have liked to know too. I’ve seen the bad that can happen, that’s why we all train so hard. There’s new stuff all the time, not as bad as that, please, God. The world we’re in now isn’t better, just different. I just hope there’s some good along the way too, if not for me then for John. He deserves it.

Marc Vun Kannon, after surviving his teenage years, entered Hofstra University. Five years later, he exited with a BA in philosophy and a wife. He still has both, but the wife is more useful. Since then he almost accumulated a PhD in philosophy and has acquired a second BA in Computer Science. After dabbling in fulfilling pursuits such as stock boy and gas station attendant, he found his spiritual home as a software support engineer, for CAMP Systems International. Marc puts his degrees in Philosophy and Computer Science to good use writing stories about strange things that happen to ordinary people. His wife and three children think it’s harmless enough, and it keeps him out of trouble. As a philosopher (his first novel demanded he write it while he was in Graduate School), his main interest is in the characters, and as a Computer geek his technique is to follow the character’s and story’s logic to ‘grow’ a story organically. His main rule when writing is to not do again what he’s already seen done before, resulting in books that are hard to describe.

You can find Celeste Hackshaw on the pages of Ghostkiller.

Join us on Friday to meet a girl who ran away from home to discover a world of strange creatures and dark magics. Please follow the site by email (bottom-right) to be notified when the next interview is posted.

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