Gotta Kobo? Here’s a Bargain

Starting June 24 at 12:00am EST, Tales from the Escarpment (or Nearby) will be available on sale for -!! $2.99 !! Wowie-wowzer!! Holy-Moley!!!

The sale will end at 11:59pm EST on July 1.

And, if you have Kobo Plus, it is absolutely free!

Gotta Library Card? Here’s Another Bargain.

If you live in St. Catharines, Ontario, you can find ‘The Cottages at the Cape – Margie’s Summer Getaway’, ‘The Burin Girl’, and ‘Tales from the Escarpment (or Nearby)’ in the catalogue of the Public Library. on their website.

Folks who make use of the Libby library app and their library cards can find ‘The Cottages at the Cape – Margie’s Summer Getaway’ and ‘The Burin Girl’ listed on OverDrive. Also, you can ask your local library to avail themselves of both those books right now, and ‘La Veuve Michel – Madeleine Doucet Richard of Acadia’ and ‘Tales from the Escarpment (or Nearby)’ in the near future from the same source – OverDrive. OverDrive serves as digital content distributor to 88,000 libraries in over 100 countries. No doubt a library near you is one of them. Free, baby. (Just sayin’.)

For Two Weeks Only (give or take a day)!

Load up your Kindle with ‘Tales from The Escarpment (or Nearby)’ for $2.99, starting soon!

Tales from the Escarpment (or Nearby) is a collection of short stories inspired by the lives of Baby-Boomers of the Niagara Region. A force to be reckoned with in their prime, the characters in these stories still exert influence, culturally and economically, as they age. And despite aging, they are determined to call the shots. They, like the ‘Slow-dancin’ Blue Haired Lady, practice self-determination even in the face of dementia! At favourite watering holes, like ‘Pudgies’, the music just gets better and better because geriatric musicians really know their stuff. The stories illuminate vivacious people with a zest for life and a continued appetite for experiences. Some stories highlight the value and reliability of long-term relationships. And other stories, like ‘What Paulie Took Away’, reveal the intersections where Boomer and other generations collide.

For a taste of what’s inside, read the story ‘Regrets, I’ve Had a Few…’ posted on this website.

Illustration from ‘Regrets, I’ve Had a Few…’: Izzy and her confounding nemesis at the food court.

Kudos to Indie-author Elvira McKenna!

Elvira McKenna is a Niagara-region author who recently published her debut novel ‘Illusions’, a beautifully-crafted novel of romantic suspense. She enjoyed a successful Book Expo on June 7th, and is busy working on her sequel. If you’re a fan of clever dialogue, perfect lover/heroes, and incorrigible villains, you’re going to love Illusions!

Illusions is available at Illusions: McKenna, Elvira R.F.: 9798250829311: Books – Amazon.ca

Are You Hungry? I’ve Got a Couple of Gems for You!

Click on ‘Recipes’ to find a new soup and a new salad to add to your repertoire. They’re both tried and true and delicious! Either is hearty enough to serve on its own and stretchable enough to serve as part of a more complicated multi-course meal.

Afterwards, click on ‘Short Stories’ for a new selection from my collection “Tales from the Escarpment – or Nearby”.

You Just Never Know

AI-generated image of witchy late-night internet trolling for signs of life.

Sometimes when I’m bored, I google myself. Don’t be judgey now – you should try it sometime. It can be enlightening. I found out for instance, that there is a terrific yoga teacher with my name right here in St. Catharines, and my old Indeed profile from my days of working at John Ross & Sons is still kicking around. Really ought to update that. I’ll put it on the list of other things to do when I’m bored.

Anyhow, I’ve found that once your book or books have been on the market for a while, listings for them show up in some unexpected places. It is common knowledge that Amazon sells your books internationally so it was fun but not unexpected to find me available for sale in places like Ireland, England, India, Japan and Australia. For sale, mind you. Not necessarily selling! Then there were actual, physical booksellers offering my stuff in Great Britain and Australia. Wasn’t expecting that!

But the discovery that made me say WTF was the listing for ‘The Cottages at the Cape – Margie’s Summer Getaway” on the Sacramento, California Walmart Business website under:

Shop by Industry – Education – k-12 Education – k-12 Library

Have you read it? If you have you know it’s not for kindergarteners. I hope someone in charge reads it before shelving it, that’s all I can say.

One More Rhubarb Recipe

We gave this one 10 out of 10 on the salivation register. Yep, we often do that when we try something new. It’s an aide-memoire for us old folk, so that we won’t waste time and resources (resources are costly these days!) repeating a recipe that is meh! or just plain awful. It’s called Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp.

If you’d like to try it, click on ‘Recipes ‘ in the ribbon menu above, then click on ‘Desserts’.

It’s Rhubarb Season!

It’s rhubarb season so get it while you can! This week I’ll post some yummy rhubarb recipes, the first of which is the rich and delicious RHUBARB CHEESECAKE!!

The second is the easy and dreamy RHUBARB CUSTARD BARS from our friend Nancy’s kitchen. The rhubarb was straight out of her garden! You can freeze rhubarb to use later, so don’t hesitate to buy or grow a whole lot of it.

Click on ‘Recipes’ in the main menu and navigate to ‘Desserts’, and then to the recipe you want.

Marketing and Why I Don’t So Much…

Simple, really. I’ll be 75 this year, and chances are pretty good that within the next 5 or so years, I’ll be dead or demented. Hey, just being realistic here! No need to feel squeamish about it. Why spend my precious time tilting at windmills?

The thing is, writing is a joy and a life-affirming activity, even when the subject matter gets a bit grim – another consequence of aging: the blinders are off.

I’d simply rather write than market what I write.

But, if it’s free and I don’t have to spend much time doing it? I’m good with that. So here’s what I’d like you to do:

If you’ve read one of my books, and you like it, please visit your vendor’s website and leave a review. Doesn’t have to be much, as long as it’s positive. If you hated the book, you can keep that mother to yourself. No, just kidding, you can hate it too as long as how you express that falls within the site’s guidelines.

Here’s what Kindle says:

“To submit a review, customers can find the book in Your Orders or go to the reviews section of the book page and select Write a product review. After they submit a review, Amazon Community team will check if it meets the Community Guidelines.

Customer reviews appear in Amazon Author Central 24–48 hours after they’re entered. This gives us a chance to check that the reviews meet the Community Guidelines“

Here’s what Kobo says:

  1. Go to Kobo.com.
  2. Sign in to your account.
  3. Open your account details with one of these options, depending on what you see:
    • Click My Account next to theProfile icon Profile icon at the top right of the page.
    • Click the Menu icon Menu icon at the top left of the page, then click My Account next to theProfile icon Profile icon.
  4. Click My Books.
  5. Click the Three dots menu icon More icon beside the book that you’d like to manage.
  6. Select from the menu:
  7. Write a Review: Share your review about the book with other Kobo customers. (Italics are mine)

THANK YOU!!