David M. Brown's Blog, page 87

#FlashFiveFriday – Date

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This month Mr B and I are taking part in #FlashFiveFriday run by The Indie Exchange.

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction / flash blogging prompt.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes

2) No upper or lower word limits

3) You must write something new

4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies

5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support

This week’s #FlashFiveFriday post

 

#FlashFiveFriday – Date

Dave

There is a great line from The Smiths’ song “How Soon is Now?” which goes, “I am the son and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar.” In my teens and young adult life I often felt that description captured me, it still does at times. I didn’t really have many dates when I was a teenager, always too shy to ask the girls I liked or if I did pluck up the courage they were never interested. As Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, so it goes.

I used to get hung up on girls I had never asked out but today I can look back and be proud that I wasn’t braver as it may have changed the whole course of my life and prevented me reaching the point I am at now.

In late 2008 I met my now wife, Donna. We were just work colleagues to begin with but by February 2009 we were good friends and used to have a drink or two after work. We agreed to go to the cinema together on another occasion, just as friends, but by the evening we had come to realise it was something more. Donna told me she had feelings for me and after overcoming the shock of her being interested in me I told her I felt the same. We were officially a couple a few days later and have been together ever since. I suppose you could say we’d had a few dates prior to getting together, we just never realised it at the time.

 

 

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Donna

Funny I should read David’s post before starting mine because I was going to write about how we probably had very different ideas about what our first date was. In actual fact it seems like we’re on the same wavelength when we both remember the cinema.

Dave’s right. It wasn’t our first ‘date that’s not a date’ date. It wasn’t even our first official date. It was one of the bravest dates of my life (using the other meaning of the word), when I thought ‘Sod it’ and declared how I felt and then felt sick but determined.

Then, 18 months ago, another signficant date: our wedding day. I felt nervous but determined, knowing that sometimes you just have to take the plunge. Don’t get me wrong – I knew I’d marry David pretty quickly. But someone told me I hadn’t seemed the marrying type and asked what he did to change me.

I guess the answer to that is sometimes there are things in life that make you brave enough to take the plunge – be it a first date or a significant date. If it’s good enough, it might be both and change your life forever.

 

#FlashFiveFriday – Date | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

World Animal Day Blog Hop: Homage to the Dirty Half Dozen

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Over the last thirty years I have owned many pets. When I was born my parents already owned an English sheepdog named Suzy, who didn’t take kindly to the arrival of another screaming baby – I was the second of two sons. Throughout my childhood we also had goldfish, gerbils, hamsters, even terrapins at one point. However, Suzy was the one that we always held the most dear, the one we had the longest, and I can still remember the day she died. It was my first day at secondary school and having had a relatively carefree opening day, I returned home to find out our dog had been put to sleep, an act of mercy from the vet given that she had sadly been diagnosed with cancer. That was 1993. I didn’t own another pet until 2010.

I often think of my wife, Donna, as a criminal genius. We first got together in 2009 and if she’d have said to me at the start of our relationship that one day six cats would come to live with us I would have laughed so hard my eyes might have popped out of my nose. Well, in 2010 two cats – Razz and Kain – came to live with us. I had no experience of cats, so having the feline world thrust upon me was quite a shock.

Razz and Kain were rescue cats, having spent eight months unwanted in a shelter, and we were only too happy (gullible sounds better but only when Mrs B isn’t around to correct me!) to take them in and share our home. We managed the take them in part but the sharing of the house hasn’t quite worked out the way I imagined, certainly not to the ratios I assumed. Since Razz and Kain joined, the numbers have increased dramatically from the feline equivalent of Starsky and Hutch to the Dirty Half Dozen.

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Owning cats coincided with me starting a blog and a part of me wonders if I was subconsciously trying to share my pain and suffering with the world. These six cats are undoubtedly naughty on a daily basis though I’m the only one that seems to realise this. To Mrs B they are six celestial beings that brings warmth and affection to all that come near them. I reached out to my readers through numerous posts about the cats and those endeavours have culminated in my latest book – Man vs Cat – due later this year.

The book is intended as an honest (some of it might be made up!) account of my experiences of living with these six cats. While my wife dotes on the Dirty Half Dozen, I spend each day in fear of them and what they may do to the house when left to their own devices. Our cats leave a path of destruction and devastation wherever they wander. I’d get more peace having the Incredible Hulk as a tenant. I have spent the last two or so years locking horns with the cats and trying to gain the upper hand. It hasn’t worked.

Cats are fascinating pets and it is hardly surprising that they have replaced dogs as the most popular choice. Among the feline’s greatest hits are the ability to look at you with utter contempt and malevolence, claim the best seat in the house leaving the owner to find an alternative spot and wreak domestic havoc in the form of assaults against the curtains, wallpaper and furniture. Nothing is sacred when it comes to cats and I don’t just mean the six that I live with.

Though I am constantly at war with our cats I do see the benefit of them. My wife, Donna, is much happier when they are around and though they put us through worse ordeals than a victim of the Jigsaw Killer in those Saw movies, I won’t deny the house wouldn’t be the same without them. When one of our cats, Kain, was seriously ill Donna and I sold our games consoles but most importantly our engagement and weddings rings to pay the vet bills. Kain is still here so it’s the best bit of business we’ve ever done.

Here’s to the arrogant, superior and condescending cats that we share our humble abodes with. Why we do this though will always be a mystery to me.

Sponsors

The World Animal Day Hop is being sponsored by Terri Giuliano Long and David M. Brown. Terri is the author of best-selling novel In Leah’s Wake, while David is the author of The Elencheran Chronicles.

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The rest of the hop

World Animal Day Blog Hop: Homage to the Dirty Half Dozen | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

Book Review: Hope Road – John Barlow

About Hope Road (2011)
  [image error] You can’t change your past. But what about your future?

John Ray, son of crime boss Antonio ‘Tony’ Ray, is the straight one of the family. With a successful business and a lifestyle to match, he wants nothing to do with his father’s criminal world. But what does that world want with him?

A young prostitute is found dead in John’s car, and Freddy Metcalfe, his best friend and employee, is framed for her death. Freddy denies everything but it’s an open and shut case: he’s going down for murder. John sets out to find the real killer.

But things get complicated. A stash of counterfeit money was also found in John’s car, and the police seem more interested in that than in the dead girl. Then Lanny Bride turns up; one of the north’s most ruthless criminals (and an old friend of the Ray family), Lanny is desperate to know who killed the girl. But why? Meanwhile, Freddy is too scared to talk to anyone, even his lawyer.

John’s police detective girlfriend, Denise Danson, has been warned off the case by her boss. But she doesn’t believe Freddy is guilty, and secretly helps John look for the murderer. The problem, though, is that uncovering the shocking truth about the girl’s death will force John to confront his own criminal past and risk destroying his future, as well as losing the only woman he’s ever loved.

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Review: Hope Road 

I worked in Leeds for four years so the prospect of a crime thriller set in the city was certainly one that had me interested from the start. John Barlow’s Hope Road focuses on a solitary murder and delves into the criminal underworld in North England where one man finds his past will simply not let go.

The primary character is John Ray, the son of crime boss Antonio “Tony” Ray, who is now in a home and his criminal days are over. John stayedout of the family business while his brother Joe was gunned down before him in the family’s second hand car dealership which formed a mask for their criminal activities. However, John has made the business legit and has won an award for his efforts. Things become complicated when a young woman is found dead in one of his cars, a stash of money is with her and the prime suspect is one of John’s staff, Freddy Metcalfe. To make things more complicated, John has an alibi in the form of his girlfriend, Detective Denise Danson, while a crime boss Lanny Bride also takes an interest in the murdered girl and wants answers. Having desperately tried to leave his past behind, John is thrust back into the dark and gritty criminal underworld in search of the truth.

Hope Road begins quickly and initially it seems Denise Danson may be our central character as she is contacted about a murder but is soon ordered by her superiors to remain off the case. As John’s alibi she cannot be involved but despite the suspicions of her peers, Denise doesn’t believe John has anything to do with the murder of a young woman, Donna. In turn, John is convinced Freddy is innocent, even after he is arrested and kept in custody for questioning. John’s personal investigation leads him to a hotel where Donna frequently visited and to two Ukrainians who John believes are the culprits for the murder.

As the mystery unfolds we have video footage from the hotel, different accounts of events, large stashes of money coming into the country and the ever growing suspicion and threat of the police as John tries to find the truth. His past proves hard to shake off even though John insists the life his father and brother led is not one he followed. John is well-educated and legitimate but somehow that isn’t enough for the law. With Freddy in custody and time running out, John finds help from Denise even though their relationship begins to show cracks, as well as another member of John’s staff – Connie. With Lanny Bride becoming involved though, can John solve the case before more blood is shed?

I enjoyed Hope Road. It was an intriguing murder mystery from start to finish with a small group of suspects for Donna’s murder. I failed to guess who the killer was but there were some surprising revelations towards the end of the novel. It was strange reading about parts of Leeds that I know and have seen with my own eyes and with this being part of a series of books, I will look forward to further instalments.

Hope Road is a good murder mystery that moves along at a fast pace and carefully unfolds the story of Donna’s last days and her death. A small group of suspects will keep the reader guessing and with John having a somewhat shady past you will be left wondering if he has been involved in any way.

Verdict: 4/5

(Book source: review received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review)

Book Review: Hope Road – John Barlow | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

Guest Post and Excerpt: School Daze – Sharon Mitchell

The Tweedlers are delighted to share a guest post from Sharon Mitchell, author of School Daze. Sharon has also agreed to post an excerpt from the book.

The Making of School Daze – Sharon Mitchell

Autism now affects one in every 54 boys in the United States. As hard as it is to watch the child struggle, autism’s effects are also felt by his family, teachers and classmates.

Every teacher will have a child with autism in her room. Every coach will have a child with autism on his team. Many families will experience autism in their home or neighborhood.

For the past decades I’ve been a teacher, counselor and consult in school systems. I’ve been autism consultant for my province in Canada. I know what it’s like form a professional point of view and also a personal one. We have a son with an autism spectrum disorder, although he’s older now and away at university.

When a parent, especially mothers, first learn of their child’s diagnosis, they scour books and the internet, searching for information on how to help their son or daughter. There is a lot of information out there, much of it by competent authorities. But after a hard day of work and family responsibilities, who wants to read a textbook? I have my doctoral degree in autism, have taught at university on this topic, and keep up with the research in the field. But even I get tired of reading weighty books.

Writers are admonished to show, don’t tell. Kids with autism learn best when shown rather than “talked at”. Why not write a book that shows how a family and a school help a little boy with autism? Does a book have to be hard slugging to learn new things? Does learning have to be tedious? What if you could just read a good story and still gain ideas to try?

But, with full-time jobs, a family, elder-care, plus teaching university classes, and doing volunteer work, who has time to write? Enter NaNoWriMo.

I’d heard about NaNo for years, but it all seemed too daunting. Write a novel in a month? Who are you kidding? I came across a little ebook that changed my mind. Lazette Gifford has written a wonderful little book that makes NaNo seem within reach for even those who are scared to try.

Last November I entered NaNo and had the time of my life. Although I’d written several dozen pieces for magazines, published hundreds of pieces at AllExperts.com and done academic writing, this was my first attempt at fiction. NaNo was freeing. To write that many words in four short weeks, I had to turn off my inner editor and just let go. It worked! The words just flew out of my fingers, easily surpassing the 50,000 word goal. But, then NaNo was over and the editing process began.

So, School Daze was born – a light read aimed at a general audience. It was fun for me to write and I hope fun for you to read. Yes, life with autism has it’s struggles, but there are strengths as well and the fun parts that any family experiences. The book’s full of the challenges inherent in autism plus strategies that make life easier for all concerned. It’s a story about a single dad doing the best he can.

After suddenly receiving custody of his five year old son, Ben must learn how to be a dad. That fact that he’d even fathered a child was news to him. Not only does this mean restructuring his sixty-hour work week and becoming responsible for another human being, but also Kyle has autism.

Enter the school system. Under the guidance (and bullying) of a gifted teacher, Ben and Kyle take tentative steps to becoming father and son.

Teacher Melanie Nicols sees Ben as a dead beat dad, but grudgingly comes to admire how he hangs in, determined to learn for his son’s sake. Her admiration grows to more as father and some come to rely on Melanie being a part of their lives.

Is it a feel good story? Well, sort of. In the end, the autism does not all go away. Instead, they struggle and grow and learn, plus, they do live happily ever after.

Excerpt: School Daze

The principal excused herself to get the paperwork started and left Ben alone with his thoughts. Unfortunately. That damn principal had said the word “autism”. How did she know? He hadn’t mentioned it.

Usually he was pretty good at paperwork. He was, after all an accountant and dealt in papers much of his waking life. But he’d never before registered a little boy in school. What sort of questions might he be asked? He already failed the test about custody papers. What else didn’t he know about his son?

Actually, a lot. He thought back to last night, his first night alone with Kyle. His son; he actually had a son. He remembered the shock when he first learned that he had a child. But back then, it had still been an abstract concept. Sure, he’d stepped up and supported him financially as soon as he learned of his existence, but that was about it. Deanna would not allow him to meet their son, saying it would be too confusing for Kyle. And, to be honest, Ben had not protested too hard. He had his own life, far, far away from where Kyle and Deanna lived in California His conscience told him it was enough to send money. Lots of money, considering the size of the child.

He had not given much thought to what it would have been like to live with Kyle day by day. Sure, Deanna had said that Kyle had autism and therefore needed all this expensive treatment in order to be cured. But what must life have been like for Deanna before treatment if this was the way Kyle was AFTER treatment?

Last night had been hell, just hell. Ben finally fell into bed exhausted. Then, he thought about it from Kyle’s point of view. Maybe it had not been so nice for him either.

Kyle was just a small boy. The kid didn’t know him from any stranger on the street. He’d never had such a long car ride either.

There’d been the hysterical call from Deanna saying that she couldn’t take it anymore. She was pregnant with Neil’s baby. Neil was her new husband. She had morning sickness, was exhausted and just could not cope with Kyle any longer. She had to concentrate on this new life she was creating and on her marriage. Kyle was just too much for her – for them. It was now Ben’s turn.

Before Ben could marshal his arguments and tell her how ridiculous this was, Deanna had hung up, sobbing. Ben assumed he’d hear from her next with apologies, saying she hadn’t meant it and all their lives would return to normal.

Instead, just after supper last night there was a knock at the door. A car idled at the curb. In front of him stood a woman and a small boy. If Ben hadn’t just talked to her on the phone, he would not have recognized Deanna. Her face was drawn and haggard. She’d aged years in the short six years since he’d last seen her when she moved to California, after amiably breaking it off with him.

That was no big shock. While they’d had a good run briefly, their ardor had paled quickly and they remained buddies with separate lives. He’d wished her well and not thought about her again until the phone call three years ago. Again, Deanna had called him sobbing. She’d told him they shared a son. Kyle had been born eight months after she left for California. Ben didn’t question if Kyle was his; Deanna had sobbed on.

Kyle was not a normal child, she said. What? He had autism. He spent his days screaming. He’d been just diagnosed and the treatment – THE treatment was ABA, Applied Behavior Analysis, the only proven treatment for autism, or so they told her. He needed this treatment if he even had a hope of being normal. Whatever normal was, Ben thought.

So, get it for him, Ben said. What’s the problem? Well, it seemed the problem was money. The treatment did not come cheap. It required forty hours a week of one on one treatment with a trained therapist. The cost was exorbitant.

Ben had paled when he heard the cost. But, this was his son, even if this was the first he had heard of him. An errant thought entered his mind. Was this really his son? How did he know? He pushed that notion away. His son, his responsibility.

About School Daze (2012)


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After suddenly receiving custody of his five year old son, Ben must learn how to be a dad. That fact that he’d even fathered a child was news to him. Not only does this mean restructuring his sixty-hour work week and becoming responsible for another human being, but also Kyle has autism. 

Enter the school system. Under the guidance (and bullying) of a gifted teacher, Ben and Kyle take tentative steps to becoming father and son.

Teacher Melanie Nicols sees Ben as a dead beat dad, but grudgingly comes to admire how he hangs in, determined to learn for his son’s sake. Her admiration grows to more as father and son come to rely on Melanie being a part of their lives. 

When parents, particularly mothers,receive the news that their child has autism, they spend countless hours researching the subject, usually at night, after an exhausting day. Teachers, when they learn that they’ll have a student with an autism spectrum dirorder, also try to learn as much as they can. This novel was written for such parents and teachers – a light read that still offers strategies and information on autism.

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About Sharon Mitchell


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Dr. Sharon A. Mitchell has worked as teacher, counselor, psychologist and consultant for several decades. Her Masters and Ph.D. degrees focussed on autism spectrum disorders and helping kids to reach as high a level of independence as possible.

In a March 2012 announcement, the Centers for Disease control released their latest statistics on autism. One in eighty-six American children has an autism spectrum disorder and one in every fifty-four boys. Every teacher will have a child with autism in their classroom. Every coach will meet a child with autism. If autism has not touched your family, it will affect your friends or neighbours.

When parents, especially mothers, receive the news that their child has autism, they spend countless hours researching the subject, usually at night, after an exhausting day. There is a lot of information out there, much of it by competent authorities. But after a hard day of work and family responsibilities, who wants to read a textbook?

Writers are admonished to show, don’t tell. Kids with autism learn best when shown rather than “talked at”. Why not write a book that shows how a family and a school help a little boy with autism? Does a book have to be hard slugging for the reader to learn new things? Does learning have to be tedious? What if you could just read a good story and still gain ideas to try?

So, the novel “School Daze” was born – a light read aimed at a general audience. Yes, life with autism has it’s struggles, but there are strengths as well and the fun parts that any family experiences. The book’s full of the challenges inherent in autism plus strategies that make life easier for all concerned. It’s a story about a single dad doing the best he can.

Guest Post and Excerpt: School Daze – Sharon Mitchell | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

Book Review: The Kure – Jaye Frances

About The Kure (2011)
[image error] “In vain thou shall use many medicines, but thou shalt not be kured. And even though you search for a virgin to lay upon her balm, there is no healing for you. You multiply your remedies in vain as your cries fill the earth, and you will stumble, one over the other, and both will fall down together.” – The Book of Eternal Regret

John Tyler, a young man in his early twenties, awakens to find a ghastly affliction taking over his body. When the village doctor offers the conventional, and potentially disfiguring, treatment as the only cure, John tenaciously convinces the doctor to reveal an alternative remedy—a forbidden ritual contained within an ancient manuscript called the Kure.

Although initially rejecting the vile and sinister rite, John realizes, too late, that the ritual is more than a faded promise scrawled on a page of crumbling paper. And as cure quickly becomes curse, the demonic text unleashes a dark power that drives him to consider the unthinkable—a depraved and wicked act requiring the corruption of an innocent soul.

Ultimately, John must choose between his desperate need to arrest the plague that is destroying his body, and the virtue of the woman he loves, knowing the wrong decision could cost him his life.

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Review: The Kure – Jaye Frances

For all the strength of mankind there are many things we fear and amongst the worst are diseases. I remember my history from school, college and university, especially the Black Death which terrorised Europe in the mid-14th century and reduced the population of England from 6 to less than 2 million. In Jaye Frances’ The Kure we have a nasty disease but not an epidemic here, more a solitary case for one unfortunate individual.

John Tyler is not having a good day when he wakes to find he has been infected by some kind of plague. Worse for poor John is the disease is visible around his private parts and is proceeding to spread and deform its victim. John seeks out the local doctor who suggests the very risky treatment of bleeding with the aid of leeches. However, there is an alternative treatment known as the Kure which is derived from a demonic text and it involves the use of an innocent. Becoming desperate John must choose between the conventional cure or the dark, alternative Kure.

You have to sympathise with poor John Tyler. The infection around his groin is described in gruesome fashion and not only is it both hideous it is extremely painful. John doesn’t know what to do to cure himself. He is concerned about the treatment the doctor is offering with leeches to drain him of the poison. The methods in the Kure are equally concerning. John must not only find an 18 year old virgin but she must be willing to take John’s manhood in her mouth until the affliction is gone! Not the kind of proposition you want to approach someone with! The only other alternative is for John to find a virgin six years younger than him, have her not know about his poisoning and to run naked with him beneath the rain on a moonlit night. With three options before him and John facing the prospecting of his body being deformed and ultimately poisoned he has a decision to make.

John’s struggle is well conveyed in the novel and you really do feel his pain. Men reading this may be inclined to cross their legs on occasion, such is the emphasis on John’s struggle. He delays treatment with the doctor and seeks out Sarah Sheridan, an eighteen year old virgin, and he plans to ask if she will perform the ritual to help cure him. However, John finds himself falling for Sarah and, unwilling to reveal his intentions, he ends up confessing his predicament. Surprisingly, Sarah, who believed John had come to court her, is eager to help him and looks into the solutions that the Kure has to offer. The question is can Sarah or the Doctor save John before it’s too late.

I enjoyed The Kure. I found John’s dilemma very intriguing and given the society he is in, the methods behind the Kure are tantamount to scandalous and causing severe outrage. Sarah is a great character, resourceful, independent and strong, determined to help John any way she can. Whether she succeeds is not for me to say of course.

The Kure is a good tale with the central character in the midst of the most awful predicament. The primitive methods of medicine conveyed here will make you grateful for the advances of today. It’s shocking to think what little options people once had.

Verdict: 4/5

(Book source: reviewer received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review)

Book Review: The Kure – Jaye Frances | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

Book Review: Gastien Part 1: The Cost of the Dream – Caddy Rowland

About Gastien Part 1: The Cost of the Dream (2011)
  [image error] In this first book of the Gastien series, young Gastien Beauchamp begins his journey from the farm to Paris with two goals in life. The first is to become an artist with his own studio, following his own rules. That is an almost impossible dream for a peasant with no money or formal training. Paris spits out talented men into the gutters every day. “Good” gets you nowhere. “Great” maybe gets you a bowl of soup.

The second is to become the greatest lover in France. That should be easy. With his stunning looks and willingness to learn, the women of Paris are about to be awakened in a way they have only dreamt about in the nineteenth century!

Gastien also has focus, drive, and raw, natural talent. With the dream burning inside of him, he is determined to succeed at any cost. Poor Gastien. If he could only know in advance what brutal struggles await him, he might turn around and go back home. 

Sometimes the “impossible” is possible. But the cost can be extremely high.

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Review: Gastien Part 1: The Cost of the Dream

I love the stories of artists that overcome extreme adversity and realise their dreams and bring countless masterpieces to the world. Caddy Rowland’s Gastien tells one such story of an artist in nineteenth century France. This is the first in a series of books with two further parts available at the time of writing.

The novel tells the story of Gastien, who is raised on a farm by an abusive father and a loving mother. As the eldest child, Gastien is expected to take over the family business but he doesn’t have the heart or desire for the work. Instead Gastien is a born artist and wants to go to Paris to be not just a successful artist but also a great lover to as many women as possible. Monogamy and long-term relationships are not on Gastien’s agenda, it is all about art and sex but can he survive the gritty streets of Paris?

This is a long and eventful story written in a style that moves the story along at a good pace. Gastien’s background is not a pleasant one. As the eldest of many children, he is supposed to take the reins and run the farm after his father but Gastien wants only to paint. His father deems this transgression to be akin to homosexuality and Gastien takes his share of beatings before finally leaving home and seeking his fortune in Paris. There are contrasting fortunes for Gastien. He needs money for supplies, food and a home but the French capital is an unforgiving place for young artists. While many men Gastien’s age are in education, Gastien is on the streets with only his wits and good looks to get him by. The longer he is on the streets, the less he can rely on his looks. Gastien sinks extremely low many times in the book and some of the things he has to go through are unpleasant to read.

Improving day by day with his art, Gastien is disciplined with the craft but he is also full of hormones and has little trouble finding his way into the beds of many grateful women. Though Gastien is undoubtedly a great lover, his attitude to women often makes him unappealing. Gastien is happy to satisfy women, something his contemporaries neglect to do, but once the sex is over Gastien can quickly discard women without a second thought. He does, however, form one meaningful relationship with a woman but this young artist is not an easy one for women to tame. As Gastien’s fortunes improve he takes a position with a rich family, painting their portraits and having the mother and two daughters lusting after him in the process. This is in the latter stages of the book and Gastien’s journey reaches one of its most brutal moments. The fact he continues to chase his dream is admirable but does he make it?

I enjoyed Gastien and fully intend to read the other parts in the series. Gastien is an unusual protagonist in that sometimes you will feel for him, other times you may frown upon his treatment of women. The sacrifices he makes for his art are admirable and there are moments when you will wonder how much more suffering he has to endure or whether he will fulfil that long-term goal of having his own studio. The later books promise even further insight in Gastien’s story and I am looking forward to those.

Gastien is an emotional journey of a young man with a dream he is determined to achieve. Along the way, Gastien endures starvation, poverty and when things are going well he enjoys the many pleasures of the women in Paris. Not always a likable character, Gastien’s story is still worth following.

Verdict: 4/5

(Book source: reviewer received a copy in exchange for a fair and honest review)

Book Review: Gastien Part 1: The Cost of the Dream – Caddy Rowland | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

$700 Giveaway: Raking in the Cash – October 1-14

The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder and Christmas will soon demand we start emptying our wallets! Thankfully, the Tweedlers are joining in with the Raking in the Cash Giveaway, offering two great prizes ($500 and $200).  Good luck!

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$700 Giveaway: Raking in the Cash – October 1-14 | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

Guest Post: The Best Laid Plans – Heather Jopling

The Tweedlers welcome Heather Jopling, a prolific writer, who shares the story of how a desire to bring Jim Steinman’s music to the stage led to the creation of her own musical, Mythos: The Crimson Chorus.

The Best Laid Plans – Heather Jopling

I was going to turn Bat Out of Hell into a musical. That was the plan. After the world-wide successes of Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You and Rock of Ages, I was astounded that no one had thought to tap into the music of Jim Steinman. While researching, I found that Steinman himself had been trying to put together something since 2006, but nothing yet had come of it. Great, I thought. I’ll do up a treatment, send it to Mr. Steinman and we’ll be good to go.

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I spent hours and hours in my attic office listening to everything Steinman had written – I dreamed in 70s orchestral rock/ 80s power ballad technicolour for weeks. I roughed out a plot line involving supernatural creatures (Steinman has a lot of blood and wolf imagery in his work). I had an elaborate chart showing which songs might fit perfectly with which plot points. I started researching how one would go about getting the rights to Jim Steinman’s music. Apparently… one doesn’t. Turns out Steinman got burned pretty badly when he attempted to put on a musical on Broadway in 2003, consequently he is loathe to give up control of his work. I completely understand this.

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I had a bit of a conundrum though. I had already roughed out my plot. Twisting the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast to incorporate vampires and vengeful Greek goddesses I had a good sense of where I thought my story could go. No longer worried about making Steinman’s music fit into my plot, I decided to take a creative leap. I wrote the lyrics for a song. Then I wrote another… and another and after two months, I had the first rough draft to a dramatic rock opera. For a gal who usually embraces camp and humour, I had taken a complete writing shift and created a serious musical. Sure there were elements of sarcasm and irony in the secondary characters, but first and foremost it was a dramatic rock musical. A dramatic VAMPIRE rock musical. Now, just a year later, we have already done our first workshop of the material and are promoting the show to NY producers and directors– not bad for what had been, in the beginning, a writing exercise.

About Heather Jopling

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Heather Jopling has written one-woman shows, diversity-friendly children’s books, articles, novels, screenplays and now a rock opera. Heather was an Air Force brat, born in Prince Edward Island, Canada and has travelled extensively through North America. She now lives and writes in a small-town in Ontario with her husband, daughter and three cats, Minuit, Steve and Lola.  Heather’s vampire rock opera, Mythos: The Crimson Chorus, was workshopped this August in Toronto.

Guest Post: The Best Laid Plans – Heather Jopling | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

Guest Post: Learn from Me How to Avoid a Self-Publishing Calamity – Lenore Skomal

Lenore Skomal joins us today to talk candidly about how the should-be-dream-weekend of 17,500 Kindle downloads turned into a nightmare when formatting errors came to light…

Learn from Me How to Avoid a Self-Publishing Calamity – Lenore Skomal

17,500 readers downloaded my Kindle version of Bluff, my debut novel, thanks to the free giveaway promotion KDP Select offers those who wish to sign up. That was the count halfway through day three of the promotion.

I wish I could have enjoyed that number. But I couldn’t. I was too busy panicking about the fact that so many people had downloaded an unreadable version of my book.

Unreadable you say? How could that be? Especially with all the checks and balances in place when you upload a file to be formatted for ebook. I might say, you’re right about that. But I’m a rusher. I want things done yesterday. And sometimes, despite my parochial school upbringing, which made me a good soldier, you’d think I’d know better than to just strike out on my own, half-cocked. But sometimes, my ego gets the better of me, and even though I have Sister Mary Denise always in my head, warning me about being too big for my britches, I do give into my darker side.

Instead of having my book professionally converted into the correct file, I thought I would cut corners and just upload the PDF. Hey, how bad could it be? I didn’t imagine that readers would mind a few weird page breaks.

Even writing that makes me nauseous. How bad could it be? I’ll answer my own question for you. Extremely bad. Imagine the worst possible scenario in launching your first, hopefully break out novel. Especially when your strongest desire is to make this a premium reading experience for them. After all, as I have learned over the 30 years of writing for a living, it’s all about the reader.

Yeah, except in this case. In this case, it was all about the budget. Mistake. Big one.

It was an offhand phone call to my sister that set the nightmare in motion. Her best friend picked up the phone instead and after a few minutes of happy chitchat, I asked her if she had read BLUFF yet. I then heard the words that shot through me like a Medusa stare. “I downloaded it but there’s something really off with the formatting. I can’t read it at all,” she said. My heart turned to stone and my stomach launched out of my body into the chasm of panic.

I rushed to my computer and checked my Amazon reviews. Yep. There they were. Two reviews tanking the Kindle version of the novel that readers had downloaded free, saying they couldn’t read it. In sheer reactive mode, I stopped the free giveaway and checked my numbers on KDP Select. 17,500 people had downloaded the corrupted version of my book. I don’t have heart problems, but I swear I started to feel pressure in my chest.

Immediately I put out an all-points alert to my marketing consultant, Pavarti, who works under the umbrella of Novel Publicity. As we narrowed through what exactly happened, it became abundantly clear that the formatting for the Kindle version, which I did myself, was the wrong one. You can’t upload a PDF version of your book and expect it to be readable.

I tried to cut corners and despite advice from the professionals, I thought I knew better. Well, I didn’t. I also didn’t know so many readers would download my book. But I barely enjoyed this victory, because of the pickle I was in. Thanks to a recommendation from my marketing friend, I contacted a professional (Rik Hall, he’s great) and he converted the file to the necessary formats. He even uploaded it for me, since I had developed some serious cold feet about even doing the most menial of tasks online. Panic has a way of doing that to someone.

But uploading a revised file of a book on KDP doesn’t mean the problem is fixed. I had to first unpublish the book to stop the bleeding, which meant no one else would have to suffer through the horrors of trying to decipher what truly looked like a novel in broken English. Or worse, something generated by a computer that you might see in your spam file.

With the blood draining from my face, leaving me tingly and feeling faint, I posted comments to the negative reviews, apologizing for the mistake and explaining that anyone who downloaded the free version would be able to get the new version free as well. I would do anything in order to rectify this human error, which was now costing my book review stars.

Thankful beyond belief for Pavarti, who headed up damage control, I didn’t have a complete breakdown. And that’s why you hire professionals; for just such an emergency. Although, I am fairly certain Pavarti would have liked to spend her Saturday doing something other than contacting all the websites that promoted my free giveaway and working hard to get ahead of this crisis. She took over responding to those on Amazon who, in their frustration, slammed the technology of the book even though they couldn’t read the content. I can’t tell you how comforting it is to have someone who knows what she’s doing take over.

In the process, we learned that it’s almost impossible to contact Kindle Direct Publishing directly. We had hoped to get them to email those who had downloaded the corrupt Kindle version and tell them that the new one would be available for them to download soon. No dice. I still haven’t heard back from them, other than a vague email asking for more details. The problem with that, is when I hit “reply” to give them the requested information, the email was promptly returned, labeled undeliverable.

Eventually an email will go out to everyone who has purchased the book, letting them know that the updated file is available. How long that will take though, is anyone’s guess.

I still haven’t awakened from the nightmare quite yet, but I have some perspective now. And if I can offer advice to any other Indie publishers it’s this. One, you got to spend money to make money, so don’t cut corners on the important stuff. Two, when trying to navigate your ship in this whole new world, trust those who have the maps.

 

About Bluff (2012)
[image error] “To the medical world, I was a host body, surviving only to bring a new life into the world. And while I wanted to die more than anything in the world, I never wanted this. No, I never wanted to cease to exist. This was the worst death of all.”

Jude Black lives in that in-between, twilight place teetering on death but clinging to life in order to bring her baby into this world. Only she knows the circumstances surrounding her mysterious fall off the bluff that landed her in the hospital being kept alive by medical intervention. Only she knows who the father of her baby is. In this poignantly crafted literary novel, the mystery unfolds and the suspense builds as the consequences of Jude’s decisions threaten to reveal everyone’s deceptions, even her own. BLUFF offers a sensitive look at essential questions such as the value of human life, the consciousness of those in a coma and the morality of terminating life support. At the core is the story of a tragically misunderstood woman who finds peace, acceptance, understanding and even love on her deathbed.

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About Lenore Skomal
 

[image error]Lenore Skomal is the author of the recently released novel Bluff. As an author, Lenore wants you to eat her books. She wants you to chew them in your teeth, savor them on your tongue, breathe them in, and feel her words in your skin. Her passionate desire is to touch your heart, inspire you, and luxuriate in the world of the written word. Winner of multiple awards for blogging, literature, biography and humor, Lenore Skomal’s catalogue spans many genres. With 30 years of writing experience, over 17 books published and a daily blog, the consistent themes in her work are the big issues the human experience and adding depth and voice to the intricacies involved in living a multi-dimensional existence.


Related articles (external)

J.K. Rowling eBook’s Formatting Disaster
Skomal tries her hand at fiction
The Rebirth of a Book…and a Challenge to My Sanity
Loading to Kindle – Self publishing
Guest Post: Why I went Indie by Lenore Skomal

Guest Post: Learn from Me How to Avoid a Self-Publishing Calamity – Lenore Skomal | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

Guest post: Notes From a Very Small Island, or I Wanna Live in a Log Cabin and Write – Rachael Preston

We’re delighted to welcome Rachael Preston today, author of The Fishers of Paradise. Rachael joins us today to share the story of her move to the island of Saturna.

Notes From a Very Small Island, or I Wanna Live in a Log Cabin and Write – Rachel Preston

“We should go live on Saturna.” Ian was on the phone to his sister Peg, who has been part of a hippie land cooperative on Saturna, one of a collection of small islands between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia, since 1974. We’d been grumbling about being in a rut and almost as soon as I’d given voice to the idea, it began to grow on me. Secluded and spectacularly beautiful, the playground of orcas, sea lions, seals and bald eagles, Saturna had to be the perfect place to live, the perfect place to write. We could grow our own food and keep chickens, maybe even graduate to a cow or two. Sheep. Spin wool, buy a loom. The whole back-to-the-land dream. I was tearing up at the thought of all we could achieve, the adventures we were going to have, the rat race we were going to leave behind.

“Tell Peg. Peg,” I said, raising my voice so she could hear me on the other end of the line, “we want to live on Saturna.” Peg laughed. I think. She must have heard that kind of thing before.

Saturna. Southernmost of the Southern Gulf Islands, British Columbia. North of the San Juan Islands, WA. Resident population: 350 (I think that’s including the sheep). Industry: none. Average age: 60ish. Did I know these things at the time? No. As a sometime visitor to Saturna I knew the island had two stores, a dark dingy pub and a lot of trees. Not a lot to go on. Peg, who commuted every weekend from her job and her other life in Vancouver, said she wasn’t using her cabin anymore as her Saturna boyfriend had his own house.

Peg’s cabin. I had fond memories of splinters in my feet from the plywood floor, hanging the black shower bag outside the back door and running out of warm water with soap still in my hair, pink insulation poking out around the frameless windows and doors, Ian stung by a sleepy wasp carried in on the firewood, the recalcitrant futon sofa bed. I’d had my first editorial discussion on Tent of Blue, my first novel, from Peg’s cabin, trying to picture the woman who held the key to my literary future while I twirled the phone cord nervously and watched a pod of whales blowing and breaching as they passed by. (Okay, I made the whales up.) Peg’s cabin would be a good stop-gap. We could stay there for a few months while we got on our feet. Then we’d buy our own place. I don’t recall her asking us what we intended to do once we were on Saturna.

Little more than fifteen months later we were driving west across Canada, uhaul in tow, dog perched atop sleeping bags and pillows in the back seat. I’d chucked my precious creative writing teaching gigs and resigned as Chair of gritLIT, Hamilton’s Literary Festival. Ian had said goodbye to printing and we’d sold most of our antique furniture along with our really cool Victorian house with inground pool and the kind of great open kitchen/dining-room layout that lends itself to great parties (and oh did we have some great parties there).

A week before we were due to leave steeltown, boxes of vetted stuff piled on the dining-room floor in the shape of a uhaul tow-behind, one of the new owners of Saturna’s Lighthouse Pub called, having heard from Peg that Ian had years of restaurant management experience. They needed help. Badly. He even offered to drive our things out so we could fly and shave ten days off our trip. Ian’s dreams of fishing and whittling wood vanished in an instant. He was full on publican from the day we arrived. I was hired to clean, which made my mother proud. Master’s Degree in English Literature, and I was cleaning toilets.

I’ve since graduated to bartending. I’m the face you see when you come in the door, pulling pints, taking orders for fish and chips, flogging my books over the bar (much brighter now, thanks to renovations). It’s been five years. We’re still in Peg’s cabin. I haven’t written any more (and possibly less) than I did when we lived in Hamilton. We don’t own a cow, sheep or chickens and I have just about given up trying to grow vegetables in the dark, damp lee of a mountain. And in the middle of winter when the sky is hanging around my shoulders and the dog towels are wet and muddy, and the firewood is too damp to do anything other than spit and smoke, and it’s dark by 4 p.m. (very dark, Saturna boasts one streetlamp and it’s at the ferry terminal), and everywhere you turn someone is grumbling because Ian cut the pub’s hours and beer costs more than it did in 1981 and yet another bylaw has gone too far or not far enough and ferry fares have increased again, I wonder not only what I’m doing here but how on earth I’ve managed to stay as long as I have.

And then spring happens along, dragging a reluctant summer in its wake. Doe-eyed fawns gambol alongside their mothers, and the harbour seals begin slapping the water in courtship, sea lions chorus and sometimes the whales do go by, and the sun warms the cedars and grass creating the sweetest most arresting scent Mother Nature ever dreamed up and I remember why we came here. And when people flag me down on the road to ask “Is the pub open?” I can forgo my sarcasm and flash them a genuine smile. I can even tolerate the odd, “You know what you should do…” in regards to the pub, because the community here is built on friendship, sharing and cooperation. I might be the island’s bartender, but I’m also their resident novelist, and their pride in and support of me is more than I could ask of any group.

About Fishers of Paradise (2012)

There’s a power to be mined in keeping secrets. 

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When a handsome drifter settles in the boathouse colony, a ragtag collection of shacks that line the shores of Cootes Paradise on Dundas Marsh, Egypt Fisher and her mother both fall under his spell. No one expects Egypt’s gambling con-man father to return after a six-year absence. But he does and he’s furious. Unhinged by jealousy and a harrowing brush with the local mafia, he reveals a family secret that threatens to destroy the relationship between mother and daughter. When Egypt tries to turn the situation to her own advantage, her lies set in motion a series of events that collide with the ambitions of a local politician who has set his sights on beautifying the city’s north west entrance and wiping the boathouse colony from the map.

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Rachael Preston
 Rachael Preston is the author of three novels, Tent of Blue, 2002, and The Wind Seller, 2006, both with Goose Lane Editions, and The Fishers of Paradise, 2012, a kindle ebook available on amazon.

A native of Yorkshire, England, Rachael has a Master’s degree in English Literature from Queen’s University and also studied at Emily

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Carr College in Vancouver. After graduation she worked freelance as an editor and copywriter and spent two years as an ESL professor at Asia University in Tokyo. She has taught English in Vancouver, London and the Czech Republic. More recently, she spent eleven years teaching in college and university creative writing programmes. In 2001 Rachael won the Arts Hamilton Literary Award and was nominated for the Journey Prize. In 2006 she won The City of Hamilton Arts Award, Literary, for The Wind Seller and contribution to the arts in that city.

Currently Rachael lives on Saturna Island, British Columbia, where she writes and tends bar.

 

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Guest post: Notes From a Very Small Island, or I Wanna Live in a Log Cabin and Write – Rachael Preston | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave