Leon Stevens's Blog, page 17

Songs for a Sunday: Mixed (dirt)Bag

Sometimes when I’m looking for an artist to feature I come across a few gems that I’ve never heard before, some that make me say “Oh, that’s who sings that,” or others I have forgotten about.

This morning I started with Emily Millard, a Canadian singer-songwriter.

I thought she also sang a song called, You Don’t Love Me Anymore, which brought me to this song by Cat Burns:

Another that song that came up was by Jessia (more on her later).

Now I was familiar with the name Cat Burns a British-Liberian singer-songwriter but couldn’t name a song she did. This was the first one that came up in the search:

Then I saw this one and knew the title, but also knew it wasn’t her song:

Yeah, that’s a cover of the Wheatus song (I had to look that up).

Back to Jessika Harling, better known by her stage name Jessia, a Canadian pop singer from Ucluelet, British Columbia. I hadn’t heard this one before:

I did recognize this one from 2021:

I better go before I add too many songs…

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

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Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Weekend Wrap-up April 12: Seasons

For day 12 of National Poetry Month I thought to celebrate spring, I’d share my poem about the seasons.

Cycle

The first snow covers up the grime
The dirt fights through a bit at a time
A battle of earth and sky
Who will win and who will die?
Spring washes the battleground
Rain washes the warrior found
Summer pushes up the green
Blanketing evidential sights unseen
Fall sheds the season’s growth
Leaving skeletons, nature’s ghosts

The seasons are like a menu.

Spring is the appetizer of the year. Something to to look forward to before we make out way through the course of the year. Summer is the entrée, with fall as the dessert.

I like winter but I definitely don’t look forward to it, so where does it fall on the menu? I guess it would be the crappy mints that come with the bill.

-Leon

In case you missed my blog:Weekend Wrap-up April 12: SeasonsFree Book Friday April 11: Poetry, Conversations, and Sci-fi…Oh, my!Thursday Thoughts: Rejection LettersWeird Wednesday: Another Reality ShowTuesday Top 10: New Shows

Hope you enjoyed the recap! Feel free to share it with others.

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup

Free Book Friday April 11: Poetry, Conversations, and Sci-fi…Oh, my!

That poem has been kicking around in my head for a while.

-Leon

Here are a few new poets for you to check out:

Missing the conversations? Head over to my Indie April Sci-fi page to read 5 new interviews from 5 indie authors!

Book news: I lowered the price of my trilogy by $2.00/paperback from $8.99 to $6.99. Why? To align with the market rate for comparable book lengths.

Euphrates Vanished will be $0.99 for the month of April to celebrate the release of the prequel, A Matter of Sabotage.

Buy Euphrates Vanished (Kindle/KU) $0.99A Matter of Sabotage (Kindle)

Don’t feel like buying the book?

Sign up to review Euphrates VanishedSign to review A Matter of Sabotage

Sci-fi not your thing?

Try my two poetry collections: Lines by Leon and A Wonder of Words

The story behind Free Book Friday:

I’ve met many authors and readers during my time marketing, cross-promoting, and blogging. I think writers have a responsibility to inform readers about all the indie authors out there in the very crowded world of book publishing. You can’t do it alone, and why would you when you have a supportive group available?

Readers don’t just read one author – they stick with their favorite genres. Therein lies the power in cross-promotion. If one of my readers buys a book from an author I promote, then chances are there will be a reciprocal effect, or so is the hope. Do I want to boost sales? Of course I do. Do I want to boost other’s sales? Why not. It’s called karma.

Some free book offers require a newsletter sign-up, which is a small non-monetary price to pay to try out a new indie author.

Free books!

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup

Thursday Thoughts: Rejection Letters

I suspect that if I did submit my poetry book to a publishing house, that would be the letter I would receive. But there are some famous rejection letters no one has ever seen before. Like this one:

Dear Nostradamus,

Thank you for your submission of prophecies, but considering you could not predict our rejection of your manuscript, although we do agree that the quality of penmanship was exemplary (especially the big letters at the beginning of each chapter), we will have to decline.

Best of luck in your future endeavors.

If you are a writer or avid reader, you may be familiar with the book, A Pickle for the Knowing Ones, by the 19th century American, Timothy Dexter. Not because it’s brilliant and well-written, but due to the fact its was riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, random capitalizations, along with the lack of punctuation.

His rejection letter might read as this:

Dear Mr. Dexter,

WTF!? We read your manuscript, well we tried to, and honestly we have no words to describe the frustration we felt as we perused the pages.

You might want to hire a qualified editor (we have conveniently added a list of suggested editors at the end of this letter) before submitting again.

It was published in 1802, with subsequent editions containing the following addition by Dexter:

Translation: Here’s the punctuation you requested. Put it where you want.

Want to read it? Project Gutenberg: A Pickle for the Knowing Ones

Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup

Weird Wednesday: Another Reality Show

Doesn’t really look out of place does it?

Something else is weird. Is it just me or do Melania, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Kristi Noem all have a similar look?

Just sayin’…

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup

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Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup

Tuesday Top 10: New Shows

I’ve been watching a lot of news lately, but I’m really craving a break from it, so fortunately there is a new slate of shows coming out to take our mind off the madness.

Top Ten New Shows

10. Wipeout: Contestants watch their 401Ks disappear while listening to billionaires without 401Ks saying it’s a blip.
9. Big Brother: Republicans try not to upset their leader while secretly admonishing him behind his back.
8. The Amazing Race: Green card and visa holders try to avoid deportation.
7. 90 Day Fiancé: Can you make it? How about 100? Only 1360 to go…
6. House Hunters International: Watch American citizens scroll through Zillow looking for anywhere else but there.
5. Wordle: How many fake names of economic experts can you make from the letters in Peter Navarro?
4. Survivor: Head to the Heard and McDonald islands and enjoy only a 10% tariff.
3. The Price is Right: Contestants try to guess the prices of everyday necessities.
2. Let’s Make a Deal: Watch as diplomats pour over trade agreements that were agreed upon in good faith.
1. The White Potus: An unqualified, ego-driven, power-hungry, attention seeking, dictator wannabe who sets out on a quest to destroy the kingdom he claimed he created by waving his hands and chanting, “You voted for me, suckers.”

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup

National Poetry Month: Day 7

I am currently doing double duty on pet sitting, living with two dogs that are not mine and checking on a neighbour’s cats.

When I had cats myself, I would often leave a scrawled note to whoever was looking after them, apparently from the cat. In one note, I remember writing: Dear person, I, the black and white cat can only eat steak and the fat orange cat will only eat onions.

Which gave me the idea for this poem I penned in 2023:

Want more poetry?

For Canadian poetry fans!

Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures

Signed paperback, art print, and bookmark direct from authorCND Orders (free shipping)

CA$20.00

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Monday Muse: Breaking Records

Somebody will do it eventually.

895 goals. Alexander Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s goal scoring record which had stood for 30 years.

What’s next?  Ovechkin now has 895 goals and 724 assists for 1,619 points, while Gretzky has 894 goals and 1,963 assists for 2,857 points. Each have played 20 seasons, so Ovechkin will most likely add to the totals but I doubt he can accumulate the 1239 assists needed to break that record and the points record.

I think the assist totals that Gretzky has shows just how good he was as a player, being able to feed the puck to the right person at the right time.

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup

Songs for a Sunday: Guess the Theme

Some of the artists were new to me as I was selecting the songs for today’s theme.

And I see you already guessed correctly…

-Leon

Book two of the Orion Arm Alliance, A Matter of Sabotage, will be out in spring 2025, so time to get reading book one!

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup

Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Weekend Wrap-up April 4: Keeping things light.

Day 5 of National Poetry Month.

A lot of my poems do have a humorous edge to them, for no reason other than I enjoy injecting humor into my writing.

One of my most popular posts is about my funny poems, but I suspect much of the traffic are from bots, which I don’t particularly understand, but I suppose they need a good chuckle too, so I put a password on it to see what happens.

Funny Friday: Humorous Poems

-Leon

In case you missed my blog:Weekend Wrap-up April 4: Keeping things light.Free Book Friday: Poetry, Conversations, and Sci-fi…Oh, my!National Poetry Month: Day 3Thursday Thoughts: Have you ever heard of the Heard and MacDonald Islands?Weird Wednesday: Weird Poems

Book two of the Orion Arm Alliance series is out in April, so time to read books one! http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Hope you enjoyed the recap! Feel free to share it with others.

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!

books.linesbyleon.com/Newslettersignup