Leon Stevens's Blog, page 19
March 27, 2025
Thursday Thoughts…
I’m not going to talk about American politics.
I’m not going to talk about American politics.
I’m not going to talk about American politics.
But they make it to easy (he says to himself with a sigh…
How about Canadian politics? No?
How about this: When is a box set not a box set?
When there is no box, obviously…
I finally was able to generate a graphic of my sci-fi trilogy as a set. You can buy all 3 paperbacks at the same time on Amazon, but they might show up in separate packages.
I priced my paperback so I receive the same royalty as the Ebook, but I have been reconsidering that strategy, because… well, I think it might be too much. No, let me rephrase, I know it’s too much, so Let’s remedy that shall we?
[sounds of clicking on keyboard]
Done. One of the advantages of publishing on Amazon it that you have the ability to set prices and they usually are updated within 24 hours. Now each book is $6.99, so the entire trilogy is $20.97. And my royalty? $3.50.
Yeah, that’s not great, but one of the advantages of physical books is that they do look good on shelves.
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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March 25, 2025
Tuesday Top Accidental Texts
The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, was involved in a non-alcohol fueled event earlier this month when a reporter was accidentally added to a text group chat that was discussing an upcoming attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
But, we’ve all done that, right? Not top secret stuff, but sending texts to the wrong person it has happened from time to time throughout history. Here are some notables.
Top Accidental Texts
44 BC:
1855:
1945:
2025:
-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!
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March 24, 2025
Monday Muse: Selling Out
One advantage of living in Canada is that if the government does enough stuff that displeases the other parties, there can be a motion to have an election to change in the ruling party. This has happened seven times in Canadian history and would have been eight had the new Prime Minister not called an election yesterday.
Did he have to? No. The next federal election was scheduled for October (there’s one every four years, does that sound familiar?), but since Mark Carney wasn’t elected since he became leader because Justin Trudeau resigned, and the Liberal party has less seats than all other parties combined, there would have been a motion of non-confidence and an election would have been triggered anyway.
What does all this have to do with the US President wanting to get cooperate sponsorship for the annual White House Easter Egg roll? Just another ridiculous stunt that should have Americans wishing they could trigger another election.
From hawking Teslas on the White House driveway (because the richest man in the world is hurting because of his actions), to applying tariffs to countries who have a no tariff agreement signed by the same guy, and threatening to takeover sovereign nations, it seems like one thing after another.
Now for the low, low price of $200 000, you can be a sponsor of the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. Does this raise ethical concerns?
It does leave me shaking my head and rolling my eyes.
-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!
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March 23, 2025
Song for a Sunday: No Juno? No Problem.
Canada hands out its Juno awards next Sunday in its annual celebration of Canadian music. This week I thought I’d give you a few Canadian bands that did not get nominated but have put out a good tune or two.
Half Moon Run is a Canadian indie rock band based in Montreal, Quebec.
Babygirl The Toronto duo–comprised of Kiki Frances and Cameron Bright.
Kinley Dowling, who got her start in the east coast band Hey Rosetta! (A Band from the Rock) and had put out two solo albums since the band went on hiatus in 2017
Pierre Kwenders is the stage name of José Louis Modabi, a Congolese-Canadian musician. His 2014 album Le Dernier empereur bantou was a shortlisted nominee for the Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2015, and a longlisted nominee for the 2015 Polaris Music Prize.
I was going to to a write up for dwi, but another blogger beat me to it.
dwi – Album Review: “Zoo Life”
-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!
March 22, 2025
Weekend Wrap-up March 22: Borderline Paranoia
The Library and Opera House in Haskell Vermont was built on the Canada/US border as a symbol of friendship with neighbouring Stanstead, Quebec.
Residents of Stanstead could walk down the sidewalk and enter the building through the main door located in Vermont with no border checks. Once inside, you can cross back into Canada to browse the stacks then back to the US to check out your books before going outside and back to Canada.
Now, the US government is requiring Canadians to travel half a kilometer to the border crossing.
So, what once was a symbol of friendship and cooperation is now…well, not.
And the Haskell Library is not the only border oddity. The International Peace Gardens straddles the Manitoba and North Dakota border:
One of the boosting points of the Canada/US border had always been that it is the world’s longest undefended border. But someone changed all that.
Want more?
Weird Wednesday: Rewriting the Maps
-Leon
In case you missed my blog:Weekend Wrap-up March 22: Borderline ParanoiaFree Book Friday: March 21Thursday Thoughts: Equinox (Latin 101)Weird Wednesday: 1 in 9.2 QuintillionTuesday Top Ten: Places in Canada
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
March 21, 2025
Free Book Friday: March 21
Book news: I formatted my book, A Matter of Sabotage, for Kindle today. Now I just have to upload it to Amazon and it’s ready for release on March 31st.
-Leon
Check out this week’s book promos below.
Buy Euphrates Vanished (Kindle/KU)Preorder A Matter of Sabotage (Kindle)Don’t feel like buying the book?
Sign up to review Euphrates VanishedSign up for an Advance Review Copy of A Matter of SabotageSci-fi not your thing?
Try my two poetry collections: Lines by Leon and A Wonder of Words
Deals and Reads From StoryOriginFree books to review!
Starts Feb. 27The 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.
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
March 20, 2025
Thursday Thoughts: Equinox (Latin 101)
How much Latin do you know? Probably more than you think.
I was looking at the work equinox and thinking ‘equi’ is kinda like equal and I was pretty sure ‘nox’ was night and since today has an equal amount of night and day…
We use words such as malfunction without realizing that ‘mal’ is Latin for ‘bad’ and ‘functio’ means performance.
Aquarium? Most people would know ‘aqua’ means water, but ‘rium’? Aruim means “a place for” so aquarium is literally a place for water.
Speaking of water, what about a word you might use every day like crustacean? Well, we all know that the Latin for ‘belonging to’ is acea, right? And ‘crusta’? Yeah, that means ‘shell’.
What does this all have to do with the vernal equinox? Not much, but you have probably figured out you have just learned a new Latin word, vernal. The sad thing is that you only use it once per year.
Wait! Per? That’s Latin for ‘each’!
Let’s end with a composer I featured before, Max Richter, with his arrangement (or recomposition as he says) of Vivaldi’s Spring, 1st Movement.
Want more Max?
Songs for a Sunday: Max Richter
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
March 19, 2025
Weird Wednesday: 1 in 9.2 Quintillion
March Madness. No not the continuing turmoil in the White House. It’s the annual college (that’s American for ‘university’) basketball tournament. The odds of picking all the winners right to the final is 1 in 9.2 quintillion.
I don’t bet. I don’t even watch basketball. But I do know that basketball was invented by Canadian James Naismith in 1891, at Springfield College, in Springfield, Massachusetts. So, naturally, the US claims it is the only true American sport (no mention of lacrosse…)
Where is the oldest existing basketball court, you ask?
When the new owners of a building in St. Stephen, New Brunswick (which was once a YMCA) pulled up the lovely carpet in an upstairs storage room, they discovered a hardwood floor. After some research they determined that the YMCA director was a former student of Naismith and would have played the first games of the new sport.
The first mention of a game here was in 1893.
So, there you go. Apparently the US doesn’t need anything from Canada. Now if you don’t mind, I should fill out my bracket and plop a hun down with my bookie because, in the immortal words of Lloyd Christmas:
-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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Processing… Success! You're on the list. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.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
March 18, 2025
Tuesday Top Ten: Places in Canada
Canadians spent $20.4 billion dollars in the US last year, directly related to tourism. That doesn’t include quick trips across the border to pick up cheaper goods like groceries (not eggs, those are getting smuggled, apparently).
Air carrier Sunwing cancelled all US flights due to cancellations and declining bookings. Other airlines are reporting a 20% decrease in travel to the US. Ground crossings are down 23% from this time last year. I’m assuming that people in other countries hit by the US tariffs will reconsider travel plans.
Many Canadians are deciding to travel within the country and foreign tourist visits are expected to rise. So, here are a few ideas:
Top Ten Better Places to Visit Other than the US.
Newfoundland and Labrador: Visit George Street in downtown St. John’s which boosts the highest concentration of bars, nightclubs, and pubs in a two block stretch.Prince Edward Island: Don’t want to go to the Anne of Green Gables house? Visit the 8 km long Cavendish beach. Then go to the Anne of Green Gables house because you have to. It’s the law. Nova Scotia: Drive the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island. Don’t forget to brush up on your remedial Gaelic. New Brunswick: Some of the highest tides in the world are in the Bay of Fundy. Did you forget to run the “Not Since Moses” race in Nova Scotia where competitors race across the tidal flats before the water returns? Quebec: Old Quebec City is a little bit of Europe in this UNESCO World Heritage site. Don’t speak French? Don’t worry, you’ll be reminded about that every time you ask where the bathroom is. Ontario: Ontario boosts some of the finest wineries in the world. So yeah, we’re not missing American wines.Manitoba: Visit Gimli which has the largest Islandic descendent population outside of Iceland. Saskatchewan: Kinda flat and boring. Just drive straight through to…Alberta: Visit Calgary to see the largest amount of cowboy hats in an urban area.British Columbia: There’s wine there too. Yukon: Dawson City is the home of the world’s largest gold rush. Bring a pan and try your luck. Naw, all the easy stuff is gone.Northwest Territories: Play a round of golf 24 hours a day.Nunavut: One word. Narwhals.-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
March 17, 2025
Monday Muse: It’s not easy being green.
So, with all the cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, is the green algae bloom in the Chicago river the end result?
Naw, it’s just a vegetable based powder used in celebration of St. Patrick’s day. The first time was in 1962 when an oil-based dye was used. Probably not the best choice. But is there more to the story?
In an effort to clean up Chicago’s waterways in the 1950’s, green dye was used as a tracer to discover where the pollution was originating. Not surprising, the culprit was the livestock and slaughterhouse industries. even less surprising was the level of pollution in one of the Chicago river tributaries, aptly named, Bubbly Creek (No, that’s not made up. Methane gas from entrails and animal waste dumped there in the early 1900s produced a lovely foam so thick you could walk on it. Wiki link)
So, there you go. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
-Leon
Here are some previous St. Pat’s posts:Sunday with St. Paddy
Can’t wait till tomorrow? Happy St. Urho’s Day!!!
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
