A Skeleton Walks into a Bar

Two skeletons walk into a bar and say to the bartender: "We'll have a pitcher of beer and a mop, please!"

Me and Yorick

At least, that's one way to tell that joke.

I love that there are so many different ways to spin a joke.

Front yard joke sign for April 29, 2020

I mean, you start with a skeleton of an idea on how the word play can go, and then you flesh it out a bit, add a little muscle here, a little nuance that gets under the skin there.

The other day when Liz was online and I needed to stay off the computer, I shot a few stupid dad jokes on the skeleton theme using Barnaby Bones and Yorick. I later compiled them into a video.

See, I'm helping you exercise your eyeballs with all those eyeball rolls.

Barnaby and Yorick are jealous that at least YOU have eyes to roll.

Friday the 13th: The SUPER Superstition

There are plenty of things in western culture that we associate with superstitions and luck.

A broken mirror brings seven years of bad luck. Don’t let a black cat cross your path. Walking under a ladder also brings bad luck. But of all the superstitious beliefs even those who are skeptic regularly acknowledge, the superstition surrounding the fear of Friday the 13^th is compiled up an intriguing selection of different fears and beliefs which form a recipe for a super superstition, if you will.

According to Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained, it has been estimated that as many as 8 percent of Americans actually suffer from the crippling fear of the day Friday the 13^th, known in phobia terminology, as paraskevidekatriaphobia. Say that one five times really fast!

Let’s take a look at the two main ingredients that helped to create the commonly dreaded day of Friday the 13^th.

Merry Christmas from Mark and Barnaby

Wishing you and yours all the best this holiday season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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.

The Capital Gets A Bit Creepier

My latest non-fiction paranormal exploration, CREEPY CAPITAL is now on bookstore shelves.

Come along with paranormal raconteur Mark Leslie as he uncovers first-person accounts of ghostly happenings throughout Ottawa and the surrounding towns - the whole region is rife with ghostly encounters and creepy locales.

Discover the doomed financier who may be haunting the Chateau Laurier. Experience the eerie shadows and sounds at the Bytown Museum. Listen to the echoing howls of former prison inmates at the Nicholas Street Hostel. And feel the bitter sadness of the ghost of Watson's Mill in Manotick. You'll marvel at the multitude of ghosts that walk the streets and historic landmarks of Canada's capital.

I love that, in the book description I'm called a "paranormal raconteur" - I'll need to revise my author business cards.


This weekend I'll be heading to Ottawa to officially launch it at three different bookstores.

Friday May 27th
Chapters Rideau
4 PM

Saturday May 28th
Perfect Books
Noon to 2 PM

Sunday May 29th
Books on Beechwood
Noon to 2 PM

I'm thrilled that Ottawa Ghostbusters will be joining me for the Friday and Sunday signings. (These wonderful volunteers go to events and ask only for a charitable donation for payment. For coming out to a couple of my Ottawa signings, so people can have fun pictures taken with cool Ghostbusters, I've donated money to the Red Cross Fort McMurray fund)

Here's the pic from the Books on Beechwood website. FUN!

I also thought that the cheeky post Perfect Books put up was fun. Politics can be CREEPY indeed.

Oh, and, of course, Barnaby will be there too, as always.

Events Week of Halloween

For a writer of dark fiction and true ghostly tales, the week leading up to Halloween is often a busy one. Not only do I have a new non-fiction book out - TOMES OF TERROR: Haunted Bookstores & Libraries, but my new novel I, DEATH is also currently making its way into the world.

Here is my schedule for this week.

Tuesday October 28th - 7:30 PM - Waterdown Branch, Hamilton Public Library
(25 Mill Street North, Waterdown, ON)
Reading, talk and book signing, including stories about the haunted elevator at the Waterdown Branch

Tuesday October 28th - 10 PM Eastern - TBR Podcast Interview
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZjkgO5v8U)
Author Mark Leslie Lefebvre joins TBR to talk about scary books. Post apocalyptic fiction, horror, thrillers - anything scary is game! Live listeners, please note we'll be running at 10PM EST this week. Jamie Maltman, Michael La Ronn and Patrick Stemp will see you there!

Wednesday October 29th - 7:00 PM - Terryberry Branch, Hamilton Public Library)
(100 Mohawk Road West, Hamilton, ON)
Reading, talk and book signing, including a couple of stories involving the Terryberry Branch of HPL

Thursday October 30th - Merril Collection, Lillian H. Smith Branch, Toronto Public Library
(239 College Street, Toronto, ON)
Shining a Light on the Dark Side
The Friends of the Merril Collection present a discussion of horror writing and publishing in Canada, featuring members of the Horror Writers Association: Sephera Giron, Mark Leslie, Nancy Kilpatrick, and Richard S. Todd. This event will take place in the Merril Collection reading room on the 3rd floor of the Lillian Smith branch.

Friday October 31st - CHCH Morning Live - Approximately 8 AM
At approximately 8 AM on CHCH Morning Live, Mark and his skeleton mascot Barnaby Bones will be in studio making an appearance on the morning program to share a few creepy tales about haunted bookstores and libraries.

Friday October 31st - Evening
Mark Leslie will be Trick or Treating with his son!!!!

Help Me Capture A Caption

I took Barnaby to visit Santa recently. It was fun for everyone, including Santa.

But every time I look at this picture I keep wondering what words are possibly being exchanged between Barnaby and Santa.

Rather than decide this completely on my own, I thought it might be more fun to open it up to everyone and see what fun stuff people can come up with.

So, please help me capture a caption for this photo.

Feel free to leave your caption in the comment field - but, for the purposes of trying to give something back for your effort, I created a FORM where the caption can be entered, and that way I could easily pull the options from a compiled list to decide on a winner as well as draw some randomly selected names to receive fun prizes.

CLICK HERE TO SUGGEST A CAPTION

Here are the prizes being offered.

GRAND PRIZE

• Signed copies of my books: CAMPUS CHILLS, HAUNTED HAMILTON and SPOOKY SUDBURY
• A signed copy of my forthcoming novel I, DEATH (Atomic Fez, Late 2014)
• A signed copy of the 10th Anniversary edition of ONE HAND SCREAMING (Late 2014)

PRIZES FOR ENTERING (3 randomly selected entrants will each receive)

• A $10 gift certificate from Kobo, Amazon or Chapters/Indigo

Entries will be accepted until midnight on Dec 23rd, 2013.  A Grand Prize winner will be selected  and a post will go up with the winning entry.  The grand prize winner and random entrant winners will be contacted by email over the "Christmas holidays."

For more Barnaby fun, check out his Pinterest and Facebook page.

The Day I Outsold Stephen King

Last Saturday was the official book launch weekend for Spooky Sudbury. I drove up north late on Thursday evening and spent most of the day on Friday doing a few different media appointments.

Jim, my publicist at Dundurn, had scheduled in studio appearances with Gary, Rich & Hilary In The Morning (Sudbury’s KiSS 105.3 FM) and Markus Schwabe of  CBC’s The Morning North as well as recording some videos at the haunted Bell Mansion for Eastlink News.

Jenny arrived on Saturday to join me for a launch that started at Chapters at 11 AM until 1 PM, and then at the Coles from 2 PM until 5 PM.  Jenny had to head back down south that night. On Sunday Sept 29th I did one final signing at the Sudbury Costco before heading back home to Hamilton.

Barnaby and Mark

Mark and Jenny, signing the last copy left at Chapters

We sold out at the Chapters in a little over a half hour. But we stuck around until our scheduled end time there. Chapters had copies of Haunted Hamilton (as well as copies of Campus Chills and One Hand Screaming), and the adjacent Costco had plenty of stock, so some people ran next door to grab a copy from there to get signed.

Barnaby hangs out on a bench outside the Coles New Sudbury while Jenny signs at the front of the store

Jenny's boyfriend Bruno hangin' with Barnaby

Mark, Barnaby and Lynn Murray (one of Mark's teachers from Levack Public School)

Then we moved on to the Coles, where there was enough stock to last almost two hours before selling out.  Barnaby sat on a bench outside the store and attracted a huge number of people. At least a dozen different groups stopped to each take their picture with Barnaby, many of whom were likely tweeting and posting them to Facebook.  I thought that was a pretty cool promotional opportunity, particularly since Barnaby was wearing a SPOOKY SUDBURY t-shirt.

On the Sunday, the signing at Costco happened.

Costco entrance sign announcing book signing

And that took me by complete surprise.

I'm a bookstore guy, so, while I had been pleased with the fact Costco was interested in having me in for a signing, I wasn't sure how successful it would be. Sure, there was lots of stock. But would the customers there be interested in an author?

The answer to that question is a resounding: YES!

First, the staff greeted me so warmly, and had everything laid out perfectly, including a sign at the front and a decorated table across from the skid of books. One of the managers said that I was only the second author ever to sign at that Costco. Canadian music icon, Anne Murray, was the only other author who has signed there. And hockey legend Bobby Orr was the only other author who was scheduled to be there later in the fall.  That was some pretty fine company for me to be in.

Author table at Costco Sudbury. (Barnaby was happy to meet up with his old Costco friends)

I was tickled when I saw that Spooky Sudbury was sitting on a skid near Stephen King's hot new book Doctor Sleep. So, I, of course, had to take a picture of it. I mean, how often would I ever be merchandised so close to a writer I have admired for decades? So close to a book that was hitting the charts at #1 in markets around the world?

I had to snap a picture of that, of course.

The signing at Costco was amazing. People continued to line up to chat with me and get a signed copy. Folks were buying multiple copies, for birthday gifts, Christmas, and other occasions. I ended up staying most of the rest of the day, and realized, towards the end, that we had pretty much decimated the pile of books.

BEFORE: A skid of hundreds of copies of Spooky Sudbury. (Doctor Sleep by Stephen King is on the left)

AFTER: The Spooky Sudbury pile cut down by half, "lapping" sales of Doctor Sleep

When I looked over at the pile of Doctor Sleep, I was surprised and quite pleased to see that Spooky Sudbury had outsold it. And, as a bookseller friend later pointed out, given that King's book is 3X the size of mine, the sheer number of unit sales to deplete the skid so far down was truly amazing. He said I didn't just outsell King, but I lapped him. (thanks for the ego-boost, Nathan!)  :)

Yes, I know, it was only in a single store in a single city in a single afternoon. But at least I can say that I outsold Stephen King.

One must, after all, look for ways to define oneself as a "big fish in a small pool" - thus, even though it was in a very limited fashion, I can boast about having two bookstores sell out of one of my books and outselling the King of horror.

Not bad, if I do say so myself. And I figure, I better say it. I just have to be careful not to break my arm while trying to pat myself on the back.

Northern Life Article On Spooky Sudbury

This past Saturday, Jenny and I did our book launch for Spooky Sudbury at Chapters, and a reporter from Northern Life (Ryen Veldhuis) interviewed us and took a few snaps.

Ryen's article and one of the pictures (a fun one where Jenny, Barnaby and I are all looking a little spooked while reading from the book -- okay, Jenny and I look spooked. Barnaby, as always, just looks a little happy) appear in an article in today's Northern Life.

Mark Leslie, Barnaby Bones & Jenny Jelen - Picture by Ryen Veldhuis, Northern Life

I love the fact that the article points out we had sold out within the first hour. At the time it was a bit frustrating, because there were more customers wanting the book than there were books available, particularly since I'm sure Chapters could have easily sold another 20 copies, and this is a local interest title that will likely continue to ramp up in sales as Halloween approaches.  But in retrospect doesn't the fact that the book sold out sound really exciting?  The manager at Chapters assured me he would be re-stocking the book, they also had copies of Haunted Hamilton in stock (which I signed), and he said he'd be ordering in a few copies of my previous books Campus Chills and One Hand Screaming.

We ended up selling out at Coles (they had brought in 55 copies) later that afternoon, and the following day I sold over 200 copies at the Sudbury Costco -- but of course, when a store has a skid, it's really hard to sell out . . . even though sales that day took a nice chunk off the gigantic pile -- and I can proudly boast that, for a few hours in a single store in a single city, I outsold Stephen King's Doctor Sleep.

Spooky Morning North

Last Friday I was in studio with Markus Schwabe of CBC Morning North to chat about the new book Spooky Sudbury: True Tales of the Eerie & Unexplained.

Markus was a great host and we had a fun time, particularly when we set Barnaby up with a pair of headphones and took a few pictures.

It looked like Barnaby was really into it. But he did let Markus and I do all the talking.

Our conversation can be listened to as an audio clip here.

Spooky Swag

Barnaby was excited to try on a new t-shirt when some of my Spooky Sudbury swag arrived this past Friday.

I'll be bringing the swag to the book launch events that Jenny and I are doing this coming weekend in Sudbury.

Barnaby will, of course, also be there to greet people.

Author Photos For Spooky Sudbury

In early July, Alexander and I took a quick road trip up through Tobermory (where we did some fishing), took the ferry to Manitoulin Island (where I took some photos), and on to Sudbury and Levack (to visit my Mom and where I could take some more photos for use in my new book)

Part of the reason for the trip (apart from a fun "boys adventure) was so that Jenny Jelen and I could get some author promo pictures for use for our forthcoming release, Spooky Sudbury (coming in late Sept 2013)

One beautiful afternoon, Jenny and I met with John and Shelley Robbie (of Joro Photography) to have some photos taken at High Falls (a local tourist attraction in Onaping Falls, the community we all grew up in)

Barnaby, naturally, made it into some of the shots.

Barnaby Bones, Mark Leslie & Jenny Jelen - Photo by Joro Photography

Here is a grouping of some of the great pictures taken by John.

Barnaby Warrior

One of the photos I forgot to post in my Warrior Dash Barrie 2013 summary post from a few days ago was a picture I took of my skeleton Barnaby in my Warrior Dash t-shirt from last year.

It would have been hilarious to run with Barnaby or just have him posed on one of the obstacles in shirt, running shorts and shoes, as if he were a runner that couldn't make it over one of them - you know, as if he'd been at for THAT long . . .

In any case, here he is, ready for battle, but ensuring he is resting before the race . . .

The Swimming Dead

So it was an interesting commute home last night.

Record rainfall in Toronto (yes, beating the previous rainfall record set in 1954 by Hurricane Hazel) -- no, not Mississauga's mayor, who is sometimes referred to by this name, but an actual hurricane - I remember hearing about it a lot when I was a child; my Mom would come into a room I was playing in -- and, of course, making a mess in -- and would say: "It looks like Hurricane Hazel came through here!"

In any case, at about 7 PM on the QEW in Mississauga, traffic came to a complete stop in both directions.

A transport slowly makes it way through the flooding that has stopped traffic in both directions

The QEW was completely flooded near Hurontario.

A police officer with a shovel walks through the flood waters looking to unclog storm drains

A few cars that had tried to make it through were either stuck or had just made it through before their engines had died. A few transports actually slowly chugged their way through. Some of us cheered them on each time they made it through, and they'd blast their horns proudly.

It was like an ad-hoc meetup (as one of my friends on Facebook posted)

The QEW stopped in both directions from flooding near Hurontario Street

And, when I was walking down the middle lane of the 403 on the opposite side of the highway (taking advantage of the simple joyful fact that I could walk down this completely barren stretch of highway), another one of my friends said my posted self-portrait reminded them of Rick Grimes -- another than the pictures I was posting looked like a scene out of the first episode of The Walking Dead.

Look Ma, I'm Rick Grimes, walking down a barren stretch of highway during rush hour

"The Swimming Dead, more like," I thought.

People in the crowd enjoyed talking pictures of my skeleton Barnaby, who was sitting in my passenger seat.  I quipped about the poor guy being frightened to death by all the flooding, or that he was alive when I first got on the highway.  (Yes, great ice-breaker when people say:  "No, really - why do you have a skeleton in your car?" It gives me a potential chance to let them know I'm a horror writer - always be promoting......)

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Barnaby in traffic -- if he had just a bit of flesh on his bones he might look a bit more like a scene from early episodes of The Walking Dead.

Barnaby doesn't seem all that phased by the fact that the QEW has become a parking lot

Despite the frustration, most of the folks stuck in this traffic were in good humour. We had to admit that we were lucky not to have our cars flooded over the way we noticed had happened on some other routes, and on a couple of the GO train lines.

It was interesting to see, though, how easy it was for our little part of civilization to come to a complete stop and just how fragile our day to day routines really are.

And, of course, more fuel for a post-apocalyptic storyline I've been kicking around in my head for a while.....

Yes, everything is fruit for a story. I'm a writer. What else do you expect?

Bookstore Barnaby

I was cleaning up files on my iPhone recently and came across a few of Barnaby at some events I had done in bookstores in the past 9 or so months.

Here's one of Barnaby at the Indigo in Stoney Creek where I had done a workshop on writing horror during the March break.

Barnaby posing in a chair with Yorick - Indigo Stoney Creek, March 2013

Here's Barnaby sitting in the front row of a workshop I had done on digital self-publishing for a writer's group in Stratford (May 2013).  This time he was here to demonstrate the manner by which a writer can use a prop or some sort of consistent messaging to ensure the audience knows exactly the type of thing they're in for (my example is, when Barnaby is sitting with me at an author table, customers who approach likely have a pretty good idea what genre I write in -- or, at the very least, it makes for a handy ice-breaker......)

Barnaby sitting front and centre for a workshop

The following is a picture of Barnaby at the Indigo in Stoney Creek (October 2013)

Please don't feed the starving writer

And, of course, Barnaby at the Coles at Eastgate Mall in Hamilton (Sept 2013) - which was the very first book signing I had done for Haunted Hamilton last fall.

This poor guy waited FOREVER for the author to show up