M is for (Not Murder) by Helen Henderson

 

Fire and Redemption by Helen Henderson
Click the title for purchase information

I am doing the A to Z Challenge again this year. M could be for murder if you write mysteries. Or M could be for Medraut, the colorful dragon on the cover of Fire and Redemption. While sitting on the glider on the front porch another idea came to mind. M really is for Mosquito.

There are two kinds of mosquitos easily found in the area. The small, almost invisible unless they are in a swarm No See 'Ems and the kind you saddle and ride. Often you never see the No See 'Ems, their presence is made know by the buzzing in your ear in the quiet of the night or the line of itching, red welts.

I have lived in various mosquito habitats including farms, woods and Waterfronts. And for a period of time I lived on a Pacific island in what could be called jungle adjacent. However none were as bad as the area I now live in. According to the experts, the weather here is suitable for mosquitos nine months of the year. I used to have a tee-shirt captioned the New Jersey state bird. And the picture? A long-legged, wide winged mosquito. I swear when their legs are spread clinging against the window, they cover my palm. As I said, saddle them up and ride them. No, wait, that is the dragons I love to fly with.

Whether big or small, now that the warmer weather is knocking on the door, M is for mosquito.

To purchase Fire and Redemption: BWL

~Until next month, stay safe and read.   Helen

Helen Henderson lives in western Tennessee with her husband. While she doesn’t have any pets in residence at the moment, she often visits a husky who have adopted her as one the pack. Find out more about her and her novels on her BWL author page.

Growing Older, Maybe not so Gracefully by Nancy M Bell

 

The cover of the Ontario offering for the Canadian Historical Mysteries Collection from BWL Publishing to be released November 2024

To find out more please click on the cover

I recently came across some old pictures. I look at the girl in those photos and I wonder who she is. It's almost like she's a different person and not a younger me, which is absurd. But I realize how much I have changed as I grow older. Maiden, Mother, Matriarch, Crone. I don't mind growing older, I just feel like I've somehow lost a bit of connection with the younger me.

I used to believe I could do anything I put my mind to. Anything. As I've grown older and managed to break myself a few times in pursuit of following the credo I could do anything I put my mind to, I have learned that such beliefs need to be tempered with caution.

Caution??? A word my younger self didn't even have in her vocabulary. I scaled cliffs above the town of Minden in the Kawarthas of Ontario,  I rode all the rough horses I could get my hands on, if something was walking the knife edge of danger I was there. (I said I was young, not that I was smart, okay?) I liked the bad boys, you know the ones I mean, the wild ones, not a mean bone in them but good fun with no strings attached. I attempted a waterski jump with heavy wooden skies weighted down with metal strapped to me feet on Davis Lake. Just let me say that venture didn't end well and was a one off. I used to hitch up the horse trailer and go where I needed to without a worry. Embark on road trips without worrying about the weather. I can remember running out in the pouring rain of a thunder and lightening storm in the big back field behind my childhood home.

The me of today? Hell, I worry about the roads being icy, or a ton of what ifs that never happen. I imagine part of that comes from the long periods of convalescence I've endured after breaking a pelvis and mucking up my spine and a few nerve endings in one incident, and then another long period of waiting for a crushed tibia plateau injury to heal complete with metal plate and seven screws. I wonder if that taught me caution or if it just served to put a bag over the head of the younger me. I'm not sure about the caution, but I'm determined to reconnect with the younger me who threw her head back and embraced the storms.

I refuse to be a boring old Crone. I have learned to be more blunt and speak what's on my mind. It came to me in my fifties (I think) that a lot of people didn't seem to care if what they said was hurtful to me and why the hell was I being careful about what I said to them? I don't go out of my way to be mean or hurtful but I am more apt to say what's on my mind. That's something my younger self would NEVER do. I always did my best to be invisible and escape notice. 

So, I'm not sure that I'm growing older gracefully, but darn it I am getting older. So I've decided to be the best Crone I can. 

1960s Sprucedale ON at Aunt Lottie's

Me on the right, my sister on the left 

Gramma Lois Pritchard, Aunt Rotha and Aunt Lottie Hines 

May 1977

   

Glastonbury Tor

2000s Surrey International Writers Conference

1980s Uxbridge Fair

early 1970s at Davis lake

 

October - New Book - What I'm doing now by Janet Lane Walters #BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #Mystery - new #Fantasy - old #Regencies - new

 

Here is the cover for October's release - The Horror Writer's Demise. Having fun researching the mny things I need to know. Probably not a cozy like The Mrs. Miller's books but more of a mystery and developing romance. The heroine is about 30 and has a five year old son and a mother who watches the child. The hero is a widower with a five year old son and who owns a house that was divided into two living areas. Even though four years has passed since his wife's death, he has clung to memories. As for her, the father of her son left without marriage and has successfully vanished. She has passed the regret stage and has entered the thank heavens he's gone. At this poing there are two more ideas floating for stories here. The Historical author's Snuff Boxes and The erotic writer's Nightgowns. I;m sure more will come.

I'm also looking at some Regencies I was working on when Gemstones was written. They were shoved away since other things came into being and were found with the great cleaning of writer's file cabinet. One has six chapters written. The second has a long working synopsis done and the third just an idea. Looks like I'll be busy.

I am finishing up the last of a fantasy series story though I have no idea what I'll do with it but being the writer I am since there are fifteen chapters rough drafted, I must finish this. Then I'll decide if and when Keltoi will appear.

My Places

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Buy Mark My Places

 

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So there's a bit of work ahead and I'm slowly gathering the words to put all together.

Guesting at the Museum, by J.C. Kavanagh

 

Click here for purchase options for this award-winning series.
https://www.bookswelove.net/kavanagh-j-c/

In last month's blog, I told you I'd be representing my township in a Simcoe County exhibition for local authors. Led by students at the local college in Barrie, (Georgian College), and in collaboration with the Simcoe County Museum, the exhibit featured famous and wanna-be famous authors who reside or were former residents within the County. According to Katherine Nelson, a student spearheading the exhibition, the "project is centred around the rich literary history of the county, aiming to spotlight prominent authors who have contributed significantly to its cultural landscape."

The exhibit showcased 16 authors, one from each township/town within Simcoe County. The setting for my Twisted Climb series is in New Tecumseth, while the dream world and un-world is fictionalized in areas around Tiny, Midland, Penetanguishene, and further north, Manitoulin Island. The legends and traditions of the Anishinaabe tribes, particularly the Ojibwe people, play a major role in the final book of the series, A Bright Darkness. 

Visitors were encouraged to leave a sticky-note with the name of their favourite book.
The Twisted Climb was on the wall!

One of the showcase authors was the Canadian legend, Margaret Atwood. I wasn't aware she lived in Alliston for a period of time and that her daughter, Eleanor, was born there. 

A bit of Simcoe County trivia: 

Established:  First in 1798 as the Home District and in1843, re-named Simcoe District in honour of the Lieutenant-Governor's father, Captain John Simcoe

Population of Simcoe County: 352,000 (2021)

Area: 4,819 square kilometres (1,861 sq. miles)

Location: central part of southern Ontario, Canada. The Niagara Escarpment mountains form the

                 western portion of the County. Bodies of water include Lake Simcoe, Georgian Bay and Lake

                 Huron

Features: Wasaga Beach, the longest freshwater beach in the world (14 kilometres or 8.7 miles), and

                Minesing Wetlands, classified by the Ministry of Environment as "one of the most diverse,

                undisturbed wetland tracts in Canada"

Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada

If you haven't read the Twisted Climb trilogy, I hope this blog arouses your curiosity. 

In the meantime, stay safe and don't forget to tell the ones you love, that you love them! 

J.C. Kavanagh, author of
The Twisted Climb - A Bright Darkness (Book 3) Best Young Adult Book FINALIST at Critters Readers Poll 2022
and
The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2) voted BEST YA Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada
AND
The Twisted Climb,
voted BEST YA Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll
Voted Best Local Author, Simcoe County, Ontario, 2021
Novels for teens, young adults and adults young at heart
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh
www.amazon.com/author/jckavanagh
Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C. Kavanagh)
Instagram @authorjckavanagh

My Stroll Through the 1918 Sears Catalogue

                                          Please click this link for book and author information

While researching 1918 fashion for my historical-novel-in-progress, I stumbled upon a 1918 Sears, Roebuck and Company catalogue, which someone had uploaded on the internet. The catalogue's 1,676 pages provided a treasure trove of details about that year in time and brought back memories of catalogue browsing in my younger days.  

In Canada, where I grew up, the Eaton's mail-order catalogue was a mainstay in middle class homes from the early twentieth century until the catalogue expired in 1976. My cousin, who lived in the countryside, ordered all her back-to-school clothes from the thick fall/winter catalogue. My aunt in the city made ordering and returning catalogue items into a hobby. Her husband joked that the Eaton's delivery truck made a daily beeline to their street. Catalogues were the forerunner of today's online shopping although they couldn't offer one-day service. 

I don't recall purchasing many catalogue goods, but I enjoyed flipping through the pages to see what was available. A common joke of the time was that little boys--and not so little ones--spent hours studying the ads for women's underwear. I expect boys living 100 years ago were equally intrigued by the 1918 catalogue's not-so-demure ladies modelling corsets. Prices for these complex articles of clothing ranged from $1.85 to $3.98 for Sear's finest corsets. Corsets for children and teenage girls started at 98 cents.

I always find it interesting when old or historical books cite prices that are stunningly lower than today's costs. On the next revision of my historical novel, I'll look for ways to insert a few 1918 prices into the story. While the earlier drafts mentioned corsets and petticoats, my catalogue stroll reminded me that people wore more underwear a century ago because houses were colder than they are today. The 1918 Sears catalogue featured twenty-eight pages of long underwear ads for women, men, and children. A note explained that wool underwear had become scarce because the Government required woolen mills to prioritize supply to soldiers and sailors fighting the Great War. Most civilians would have to make do with cotton underwear.

The one-piece long-sleeved undershirt and underpants garment was called a union suit in 1918. Long underwear was originally designed to liberate women from corsets, petticoats, and stockings. Perhaps I'll have my protagonist wear a pair of long johns under her housedress to stay warm in her chilly home. Catalogue ads for coal kitchen stoves, called ranges, promoted their side benefit of warming the room in winter. Customers could purchase ranges fueled by hard coal, soft coal, wood, coke, corn cob, and/or gas. No kindling required. They'd start the stove with a lit piece of paper that might be a page from last season's catalogue. Old catalogue pages also served as toilet paper and little girls cut out pictures of the models for paper dolls--the original Barbies.

All of these details would add period interest to a historical story and the 1918 catalogue offered many more. Women's muffs and collarettes made from the fur of China goat, raccoon, opossum, muskrat, marmot, and weasel. Ostrich plumes for hats. Seventeen pages of pocket watches, watch chains, and watch fobs. Collar boxes with round forms inside to keep the shape of men's shirt collars. Wool robes for riding in open-top buggies and cars.  

The catalogue also sold War Savings stamps to "support our boys at the front," official war pictures taken by the US government of trenches, gas attacks, and war ruins for ten cents each, and rubber face masks, presumably to improve complexion. The catalogue states, with surprising candor, "The usefulness of rubber masks has been exaggerated. We make no specific claims for these articles, but we offer them for women desiring them." They also offered a washable rubber night strap to reduce double chins for the bargain price of forty-nine cents. 

If you're interested in your own stroll through 1918 daily life check out  Sears, Roebuck and Co., Chicago: Originators of the Guarantee that stands the test in the Scales of Justice.

            

              

To Freeze or Not to Freeze, That is the Question by Karla Stover

 

https://bookswelove.net/stover-karla/

BY THE SAME AUTHOR:    Available through BWL Publishing

Parlor Girls

Wynter's Way

Murder, When One Isn't Enough

A Line to Murder.

Golly Mosses, as if I don’t have enough to worry about, now it’s my jeans! No longer can they be tossed in the washing machine with other like-minded (so to speak and dare I say ) rough-and-tumble, manly items. No, now they have moved into the realm of one’s unmentionables and require TLC. Yes, those faded, distressed, ladder-ripped (professionally done, of course,) jeans, which are worn by those who want to show that they are an angry, societal non-conformist, and who knew so many were so irked, are actually quite fragile. So delicate, in fact, that people have been avoiding the washing machine altogether and are, instead, making use of the freezer.

 Blame this peculiar attempt to eliminate odor-causing bacteria on Levi Strauss & Co., “which has long warned customers that washing machines can fade denim’s indigo hue and cause shrinkage. For some time, the brand advised consumers to place jeans in a freezer whenever they began to smell.”

For a zoophilist (otherwise known as a person who loves animals) this practice is actually cruel and unusual punishment. Though the practice does stun and temporarily immobilize bacteria, once the denim comes out of the freezer, the little germs warm up and go on with their lives. And think about this: “most of the bacteria found on worn jeans comes from our bodies, particularly skin cells and sweat.” Not what I want keeping company with my frozen foods.

However, should you want to try consider some fun options for your jeans, here’s what others do:

1.         1.  They try and “create a unique pattern in the natural faded and creased areas " by wearing them in salt water at the beach.

       2. They wear them while bathing, hoping for a good shrink-to-fit.

3.        3.  They only wash their jeans twice a year and spot clean as necessary.

       So, let’s look at what the experts have to say. 1. The "denim laundry" has already done what is necessary to create “an authentic or worn look.” 2. They are already prewashed and preshrunk. 3. The jury is out on the semi-annual wash. As to freezing, it just doesn’t work. 

       However, if you think a good washing is an anathema, try leaving your jeans outside in direct sunlight for a day or two, spraying them with a mixture of one part vodka to nine parts water, turning them every few hours and letting them dry naturally. To which I say, “oh, for gosh sakes!”

Spring Ahead with Trivia - Barbara Baker

 

Goodbye winter. Hello spring. Another round of setting clocks ahead is behind us as well as all the rant on social media about why we continue with this practice. Some people blame farmers for screwing with our circadian rhythm, but they're not the culprits. Cows and crops rely on the sun. Not clocks. Maybe that’s why Saskatchewan ignores time change.

In 1895, George Hudson, an entomologist, made the first attempt to introduce time change. He wanted the world to go ahead two hours in the spring so he could hunt bugs in daylight after his day-job ended. He was unsuccessful with his request.

Time change kicked in during WW1 and WW2 to optimize daylight hours and conserve energy. After each war, it was up to jurisdictions to decide whether they stuck with it. In the winter of 1974, permanent daylight-saving time came into play and children started walking to school in the dark. Hello logic.

But now I’m over time change and have moved onto hello spring. The hunt for the first crocus, first dandelion sighting and of course watching birds as they construct or renovate their nests.   

I checked some of my favourite nesting sites. Unfortunately, the great horned owl's home was gone. When I found the pile of sticks scattered at the base of the tree, my heart sank. Great horned owl parents raised their fuzzy owlets here for over a decade.

I went down the Google rabbit hole to determine whether owls rebuild in the same place. What I read, shocked me. Owls typically do not build their own nest. What? How did I not know this? They apparently take over a suitable nest from another bird and spruce it up to their liking. I’m a huge owl fan. Should I think less of them for being opportunists? Or more of them for conserving their energy?

Later that day I discovered owls aren't the only opportunists. A ballsy Canadian Goose honked at me from it's perch high in the tree. Last spring a bald eagle lived there with an unobstructed view of the Bow River. Maybe I have never given geese enough credit. Maybe they are smart.  

But the first flight for her goslings will be a true test of wing power.

Geese can be cheeky buggers.

And the bald eagle moved on, seemingly unperturbed about the nest thief.

Cowbirds don’t steal nests. They merely deposit their eggs in an already furnished home. If the eggs in the nest she selects are white with beige specks, the cowbird will lay her eggs with the exact same colour pattern.

After the cowbird lays her eggs (sometimes as many as six) in the unsuspecting nest of, let’s say, Mrs. Red-Winged Blackbird, she might peck tiny holes in the host’s eggs. This way her chicks won’t have to compete for food or attention. When Mrs. Cowbird leaves, she doesn’t go far. She sticks around for a while to keep an eye on her eggs.

Mrs. Cowbird may be a negligent mom, but she wants to make sure Mrs. Red-Winged Blackbird has adequate mothering skills. If she dares to push out any of Mrs. Cowbird’s eggs, well, female cowbirds have a way of getting even. She will return to the nest when it’s unattended and toss out the original eggs.

When Mrs. Red-Winged Blackbird proves she’s a worthy foster mother, Mrs. Cowbird flies away to enjoy her freedom. In just a few weeks, she’ll flit her wings at another dashing male cowbird and the process repeats itself. As for her young, they grow up knowing they're cowbirds without their mother ever being around.

Nature is fun and funny. 

And Mother Nature has a wicked sense of humour. She can still turn on the snow-switch randomly for a few more months.

 

 

You can contact me at: bbaker.write@gmail.com

Summer of Lies: Baker, Barbara:9780228615774: Books - Amazon.ca

What About Me?: Sequel to Summer of Lies : Baker, Barbara: Amazon.ca: Books

So You've Finished Your Novel... Now What? by Vanessa C. Hawkins

 

 

 Vanessa Hawkins Author Page

    

Yes! You see correctly! I have finally included another cover amongst my books! Twice Hung is finally finished (at least the draft) and I can rest easy knowing that it has now flown off to visit the editors, who will--hopefully--rip it apart until I cry and feel sorry for myself. A good editor does that, ya know. Any editor that tells you the first draft is perfect is... well, fibbin'. Get you a Doctor Frankenstein if you can, because an editor that can take a few bare bones and help you to stick some meat on them, is worth every penny. Really though. But what do you do after you write a novel? In my case... start a new one! But if you aren't ready for that, just sit back and bask in your ability to follow through on an idea.

... I was going to end the blog there for comedic effect, but I DID follow through! I finished a book!

I think I'll watch an entire crime docuseries... With icecream... What do you do to celebrate when you finish a book? After George R. R. Martin finishes a book he...

Just kidding! George R. R. Martin never finishes books...

Moon meets Sun by J. S. Marlo

 

The Red Quilt 

Sweet Christmas Story

 Click here to buy

 

 

  

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

NASA estimates that 31.6 millions people live in the path of today's total solar eclipse.

I'm not among these millions of people, and I will only experience a partial eclipse, but it's still a big thing. Around here, school kids will be kept inside at recess so they don't accidentally, or not, look at the sun.

Here are some facts about solar eclipses:

- A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, the Moon, and Earth are aligned. It's called syzygy. If you play Scrabble, remember that word. It's worth 21 points (without counting doubles or triples).

- A solar eclipse can only happen at New Moon.

- Eclipse totalities are different lengths.

- Today's total eclipse will last a maximum of 4 minutes 28 seconds, and that will happen over the small town of Nazas, Mexico.

- The longest possible total solar eclipse is 7 minutes 32 seconds.

- The temperature can drop by 20 degrees during a total solar eclipse.

- Wildlife reacts to solar eclipses.

- There will be 69 solar eclipses over the next 100 years, but most of them will only be seen over the water.

- The first solar eclipse was recorded more than 4,000 years ago in China. At the time, the inhabitants thought a dragon was eating the sun.

Beware of people selling fake glasses and keep your eyes safe. Happy watching!

J. S.

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

Back to the Research by Eileen O'Finlan

 

Click here for purchase info

Ask almost any author of historical fiction and we'll tell you we love doing the research for our books almost as much as we love writing them. My favorite was the research I did for Erin's Children, the sequel to my debut novel, Kelegeen. The reason it was extra enjoyable was because I set Erin's Children in Worcester, Massachusetts, the city in which I have worked for almost 20 years. 

I grew up in Holden and I still live there. The town line runs down my street so all I have to do is walk across the street and I'm in Worcester. Despite living so close to Worcester and working in that city for so long, I didn't know much about its history until I started researching it for my novel. Once I got into it, I found the history of Worcester in the 1850s to be a fascinating study.

I don't know if it was because of the setting or because I was already familiar with several of the main characters, they having come from my first book, Kelegeen, but I had more fun writing Erin's Children than any other book I've written. That's saying a lot since I greatly enjoy the writing process.

Now that I've decided to write a third (and, possibly, a fourth) book in this series, I am excited to dive back into the research. This time it will be Worcester in the 1860s which will take the reader into the time of the American Civil War. Most of the characters will remain on the northern home front, but I will be sending a few of them to the battlefields. To write this story accurately, I need to research Worcester at that time, the volunteers sent by the City to serve in the Union Army and what life was like for them, as well as the war itself, not to mention everyday life in 1860s Worcester. 

The books have been amassed, the map of 19th century Worcester unrolled and spread out on the table, the notebooks ready to be filled, and trips to the Worcester Historical Museum await. As is true for every author of historical fiction, I know my research will encompass much more than I will actually use in the story. I'm also sure I'll travel down a great many rabbit holes in the process. All of that is okay. More than okay - it's welcomed. It is the joy of research! 

I am determined that the books I write are as historically accurate as possible. I found from the response to Erin's Children that readers love finding out the history of Worcester and "seeing" it played out on the page, especially readers who know the City. So, I know it will be a pleasure to offer them more as well as to learn about it myself.

The timing on this turns out to be perfect since I recently met a local author, Mary Anne Kalonas Slack, who has just released her debut novel, The Sacrificial Daughter, also set in Worcester and featuring an Irish family. We are now planning some author talks together this spring focusing on our Irish in Worcester books. Talking to readers about Erin's Children should really galvanize my momentum towards digging into the research so I can start putting words on the pages of the next book. I truly love those characters and can't wait to revisit my old friends!

The table in my home library where I read and take notes.

The book open on the table contains the annual reports of the City of Worcester from 1861 through 1865.

Among these books are several on the American Civil War and its aftermath.

My steadily growing collection of books on Worcester's history.

My 1870s map of Worcester. 

It's been rolled up for so long I needed to put something on every corner to hold it down.

Do You Sort and Eat M&Ms by Color?

https://books2read.com/Her-Scottish-Legacy

I’m so glad winter is over and the days are getting longer and warmer. I have spent my winter down the social media rabbit hole, answering questions on lists to see what I know, what I eat, where I’ve been, how old I am based on pictures of my youth, who I know and if I’m smarter than a fifth grader.

I will admit that I don’t answer online because nobody really wants to know whether I open my Oreos and lick the frosting while getting a tattoo, but I mentally answer and sometimes put my score in the comments section. I’ve found that you have to read the start-up sentence carefully, because sometimes it says “one point for each thing you’ve done, eaten, gone or recognize”, but sometimes they try to trip you up with the phrase “Never have I ever…”.

And while I try not to, every once in a while I read too much into the question. For example, “one point for every food you eat.” Does that mean the ones I like to eat or ones I’ve sampled but won’t eat again? (That’s definitely where liver comes in.)

The travel lists pose a similar problem. If it says “one point for every country (or state) you’ve visited”, what exactly constitutes a “visit”? Do you have to have stayed the night; eaten a meal, or can potty breaks as you drive through count as a visit?

I like the lists that give you extra points for more information. Take the picture quizzes where you get 1 point for identifying the item (like a wringer washing machine) and an additional point if you’ve actually used one. They should give you 3 points if you know it; used it; and still have it in your house! I think these lists were generated by Millennials, because they usually refer to the items as “antiques” but I never have any problem recognizing every one of them. Does that mean I’m old?

The random lists are the most fun. There’s no rhyme or reason to the items that might include-- have you ever gone zip lining, eaten armadillo, ridden on an elephant (camel). What is the weirdest thing you have seen on a list?

Now, back to the original reason for this post – spring. In honor of the new season, here is a short list of spring type issues. Give yourself 1 point for each thing you have done. If you only get 1-2 points, you’re still hibernating!

*Bought Easter candy the day after so it’s on half price.

*Put away your winter clothes and got out your spring/summer ones.

*Had an indoor egg hunt and the kids only found 11 of the 12 hard boiled eggs you hid.

*Already bought potting soil, seeds and new garden gloves.

*Like licorice jelly beans.

*Actually tried on your spring/summer clothes to see what still fits.

*Started spring cleaning and came across a book you haven’t read so decided to take a “little” break.

If you didn’t get a point for the last one, visit my website at Books We Love: https://bwlpublishing.ca/baldwin-barbara/ . You’ll find all things romance – historical, contemporary and time travel. Just because it’s spring, doesn’t mean you can’t read. Just do it on the porch or out in the yard or park. Enjoy the sunshine.

 

Barb Baldwin, who does sort her M&Ms by color

http://authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin