Leon Stevens's Blog, page 6
August 9, 2025
Weekend Wrap-up Aug 9
It’s been a busy week in the world so let’s recap:
Trump’s tariffs kicked in and because new, more expensive inventory needs a chance to work into the system, the massive cost increases won’t be seen for a few weeks/months, much to the delight of the president who just says, “See? Tariffs work.”
Canada and Mexico met to forge new trade agreements, bypassing the US. That’s Canada’s polite way of saying “F#@k you.”
Jim Lovell, one of the Apollo 13 astronauts, passed away at age 97. In the battle of space and time, time wins.
It looks like Vladimir Putin will be meeting with Trump in Alaska sometime next week to discuss Ukraine. Without Ukraine of course. Odds of Putin setting foot on Alaskan soil and having seller’s remorse? Pretty good.
Was there more? There always is.
-Leon
In case you missed it:Weekend Wrap-up Aug 9Just for Fun Friday: Donnie holds a chartThursday Thoughts: Plot holesWeird Wednesday: Who dat guy?Monday Muse: Scam, scam, scam, wonderful scam.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!
August 8, 2025
Just for Fun Friday: Donnie holds a chart
If you are a parent, you might have helped your child with their social studies presentation. That’s okay, helping is teaching.
Donnie, a third grader asked his uncle Stephen Moore to give him some numbers that went up.
Little Donnie used his business knowledge to explain the charts:
“This chart is pretty amazing.”
“That’s an incredible number.”
“If you look at them, they’re all something.”
“All new numbers.”
Donnie’s teacher gave him a B, but noted that Uncle Stephen seems to have done all the work and Donnie was just there to hold up the large poster boards.
In his defense, Donnie said that the poster boards were the largest ever and that no one had ever seen charts as large as those, ever.
Watch the third grade presentation here:
Euphrates Vanished (Kindle/KU)A Matter of Sabotage (Kindle/KU)Don’t feel like buying the book? How about reviewing for free?
Sign up to review Euphrates VanishedSign to review A Matter of SabotageSci-fi not your thing?
Try my two poetry collections: Lines by Leon and A Wonder of Words
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!
August 7, 2025
Thursday Thoughts: Plot holes
Any TV show, movie, or book can be nitpicked to find inconsistencies and hard to believe situations, so as I’m writing, I try not to get too bogged down in getting everything perfect.
I will often write something that contradicts a previous event in some way, usually because I’ll think of an interesting twist or action and have to look back and make changes which in turn can create another plot hole.
Why don’t you just write an outline?
I have a general idea, but imaginations are not always there at the moment you need them, so the story line needs to have some fluidity in the first draft. I’m never going to create the perfect story free from any minor contradictions or unimportant details. You know, Frodo, Gandalf, and the gang could have saved a lot of time if they flew to Mordor on the Great Eagles.
One thing I don’t try to do is explain my future technology. It just works. It gets the characters from A to B in a reasonable amount of time. It allows them to understand alien races without having to learn the language each time a new species is encountered (let’s all thank Star Trek). Think of fantasy books filled with magic. Reader’s don’t need and explanation on how magic works. It’s magic. Abracadabra and all that.
-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!
August 6, 2025
Weird Wednesday: Who dat guy?
In 18-something, Elbridge Gerry, Governor of the start of Massachusetts, reluctantly signed a bill that allowed the redrawing of a voting district that observers said looked like a salamander.
The result of the redrawing was a gain of congressional seats for the ruling party (which just so happened to benefit Elbridge’s party), and after the political cartoon of the Gerry-mander was drawn, the practice was named gerrymandering.
Fun fact: Elbridge’s last name is pronounced ‘gary’ with a hard ‘g’
Every 10 years, after a census, states can redraw district lines according to the new population distribution. As a representative, you would want your district to be as compact as possible to allow ease of travel to visit constituents. But as the graphic below shows, that can result in a party always getting the same votes, so the redrawing of district lines can flip the advantage.
Here is the result of gerrymandering in several states:
Is this legal you ask? Yes. In some states, although it is not usually done mid-census, but if the ruling party controls the house they can do anything, as recent events in the US federally have shown.
Which brings us to Texas. a few weeks ago, the US president asked—sorry that should read ‘told’—the Texas republican governor to redraw his congressional map so that he can gain 5 republican seats in next year’s mid-term election.
To be fair, both parties have used the practice in the past, but this latest attempt seems blatantly overt in it’s desire to maintain power in the House of Representatives.
Here’s a Democratically held district in Chicago:
This was approved by a bipartisan group to reflect the changing Latino population, but it does illustrate how complicated the political system is.
-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!
August 4, 2025
Monday Muse: Scam, scam, scam, wonderful scam.
Every day I get a New York Times bestselling author following me on X. No, it’s not Stephen King (although Steven King does but he never posts stuff about his books).
The first time it happened I was skeptical and rightly so. Most of these accounts are obviously fake, from the joined X date (within a few months) to the account name @StephenKing28561.
The content is usually reposts and if you do follow back you immediately get messages like:
“When did you first start your writing journey? And what exciting project are you working on right now? Can’t wait to hear all about it!”
“Love to talk about your books. What genre do you write?”
Now, I’ve never gotten farther in the conversation but apparently the next prompt is to say they can use their influence to market your books.
For a fee of course.
I have emailed the real author to inform them about fake accounts and have received a few pleasant replies saying thanks and that they really can’t do much about it. So I stopped doing that as well.
I also receive emails from “professional” book promoters from companies named: Bookbrezza, Bookpinks, Bookpings, Bookbuzzer, and the list goes on.
The latest was from Suppermark (yeah, that’s a book promotion company) and the first line said:
“I hope you’re doing great! I just wanted to follow up on the message I sent a little while ago about your wonderful book, [Book Title]. I truly enjoyed learning about it — and I’d still love to help you get it into the hands of more readers and reviewers who’ll appreciate it as much as I did.”
Did you catch that? Apparently my latest book is called “Book Title”.
Then there was the AI description of the readers opinion of the book”
The moment I read A Matter of Sabotage, I felt like I was standing right beside the cadets, shoulders tense, hearts pounding, as they uncovered truths that were never meant to be found. There’s something magnetic about the way you’ve built the Orion Arm Alliance, part coming-of-age, part high-stakes unraveling of legacy, duty, and personal justice. And Tess’s search for the truth about her mother? That hit hard.
As a reader, I’m used to space operas that lean on flashy tech and explosions, but yours is different. Beneath the sci-fi setting, there’s an emotional undercurrent: grief, loyalty, curiosity… sabotage that’s personal. That human thread is what makes your work not just readable, but memorable.
It gets exhausting at times ignoring all the scammers and sometimes I feel I should mess with them but who has time for that?
-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!
August 3, 2025
Songs for a Sunday: Music from …
If you have never seen the show here is a brief synopsis:
An inventor/scientist/self-proclaimed “smartest human ever” (Rick), who is often drinking and/or drunk (less often in later seasons), lives with his daughter, son-in-law, teenage granddaughter, and underachieving grandson (Morty). He drags Morty on a multitude of interdimensional adventures (usually to get something for Rick’s gain).
The dialogue is crude, quick, clever, and cringy. It is:
” … rated TV-MA (Mature Audiences), which means it’s intended for adults and may not be suitable for children under 17. The show features strong language, violence, dark humor, and complex themes that may not be appropriate for younger viewers.”
I would revise the last part to read: “is not appropriate for younger viewers”. If you don’t like animated shows like Family Guy or South Park, you won’t enjoy this one. But, with the content warning done, let’s talk about the music.
Many TV shows use existing songs for their soundtracks, but the creators of this show rely on some originals from singer/songwriter Kotomi and electronic music composer Ryan Elder.
The theme song had a certain familiarity to it. If you are a sci-fi fan, you’ll hear that it is influenced (on purpose) by a certain TV show.
These next two songs are outro songs that are good on their own, but definitely have a greater effect after watching the episodes. As crass and uncaring as Rick comes off to be, the show does often give you insight of the softer, caring side of him. For all his shortcomings he does truly love his family.
In this episode, Rick’s daughter Beth discovers that Rick had cloned her so that she could change some of the choices she had made in her life. Even Rick took steps to make sure he didn’t know which was which…
… which leads to a flashback and one of the most poignant scenes in the series:
Let’s hear the song:
If you want another taste, here’s the cleanest clip I could find:
-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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My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
August 2, 2025
Weekend Wrap-up Aug 2
What do you write when you don’t know what to write about? You write about what to write when you don’t know what to write about and hope that people want to read about how to write when you don’t know what to write.
Right?
Right.
Have a great Saturday!
-Leon
In case you missed my blog:Weekend Wrap-up Aug 2Just for Fun Friday: Another Self-interviewThursday Thoughts: Novel ThoughtsWeird Wednesday: There’s Something in the AirTuesday Atwitter: Whascoin’on?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!
August 1, 2025
Just for Fun Friday: Another Self-interview
Coming off my 6th best month for book sales ($50) since I started writing in 2019, I thought I’d dust off another interview I did in 2023. I was working on the first book of my Orion Arm Alliance series at the time.
It’s what you have been waiting for, right? Another self interview? In my 5th installment, Leon Stevens talks about science fiction, poetry, and other stuff.
I’m here with mediocre selling author, Leon Stevens. How are you doing today?
Fine, thank you.
So, what makes you consider your writing mediocre?
Oh, I think you have it wrong. My sales are mediocre, not my writing.
I apologize. But you have to admit there might be some correlation between book sales and the quality of writing.
Of course, that will factor in, but as an indie author, part of the challenge is becoming known to readers. There are popular books that I consider poorly written, but because there’s a publicity machine behind it, the sales are higher.
So, how do you describe your writing?
Well, I like it.
Obviously.
Most of the reviews and feedback have been positive, but there have been a few negative ones. I must be doing something right if my books average 4 ½ stars.
But they don’t sell?
Oh, they sell, but I can’t quit my day job.
Would you?
Of course.
What is your main goal as an author?
Would I like make scads of money? Sure. But every sale means some reader was interested enough to give one of my books a try, and every positive review means I have succeeded in entertaining them. I guess my primary goal is to entertain.
How many books have you published?
I have two poetry books, a short story science fiction collection, and my sci-fi trilogy.
[silence]
Six. I have six.
Which book sells the most?
Book one of my trilogy, The View from Here. There hasn’t been as many read-throughs as I hoped of the next two, but everyone who buys book two, buys book three.
Why do you think that is?
Book one was originally written as a stand alone, so when I decided to continue it, I probably lost readers when the next one was released 8 months after. That book ended on a cliffhanger, and the final book was released 8 months after that.
Was that an oversight on your part?
Not oversight, since I wasn’t planning a trilogy, but maybe a rookie mistake. It would have been hard to sit on book one for a year and a half for the entire trilogy to be complete, so even if I planned it, I think would have released them separately. I would have also indicated that The View from Here was book one, though.
It is now.
Yes. I did change the subtitle on Amazon.
So, is that series done?
I think so. I don’t know if there is anything left for the characters to do.
Any feedback for the bonus content?
Only from my beta-readers. I had hoped more would have checked out the video and character interview, but I had fun making it.
Are you working on anything else?
Yes.
Care to elaborate?
No.
OK … Want to talk about your poetry?
Sure. I haven’t written much, but I try to write a couple each week.
Most of what I read lately is leaning toward the humorous. Is this a conscience choice?
Sometimes. I think many readers don’t think they like poetry because it has a reputation of being deep and difficult to understand, so since I’m not deep or difficult to understand, so goes my poetry. I try to approach it as entertainment.
Not all of your poetry is like this, thought, your first book delves into more personal topics and observations.
True. Poetry serves its purpose at the time it is written and then it is out there for others to discover when it is needed in their lives.
How would you describe your poetry?
Erratic?
Explain.
I don’t concern myself with traditional forms or worry about rhyme. Sometimes I feel that a rhyme is necessary to give focus to a certain Idea, and it doesn’t always have to be at the end of the line.
What’s your oddest rhyme scheme?
Probably A, B, C, A, A, C, D, B, E, E, C, F, C, G, G, G, B—
[sarcastically] Really?
[rudely] Pfft. I don’t know.
Well then. This looks like a good place to wrap it up.
Sounds about right.
Check out Leon’s books here: Leon’s Amazon page
Read Leon’s other self interviews: linesbyleon.com/the-interviews/
Back to the present: I now have the complete trilogy in paperback!
Euphrates Vanished (Kindle/KU)A Matter of Sabotage (Kindle/KU)Don’t feel like buying the book? How about reviewing for free?
Sign up to review Euphrates VanishedSign to review A Matter of SabotageSci-fi not your thing?
Try my two poetry collections: Lines by Leon and A Wonder of Words
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!
July 31, 2025
Thursday Thoughts: Novel Thoughts
When is a novel not a novel?
According to facts, a novel is typically between 70 000 and 100 000 words but can be as short at 40 000, but the widely accepted minimum is 50 000 words.
When I set out to write my first novel during National Novel Writing Month, I didn’t have any expectations of finishing it in 30 days. How’s that for setting the bar low?
“You’re going to fail so just accept it.”
Well in the end I did achieve my goal of not writing a novel in 30 days, so there.
But I did have 30 000 words so I published it as a novella. And I kept writing the story because it ended, but not quite since there were a few loose ends that were answered in book two, which was getting a bit to long so I split it into two and published them eight months apart.
So what do you do with three novellas of about 30 000 words each? Slap them together in one paperback volume to have a complete trilogy of 90 000 words right smack dab in the meaty part of the curve.
Is it a novel? Well according to the internet:
“If the three novellas are closely linked, forming a single, continuous narrative with a shared overarching plot, then they can be called a novel.”
So there you go. I have a novel. Four years after I started.
Not too bad.
-Leon
Buy The View from Here: The Complete Trilogyin paperback on Amazon
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!
July 30, 2025
Weird Wednesday: There’s Something in the Air
The air quality in Canada and in the United States has been very poor this year due to the wildfires. Contrary to what some state senators say, we can’t be held responsible for smoke crossing the border. That’s the job of your border guards.
The smoke is the worst I have seen for a while and I am glad I still have a stash of N95 masks to use if I have to go out. How bad is it? Here’s a breakdown of the air quality index scale:
1 – 3: Low health risk
4 – 6: Moderate health risk
7 – 10: High health risk
So what was it yesterday? Eleven.
Yes. We are now in Spinal Tap amplifier volume knob territory.
All kidding aside, it was really gross out there yesterday. All the news and weather reports said to stay inside unless you absolutely have to and then wear a mask.
So I stayed inside. But wait. Where does the air in my apartment come from?
You guessed it. Outside. No forced air ventilation here, so I’m breathing the same stuff. Time for science to take over:
Science: Smoke is made of particles which will drop out or stick to surfaces as the air it is suspended in travels. Getting into your residence is not a straight line so the particles have plenty of opportunity to dissipate.
Thank you, science.
Bonus WeirdnessDid you know that the US government now accepts monetary gifts through PayPal and Venmo to go toward the national debt?
Yes, you (if you are an American citizen who has money left over from your trip to the grocery store) can give the government more money.
Full disclosure, this program called “Gifts to Reduce the Public Debt,” is not a Trump era idea (sounded like it though, didn’t it?) and has been around since 1996. Its collected $67.5 million dollars which today equates to 20 minutes of debt. The maximum allowed donation is $999 999.99, which by the time you open Venmo and click send is already spent.
I’m sure crypto payments are soon come.
-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!
