It’s a blustery day here at the corner of William and George streets. Not ideal conditions for selling books outdoors. Gusts whip open the covers of books, scatter bookmarks and postcards, and forget about putting up a poster. Even the notebook I put out for people to enter their names in a draw for a […]
Happy Canada Day, readers! As our country’s 151st birthday falls on Sampleday—I mean, Sunday—this year, here’s a sample from a story about a great Canadian returning home after a decade, and a world war being away. This excerpt from Walking Out of War (Book 3 of the Eastern Front Trilogy) describes Maurice Bury’s first attempt […]
Writing can go fast, and then you run headfirst into a wall: how did ancient people live? What did they eat? What kind of clothes did they wear? What were their houses like? This gets more challenging the more obscure you get, particularly when you’re dealing with pre-literary cultures. I’m deep into writing The Triumph […]
By now, avid readers probably have heard that Amazon is going to cancel the Kindle World program. As of the end of July, all seven of my Lei Crime, Jet and Sydney Rye Kindle World books will no longer be available. Reminder: Kindle World Kindle World is, or was, a program where authors could write […]
11:30: All set up Never open with the weather, said Elmore Leonard. Okay. Now that I’ve opened, I can tell you that it’s a beautiful, clear, sunny and hot day in Stittsville, Ontario. This is my second year at this event, just a few kilometres down the bicycle trail from my home in Kanata. No, […]
This week’s sampler is from the first wine country mystery, Wildfire. Chapter 6: Evacuation Tara stuffed her laptop into her duffel bag and grabbed a couple of other personal items. As she followed Greg and Alex to the winery, she hit her parents’ speed-dial on her phone. Her phone issued a strange tone. She glanced […]
On this beautiful Sunday morning, I’m sharing another taste of California Wine Country mystery. Here is part of the evacuation chapter from Wildfire. Tara stuffed her laptop into her duffel bag and grabbed a couple of other personal items. As she followed Greg and Alex to the winery, she hit her parents’ speed-dial on her […]
This week’s sample is from my latest book, Wildfire, the first wine country mystery. Chapter 3: Wine and a woman At last, it’s over. A full day of Chef Donald’s abuse. Not to mention harassment. Oh, yes, and working my ass off in a kitchen. Now I remember why I decided against being a chef […]
Enjoy a taste of California wine … country mystery. Wildfire is the first in a series! Chapter 3: Orientation Tara sipped from a steaming mug and stepped out the door. Greg and Alex were still sleeping, or at least quiet behind their closed bedroom doors. They don’t have to start work until afternoon. I guess I’ll […]
Real evil reaches depths that most writers who want to appear credible would never dream of—not if they wanted to be taken seriously. Last weekend, families carried out two terrorist bombings in Indonesia. Parents and children. On Saturday, May 12, a family of six suicide-bombed three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city. Dad drove a […]