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URL:
www.rainajames.com
ABOUT RAINA
Raised in an Air Force family, Raina
lived in such diverse places as
Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Gander,
Newfoundland, before leaving the nest
and settling down near Ottawa, Ontario.
Some skepticism about the earning value
of an English degree made Raina turn to
a career in journalism. While almost two
decades in newspapers in Canada's
capital has made her revise that
opinion, there's still no thrill quite
like getting the paper to press on a
heavy news day with an early deadline.
At home, when not riding herd on her
four children -- two girls and two boys
-- or trying to squeeze in some writing
time, Raina can most often be found
reading the work of her favorite
authors, new and old.
Raina is a great believer in happy
endings, as anyone who reads her work
will attest. After all, what's the point
of writing fiction if you can't put a
little joy in people's lives?
INTERVIEW
Q: What comment most appeared
on your report cards?
A: “Raina is a quiet child who gets
along well with others and always tries
her best at any given task. She is the
sort of child who is a joy to have in
the classroom.” (Mwuahaha – little did
they know what I’d become!)
Q: When you were a kid, what did
you most want to be when you grew up?
A: Until I was 13, I most wanted to be a
nurse, like my favorite aunt. She was
young, fun and beautiful. Then my best
friend’s mother, who was taking women’s
courses at university, said, “A nurse?
Why be stereotyped? You could be a
doctor!” Um, yeah. My grades didn’t
agree.
Q: And has it all been downhill
since then?
A: Well, you see, by the time I reached
junior high I was smokin’ in anything
having to do with reading and writing.
However, not being a huge fan of kids, I
couldn’t see myself having the patience
to teach. (Oh, to go back and kick
myself in the butt!) And so, I wondered,
what else could I do as a
paycheck-earning profession that
involved reading and writing.
Journalism! Of course! It’s amusing – at
least, I’m sure I’ll laugh someday – how
simple it all seems when you’re 17.
Q: If you had to start a different
career now, what would you like to try?
A: Astronaut. All the way. I am all
about la rêve d’etoiles (“the dream of
stars,” from one of the Star Trek
novels, although it is very possible the
reference comes from loftier
beginnings). Of course, I’d have to
regress about 20 years and get a couple
of doctorates, not to mention lose that
nasty habit I have of puking on the
merry-go-round at the fair. Can you
imagine me on the fabled Vomit Comet?
I’d critically dehydrate in 10
nanoseconds!
Q: What was on your bedroom walls when
you were a kid?
A: I’m a bit embarrassed to say posters
ripped out of Tiger Beat, 16 Magazine,
that kind of thing. They were mostly C.
Thomas Howell (The Outsiders, Secret
Admirer, Grandview U.S.A., Red Dawn) and
Ralph Macchio (The Outsiders, Karate
Kid, My Cousin Vinny), mainly because he
had the same birthday as me, but a
different year. I mean, I’m talking
wallpapered.
Q: What were your favorite books to read
when you were a youngster?
A: Basil of Baker Street, written by Eve
Titus and illustrated by Paul Galdone.
It’s a series about a mouse detective
and his doctor friend who live in a
mouse community, Holmestead, in the
basement of Sherlock Holmes’ house. From
there, I went to the usual dog (White
Fang, Call of the Wild) and pony (The
Black Stallion) books that appeal to
pre-teen girls before finally graduating
to the Sweet Dreams series of romances
aimed at teens.
Q: What was your first tattoo?
What was the story surrounding getting
it?
A: Uh, can I say the first tattoo I’d
like to have? I’d want it to be a very
cool dragon, maybe on my shoulder blade,
and be inked in purples, greens and
sapphire blue. Not a Chinese-style
dragon, something along the lines of
Anne McCaffrey’s dragons from Pern, or
Naomi Novik’s Temeraire.
Q: If you were to live inside one
novel for a year, which would you choose
and why?
A: That is tough, because I’d have to
pick just one. Okay, I’ll say Harry
Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. I
love the idea that we live in a world of
magic, we just have to know where to
look for it.
Q: If you could be one fictional
character for a day, who would it be and
why?
A: Easy – Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie
Plum. I’d get to eat junk all day, live
in my own apartment with wacky
neighbours, mooch off my parents and yuk
it up with Lula and Sally Sweet. Plus,
I’d have two gorgeous bad boys – Morelli
and Ranger – vying for my affections and
willing to do naughty things to my
person to win them. *sigh* If only ...
Q: If you could go to dinner with
any three people, living or dead, who
would you choose, and why?
A: Denzel Washington, Shakespeare and
Pope John Paul II. Denzel because I
think he is a brilliant actor who seems
to have escaped the coils of Hollywood
to have whatever passes for a “normal”
family life away from his job.
Shakespeare because, well, he’s
Shakespeare. He has shaped so much of
our modern idioms and the way we see the
theatre, not to mention the world around
us, that nothing would be the same if he
had never existed. What was this
incredibly prolific artist really like?
And lastly, John Paul. I’m not Catholic,
but I would be very interested in
meeting someone who was arguably one of
the most powerful leaders, period, in
the world (that holds true for any
Pope). Plus, John Paul just seemed so
serene and unflappable, unshakable in
his faith and his simple caring.
Q: If you could have 100 pounds of
anything, what would you choose?
A: Earl Grey tea – I think 100 pounds
might just last me a year. Okay, that’s
just silly. Two years.
Q: What makes you squirm?
A: Snakes and spiders. It’s predictable,
I know, but true. I never used to mind
them. Then one day I was sitting on the
couch reading and a spider crawled by on
the wall near my head. I gave a girly
scream and jumped up. Same thing with
snakes. I can look at them behind glass,
but if a keeper brings it out or my
children excitedly bring a three-inch
garter snake into the house to show me
... Eeksville. I’m pretty good at
pretending I don’t care – I don’t want
to give my kids a complex or something –
but inside I’m running away very, very
fast.
Q: What do you wish you had more time to
do?
A: Cook dinner. It’s not that I enjoy
cooking so much, but I wish I had the
kind of job and time that would let me
make my children a fabulous meal
incorporating all the major food groups
in a healthy, yet delicious, way every
night. Unfortunately, we do way too many
pre-packaged and quick-and-easy meals,
and usually my eldest daughter has to
make them because I work nights at a
newspaper. I always feel guilty that I’m
not supermom, who can work outside the
home, develop my writing career and make
my little darlings fresh cookies and
roast chicken whenever they want.
Q: And lastly, what have you never
done that you’d like to try?
A: Take sword-fighting lessons. Not
fencing. I’m talking broadswords. And
while I’m at it, I’d like to go to
Renaissance fairs and wear cool costumes
and commission someone to make me
beautiful weapons and jewelry.
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