Home renovations = more wine, by J.C. Kavanagh

Voted Best Young Adult Book!

Today, the weather in southern Ontario is dreary, wet and cold. I myself, am feeling sluggish and unwell. I hope it's just a 'cold,' and so I apologize in advance for perhaps being a wee less witty than I like. But please read on while I grab another box of tissue 😟 Despite the illness, there is work to be done and a blog to write!

'Work' right now involves a complete renovation of our basement. We are renovating our walk-out basement to contain a two-bedroom apartment, complete with one full bathroom, living room, foyer and 13'x26' kitchen, to rent out in the Spring. The bedrooms, bathroom and living room are complete. So our project this winter is to design and build a kitchen, install flooring in the foyer and kitchen, cut out a new 'entrance' door, and box in the upper stairs to separate the basement unit. The fun begins.

Lower level apartment has walk-out to terrace

My partner and I are still in the design phase for the kitchen layout, but we do know where to put the new window. It will overlook the terrace and take in the morning sun.

It took us all day to build the frame and support structure. We only had 5 or 6 deliberate misses (!)  with the Skilsaw and hammer so we had to pour ourselves a congratulatory glass of wine at the end of the day.

The window cut out. Behind Ian is our winter firewood. 

All fingers accounted for.

And, the install. Shims can be seen here in place and all that's needed is the foam spray, caulking and screws. 

Exterior and interior trim can be tomorrow's job.

Now I need a glass of wine. 

If you need a break from the world, I would strongly suggest immersing yourself in the dream-world / other-world-reality facing Jayden, Connor, Max and Dick in my award-winning Twisted Climb series. You won't be disappointed.

Stay safe everyone.

J.C. Kavanagh, author of

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2)

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada

AND

The Twisted Climb,

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll

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)

A Few Strange COVID restrictions

 

As the Covid-19 infection shows no sign of diminishing, and people are becoming weary of the restrictions placed on their lives, it might be a time to look at some unusual constraints placed on people around the world, if just to relieve stress. Here then, are ten strange rules adopted by countries.

1)     Weekend-only lockdowns: Turkey has instituted weekend-only lockdowns for all its citizens, while allowing mostly-normal, but restricted, operations during the weekday. However, persons under twenty or over sixty-five who have to stay at home even during weekdays. This supposedly protects the most vulnerable, while allowing for normal economic activities.

 2)   Gender based lock-downs: In Peru, the government has instituted odd lock-down requirements. Men are allowed outside their homes only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while women are permitted outside on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Sundays, however, seem to be unrestricted.

 3)      ID card lockdowns: In some parts of Colombia, lockdown days are determined by the numbers on citizen’s ID cards. Presumably, those with fake ID’s are not affected by this rule!

 

 4)   Talking Drones: Kuwait and China have used “talking drones’ to order people to return home. If people doesn’t succumb to the virus, then certainly talking drones will scare them to death!

 5) Immunity Cards: China has introduced “COVID cards” to its citizens. These are to be issued to citizens who tested positive to the virus and have recovered. Presumably, the expectation is that these people have developed antibodies that prevent future infections.

   

6) Pillow Fighting: Brazil has banned pillows on aircraft. No pillows are allowed on airplanes entering, leaving or flying within the country. Perhaps this will reduce viral contamination, but it certainly supports Brazilian pillow sales!

 7) The New York position: The city’s Health Department has some strange advice for couples. It advises the use of “barriers, like walls, that allow for sexual contact but prevent close face-to face contact.” A wall!

       8) Foot Disease. In South Africa, shops are allowed to only sell ‘closed toe’ shoes. The science on toe-related viral transmission remains unclear.

 9)       The Five-Mile rule: The city of Victoria, Australia, has banned its inhabitants from travelling more than five miles from home. Obviously, families that get sick together, stay together.

 10)      Death Deposit: Cambodia requires all foreign visitors to deposit a large sum of money upon entry. $1,500 of the approximately $3,000 deposit goes towards cremation services of unfortunate deceased travelers. Statistics regarding foreign travel to Cambodia are currently unavailable.

Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper," a fantasy, and "Karma Nation," a literary romance (www.yogazapper.com) . He is published by Books We Love, LLC. (http://bookswelove.com/ashtakala-mohan/books) 

To Russia with Love! by Sheila Claydon

Golden Girl, the first book I wrote, featured in my previous blog when I demonstrated how book covers have changed over the years. This time I am talking about my second book, Empty Hearts, a story set in Russia. This book's covers have metamorphosed even more.

As you can see from the slightly tatty image, this is a photo of the original book because in those days (1985) there were no eBooks and no digital images. I didn't even have a computer. This was written by hand and by old fashioned typewriter. Although it is a full length novel it was published in tandem with another author and sold in a romance program where readers bought a specified number of books each month. 

I was still writing under the pseudonym Anne Beverley at the time so you can imagine my chagrin when the book was published with an incorrect spelling. For those of you who know the story of Anne of Green Gables, I am very much in agreement with her insistence that it should always be 'Anne with an E."

From there Empty Hearts followed the same path as my previous book and was published as a Retro romance under the name of Sheila Claydon writing as Anne Beverley (fortunately with the correct spelling!) And it was given an altogether more attractive cover.

Then things became even more interesting because now, in its final form, published as a Vintage Romance by BWL Publishing, Empty Hearts has two covers, and I'm not sure how this happened. Not that it matters at all because the story is the same in each one, but my favourite image is the first one because it is closer to one of the best things that happens in the book. The little boy, Peter, is an important part of the story, and if you would like to read about him and the image the cover portrays, then click on Book Snippets under the blog heading on my Website. As you can see, ice and skating feature a lot in cold and wintry Moscow!

I am ashamed to say I wrote this book without having ever visited Russia! Instead I used information and a map from an article in National Geographic Magazine! Foolhardy, arrogant or just plain naive? I'm not sure. It's certainly not something I would do now. Every book I've written since then is set in a place I've visited so I can be sure to get most of my facts right. Having said that, I have spent time in Russia since I wrote Empty Hearts, and while I was there I decided I didn't need to be too embarrassed about my writing behaviour after all as my research (or rather the information in the National Geographic article) was pretty solid!

Empty Hearts...the story

By trying to make a new start, Holly just may find a family of her own.

Holly is struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life when she is offered the chance to travel to Moscow to research a new book. That she will also have to look after diplomat Dirk Van Allen’s five-year-old son, Peter, seems a small price to pay...until she meets them both.

Determined to find a way into Peter’s stony little heart, Holly thinks that softening his father’s attitude towards her might help. When Dirk sees through her ploy and starts to play her at her own game, she realizes she is way out of her depth with this mysterious, intriguing man.

Cranberries!

Find my books here...

Thanksgiving is going to be a little different for most of us this year but I hope our readers enjoy time with loved ones in any form that time may take. 

Here are a couple of my favorite recipes with a favorite seasonal ingredient: Cranberries!

Our family never ate canned jellied cranberry again once daughter Marya brought this simple combination home from third grade long ago...

Fresh Cranberry-Orange Relish

Only three ingredients: 

1 bag of fresh cranberries, 

1 cup of sugar

1 navel orange

If you have a fancy food processor: quarter the orange, throw everything in and whizz away until you’ve got a nice, small chunk relish.

If, like me, you only have a blender: cut the orange into eighths and blend that first to get some liquid going, then add the rest. Refrigerate.

We make lots because its SO good with leftovers and on sandwiches!

Lemon Cranberry Scones

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup milk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup fresh cranberries, lightly chopped in food processor

Glaze

1 cup confectionary sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 and 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt in large bowl. Add the zest. Cut in the butter until the mix is crumbly. Stir in chopped cranberries.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the cream, egg, milk and vanilla.  Add to the flour mix to bring the dough together. Shape dough and cut into 2 equal parts. Shape each into a 10 inch round disc. Cut each disc into 6 wedges. Place on a parchment covered baking tray with a few inches between each. Bake for 10-15 minutes until scones are lightly browned on top.

Prepare glaze. Drizzle on cooled scones. Let set. 

Do Short Stories Sell?

                                 Please click this link for author, book and purchase information

Some years ago, I participated in a reading event at a local bookstore. The theme was short stories. During the question and answer period, an audience member asked the bookstore owner if people bought short story collections. He answered, "No, not even when the author wins a major award." His example was the recent winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada's glitziest literary award for fiction. A Giller win typically results in a huge boost in book sales, but his customers weren't interested in buying the winner's short story collection. 

                                     Giller Prize glitz 

Short stories used to be popular. In the 1950s and 60s, writers could make a living by publishing them in magazines. When I started writing around 1990, big mainstream magazines like Redbook and Seventeen included a short story per issue. Neither magazine now publishes in print. A friend who writes short stories says that today online magazines provide many opportunities for short stories, but they often don't attract readers.

My writing has mainly focused on novels, but I got into short stories in my first creative writing class. Short works suit a class or workshop structure better than novels do. I suspect the proliferation of classes is one reason the short story genre has survived. A student can write a story in a week, the class critiques the whole work in an evening, and then the student revises and submits the story to journals that exist to publish the work of emerging writers.  

I've enjoyed writing short stories for reasons other than the relative speed from start to completion. They've been a chance to experiment with styles, characters and locations I couldn't sustain in a novel. I've written short stories with magic realism, a sociopathic narrator, and settings I've visited but don't know intimately. Other stories have led to novels. My series mystery sleuth, Paula Savard, had her origins in my short story, Adjusting the Ashes, about an adjuster dealing with a wacky insurance claim. 

The best explanation I've heard for the decline in short story readership is that television killed it. People in the mood for a short fictional experience have the option to relax with an evening drama or comedy. I'm guilty of choosing these over reading. I wonder if short story writing has responded to the drop in readership by shifting away from popular fiction toward a poetic style that appeals to fellow writers, but tends to be less satisfying to general readers.  

A short story exception that proves the rule is Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam. Sales of this book took off after it won the 2006 Giller Prize. A literary pundit noted that the collection of linked stories about medical students got the Giller bump because the writing is accessible, the characters relatable and the stories are strong on plot. Another exception is E. Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, a long short story that had enough going on for it to be adapted into a hit movie, although I don't know how many people read this excellent short story.  

My home province of Alberta, Canada, played the role of Wyoming in the movie, Brokeback Mountain

Enterprising authors say the practical value of short stories today is to use them to draw readers to your novels. You can produce and sell a short story e-book online for 99 cents or offer it for free. If readers enjoy the story, hopefully, it will lead them to buy your novels. I'd like to try this one day with a couple of my longer works. Perhaps foolishly, I would also like to gather the stories I've written and published over the years into a short story collection, even if nobody reads the book.     

Canadian-American actor Eric McCormack hosted the online Giller Prize show on                  November 6, 2020. The Will and Grace star explained that he grew his moustache for a movie.    

Souvankham Thammavongsa was surprised in her apartment when she won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her short story collection, How To Pronounce Knife 

“Little Boxes” by Karla Stover

Every morning my husband and I drive out to the woods and walk our dog. There is always so much
interesting stuff to see. Like right now, mushrooms are everywhere. And all summer long wild flowers bloom, my favorites being a shrub called ocean spray and madrone, a tree native to the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Northern California. Right now it has clusters of red berries which many birds love. However, all waxing nostalgic aside, to get to the forest, we have to drive past new housing developments. (Hear me heave a heavy sigh).

   It’s not that I don’t want people to have homes; it’s just that they all look alike; right down to the colors they are painted.  They make me harken back to a song called “Little Boxes” that my mother used to sing. A woman named Malvina Reynolds wrote it in 1962 for her friend Pete Seeger and when in 1963 he released his cover version, “Little Boxes” became a hit.

 

   The song was written as a “political satire about the development of suburbia and associated conformist middle-class attitudes. It mocks suburban tract housing as ‘little boxes’ of different colors ‘all made out of ticky-tacky’, and which ‘all look just the same.’” “Ticky-tacky" was “a reference to the shoddy material supposedly used in the construction of the houses.” I’m not saying the ones we pass were built of shoddy material, it’s just that they’re boring to look at and don’t have yards where children can play.

When the song hit the airwaves (it reached number 70 in the Billboard Hot 100), there were three opinions: a fellow satirist named satirist Tom Lehrer described it as “the most sanctimonious song ever written.” Leher probably knew whereof he spoke; his songs included, “There’s a Delta for Every Epsilon,” “The Love Song of the Physical Anthropologist” and “Dodging the Draft at Harvard.” Meanwhile, an unnamed university professor said, “I've been lecturing my classes about middle-class conformity for a whole semester. Here's a song that says it all in 1½ minutes.” And historian Nell Irvin Painter offered her thoughts, pointing out “that the conformity described in ‘Little Boxes” was not entirely a bad thing, and in the case of suburbia, “it was a sameness to be striven toward.”

 

If these comments were about writing they would” warn about conformity, (I’m reminded of the Evanovich series) scoff at piety, ( The ‘Father Tim’ books were huge hits when they came out), or embrace “sameness,” (every cozy ever written.)

Which would you choose?