Guest on the Phantom Faction Podcast

Last week Liz and I took at drive up to nearby Harriston to meet up with the boys (Dan, Danny and John) from the Phantom Faction Podcast.

The interview, which runs about an hour long, was recorded in the Crown Theatre (an allegedly haunted building), in Harriston, Ontario.

We chatted a lot about my co-authored book Haunted Hospitals, but also talked about several of my other books on the paranormal and unexplained and eerie phenomenon.

My skeletal companion, Barnaby Bones, came along for the ride and sat in the theatre while we recorded the show.

I describe myself as having a believer's heart but a skeptic's approach.

So, just prior to the interview began, when Dan mentioned that he was seeing floating orbs through the lens of his iPhone camera, I was curious to take a look. I'd never witnessed orbs in person myself (though have seen hundreds of different ones in research done on hauntings).

A pair of streaks of light shooting up from the ground over Barnaby's head in a left upward direction (from Dan's camera)

I had expected to see little blurry flashes of light, which I'd always suspected were light from the flash reflecting off of dust or water particles in the air. (I'm not all that knowledgeable about science, but do understand some of the basics at least)

I was surprised to see that whathe was seeing through his phone weren't little floating specs of blurry light (ie, what could be dust particles floating about), but, instead, odd thin streaks of light seeming to shoot up from the ground and towards the ceiling. Some straight, others on odd angles.

Again, I'm not much of a scientist, but do like to understand what I'm seeing. I comprehend how gravity works and that dust might not float down all the time - movements in the air as we walk around stirs them up.

One of the streaks of light in front of Barnaby's head (from Dan's camera)

But I couldn't figure out what might cause the streaks of light to be shooting up at such speeds.

I pulled out my own iPhone and spotted several of the same type of phenomena through my own viewfinder. None of the pics I snapped captured them.

Liz did the same thing on her android phone but didn't see any of the lights at all. Only Dan's phone and my phone seemed to show them.

Does this mean there's something in the iPhone that is picking up some sort of electromagnetic element in the air? Some sort of electric charge shooting up? (Again, I'm not a scientist, but I always like to explore all of the possibilities - like I said, I'm an open-minded believer with a skeptic's approach).

I've done of bit of looking into the phenomenon, but haven't yet figured out what it is, nor have I found any videos showing the odd fast streaks of light zipping in an upward direction.

I will, of course, keep looking as I'm sure there has to be some sort of explanation for it.

The Write Stuff Bundle

I am honoured and thrilled to be part of a new The Write Stuff Spring 2019 Bundle from StoryBundle.

Curated by the awesome Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the bundle contains three themes:

• Finding Time to Write (no matter what your life's circumstances are)
• Growing As An Artist
• Practical Business Advice

The Write Stuff 2019 Bundle

I come in on the "practical business advice" side of things with my book Killing It On Kobo: Leverage Insights to Optimize Publishing and Marketing Strategies, Grow Global Sales and Increase Revenue on Kobo.

But there are so many fantastic books available for a great value. (I've already read a handful of them and will be buying this myself so I can read the rest).

Here's how this StoryBundle works.

You decide what price you want to pay. 

For $5 (or more, if you're feeling generous), you'll get the basic bundle of four books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.

• Business For Breakfast - Vol. 10: Growing As a Professional Artist by Leah Cutter
• How to Write Non-Fiction by Joanna Penn
• Practical Meerkat's 52 Bits of Useful Info for Young (and Old) Writers by Laura Anne Gilman
• The Rational Writer: A to Z by Mindy Klasky

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all four of the regular books, plus SIX more things, including a $50 video lecture!

• Business For Breakfast - Vol. 11: Beginning Marketing for the Professional Publisher by Blaze Ward
• WMG Publishing Presents: Carving Out Time for Your Writing by Dean Wesley Smith
• Writing With Chronic Illness by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Killing it on Kobo by Mark Leslie Lefebvre
• Money-Making Business Models for Writers by Tonya D. Price, MBA
• The Million Dollar Writing Series Boxed Set by Kevin J. Anderson

So that's 10 books plus a $50 online video lecture for only $15?

$15 for all of that? YUP! (Yes, I know, I'm borrowing and re-editing a line from Monty Python's LIFE OF BRIAN out of context) So, if you think we are a little out of our heads making such a generous offer, go ahead and take advantage of our temporary absence of mind.

Even if you only consume half of the content, or perhaps even a quarter of it, you're still getting a huge value.

You can thank us for it later.

You can read MORE about the bundle here.


It's super convenient to get these ebooks onto your reader of choice—just download and sync. Or, if you have a Kindle or Kindle-enabled tablet or smartphone, StoryBundle can send the books directly to your device. No computer required. 

Public Lending Right Program Canada

We are now more than halfway through April. If you are a Canadian author and haven't registered for Canada's Public Lending Right Program you're missing out on an opportunity. (And the deadline is coming fast!)

Public Lending Right is the right of authors to receive payment for free public use of their works in libraries. PLR payments are determined based on the presence of an eligible title in the collections of selected library systems.

This particular program supports Canadian authors being stocked in Canadian libraries.

A random sampling is conducted, the totals are tallied, and eligible authors are paid usually in February of each year for the previous year's results.

Elgible titles include print, eBook, and audiobook.

You have to first register. And you can add titles that go back five years.

But the submission period, each year, is between Feb and May. You have to register by May 1st.

If you've already previously registered, you can (for example), add 2018 published titles in 2019.

You can download the forms from the PLR Canada website.

This year, the PLR Canada cheque I received covered the cost of an all inclusive tropical beach vacation we booked in March.

Apart from various print titles, I also have my ebooks and audiobooks listed in multiple library systems (such as OverDrive) through Kobo Writing Life and Draft2Digital for eBooks and through Findaway Voices for audiobooks.

Here's a short video of me mentioning this recently during a recent London Book Fair Self-Publishing Advice Conference #SelfPubCon2019.

And here is a longer, more detailed one about how the program works. (More of a presentation).

More than 30 countries around the world participate in a similar program. (Sorry US authors, it's not available there yet). Other countries include Australia, the UK, New Zealand.

Recipe: Skull Burger Patties

The other day the Skull Cakelet Pan from Nordic Ware arrived in our home.

The "Haunted" Skull Cakelet Pan from Nordic Ware

I ordered it after drolling over the cool pizza skull recipe video that I kept seeing online.

While I haven't yet made the pizza skulls (or skull calzones) have been having fun experimenting with ways to use it.

The first night, Liz made some delicious skull scones to accompany a delicious trout and rice dinner.

Skull scones

The next day, I used a package oatmeal muffin mix to make oatmeal skull muffins.

Oatmeal skull muffins go best in the morning with a skull coffee mug

And then yesterday I thought I'd keep experimenting.

And I came up with a recipe that I call Skull Burger Patties - or maybe Spicy Burger Patties (or, more accurately, Slightly Spicy Burger Patties).

Skull Burger Patties

They were delicious.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 700g extra lean hamburger meat (approx 1.5 lb)
• 2 eggs
• 2 garlic cloves (minced, sliced into tiny chunks) (or garlic powder)
• 3/4 cup of  crushed Dorito BOLD BBQ tortilla chips (approx 1/2 a family sized bag)
• 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
• Montreal steak spice

Makes 6 Skull Burger Patties.

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray inside of Nordic Ware Skull Cakelet Pan with cooking spray.
3. Crush down 1/3 to 1/2 a bag of Dorito BOLD BBQ tortilla chips. (Easy to do this in a sealed sandwich baggy. Crush by hand or use a roller. Heck, play catch with it, step on them, whatever turns your crank) You'll want to end up with about 3/4 a cup of broken Dorito tortilla chips - some fine chunks, some slightly larger ones will be in the mix
4. Mix hamburger meat with 2 eggs, breadcrumbs and Dorito BOLD BBQ.
5. Add minced garlic and Montreal steak spice and ensure hamburger is mixed well
6. Press mixed hamburger mixture into the skull pan. (Each one will be about 3/4 full, or less than a centimeter from the top.
7. Cook in center of pre-heated oven for approximately 20 minutes. (Depending on your stove, you might want to check the meat about 18 minutes in. It could be done, or it might take longer than 20 minutes.

Skull Burgers hot out of the oven.

They turned out delicious.

I had the burgers without buns and a side salad that included sweet-hot peppers. I added ketchup and President's Choice Smokin' Stampede Beer and Chipotle BBQ sauce to the eyes and the nose for fun effect. But these burgers didn't really need any condoments.

I suppose I could have sliced dill pickles and placed them across one another beneath each skull to make a skull and crossbones effect.

Skull Burgers and Salad

As I said, the burgers were delicious. But perhaps not as spicy as I would normally like. (I can handle really hot food).

Next time I might use the Dorito "Flaming Hot" chips to give some nice punch. Or, stick with a regular less painful Dorito flavour, and add in sliced jalapeno or some additional hot dried spice to the mix.

I might also try adding in grated cheese. Maybe by pressing the hamburger meat into the bottom of the pan and a bit up the sides then inserted grated cheese inside, then topping the "back of the skull head" with a layer of meat so the cheese cooks inside.

So many fun possibilities.

Territorial Publishing Rights: Looking At A Ten Year Prediction

Ten years ago I had been asked to make a prediction about something that I didn't think would be around a decade later.

Frustrated with the slow manner by which publishers were reacting to the opportunities that the digital world presented, I speculated (in a wishful-thinking sort of way) that territorial publishing rights might not be a thing.

Turns out it still IS a thing.

For legacy or traditional publishing, that is.

It's not as much of a thing for indie or self-published authors.

In the latest episode of my Stark Reflections podcast, I reflect on an article I had published in the summer of 2009 as well as offering a bit of a background on why and how territorial publishing rights exist.

How they are based on securing the rights to and producing a book within a country, or shipping that book to another country where it can be warehoused for bookstore distribution.

Things that still exist, but aren't much of a concern for indie authors whose world is 95% digital.

Because it was episode 69, and because the reflection was about the summer of 2009, my lyric-infested mind went immediately to the Bryan Adams song "The Summer of '69."

A little Mark Leslie Adams anyone?

You can read the accompanying podcast episode shownotes here. You can also listen to or subscribe to the podcast there too.

Or you can listen to it online here.

Just be warned, there might be a tiny bit of me singing a parody version of the classic awesome Bryan Adams hit song.