Come get your free book!

In the spirit of the holiday (and good ol' American self-promotion), I'm giving away free copies of my book for the next two weeks.  Sometime between today and January 6, if you head on over to the Smashwords page, you can enter the following code: JE53P and get a free digital copy in the format of your choice.  It's DRM free, so pass the word, enjoy and have a happy holiday.

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The Christmas Tree Story

The holidays have become a lot more complicated since I was a kid.  Maybe that’s the case for everyone, maybe it isn’t.  I know that it used to be about that perfect amalgam of excitement, anticipation and the warm safety of being home.  Even in the darkest parts of my childhood, when we weren’t sure if there was going to be a roof over our heads the next month or food on the table the next day, there was always that sense of magic and well-being. 

As I got older, things shifted.  I lost that sense of home, except in the part of it that I carried with me from those more innocent times.  Some of them were spent alone, some of them hungry, some of them in darker places than I, thankfully, had known back then.  Lately, it seems that we’ve forgotten that the holidays are meant to be a time to bring us closer together, to show us the best of humanity.  Instead, we seem to focus on the worst of it, the baser aspects of greed, envy and intolerance.

Even in these times, maybe more so now, I hold to the memories of better days to protect me from the cynicism that seems to have overtaken us.  I remember the goodness in people, in what my grandma used to call the Christmas spirit, though I’ve seen it in celebrants of all faiths, and in those of none.  This is one of the most valuable of those and it’s the only gift this humble wordsmith can give to you.

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A Thought: On Being Broken

Love isn't a matter of finding someone who isn't broken.  We're all broken, in one way or another.  It's just a matter of finding someone whose broken pieces fit ours. Read more!

A Thought: On Bookends

Bookends are for people who can't commit. Read more!

Old Words...

There's a story here, but since it isn't mine alone to tell, I'll leave it untold.

“You are my dream come true.”

Long ago words in long dead letters

Scrawled across the page, hastily,

On a Christmas Eve,

The last of a decade,

A century, a millennium,

A life.

Obscured a year in years

A voice across time

Mine speaking for his

One last time,

Like so many before,

Drawing tears from eyes

That cannot cease glancing back

Asking why.

I can’t answer,

Not this time.

I tell as much truth

As I gauge she can take

Leaving her shuddering but sated

With our shared ghost.

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Snow Patrol - Live from Rolling Stone

I've liked Snow Patrol since their first album, way back when, and their sound and depth has grown over time with me.  They did an acoustic set from their new album, Fallen Empires, yesterday down at the Rolling Stone studios.  From what I've heard, it'll probably be my new favorite album.  The themes of This Isn't Everything You Are and New York especially resonated with me.  Check it out here: Snow Patrol - Live at Rolling Stone

Afterwards, run on over and pre-order the new CD: Read more!

A Glaring Blind Spot

For Christmas, my parents both wanted MP3 players filled with music.  For my mom, that's not tough.  She's like me and, even if she isn't familiar with something, will listen to it anyway.  My stepfather, though, has pointed out that in my expansive, eclectic knowledge of music, I have a glaring blind spot with which I was okay until now.  He wants...disco. Help. Read more!

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

It’s a post-Twilight market.  Genre fiction these days, especially the books aimed at teens, is saturated with what amounts to little more than trashy romance in a fantastical setting, populated by one-dimensional characters who are often horrifying stereotypes playing out “plots” that serve no purpose except to put them in one sexually tense situation after another.  It’s always refreshing to find a new voice that is both willing and able to defy the market’s expectations of what sells in favor of fresh, compelling storytelling and well-developed characters.  What’s more, to find an author who speaks to teens without talking down to them.  Kendare Blake does just that in Anna Dressed in Blood.

The story follows the adventures of the uniquely named Theseus Cassio, or just Cas, for short.  Having inherited his deceased father’s athame and talent for being able to slay the non-living, he and his mother move from town to town where he seeks out and destroys those restless spirits which seek to do others harm.  Those who do not, which are the majority, are left alone.  When a source sends the pair to Thunder Bay, Ontario, he faces his greatest and most intriguing challenge yet in the form of a six-decade old ghost named Anna who is stronger, faster and vastly more powerful than anything he’s faced in the past.

While Blake’s novel pays loving, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, homage to shows like Buffy and Supernatural, it by no means rehashes old territory without adding to the mix a bit of its own flavor.  From the beginning, it’s apparent that she’s come up with a rich mythology and cosmology for her world, the kind of groundwork necessary to give any fantasy a breath of reality.  As well, she doesn’t pander to her audience.  Life isn’t easy, but it isn’t chockfull of needless angst.  Cas is exactly the kind of kid you’d expect him to be, having lived the life he has, for better and worse.  The side characters, even the ghost, Anna, are all given the same loving treatment.

The story itself is paced perfectly.  While it does contain the kind of romance you’d expect in any novel dealing with a teenage protagonist, it does so in a realistic manner and never for a moment sacrifices plot for pander.  Blake pulls no punches, either, when it comes to violence.  It has real consequences.  People get hurt.  When they get knocked around, they don’t just spring back up and keep going.  The reality of it enhances the experience.

All in all, it’s a fantastic read.  And while it does have a fair bit of the kind of violence and gore you’d expect from the genre, it’s handled in a mature fashion and would still be a good choice for older teens and adults alike.  

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New Skill #2 - Origami

Turns out that paper folding isn't the easiest thing in the world.  There's an entire nomenclature to be learned (which I'm picking up) and it takes a delicacy of touch that I'm slowly developing.  It's incredibly meditative and it has the advantage of constantly reinforcing learning, as you're left with a neat thing at the end and you can see the growth of skill in fairly quick increments. These are my works, starting with my first attempt at a swan (yeah, yeah), then a penguin, a bunny, a whale, a frog (who actually hops!) and ending with my most recent, a duck.
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