Leon Stevens's Blog, page 45

Thursday Bookday: Cookbook?

Why not review a cookbook? Its a book. It has words you read. The only difference is that I have never read a James Patterson book and ended up with a tasty meal.

Full disclosure: I never follow recipes. Well, not exactly. I know people (I really do) that will measure and weigh ingredients, systematically obey the instructions, and probably end up with what the author/cook/chef intended.

Why? [shrugs]

Sometimes you do come up with a delicious variation … sometimes. Oh, I’ve had my failures, but due to my other habit of not wanting to waste food, the result in question does get consumed … sometimes.

Anyway, my first experience with ramen was, like most most people in the west, one of those little hard-packed wavy noodle bricks with the foil package of salt flavored salt.

University students have been know to subsist on them exclusively, and some have actually been known to survive.

My first experience with authentic ramen was when I visited a grocery store with a ramen shop at the back, which had been featured on the Food Network’s show, Diners, Drive-in’s, and Dives.

My first thought was, “Oh … that’s what it’s supposed to taste like.” My second thought was, “I need to know how to make this at home.” Guess what? I do. And, while it’s not even close to the delight I sampled on that fateful day, It is very, very good.

Maybe you should follow the recipe.

Yup. Probably.

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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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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Weird Wednesday June 12: Cartoon / Doppelgangers

I think I’d rather have a look-alike or a twin rather than a doppelganger which sounds like a creature from H.P. Lovecraft.

A few months ago I noted that Canadian singer Corey Hart bears a certain resemblance to actor David Duchovny:

But what about George Orwell and Sean Penn?

Then there’s Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and King Philip IV of Spain

Wait! 1970 Turkish Communist leader Mahir Çayan and late night host Jimmy Fallon?

Emma MacKey played Nobel Prize Barbie with Original Barbie, Margot Robbie.

And finally, singer/actress Katharine McPhee and Canadian weather specialist Noor Rafat:

Careful out there. There maybe a doppelganger lurking in that shadows ready to step in and take your place…

-Leon

My newsletter goes out every Wednesday: Lines by Leon Super Newsletter Extravaganza

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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Tuesday Top Ten: Tops

10: Topps: The sports card company around since 1951. If you have a 1952 Mickey Mantle card it’s worth $12.6 million, and If you put it in your bike spokes when you were a kid…

9. Hat: Ah the top hat. Introduced in 1770 and voted the “Least Practical Hat” in the Hatties award ceremony. That didn’t stop the British bearskin hat giving it a run for it’s money, setting off the first garment rivalry

8. Toy: Invented by Leonardo Da Vinci to give to his kids at Christmas. After a short debate, his children took away his “World’s Greatest Dad” coffee mug.

7. Four: Formed in 1953 in Detroit, MI, The Four Tops were originally called “The Four Aims” but in a brilliant flash of premonition, changed it so they could be included in a top ten list compiled by an obscure author of dubious fame.

6. Tip: The Canadian formal clothing retailer since 1909. Was the go-to store for formalwear until the Canadian tuxedo* rose to popularity.

5. Ten: Of course this had to make it onto the list. It could have been either the 10th or 1st spot, so we compromised.

4. Boy: Apparently there is a British crime drama called “Top Boy”. I’ve never seen it, but if you have, let me know if it should be higher or lower on the list.

3. Chef: Premiering in 2006, it’s claim to fame is that it is the only modern cooking show not featuring Chef Ramsey.

2. Gear: In 1992, Nintendo introduced the world to the first video driving game. With its blistering 16 bit graphics and a rockin’ soundtrack of beeps and boops, it was on the cutting edge of gaming for a few months.

1. Gun: A blockbuster of a movie in 1986. It was the must see movie of the year. The sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, has the distinction of being the first environmentally sustainable movie, being made up of 50% recycled material.

-Leon

*The Canadian Tuxedo:

Looking for reviewers who want to receive an advance review copy of my latest book!ARC sign up here!

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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

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Music Monday: 2000

There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.

Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it.

Maybe you will find a new favorite.

CBC MUSIC, Central · Mornings with CBC Music

2000.

Well, the world didn’t end. Now, it kinda feels like it’s on the verge, but we’re not here to bemoan our current situation, as dire as it might seem, but to celebrate the twenty-first century.

The original was from King Crimson, but I prefer this one because:

It’s the first version I heardIt’s from April WineIt’s shorter

Okay, that was from 1979. Let’s get to the year in question – or the burning question: Who did let the dogs out?

Yeah. The year 2000 gave us that song, but made up for it with U2’s Beautiful Day:

But then it went and gave us this :

Then redeemed itself by giving us Coldplay.

Then it was back to the garbage pile. Don’t watch this one. I don’t even know why I included it. It might be the worst song…ever?

Okay. You watched it. I warned you. That’s on you. LMO also had another hit the previous year called Summer Girls (see a trend?) which was just as bad if not worse (see a trend?). But you don’t want to hear that one either, right?

Really? Are you sure? It’ll make you retch a little… Okay, get the bucket ready:

In all all honesty, it’s actually worth a listen because the lyrics are so bad, I mean, really bad you’ll think there was no chance it even charted*. Go ahead, I’ll wait, then we can discuss.

We lost Toby Keith recently, so I’ll include him since he had a huge impact the popularity of country music in the 2000s.

If it wasn’t for one-hit wonders, we wouldn’t get songs like:

I wasn’t a fan of Eminem in the year 2000, but he kinda grows on you. It’s undeniable that he is a great crafter of words. If you’ve never seen the movie 8 Mile, give it a go.

Let get some Canadian talent in here before we go. I’m like a Bird is from Nelly Furtado’s debut album, Whoa, Nelly!
Whoa Nelly, is right.

Can’t Stop is off the second album (Sleepless) by Canadian R&B/soul band jacksoul, released in 2000. The album won the Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards

As always, there are too many to mention. Now, how about giving me your thoughts on LMO…

-Leon

*In case you are wondering, Summer Girls reached #3. Believe it.

Want to read more music blogs? Here are some of the ones I follow: Mostly Music Covers, Take it Easy, Beetley Pete, A Sound Day, PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture, SuperdekesVinylReviews, Peat Long’s Blog, Fox Reviews Rock

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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Songs for a Sunday: Emotional Oranges

I was going to do a double shot of music on Monday, but since I had nothing else planned for today, here’s something that might interest you.

Before we get to the music, I uploaded my review copies to StoryOrigin for distribution to my early reviewers yesterday. Yay! Only one problem: they were the wrong files. Boo!

Luckily, I corrected the issue before…Aww, everyone downloaded the wrong file. Now I have to email ass the pissed off readers and let them know the correct file is now available.

I try, I really do. Honest.

My ears did a double-take when I heard the name of this next group. Not the weirdest name, but it’s up there.

Emotional Oranges was formed in 2017 when Azad “A” Right, an audio engineer for Drake, and Vali “V” Porter, a vocal coach for Adele, met at a bat mitzvah

-Leon

Want to read more music blogs? Here are some of the ones I follow: Mostly Music Covers, Take it Easy, Beetley Pete, A Sound Day, PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture, SuperdekesVinylReviews, Fox Reviews Rock

Looking for reviewers who want to receive an advance copy of my latest book!Sign up here

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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Weekend Wrap-up June 8: Views and Crickets

Last year I noticed that one of my posts seemed to be getting views on a regular basis, despite not promoting it or having any relevant tags beyond ‘funny’ and ‘poems’

This is a good thing, I thought, and proceeded to update it by telling the future viewers: Author’s Note: This is my most popular blog post. Drop me a comment or a message and tell me what you think!

And…nothing.

So I then I added a link to my main poetry page, thinking readers interested in funny poems, might want to sample others on my menu.

And…nothing.

I added links to my free poetry book (with newsletter signup, of course), my Amazon book page, and a comment box.

Yeah…you know.

I now truly believe there is a dedicated click farm somewhere with the mission statement: “Let’s mess with this author.”

Question of the day: What is your most popular post?

In case you missed it:Weekend Wrap-up June 8: Views and CricketsFree Book Friday June 7: To Err is HumanWeird Wednesday June 5: InventionsTuesday Top Ten: Old Things I HaveMusic Monday 1999Looking for reviewers who want to receive an advance copy of my latest book!Sign up here

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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Free Book Friday June 7: To Err is Human

Review edits. Check.
Read again. Check.
Format eBook for reviewers. Next on the list.

I try to send out the copy I will publish to my reviewers, but often I still find, and they do as well, the occasional typo. I found a typo in my novella, The View from Here, a year after it was published, while I was looking through the paperback I had ordered with the new cover.

Many books, both traditionally and independently published, have typos. According to Kingsely Publishers:

“The truth is,[errors are] unintentional. Your brain has an amazing ability to assume it’s seeing something that isn’t there. So sometimes people who are reading these manuscripts don’t see the errors. This is particularly true for the author as they have written and re-written each line several times, and their brain assumes it’s saying what they want it to say.“

Here are some notable errors in famous books:

The so-called “Wicked Bible,” published in 1631, had just one small typo. It omitted the “not” from one of the Ten Commandments, so that the commandment read, “Thou shalt commit adultery.”Karen Harper’s The Queen’s Governess is noted for its sharp historical detail… except for one particular sentence: “In the weak light of dawn, I tugged on the gown and sleeves I’d discarded like a wonton last night to fall into John’s arms.”Are all those wizards secretly rocking a second wand? In the very first edition of the very first Harry Potter book, the list of school supplies for Hogwarts lists “1 wand” twice.An Australian cookbook suggested that chefs season their meals with “salt and freshly ground black people.” The error was from a automatic spellcheck correcting a misspelling of the word “pepper,” but the cookbook still had to be reprinted immediately for advocating cannibalism.Cymbeline may not be Shakespeare’s most famous play, but the first name Imogen has become increasingly popular in the last few years. In the play, Imogen is a pretty awesome, cross dressing lady, based on a character from British history. The only problem is that her name is actually “Innogen.” But two “n”s next to each other look an awful lot like an “m,” so the name wound up being printed as Imogen for all time.The real American tragedy might be a lack of adequate spellcheck, because An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser is infamously riddled with typos, such as this typo in the first edition “…harmoniously abandoning themselves to the rhythm of the music—like two small chips being tossed about on a rough but friendly sea.”There’s slipping on your keyboard, and then there’s accidentally adding the word “dord” to the dictionary, even though “dord” isn’t a real word. The 1934 edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary defined “dord” as meaning density (they meant to write “D or d” as a scientific abbreviation for the word density). The mistake was discovered in 1939. So there were five years when everyone just walked around accepting “dord” into their lives.Even Pulitzer Prize winners make mistakes! In the first edition of McCarthy’s 2006 post-apocalyptic story The Road, a passage described “a moment of panic before he saw him walking along the bench downshore.” Since benches don’t have shores, it seems reasonable to assume McCarthy meant “beach.”Not just the first edition but the first three editions of Buck’s 1931 novel contained a small error. The Good Earth, which details the lives of farm workers in early 20th century China, contains a passage that describes a line of huts against a wall. In the early editions, the passage read, “against the base the small mat sheds clung like flees to a dog’s back.” This is a pretty straightforward homophone situation: Fleas are what might cling to dogs, while a runaway dog flees its home.

So, if you find a typo in one of my books, let me know. And if you have a copy of one of my books with an error, hang onto it, it might be worth something someday.

Author’s note: Not a typo, but the first paperback edition of The View from Here has no page numbers. Oops. Who has one of those?

Perfect ARC copies of Euphrates Vanished should be available by June 15th.

-Leon

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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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Weird Wednesday June 5: Inventions

Necessity is said to be the mother of invention. From getting tired of dragging stuff to bombing on improv night, there are countless untold stories of the origin of great ideas. Here are some notables:

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone after his Skip the Dishes order wasn’t delivered because his carrier pigeon got lost.

Ben Franklin invented electricity because of the switch on the wall that didn’t seem to do anything.

The Wright brothers invented the airplane when they overheard someone say they’d love to visit New York but really didn’t want to travel through New Jersey.

And finally…

The motivation for the flush toilet came in 1596 when a staff member of the royal family came out of the bathroom and said to Sir Thomas Harington, “Do not go in there.”

-Leon

My newsletter goes out every Wednesday: Lines by Leon Super Newsletter Extravaganza

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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Tuesday Top Ten: Old Things I Have

I’m not talking antiques here, although some might be up for consideration, but I’m listing things that were brand new that I bought or were given to me.

Top Ten Old Things

10. Sony earbuds for a Walkman c. mid/late 80s. They still work. Sadly the Walkman does not, nor is it still in my possession.
9. A coffee mug c. 1985. Christmas gift
8. Classical guitar c. 1988. Sounds as good as the day I got it.
7. Food Processor c. 1988. Does it work? Meh.
6. Non-stick frying pan c. 1990. Sticks.
5. Raincoat c. 1991. Effectiveness: Questionable.
4. Acoustic guitar c. 1992. See #8.
3. Hoover vacuum c. 1995. Sucks. Still.
2. Reebok long sleeve shirt c. 1999. Threadbare.
1. Shorts. Bought at the same time as the shirt. Not threadbare, thank goodness.

What’s the oldest thing you still have?

-Leon

Looking for reviewers who want to receive an advance review copy of my latest book!ARC sign up here!

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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!

Music Monday 1999

There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.

Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it.

Maybe you will find a new favorite.

CBC MUSIC, Central · Mornings with CBC Music

1999.

We only had a year to enjoy anything before the world ended because of Y2K. I don’t remember what my level of concern was about that whole situation.

Latin music hit the charts, and hard. Livin’ La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin, Mambo #5 by Lou Bega, and Bailamos, by Enrique Iglesias were some of the hottest that year. But let’s focus on some Canadian artists.

I forgot about this song by the Canadian band Sky. They had another hit in 2001 with a female vocalist, but the style veered to more R&B.

Tal Bachman. Claim to fame? Son of the Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive’s Randy Bachman.

The other claim to fame? A one-hit wonder. Pretty good hit, though.

Speaking of one-hit wonders, this felt like the song of the summer because it received a lot of airplay.

Another one-hit wonder:

Apparently, according to Entertainment Weekly, she has yet to meet Brad Pitt.

How many hits can The Barenaked Ladies pump out? Lots.

I don’t know how far reaching this song from the virtual band Prozzäk (made up of the animated characters Simon and Milo) was, but you couldn’t go a day without hearing it in Canada.

That should be enough Canadian content to satisfy the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Commission).

Remember Blessid Union of Souls? I didn’t either until this one came up:

As always, there are too many to mention.

-Leon

Want to read more music blogs? Here are some of the ones I follow: Mostly Music Covers, Take it Easy, Beetley Pete, A Sound Day, PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture, SuperdekesVinylReviews, Peat Long’s Blog

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, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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

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

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!