The X-tails characters finally have an X-mas story to play around in.
After seven books where the lovable and athletic buddies dirt-biked over the badlands, surfed the breakers of Shark Bay, carved gnarly turns on the slopes at Spider Ridge, and many other exotic fictional locations, they get to rev their engines for a Christmas adventure.
The X-Tails are six recurring friends who live out vivid messages of action, fitness and good behaviour between the pages of the L.A. (Larry) Fielding stories written in his family's log house north of Prince George near waves of Ruby Lake.
The gang includes Flight the gorilla, Mischief the wolf, Dazzle the bear, Crash the hippo, Charm the kangaroo, Wisdom the lion and they travel around in their offroad-equipped X-van. They meet new friends and pile pell-mell into sporty challenges.
In the latest book, Fielding presents the pals with a seasonal problem to solve. The X-Tails In A Merry Monster Trucking Christmas is a sparkly, gift-wrapped tale of bailing Santa out of a breakdown on his ever-special route. None of the X-Tails friends are sleigh mechanics, but they know how cool big, knobby tires and jacked up suspensions handle the snow. When reindeer won't do, unleash the horsepower.
"This one is a little bit different," said Fielding. "I've wanted to do a Christmas story for a long time. I always knew one day I would. As a family, we love Christmas, and I still write with my family in my focus. What will the kids respond to? What will they enjoy? There is something magical and special about that time of year, about the Christmas season, so this was a lot of fun for me to develop."
The X-Tails series was started by Fielding's desire to read something original and personal for his own children. Dylann is now in Grade 1 and Colton is in Grade 4, so they are still a prime audience for these stories. Fielding laughed that they are sometimes resistant to the changes he has to make to edit the early ideas into a cohesive story.
The books are also a prime concern of Fielding's wife Corrie. She is a driving force on the marketing of the ever-expanding X-Tails universe (their website is thick in X-Tail paraphernalia). She is also a major coconspirator in the many family adventures the Fieldings regularly go on - most often at the ski hill - to feed their own outdoor appetites. Those everyday escapades feed Fielding's writing process.
"We love Powder King, that's our favourite mountain to go to. We snowboard as a family," Fielding said. "We also ride BMX a fair bit, we skateboard as a family, and the kids have their sports like baseball and soccer."
"I consider the books modern children's stories with traditional values," said Corrie. "We are an active family and the books are so great at reflecting that. There's a lot of truth in the writing. We want to encourage physical activities, we want kids and families to be outside together, engaging in the outdoors, and doing that leads to role-modelling for other kids. These stories are so good at communicating all that."
Fielding frequently does readings of the X-Tails stories at schools, and young readers often send him fan mail. Other than his own kids' reactions, that is where his greatest affirmations can be found.
"When I get told that my stories got a reluctant reader interested in books, that's just the best feeling," he said. "I've gotten a lot of support specifically from Prince George. P.G. has been so generous giving the books a chance, so friendly about giving me feedback, it gives me such confidence to keep going on."
Fielding has experimented with other children's stories outside the X-Tails universe, and noodled on a chapter book or two. He keeps mulling over new tales for his X-Tails, though, so he sees no end point for what is becoming his own family franchise.
If he ever lets his mind wander, his kids draw him back. They are the biggest X-Tails fans of all. Dylann is keen to see the X-Tails illustrations stripped to black and white and adapted into colouring pages. (The artwork is done by Mexico-based painter Victor Guiza, whom Fielding considers a brilliant and invaluable contributor to each book.)
Colton wants to see a video game based on the X-Tails adventures.
The Fieldings are already branching into philanthropy with the books. All sales of the title The X-Tails Ski At Spider Ridge trigger 50 per cent of the proceeds to buy sports equipment for the mobility-challenged. In January they were able to purchase a pair of sports wheelchairs for School District 57.
The website has headings to click that lead to not-for-profit fundraising and charitable contribution opportunities. It's also a chief platform for purchasing the books if a participating vendor isn't close by.
Fielding will be in person and on-site at the upcoming Studio Fair arts extravaganza at the Civic Centre from Nov. 3-5, and also at the UNBC Artisans of the North Fair at the university from Oct. 28-29.
