Written Words, a blog for readers
No longer invisible: Ivan Baidak
Author, IT specialist and peripatetic This is a very special post: a conversation with Ivan Baidak, author of Invisible and five other books. Invisible has recently been published in English by Canadian publisher Guernica Editions of Hamilton, Ontario. I met Ivan five years ago on a trip to California for a writer’s conference in Russian […]
Not a Black Friday post
As winter teases us here in Ottawa, snowing and freezing and then treating us to warm sunshine, followed by freezing rain, I think of the looming winter in Ukraine. People there facing sub-zero temperatures without electricity, gas, or even running water. Yet the Ukrainian people continue to defy the Russian invasion. They’re committed to resisting, […]
Why Hallowe’en? Because we love to see fear in the mirror
COVID. War. Totalitarianism. Pandemic. Climate change. Terrorism. Nuclear war. Judging from hyperbole in social media, we are out-and-out terrified of these things. Just consider the rhetoric around the use of “tactical” nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Will he? Won’t he? Should we? The job of writers of fantasy and speculative fiction is to reflect our audience’s fears back […]
First day free: Army of Worn Soles + 50 more ebooks
It’s the first of the month, and today you can download Book One of the Eastern Front Trilogy free, along with 50 more books as I’m participating in Authors XP’s First Day promo. Get them here: https://authorsxp.com/first-day-free-books AuthorsXP.com’s FIRST DAY FREE EVENT Free books on the first day of every month! 60+ FREE BOOKS – […]
Re-launch tour: Sunset Rising
This week, I’m participating in the blog tour for the trilogy by fellow Canadian fantasy writer, S.M. McEachern. I read this book a number of years ago, and liked it. And now, S.M. is promoting the whole trilogy with a blog tour. First, enjoy this excerpt from Book One in her series, which presents a […]
The second episode is LIVE!
Beyond Barbarossa, episode 2: The twisted, evil, inside-out rom-com That’s right. My venture into the world of podcasting is not a one-time leap. The second episode is now live on all the major podcasting platforms: Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher and more. Soon, I’ll write a post about my learning curve. But first, I have to […]
Win detective and mystery ebooks and paperbacks—including 2 by me
eBook & Paperback Sweepstakes! (2) Winners of eBook "Gift Baskets" of ALL ebooks Other Winners of individual ebooks or paperbacks (randomly selected) I’ve entered two mysteries in this month’s mystery/detective multi-author sweepstakes. Just by entering your email address, you could net yourself 26 great e-books AND four paperbacks! Time is running out, so click, type […]
Sunday samples: a double dose special for Father’s Day
81 years ago on Wednesday, June 22, Nazi Germany launched the biggest land invasion in human history: Operation Barbarossa, its drive into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This began the biggest and bloodiest part of the Second World War in Europe, by an order of magnitude. On June 22, 2022, episode one of Beyond […]
Preview: Beyond Barbarossa
We have a trailer! You can now listen to a preview of the upcoming podcast, Beyond Barbarossa: The history of the Eastern Front of World War II. It’s available on Apple Podcasts , Amazon Music/Audible and the Podbean and Listen Notes apps, and soon will be on Google Play, Spotify, TuneIN + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, […]