Simon Rose's Blog, page 56

Book Signing at Indigo Signal Hill, July 13

This Saturday, I’ll be at Indigo at Signal Hill in Calgary from 11.30 am to 5 pm.

I’ll be signing copies of The Alchemist’s Portrait, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Doomsday Mask, The Time Camera, The Sphere of Septimus, Flashback, Twisted Fate, Parallel Destiny, and Future Imperfect.

Indigo is located at 5570 Signal Hill Centre SW in Calgary. Hope to see you there.

The post Book Signing at Indigo Signal Hill, July 13 appeared first on Simon Rose.

Trico’s Got Talent – July 8 to 12

This week I’ll be working as an instructor at the Trico’s Got Talent performing arts camp in Calgary, where children will experience their very own theatre production.

In a dramatic and fun-filled week , children will learn how to write, rehearse and perform their own unique play in just five days. Children will create the plot, craft the script, write dialogue and hone their acting skills for their very own dramatic production, which will then be performed at the end of the week on the final day of camp.

Learn more at the Trico Centre website.

The post Trico’s Got Talent – July 8 to 12 appeared first on Simon Rose.

What’s it all about? Sources of inspiration for Future Imperfect

Future Imperfect is an exciting adventure featuring technology, teenage geniuses, corporate espionage, and mysterious messages. Most kids these days are very familiar with laptops, tablets, and video games, and don’t go anywhere without their cell phones, so the technology and gadgets that feature in the story make the novel very appealing for young readers. It’s also a very compelling adventure story, with lots of cliffhangers, twists, and turns.

In the novel we’re introduced to Andrew Mitchell, who was one of the leading experts in highly advanced technology in Silicon Valley, until he vanished following a car accident, which also injured his son, Alex. When a mysterious app later appears on Alex’s phone, he and his friend Stephanie embark on a terrifying journey involving secret technology, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and murder in a desperate bid to save the future from the sinister Veronica Castlewood.

The two main young characters had to have a technical background in order to be able to engage in the activities portrayed in the novel. It was also important to have them live in a part of the world where there are technology companies in abundance, hence the Silicon Valley setting. Not only that, it was crucial for them to be connected to the hi-tech world through Alex’s father’s job at Castlewood Dynamics.

Most young readers are able to relate to Alex and Stephanie as characters. They may both be technological geniuses to some extent, but they’re also ordinary kids that find themselves in extraordinary and even dangerous situations. This is very important in stories for young adults, as is the need for the young characters to solve problems themselves. Adults certainly appear in the story but Alex and Stephanie are the ones that make the most vital contributions to the story. This all helps the reader to identify with the characters and hopefully thoroughly enjoy the novel.

The story will appeal to all young readers for whom technology plays such a large role in their lives, whether it’s cell phones, laptops, tablets, gaming, or the online world, but it’s also a very compelling adventure story, with lots of cliffhangers, twists, and turns.

Future Imperfect was perhaps written a little more quickly than some of the other books but some novels are like that. I created an outline and once I was happy with that I began writing the story. Future Imperfect was very enjoyable to write and I don’t think I was ever stuck for ideas or encountered any major stumbling blocks. As you’d expect there were a few things to sort out in the plot along the way but these issues were resolved during revisions and in the editing process.

Future Imperfect is available in bookstores, online at Amazon Canada, Amazon USA, Indigo/Chapters, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, and other locations, and autographed copies can also be purchased directly from me via my website.

 

The post What’s it all about? Sources of inspiration for Future Imperfect appeared first on Simon Rose.

What’s it all about? Sources of inspiration for Flashback, Twisted Fate, and Parallel Destiny

Flashback was published in 2015. It’s a paranormal mystery adventure for young adults featuring ghosts, psychics, and Project Mindstorm, a secret operation involving deadly mind control experiments, as Max investigates events concealed for over twenty years. The initial idea was one of the first that I had when I began my writing career but the novel took a while to develop to my satisfaction.

In Flashback, Max, a fourteen-year old boy, experiences strange dreams and visions, which appear to be from someone else’s life. He also sees a ghost and fears that he might be losing his mind. However, following an encounter with elderly private detective John Carrington, Max learns of government conspiracies, secret kidnappings, and mind control experiments conducted by a rogue scientist and his psychic accomplice.

 

Twisted Fate is the second part of the paranormal  trilogy and the story begins around the time of Max’s fifteenth birthday when he receives a box of personal items that once belonged to his mother and soon begins to have strange dreams and experience disturbing visions. Max steadilylearns the shocking truth about his mother and her possible connection to Project Mindstorm.

Max also meets Julia, a girl with dark hidden secrets, as he attempts to alter his mother’s fate and his own, for better or worse. He and Julia embark on a seemingly impossible mission involving deadly psychics, paranormal phenomena, and multiple shifting timelines. On the run and pursued at every turn by the powerful and ruthless Kane, Max and Julia engage in a desperate race against time in an attempt to save countless lives and transform their own destiny.

 

In Parallel Destiny, the third part of the trilogy, Project Mindstorm no longer exists and Kane and his associates no longer represent a danger. However, Max and Julia now have to contend with the sinister Alastair Hammond and his experiments into the existence of parallel universes and alternate realities.

Marooned within a bewildering series of multiple universes, Max and Julia are forced to fight for their own survival and to save the very fabric of reality from Hammond’s deadly scheme.

Flashback was originally a single novel but more or less as soon as it was published I realized that there was more to the story. My father also read Flashback and asked when the next one was coming out. I thought that he was referring to my next novel but he meant the next paranormal adventure and pointed out several areas in Flashback where there were opportunities for more stories.

There were also some unanswered questions so I got to work on a further installment. While writing Twisted Fate I knew that there was a third story and had an idea for a novel involving parallel universes that I realized would be a perfect fit to wrap up Max’s adventures. The third part of the trilogy, entitled Parallel Destiny, will be published early next year.

 

 

 

The post What’s it all about? Sources of inspiration for Flashback, Twisted Fate, and Parallel Destiny appeared first on Simon Rose.

Book Signing at Chapters Crowfoot, June 8

This Saturday, I’ll be at Chapters Crowfoot in Calgary from 11 am to 4 pm.

I’ll be signing copies of The Alchemist’s Portrait, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Doomsday Mask, The Time Camera, The Sphere of Septimus, Future Imperfect, Flashback, Twisted Fate, and Parallel Destiny.

Chapters is located at 66 Crowfoot Terrace NW in Calgary. Hope to see you there.

The post Book Signing at Chapters Crowfoot, June 8 appeared first on Simon Rose.

Book Signing at Indigo Signal Hill, May 25

This Saturday, I’ll be at Indigo at Signal Hill in Calgary from 11.30 am to 5 pm.

I’ll be signing copies of The Alchemist’s Portrait, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Doomsday Mask, The Time Camera, The Sphere of Septimus, Flashback, Twisted Fate, Parallel Destiny, and Future Imperfect.

Indigo is located at 5570 Signal Hill Centre SW in Calgary. Hope to see you there.

The post Book Signing at Indigo Signal Hill, May 25 appeared first on Simon Rose.

PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July

 

PlayWriting Camp will take place once again with Cassa Musical Arts this July.

The 2019 PlayWriting camp runs from July 15 to 19 at St. Vladimir’s Cultural Centre, 404 Meredith Road NE (Near Memorial Drive and Edmonton Trail), Calgary, Alberta.

In a dramatic and fun-filled week of half day camps, children will learn how to write, rehearse and perform their own unique play in just five days. Children will create the plot, craft the script, write dialogue and hone their acting skills for their very own dramatic production, which will then be performed at the end of the week. Half days are from 9:00 am – 12:00 noon daily.

Details of fees and registration forms are available on the CASSA website.

The post PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July appeared first on Simon Rose.

PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July

PlayWriting Camp will take place once again with Cassa Musical Arts this July.

The 2019 PlayWriting camp runs from July 15 to 19 at St. Vladimir’s Cultural Centre, 404 Meredith Road NE (Near Memorial Drive and Edmonton Trail), Calgary, Alberta.

In a dramatic and fun-filled week of half day camps, children will learn how to write, rehearse and perform their own unique play in just five days. Children will create the plot, craft the script, write dialogue and hone their acting skills for their very own dramatic production, which will then be performed at the end of the week. Half days are from 9:00 am – 12:00 noon daily.

Details of fees and registration forms are available on the CASSA website.

The post PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July appeared first on Simon Rose.

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 – Day Four

Today, I’ll be exhibiting at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. You can find me in booth number 5209 in the Big Four Building.

You can buy autographed copies of Shadowzone, Into the Web, Black Dawn, Parallel Destiny, Twisted Fate, The Time Traveler’s Guide, The Children’s Writer’s Guide, Future Imperfect, Flashback, The Sphere of Septimus, The Time Camera, The Doomsday Mask, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, and The Alchemist’s Portrait

You can also learn more about my many services for writers, including editing, coaching, school programs, workshops, as well as my copywriting services for businesses and social media, or you can just stop by and say hello.

This is the only festival in Calgary where you can get your sci-fi, film, television, fantasy, horror, comic book, gaming, and animation fix all in one incredible weekend. Join 100,000 other fans for this celebration of pop culture at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo taking place at BMO Centre, Stampede Park on April 25, 26, 27, and 28.

Hope to see you there.

 

The post Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 – Day Four appeared first on Simon Rose.

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 – Day Three

Today, I’ll be exhibiting at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. You can find me in booth number 5209 in the Big Four Building.

You can buy autographed copies of Shadowzone, Into the Web, Black Dawn, Parallel Destiny, Twisted Fate, The Time Traveler’s Guide, The Children’s Writer’s Guide, Future Imperfect, Flashback, The Sphere of Septimus, The Time Camera, The Doomsday Mask, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, and The Alchemist’s Portrait

You can also learn more about my many services for writers, including editing, coaching, school programs, workshops, as well as my copywriting services for businesses and social media, or you can just stop by and say hello.

I’m also making a presentation today. Check out the schedule here.

Time Travel: Not Just a Thing of the Past – Palomino AB, BMO Centre at 4.15 pm

Learn how to plan and realize your novel with an alternate reality element that takes the reader on a logical journey, in an illogical world.

This is the only festival in Calgary where you can get your sci-fi, film, television, fantasy, horror, comic book, gaming, and animation fix all in one incredible weekend. Join 100,000 other fans for this celebration of pop culture at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo taking place at BMO Centre, Stampede Park on April 25, 26, 27, and 28.

Hope to see you there.

 

 

The post Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 – Day Three appeared first on Simon Rose.