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Caledon author publishes imagination-fuelled adventure, ‘Alice and the Blue Ghost’

April 16, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Riley Murphy, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Many may know local author Stacey Fokas from her longstanding Caledon business, Cowhide Promotional Wear Inc., which she started with a partner in a 600 sq. ft. garage at the age of 19, or from her family favourite recipe book, Freshalicious.

Now, after over a decade since the last book, she’s returned with a world-bending, fantastical new novel, “Alice and the Blue Ghost.”

Fokas was a Caledon resident for over 30 years and still runs her business there, now residing nearby in Erin, not wanting to stray far from the community she calls home.

Growing up, Fokas has always been a part of a creative world, which translates into her current work in the promotional business.

“​​’I’m a girl who is driven to learn and experience new things,” says Fokas.

But her creativity does not stop there.

“My mom nurtured me as a small child to read from a very, very early age, fairytales and listen to classical music, watch her favourite movies, cartoons and hockey with her brother, so I have her to thank for everything she taught me, right down to sewing my own dresses,” says Fokas.

Her creativity and love for learning are partly what pushed her to pursue her first book, Freshalicious, but truly, it was her daughter.

“It’s a cookbook like no other,” explains Fokas. “My daughter’s food allergies inspired me to write and share recipes and short stories about sourcing local, eating healthy, in-season and dairy-free.”

“That’s my love, it’s for creative writing, that’s my true passion.”

But as a busy mom with a full-time career, Fokas put creative writing on the back burner.

“I knew I always had a story to tell, I knew that I wanted to pursue writing , I just didn’t know where to start for years,” she explains. “The story has to come to you, you cannot just sit down and write, you have to have a purpose to write. Having an imagination for the unthinkable is both a blessing and a curse. Either way there is a great feeling that comes with expression through writing.”

Her mom was always encouraging her creativity, pushing her to write her next book.

One day, after admitting her mother to the hospital, she asked Fokas once again when she was going to write her next book, and Fokas finally answered, “I’m working on it mum.”

Her mother never got to see her finished book, but it’s now available for the world to read and enjoy.

When COVID hit, it was the perfect opportunity for Fokas to truly pursue the story that had lived in her head for all these years.

Not just a fantastical story, she says, but a story that holds meaning for all ages.

Alice and the Blue Ghost follows small-town girl Alice as she approaches her 16th birthday.

Her life takes a turn after being mysteriously attacked in the Secret Forest, leaving her with a large tattoo that signals the beginning of a dangerous quest orchestrated by the Ancients, one she must go on with her best friend, Josh, to save all of humanity.

Fokas’ mother is not the only loved one who plays a heavy influence on her fantastical writing; it was her brother, too.

After the loss of her older brother, prior to Fokas being born, she’s left with the “what if,” and with her oldest brother, both asking the same question but never speaking of it, she says.

In her book, the tragic loss of Alice’s twin brother triggers the fantastical adventure she embarks on, and for Fokas, she constantly wonders how different her own life would be if she too had her brother by her side.

“I always wondered growing up, ‘what would life be like if he had lived? How different would our family have been if my brother was here with us today?”

Another point Fokas also wants to bring across, as a lover of all things natural, is a message for young readers who are experiencing a world so different from what it was many years ago. The way we lived, how we were.

Growing up, Fokas explains, she was always told by her mum that she asked too many questions, but through her book, she hopes to encourage young readers to do the same.

“Hopefully I can open up young readers’ minds to start asking more questions about everything,  to open up the possibilities to do better, to be better, to live better. Everything is possible, anything is possible. I just feel we need more faith today, encouragement to think independently, relying less on social media,” she adds.

The main messages surrounding the book are not only about faith and hope, but also friendship, love for the earth, and family.

“Things are not always going to go the way you want them to, but you can always look beyond that and make the effort to make change for positivity,” says Fokas.

“I think one of the most important things I’ve thought about is, Alice is tasked with an unexpected  journey with her best friend, Josh. They have no choice but to go on a perilous quest and do something magnificent. Inspiring young minds to believe anything is possible.”

Not only that, but Fokas wants young readers to immerse themselves in a fantastical world that may lie right under their feet, to dream of magical places, mystical creatures and beautiful places, an escape from the day-to-day.

When her editor finished the piece, they told her readers would “enjoy immersing themselves in a vibrant, fantastical book that is also very much rooted in our interconnectedness, history, the wonders of our natural world, and urgent environmental concerns,” all pieces Fokas had hoped to bring across.

For Fokas, she hopes this book is the start of many, hopefully continuing it on into a series.

Those looking to read “Alice and the Blue Ghost” can find it locally at Booklore, Indigo Books and Music, Amazon, Archway Publishing, and Barnes & Noble.  

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