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The Far Bank my latest juvenile, middle grade novel, is now available through Kindle and Smashwords.   It’ll be ready at Apple and the other by the end of Jan.   This story was also read to a number of Grade 5 students who were weaned on Harry Potter and vampires and zombies…�.and they liked it.

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If you’re looking for a great gift that costs nothing to send, try an

They can use it for an ebook or anything else on Amazon.

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I’m diligently editing The Far Bank my juvenile/middle grade eBook for a mid-January release.  It’s primarily about bullies and a paper route from hell surrounding a swimming/boating tragedy in the Old Welland Canal.  The canal used to be my boyhood swimming hole and was always a controversial place in regards to swimming, as it was a major shipping lane between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.  You can read the synopsis here: 

To all my readers I wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I’m looking forward to seeing this as it’ll only be 6,000 kms. away.  Better download some eBooks before it’s too late.

I decided to try my hand at a book cover for a new juvenile eBook release The Far Bank.  Ta Da!  I took a photo of the graphic on an old sweatshirt my mom bought for me years ago.

I decided to try my had at a book cover for a new juvenile eBook release The Far Bank.  Ta Da!  I took a photo of the graphic on an old sweatshirt my mom bought for me years ago.

I did it.  has 10 chapters and the2nd draft is finished.  My writers group will get it in the new year.

Evens, a Haitian boy, knows who poisoned Scraps, his dog, . He vows to get even. Unfortunately, the only way is through the school bully who secretly kills neighborhood cats. Controlling the big fella won’t be easy, but maybe a little bit of voodoo will help.

Oct. 28/2012 Chicago Fire, the new drama on TV, seen it?  Don’t.  I really don’t think there are any fire service consultants on the set.  Most Canadian fire services adopted the Command and Control structure from Americans.

CF has no command structure (search & rescue, ventilation, recon, etc.) at emergencies that I can see, except a white-shirted chief does show up and sort of tells the men what to do–sort of.  No indication there are other units anywhere for backup.

There’s no visual indicators at a emerg. scene to ID officers.  Little or no communication as they don’t appear to talk on their portable radios much, if at all.

Anyhow, I counted four different clothing types: shirts with shoulder patches, another shirt with different shoulder patches, polo shirts, and T-shirts.  There are no epaulet stripes to signify officers.  Last night a polo-shirted firefighter went into a bar across the street to meet a cop–on duty!

The most handsome firefighter has a four day growth of stubble that wouldn’t get a seal with a face piece.  A leaky face piece ain’t fun in a smoke-charged room.  Prepare for death, hot shot.

They don’t appear to get in their gear until they get on scene, which counters any sort of ‘fast attack�.  Slack-ass firefighters like that wouldn’t get through their probationary period with Edmonton Fire Rescue Service or most others.

There’s smaller stuff, too, like references to a quicker road to promotion via riding a specific truck.  What!?  Can this be true?  You want to get promoted you’d better ride all the rigs to get an understanding of them when you go to the academy to write for an officer.  Once your  paperwork (run report) is submitted and a witness statement, especially if it leaves the dept, would take a lot of effort to haul it back and change it.  Once a firefighter works 10 and 12 hour shifts they don’t often return to the station to hang out.

I hope the real CFD isn’t as badly run.

has selected their big short story winner and has another smaller one going.  They’re also giving out monthly prizes to top readers/reviewers of their novel submissions.  If you like reading, this is the site for you.  They’ll take the highest rated and move it forward for publishing and marketing.  So far I’ve garnered 2 � 3 stars and 1-4 star review.  Not bad for a firefighter suspense/mystery Final Response.

91 kids gr. 5.  I handed out bookmarks with my juvie story cover pix and asked which one looked most interesting.  RANSOM cover drew most interest.  I was amazed @  how many students had eReaders in the form of iPads.  Even though my juvies don’t have magic, or talking creatures, etc. the kids responded well and found them exciting all the same.  They like reality.  The teachers gave me a Tim Hortons card!