I’m very happy to be entertaining Sam Sinclair once again here on the blog.  He’s popped in to tell us about his next V-Log which will be available mid July.

Hi Sam.  Welcome once again.  For those who might not know you, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi there, it’s good to be back.  Well okay, my name is Samelan Sinclair, and I’m a Freelance Law Enforcer with the Inter-Galactic Law Enforcement Agency.  I’m from Sigma Prime, and my Freelancer’s licence attaches me to the Agency headquarters there.  I’ve worked for the Agency for twenty years, and since I went freelance, I’ve travelled all over the galaxy.  I’m what you might call, a chase, catch, and deliver guy.  This means that my boss gives me a specific target to apprehend and deliver into the hands of the Agency.  I spend most of my time alone in my ship, and often don’t get back home for months at a time.  You have to be okay with your own company in this job.

You make it sound glamorous, but I know it’s not.

It’s not at all.  It’s very dangerous most of the time and I’ve come close to losing my life on a few occasions.  It’s always hard work, and sometimes just plain weird.

The next of your V-Logs comes under the weird category, doesn’t it?

Oh yeah, that job tops the weird list without a doubt.

What can you tell us about it, without giving too much away of course.

It started out like any other ordinary job.  I had to go and find this guy who had stolen an ancient artefact from the museum where he worked.  The artefact was a sword, and it had all sorts of symbols and inscriptions on the blade, which the guy was translating.  To put it in a nutshell, what the translations revealed was so totally out there, that the guy took off with the sword because he hoped to gain the reward promised by the inscriptions.  I was hot on his heels and we ended up stuck in the most amazing, weird, and totally scary place.  I almost lost my life down there, and my job too.

You almost lost your job?  How did that happen?

I umm, I can’t really explain that without giving too much away.  Sorry honey.  What I will say is that during this experience, everything I knew, trusted, and took for granted was taken away and turned inside out, then thrown back at me.  I was torn apart for a while, and had to rebuild myself.  I’m a new person now, thanks to this experience.

You mention a reward from the sword.  Can you elaborate on that?

The inscriptions talk about gaining a reward by proving yourself to be the destined bearer of the sword, and the thief takes off hoping to gain that reward.

What is the reward, and does he get it?

Well umm, you’ll have to wait to find that out.

What is this next V-Log called?

It’s called The Trials of Nahda – Sinclair V-Log PA884/R   Nahda is the planet system where this whole thing takes place, and the trials are what happen to us.

Trials?  What sort of trials?

There are four trials we have to endure, and much of what we experienced was both dangerous and weird, either one or the other, but mostly, both at the same time.  During this job, I was forced to question everything I have always believed to be true and unchanging about the universe I live in.  It was very unsettling for me to have to face the questions that presented themselves to me, and I almost lost myself.

What is the best and worst thing about doing your job Sam?

The best thing?  Well that’s easy, it’s being my own boss.  When I first joined the Agency twenty years ago, I was a Detective.  I had my own office, good pay and plenty of time off, but it did not fulfil me enough.  The petty regulations sometimes meant that we had to let some crazy walk out the door, even though we all knew he was guilty.  Now I’m my own boss and I’m not ruled by those regulations.  There is a code of conduct we have to adhere to of course, but I am more free than the deskbound guys.

As for the worst thing, that has to be the lack of friends.  I’m away from home for months at a time quite often, and I cannot hold my end up as a friend.  I would be forever letting people down by not being there, so I have to keep a little detachment.  This job can be lonely, but I’ve got used to it.  Being single with no ties has its advantages when I have a free night off, but when I look into my future as a guy alone, it’s loses its glitz somewhat.  I’ve lost people due to this job too, and to lose people you love is awful for anyone.  When it’s your job that is taking your loved one’s lives though, it’s a whole different thing.

Will there come a time when you give up the job?

I will have to give up one day.  I can’t be doing this when I’m too old to stand up straight.  Whether I will wait until I’m physically incapable before giving up or change direction before then, I don’t know.  I don’t have a plan for that at this point.  The turnover of freelancers is fairly high, and many lose their lives on the job.  I may not have to deal with this problem at all.

Oh don’t say that Sam, we would miss you.

Well thank you, that’s very nice to hear.

So this is the third of your V-Logs that you’re sharing with us.  How many more do you plan to share?

I don’t have a specific number in mind.  I guess I’ll carry on until I get bored telling my stories.  That may be long after people have got bored reading them though.

I don’t believe that for a moment.  We can all live an exciting life through you and your experiences.

People have told me that they find my experiences exciting, and that they can experience the life without the dangers.  That’s nice for me because I’m giving people a new experience, as well as just entertaining them.  When I started making my V-Logs, I just wanted to share the richness of life that exist  all across the galaxy.  Many folks don’t ever travel away from their homeworlds, they don’t meet anyone from other worlds or experience other cultures, and that is such a shame.  There are so many wonderful and interesting worlds and races of people out there, and their similarities to each other, far outweigh their differences.  People tell me that they love learning about these other worlds and peoples, in an easy and entertaining way through my V-Logs.  I’m really proud of that.

And so you should be.  Your experiences will help people be tolerant and inclusive with others, and that’s a good thing.

It would be very nice to think my stories might help people get along.  It’s so easy to hate and make war, and so hard to reach out in friendship.  Many of the races I get to meet have overcome that obstacle, but the vast majority have not.

I like the way you remind us that people are so alike, all over the galaxy.  We all have the same basic nature, and we tend not to think of that.

That’s right.  No matter what planet people come from, they eat, sleep, get drunk, fall in love, and want enough money for a decent standard of living.  Those things are universal wherever humanoids are, we’re all the same at base level.  The things we share with each other outnumber the differences many times over.  That’s one thing I hope to bring to people.

And you do Sam.  Now when will The Trials of Nahda be available?

It will be available for everyone in mid July.  That’s about a month from now.

Thank you so much for being here again.  It’s always a huge pleasure to meet you.

You’re very welcome honey.