C.D. Gallant King's Blog, page 24

E - Jumbo the Elephant

You've probably heard of Jumbo the Elephant, a legendary African Bush Elephant, born in Sudan in 1861 who ended up in PT Barnun's circus in 1882 after stays in French and British Zoos. Jumbo was the headliner of Barnun's circus for only a few short years, but was so famous that our modern word "jumbo" - meaning really big - actually comes from him. But do you know how Jumbo died? There are a

Things Are Looking Up (#IWSG April 2017)

(This is my monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. For those looking for the April A-to-Z Challenge post, click here) NOTE: For some reason comments are not working on this post, and I can't figure out why. They work on the other post I made today. I had the same issue last month with IWSG, but then the comments magically started working again in the middle of the day. If you reply to

Things Are Looking Up (#IWSG April 2017)

(This is my monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. For those looking for the April A-to-Z Challenge post, click here) I had a good month! A few bits of news: 1) I officially sold my first story! Yes, I've self-published books and stories before, but this is the first time someone actually chose my work to be good enough to sell, which is a nice feeling. It will be appearing in

D - D'Arcy McGee, Irish Rebel and One of Canada's Founding Fathers

Thomas D'Arcy McGee was born in a small village in Ireland in 1825 and grew up in a household with a strong Irish identify and no love for the British. At 17 McGee moved to Boston and got along fabulously with the equally British-hating Americans. He became a journalist and writer and became a famous figure among the Irish ex-pats in New England. In 1845 at the start of the Potato Famine,

GUEST BLOG: Piper Morgan Makes a Splash by Stephanie Faris

In addition to my A-to-Z Challenge post (which you can find here), let me take a moment today to tell you about a great new book for middle readers... Stephanie Faris and Piper Morgan are at it again! Actually, more correctly Piper's MOM is at it again, because now she's working at a local pool, so that of course leads to more shenanigans for her daughter. The woman has previously worked

C - The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855

Okay, I know I wrote about this one before. But after the longer posts from yesterday and the day before, I figured I could keep it brief today. Plus, there's no way I couldn't mention this in a series on "Weird Canadian History." You can click on the link to get the full story, but here's the short version: On July 12, 1855, the Hook and Ladder Volunteer Fire Department visited a brothel in

B - The Battle of Beaumont-Hamel

So... not all of my posts are funny and weird. Didn't think they would start out on a bummer on day 2, but I promise they'll be less bleak in the future. # July 1st is Canada Day, the anniversary of the founding of the Dominion of Canada, and generally accepted as "Canada's Birthday." It is NOT the same as Canada's independence day, which is a major misconception that I'll probably get to

A - Alert, Nunavut - Santa Claus's Next-door Neighbour

Alert is the northernmost permanently-inhabited location on Earth. It is just 800km (500 miles) from the North Pole. It is so far North that temperatures only increase above freezing for two months out of the year (and not by much - average August high is just 3 degrees Celsius or 39 degrees Fahrenheit). Why do people live and work next door to Santa Claus? For both scientific and sovereignty

Test2

(This is my monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. For those looking for the April A-to-Z Challenge post, click here) NOTE: For some reason comments are not working on this post, and I can't figure out why. They work on the other post I made today. I had the same issue last month with IWSG, but then the comments magically started working again in the middle of the day. If you reply to my

Test1

(This is my monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. For those looking for the April A-to-Z Challenge post, click here) NOTE: For some reason comments are not working on this post, and I can't figure out why. They work on the other post I made today. I had the same issue last month with IWSG, but then the comments magically started working again in the middle of the day. If you reply to