Character Interview: Jaroslav Chevak from Piteraq Dusk

I thought I would do something different for my fiction blog. Whenever I have some books coming out or with ones I’ve already written, I thought it would be cool to interview my own characters. Here’s some inspiration I got from my friend and fellow writer Jeannette Jonic when she made posts about characters from her upcoming book series called The Victor’s Blade.

For my first character interview on my blog, I will be chatting with the lead protagonist of my upcoming novelette Piteraq Dusk.

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I have a guest from an alternate future where the temperature of earth has cooled down quite a bit. One could argue that this environment would qualify as arctic punk (patent pending). Alright, give it up for Jaroslav Chevak! How’s it going, man?

Jaroslav Chevak: It’s going alright. I haven’t been in a place this warm since ever.

CMBB: I don’t blame you for thinking that. Tell us about yourself.

JC: Well, I’m a courier at this tiny delivery company. I deliver a ton of packages with Yukihime across a bunch of places in this frozen world. I’m from the Northern part of what you guys call Canada if you’re curious about how geography works in my world. I typically have a scanner, but I have a knife, gun, and flares because you always have to be prepared here.

CMBB: Gotcha. Delivering packages is no small task where you’re from. Why did you choose this job?

JC: I didn’t have much of a choice. My town has a high unemployment rate and it was one of those places that had stable jobs. I wish the benefits could be better, but I’m thankful to have some income.

CMBB: Sure thing. I can relate to that. You mentioned someone named Yukihime. Who’s she?

JC: So you recognized that it’s a female name. Very nice. She’s not a person, she’s my snow skiff. Yukihime is a small, yet powerful hovercraft that’s light blue that fades into white. She has a built-in AI and talks to people. For those of you that don’t know, Yukihime literally means Snow Princess in Japanese. No, it has nothing to do with that one princess who eats poison apples. [Laughs]

CMBB: Nice. I see what you did there. What’s your last delivery?

JC: Before I could continue my little quest, I had to deliver this one package that’s quite a ways to go where I’m from. It was a high priority parcel for reasons that I don’t know. The route I have to take involves this one way stretch of ice that was used in this one war against the different First Nations tribes. I wasn’t a part of it since I wasn’t born yet, but I know there were a ton of robots and mines used, so I’m a little nervous once I have to go through this road.

CMBB: Robots, you say?

JC: Oh yeah. I’m talking white camo robots with built in guns and lasers. They don’t mess around from what I heard in history class when I was in high school.

CMBB: Sounds like the arctic version of the Terminator if you ask me. Changing topics, I noticed that you mentioned First Nations or Native people from Canada for those unfamiliar with that culture. I assume there’s a high population of them where you’re from?

JC: Of course. I fit in a little bit since I’m half-Aleutian. They are originally from what you call Alaska and Russia, but no one has a problem with that in my town. If you’re curious what my other half is, it’s Slovakian which partially explains my first name being something out of the Eastern bloc. Then again, I’ve heard some people mispronounce my name as Jar-oh-slav when they don’t realize that the J is pronounced like a Y.

CMBB: Hey, that’s pretty cool. You looked like you were First Nations or Native American to me, no offense. So how was the journey so far in your big delivery mission?

JC: None taken, C. M. B. It’s been long and hectic. One time, we had to help save a village from some local robbers which was crazy, yet I expected it with some of these isolated incidents.

CMBB: Sounds crazy. Any final thoughts for anyone.?

JC: Take what you can and be thankful where you’re at. You don’t know when it will be taken away from you.

CMBB: Alright. Make sure to check out Jaroslav’s adventure in the novelette Piteraq Dusk on May 18th. Have a good day everyone.

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