Book 2 in the Canadian Historical Brides series is Ontario, releasing in March

Ontario

The Story ...

HIS BROTHER'S BRIDE

The youngest child of the local doctor and evangelical preacher, Annie Baldwin was expected to work hard and not protest. Life on a pioneer farm was tough so neighbors helped each other.

George Richardson the underage Doctor Bernardo Boy, orphaned and shipped to Canada a few years earlier, is loaned to the Baldwins to help bring in the hay. Younger brother Peter Richardson was placed with another neighbor, so the brothers stayed in touch with each other. The Great War brought a lot of changes to life even in the back woods of Ontario. In spite of the differences in their social standing, George and Annie fell in love.

When George departed for France they had an understanding and he promised to return to her when the war was over. Alas, fate had other ideas. After a long silence, Annie received the much anticipated letter. But it wasn’t from George, but from his brother, Peter. Also in the trenches of France. George was killed during the final push on August 8, 1918 at Marcelcave near Amiens. The two who loved him form a long distance bond via censored letters. When Peter is sent back to Canada, rather than return him to the east where he enlisted, he is discharged in Vancouver.

Sick from mustard gas poisoning and penniless, Peter finds work at Fraser Mills. Once he could save enough money he planned to return to the small farm in the northern Ontario bush, but before he does, he sends Annie a box of chocolates in the mail. Inside the box he hid an engagement ring. Bound together by their love for George, they find solace in each other. Will it be enough to last?

Book 1, Brides of Banff Springs (Canadian Historical Brides series (Alberta)) now available from your favorite bookstore.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQS4ISK

 

Who Else Dislikes Book Blurbs? by Karla Stover

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     I just finished reading Stephen King's book, Joyland. Brian Truitt provided a recommendation on it for USA Today. He called it "tight and engrossing. The Washington Post's Bill Sheehan called it,

". . .appealing coming-of-age tale that encompasses restless ghosts, serial murder, psychic phenomena and sexual initiation." Mr. Truitt has a book about the movie, Twilight available on Amazon. Sheehan has one about Peter Straub, a horror-fiction author. I guess that is supposed to make them experts but I will never take their reviews seriously, again. Joyland was a dull--308 pages with the above-mentioned "restless ghost" etc, making weak appearances on page 271.

     So I ask myself, does anyone read a book based on these blurbs? And who is responsible for providing them, the publisher or the author?

     The first thing I did (naturally) was Google. Here are some quotes from the website, Askmeafiller.com (CNN.com says websites should be italicized).

     "Most often its someone in the marketing department at the publishing house."

     "They are usually arranged side-by-side with pull quotes (blahs) by authors. These are usually people working in the same genre and often in the same publishing company."

     "packaging/marketing firms."

     And the saddest one:  
    
     "I once had a job, among other things, writing back cover copy for books. My official title was "marketing assistant," and I was completely unqualified to do such a thing. I was right out of college, I was writing blurbs for academic books in disciplines which I had never studied, and I often had no more than the introduction to go by. I'm sure my blurbs were often highly misleading. I apologize."

     Yikes!

     From this website, I went to Writersrelief.com. Here's what one author had to say:

     "I wrote critiques for them (well-known authors) and asked if they could kindly say this. They agreed. Saves them time/effort."

     More than one person on that website said they wrote their own endorsements.

     Back when I was a newspaper reporter, I interviewed an east coast news journalist whose name I've since forgotten but who had written a book and who was doing a signing tour. I asked her about book cover endorsements and she said they were very important to east coast publishers. I wonder if that still holds true, or if more people look to Amazon. My bet is Amazon.

     For my first nonfiction book on Tacoma history I asked a couple of local, well-known historians provided endorsements. For the second I didn't bother. My opinion is that an attractive cover is more important to potential reader/buyers that a quote from the Seattle Times. Jo Linsdell on

 

Writersandauthors.info seems to agree.

     "With millions of books for readers to choose from," she wrote, "the first 'sales pitch' is the cover."
    
     Sometimes it seems as if the three-legged stool of writing--plot, place and people--are the least important things about a book, but not to readers and certainly not to me. Sometimes getting rich means finding those little gems in plain green covers that everyone else has over looked.

Beginning a New Experience in a New Year

 

CLICK HER FOR JUNE'S BOOKS

Christmas is over, the New Year already begun and here we are on the 8th January, my umpteenth birthday, shared with Elvis Presley and, I dare say, lots of other Capricorns. Everybody assumes that, because of my name, I was born in June. When I was a child our milkman used to serenade me with the song “It’s June in January, because I’m in love...”

I certainly wish I had been born somewhat apart from Christmas as I was invariably given one present with the understanding that it was for Christmas and my Birthday. Talk about losing out. Having said that, I’m a true Capricorn and happy to be one.  I also married a Capricorn and tend to get on best of all with people of the same birth sign.

So, what will 2017 bring? Last year was pretty disastrous in so many ways right up to the end and I’m still receiving treatment for two fractured vertebrae in my lumbar spine. But, thanks to Books We Love, I’ve started writing seriously again after a long break – I won’t bore you with the details - swapping the artist’s hat for the writer’s hat. 

I have a long saga in the final stages of editing and then I can concentrate on my historic novel for the Canada Brides series - “Veils of Angels” - set in Manitoba in the 1800’s and written with the assistance of a Canadian researcher.  I've never worked with a researcher before so even this is a new experience.  

The storyline is slowly evolving in my head and once I have the historic research sorted I can get on with the writing of it.  That’s such a challenge, but how exciting. I love writing about mountains and snow. 

My previous historic novels have mostly been set in places I have visited, such as Patagonia where I walked by glacial lakes and watched icebergs and glaciers, which inspired my novel “To The End of the Earth”. 

 So, because I’ve never been to Canada, I need to immerse myself in the research from my assistant so that I will feel I know it like my own backyard – which is in France, by the way, down by the Pyrenees.  We’ve lived here for nearly 26 years and this is the first time our mountains haven’t been blanketed in snow. The seasons, like my life, are changing. C’est la vie!

 JUNE [Gadsby]

Artist/Writer

www.june-gadsby.fr

The Joys, and Challenges of Writing

   I finished my latest manuscript and gave it to my husband. My fingers, toes and every other body part were crossed. He probably assumed I had to urinate given the intense expression on my face. It’s always a nervous time. 

Writing isn’t only creative, it’s a  personal endeavour. Each manuscript is a labour of love. Allowing someone else to criticize it, takes thick skin. I don’t have thick enough skin. I doubt I ever will. This manuscript had to show that I had grown as an author. That I had read the reviews from The Natasha Saga and applied what I had learned.  

I remember writing The Natasha Saga thinking, ‘what will hubby think?’ Given the amount of time I’d spent on it, I didn’t want him to say. ‘Seriously? This is what you’ve been doing? What a waste of time’ Of course my husband would be far more diplomatic, but the point would be there. I’d need another hobby. Worse still, he may consider sending me back to full time employment.

No-o-o-o. Don’t make me!

He didn’t say that. He finished The Saga and said,‘I like it, but you can’t stop it there.’

Shock to the system, he liked it. Hubby Liked it! I jumped up and down for joy that day, and then I continued working on the manuscript. The plot grew.

   I always had a problem classifying The Saga into a specific genre. It has a romance component, but it isn’t a romance. The plot breaks the rules of traditional romances. Therefore, it isn’t one. It’s a family saga.

   When the book(s) were ready, I sent the first one to three publishers. I never considered self-publishing. In my mind, if it was a worthy plot, I’d find a publisher. Mission successful, one of them accepted my manuscript. I was assigned not one but two editors and a cover artist. Today, I’m a traditionally published author.

   With The Saga behind me, I finished my second novel, more than a little optimistic. After all, all four books within The Natasha Saga were available at major on-line distributors.

Hubby read my second labour of love, yet to have an official name, while I kept myself entertained. When he finally finished reading it, he said, and I quote, ‘You’ve done better.’

It was as if he hit me with a sledge hammer. That comment could have sent us to divorce court. Boom, you’re out of here. It didn’t. Common sense kicked me in the butt. It brought me back to earth with a hard thud. Plunked me down, right on my arse. That plot is still on the back burner, otherwise known as a file on my computer. I haven’t decided what to do with that story, yet.

So you understand my fear handing this manuscript to him. Officially, labour of love number three.

   Well, you will have to wait for the second part of this blog post for his reaction. Now you know how it feels. The anxiety of not knowing. 

I ended each of the saga books with a wee cliff hanger as well, but lucky for you, if you’re interested in reading it, they are available. Amazon, Kobo, iTunes. They are even available in the library system. You may have to ask your library to bring them in. I did, but I do like borrowing books to read.

   If you ask and say please, I’m still in the giving mood. I’ll email the PDF copies of the book to you. One wee request. Please post a review after you finish reading Natasha’s Legacy, the conclusion.

The Natasha Saga

Empowerment shatters traditions and lives. Greed and pride have devastating consequences. Sacrifices must be made. Written on multiple levels, the saga deals with hope, relationships, and giving, set against a background of conflicting values.

Through a series of dreams, modern day couple Keeghan and William follow the triumphs and tragedies of multiple generations of the Donovan family. A chance encounter changes Natasha’s life, forever. In her diary, Natasha writes of her dream, and her hope to escape a horrid dictated future.

Will Natasha's legacy survive an uncertain future?

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