The Ontario Triangle

With the recent release of my latest book, Creepy Capital, I spent some time on the road doing various promotions. I started in Ottawa to launch the book, then hit Niagara Falls with a table at Niagara Falls Comic-Con, then Sudbury for Graphic-Con.

In fact, given my penchant for the paranormal, you might call the recent trips part of visiting three points of The Ontario Triangle, in a "Bermuda Triangle" sort of way. (Am I the only one who remembers the fun late 1970's "In Search Of" TV series narrated by Leonard Nimoy - "In Search of the Great Lakes Triangle"?)

That thought made me think about the content of three of my books from Dundurn. And the fact that they might represent The Paranormal Ontario Triangle.

Haunted Hamilton, Spooky Sudbury & Creepy Capital: The Paranormal Ontario Triangle

Interesting. Perhaps I should collectively call the three books The Paranormal Ontario Triangle or Mark Leslie's Paranormal Ontario Triangle.

Spring 2016 Promotional Travel - Part Three - Sudbury

As I have been reflecting on the past few days, this weekend that just passed was the first weekend in the past three weeks where I haven't been traveling to promote my books.

You can read about the first of the three weekends when I officially launched Creepy Capital: Ghost Stories of Ottawa and the National Capital Region by clicking here.

You can read about the weekend at Niagara Falls Comic-Con here.

Saturday June 11th was the 2nd annual Sudbury Graphic-Con. And although it was one of the smaller cons that I've been to, it was among the MOST successful in terms of traffic, the amazing people and the absolute enthusiasm that I've come to enjoy whenever I return to my old stomping grounds in Sudbury.

Sudbury might be a smaller city in mid-north Ontario, but it has the biggest heart, the biggest supportive atmosphere and when the people of Sudbury do something, they put their all into it. Sudbury never disappoints.

Sudbury Graphic-Con brought with it all of those same things and, of the three recent promo travel weekends, I declare it the absolute winner. And it was so fun to check out Big Nick, Sudbury's first super-hero (for those non-locals, this is a reference to Sudbury's Big Nickel), as well as chat with Richard Comely, creator of Captain Canuck.

Alexander and I did the trip, enjoying listening to an audiobook together as well as misc father/son chatter on the 6 hour drive up and back. We had some time on Friday to do a few chores at my Mom's, including cutting the lawn for her.

Alexander at the booth after we had it all set up

Alexander posing with members of the 501st Legion

It's always awesome to see my sister Laura

Captain America (whom we saw in Niagara) was also in Sudbury and posed with Zander

This young lady told me it took about 2 hours to do the make-up for her great Two-Face costume

 

Rogue was enamored with Barnaby

One guy who came through our booth had the COOLEST tattoo on his hand and arm

One of the coolest things was that Alexander appeared on the local CTV news that night. We stayed up to watch the 11 o'clock news, and sure enough, in the short clip about the con, there's a fun shot of Alexander walking by in his Captain America costume.

Spring 2016 Promotional Travel - Part Two - Niagara Falls

As mentioned in yesterday's post, this is the first weekend in the past three weeks where I haven't been traveling to promote my books. It started on the last weekend in May where I visited Ottawa for the official launch of Creepy Capital: Ghost Stories of Ottawa and the National Capital Region. And you can read that post right here.

The following weekend, I participated in Niagara Falls Comic-Con, which took place Friday June 3rd through Sunday June 5th.

Liz and I arrived in Niagara Falls to check in to our hotel and set up the Mark Leslie table on the evening of Thursday June 2nd.


The whole weekend was fun and comic-con packed; but we also managed to do some fun exploring. (The con didn't start until the mid afternoon on Friday, and our evenings were filled with long walks, fireworks, craft beer, fun and dancing)

The listing for my appearance at Niagara Falls Comic-Con in the Falls Horror Fest section

Barnaby hanging out at the Mark Leslie table in the Falls Horror Fest section

I thought it was cool to spot these two comic characters (Morbius from Spider-Man and Vampirella) walking together

As often happens when Liz and I are exploring, we ended up at a few fun venues that we hadn't planned on, and had a blast. Two of the nights involved great live music and dancing, and one of them involved a lot of people-watching at the Casino and cavalierly throwing around $5.00. (Of which we walked away with 1 cent still in pocket from that giant investment)

The amazing Heather Glabb performing at Taps. As I tweeted, we came for the beer but stayed for the awesome music

Our blockbuster "winnings" of $0.01 at a Niagara Casino

Spring 2016 Promotional Travel - Part One - Ottawa

This is the first Saturday in the past three weeks where I haven't been traveling to promote my books. This will be the first of a series of three posts outlining some of the adventures had during that travel.

It started on the last weekend in May where I visited Ottawa for the official launch of Creepy Capital: Ghost Stories of Ottawa and the National Capital Region.

For that, I did two radio program interviews and three bookstores. And, along the way, Liz and I had fun exploring Ottawa, and even taking Barnaby Bones for his first taxi-cab ride, his first visit to a bar patio and his night-time visit to Parliament Hill.

Barnaby's first cab ride in downtown Ottawa

Book signing at Chapters Rideau

Barnaby enjoying a brew on a hot evening at Lowertown Brewery after our Chapters book signing

Barnaby stopping to take in the beautiful Parliament Buildings at night

Barnaby enjoying haunting Perfect Books

Dom from Ottawa Ghostbusters posing with Barnaby at Books on Beechwood

A great morning chat with Giacomo Panico of CBC's In Town and Out

Liz and I had fun visiting with friends and family while in Ottawa as well as walking through various downtown neighbourhoods and finding fun along the way in the manner we do so well together. We also quite enjoyed the wonderful time we spent in the CBC studio with Giacomo Panico, host of In Town and Out as well as the thrill of hearing a customer at Costco (where I was buying a few copies of the book) point at the book and say: "I heard that author on CBC yesterday morning!"

That, of course, was just the beginning of the series of weekend adventures (and heck, I didn't even mention the incredible fun we had the night before arriving in Ottawa, exploring Kingston, partially for my next book on haunted hospitals, and partially for a project that Liz and I are working on together.