Leon Stevens's Blog, page 25
January 26, 2025
Songs for a Sunday: Queen
There are so many songs out there that it’s easy to miss a few or even forget about them. So when I heard this next song, I didn’t realize it was a cover until the DJ announced it.
I’m not a big George Michael fan, but I don’t deny his talent. His vocals on this song sound uncannily like Freddy Mercury.
And just for comparison:
-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!
Music Monday: Queen
There are so many songs out there that it’s easy to miss a few or even forget about them. So when I heard this next song, I didn’t realize it was a cover until the DJ announced it.
I’m not a big George Michael fan, but I don’t deny his talent. His vocals on this song sound uncannily like Freddy Mercury.
And just for comparison:
-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!
January 21, 2025
Tuesday Top Ten: Executive Orders
When a new president is sworn into office, the first thing they normally do is check the seat cushions for spare change. After that, they claim their throne (the one in the bathroom) before sitting behind the desk and signing all the executive orders they promised the people that elected them.
Here are some historical highlights:
Top Ten Executive Orders
10. Martin Van Buren: Signed into law the Lamb Chop declaration which extended the acceptable length of sideburns from two inches to five.
9. James A. Garfield: Enacted the “I Hate Mondays” and the Lasagna Act.
8. Chester A. Arthur: Declared that all sitting furniture over five feet in length be called chesterfields, not couches.
7. Grover Cleveland: Signed the Muppet mandate which named the cutest Frank Oz creation after him.
6. Theodore Roosevelt: The Monocle Act permitted only two people the right to pull off the optical fashion statement, himself and Mr. Peanut
5. Herbert Hoover: The only misunderstanding that resulted in an executive order was when he said to an aide, “Do I look like I give a damn?”
4. Richard Nixon: Signed the Middle Name order forcing Matt Groening to name a Simpsons character after him.
3. Jimmy Carter: Signed the “You Can’t Make Fun of My Brother” act.
2. Ronald Reagan: The Actor Act paved the way for people like Schwarzenegger, Franken, and Bono (Sonny) to enter politics.
1. Donald J. Trump: Nope…too easy…
-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
January 20, 2025
Music Monday: Blue(s) Monday
Science facts have proven without a shadow of a doubt that the third Monday of January (in the northern hemisphere) is the saddest day of the year.
Lack of sunlight, stupid cold, and less fresh air are all mood downers for sure. Vitamin D, exercise, outdoor activity (or just getting outside) can alleviate seasonal affective disorder (SAD for short. How happy were the doctors to have that as the coincidental acronym?)
What was my introduction to the Blues? This song by John Lee Hooker in the movie, The Blues Brothers. You have to start somewhere, and Hooker isn’t a bad way to go, and neither is the movie as it is chock full o’ great tunes.
It’s hard to remember where I went next, but it might be safe to say it was hearing Stevie Ray Vaughn.
What? Not B.B. King? I probably discovered him by reading music and guitar magazines. I don’t think I had ever heard him on the radio in the early 80s in Canada.
Several other bands/artists like ZZ Top, George Thorogood, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, and Jeff Healy made me search out more blues.
Thorogood covered many blues songs, but this one but Bo Diddly song was my first intro to him.
I could go on and on, but let’s leave with Buddy Guy.
Who are your favorite blues artists?
-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!
January 19, 2025
Songs for a Sunday: Shawn Mendes
Shawn Mendes has a lot of hits. I can’t name a single one without Googling it, and even then, seeing the names of some of his hits, I still can’t hum any, but I can say he is a talented Canadian musician.
That is his latest release, but I’m sure you have heard is songs before.
-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
January 18, 2025
Weekend Wrap-up Jan. 18: Ch-ch-changes
Oops, they did it again. WordPress decided to change how my dashboard looks, and to quote from the Ren and Stimpy cartoon, “No, sir. I don’t like it.”
It’s happened before, and it was just a matter of changing it back in the Settings/options, but after various attempts, I made use of the “Happiness Engineers” (yeah whatever…) and “it” told me (I assume it was an “it”) that it was a permanent change.
Boo.
Some people can deal with change better than others. This change is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things but I still don’t like it…
Will they or won’t they (update)
I sent my newsletter this week, hoping my 550 subscribers would pony up $2.99 to buy one of my books, or sign up to review. I had high hopes. Well, hopes dashed and even though there were a few clicks on the links, there was only one presale for A Matter of Sabotage.
To quote Kevin Klein’s character, Otto, in the movie A Fish Called Wanda, “Disappointed.”
I was planning an email purge this month anyway, so I’ll be sending a lighthearted “last chance” email to any subscribers who haven’t opened at least the last 10 newsletters or have opened but haven’t clicked on anything.
Harsh? I don’t think so. I you are not going to open, why should I send? And I want my subscribers to read and enjoy my books, so if they are not buying or reviewing…
It took a few drafts to have it not sound passive aggressive. It still might be a little. There is always the chance that opens and clicks don’t get registered, so I always include my email for them to send me an email. My last purge was opened by 3 or 4, with only one unsubscribing.
I’ll let you know how that goes.
-Leon
In case you missed it:Songs for a Sunday: Shawn MendesWeekend Wrap-up Jan. 18: Ch-ch-changesFree Book Friday Jan. 17Weird Wednesday: Will They or Won’t They?Tuesday Top Ten: Fun Google SearchesBook 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
January 17, 2025
Free Book Friday Jan. 17
What do authors like more, reviews or sales? More reviews can drive sales, and with more sales comes the possibility those readers will leave a review.
According to statistical facts, 5% of readers leave reviews. That’s not counting readers that sign up specifically to review books, although from my experience, those review rates are not 100%.
Feel like reviewing a 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
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.
Reads From StoryOriginStoryOrigin allows authors to advertise their books to each other’s audience. I hope you have been able to discover a new favorite!
Free Books/KU
Ends Jan 31st
Ends Feb. 2nd
Ends Jan. 18th
Ends Jan 20thSales/Purchase links
Ends Jan. 20
Ends Jan. 27thNewsletter:Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book (poetry or science fiction): Leon’s Newsletter
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
January 15, 2025
Weird Wednesday: Will They or Won’t They?
I gave my newsletter subscribers an ultimatum. Buy my books or else. No. Not quite like that. I did ask them nicely, though.
When I released Euphrates Vanished last year I had high hopes that some of my 500+ subscribers would buy it. I gave out chapter one for free so they could make their decision. I’ve also gained over 100 new subscribers who have downloaded that first chapter.
So now, with a few months before the launch of a Matter of Sabotage, my sales and presales are dependent on this formula:
S=C1 x EF x MS
If you are a math expert, remember I am not, so don’t get all nitpicky that the formula makes no sense. It is for entertainment purposes only.
S is sales, C1 is the number of readers who have downloaded chapter one of Euphrates Vanished, EF is the percentage of those readers who have enjoyed it enough to buy book one, and MS is the percentage of readers who enjoyed the characters and the story enough to buy A Matter of Sabotage.
So how many sales do i expect? if I plug in the numbers, the most I can hope for is 16. That’s not a big number. Only 16 people have read my book. Yikes!
I’m not trying to drum up pity. Part of this blog is writing about my writing and publishing journey and how challenging it is! But my writing is not driven by sales. Yes, it would be nice to make a bit of money each month so I could buy that $4.99 head of cauliflower or the $6.99 melon.
No, those still are not worth it…
Back to my subscribers. Next week I’m going to do a major purge of my inactive subscribers and subscribers that don’t click any of the links. No point in having subscribers that don’t have an interest in my writing and just signed up for the freebies. want subscribers who will support me in my writing. I will give them the option of subscribing to this blog if they want to read entertaining content.
So the burning question: Will they or won’t they?
-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
January 14, 2025
Tuesday Top Ten: Fun Google Searches
The people who work at Google are not like the telephone operators of old, connecting search results at a switchboard with plugs and cables.
No, they do other things, like planting fun little Easter eggs for us to stumble upon. Do you have some time to waste? Some of them are subtle or take a while to transpire.
Top Ten Fun Google Searches
10. askew
9. Blink html
8. Chicxulub crater
7. Shaboozey
6. Anagram
5. Font Georgia
4. Forrest Gump
3. the one ring
2. BTS
1. Gravity + I’m feeling lucky
-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
January 13, 2025
Songs for a Sunday: The String’s the Thing
Antonius Stradivarius. If you no nothing about music, you do. You recognize the name of the most famous violin makers. You may know know that he made over 1100 of them or that there are only about 600 still in existence.
Some have said that the sound of a violin is the purest form of sound, but it you do play the violin or had attempted to play the violin, you may have nightmares of “Do You Want A Hot Dog?” or “Mississippi Hot Dog.”
I did try to find that song played on a Stradivarius, but here is how one sounds:
Yesterday, after looking up music by Max Richter, I fell into a rabbit hole of looking for other string compositions, and although I could have included many wonderful pieces, I’ll leave you with three of my favorites.
Mark O’Connor is an American fiddle player, composer, guitarist, and mandolinist whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical.
This next tune is usually attributed to blind harpist and singer Turlough O’Carolan (1670–1738). Sí Mór (Sheemore) and Sí Beag (Sheebeg) are the names given to two small hills, situated close to each other in south County Leitrim.
And finally…Yo-Yo Ma.
How famous is Yo-Yo Ma outside of the music circle? Seinfeld famous.
-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
