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.

Do One Thing Really, Really Well

I recently won a contest from Y108 sponsored by Steamwhistle and Stonewalls.

The contest reads like this:  Everybody does one thing really . . . really well. Y108, Steamwhistle Pilsner and Stonewwalls wanna hear all about it! Nominate your most talented, thoughtful or skilled friends and you could win a Steam Whistle Home Delivery Service and catering by Stonewalls delivered to you!

I submitted a story (which I never kept a copy of, even though people have asked to read it a few times - I just filled out the online form and away it went) about my neighbour Chad.

I explained how I'd been working in the garage with my father when we first moved into our new home about 12 years ago and Chad showed up with a smile and a few cold beer in his hands. Since then, almost every time there's a lawn mover, rake, or snow shovel out at either of our homes, there's a friendly neighbour with a smile and a beer. Whether we're washing or working on our cars, watching our kids play together or having a BBQ or a smile in the back-yard, one thing has always been consistent - Chad has been leading the charge on being the friendly neighbour to share a beer with.

Basically, Chad does the "neighbour beer" thing really, really well - better than anyone I've known. In my mind, it's that neighbourly effort that helps build communities and is something worth celebrating.

So I won the contest -- or rather, I won the contest in honour of Chad.

So last night, Andrew G and Jesse from Y108 delivered the fantastic and delicious food from Stonewalls, and Alex from Steamwhistle delivered the 30L Keg. (I've long favoured Steamwhistle on tap over having it in the bottle, and that was the consensus for everyone that night)

About an hour after dropping off the catering, Andrew G was back in the Y108 studio and live on air, and he shared the story I had written in honour of my buddy and neighbour, Chad. He also played a Rush song, because we couldn't resist putting in a request when he was in our backyard, since we were listening to Y108 in the back-yard all night.

So last night, a group of friends got together and had some good eats and some good beer and a lot of laughs while the kids played in the backyard, then had popcorn and watched a movie downstairs.

Good times!

Thanks Y108! Thanks Steamwhistle! Thanks Stonewalls!

Thanks, Chad!

Canada Reads 2011 Reveals A Brave New Canada

I was recently asked, as a book blogger, to write a short guest post for the Canada Reads blog.

My short POV about the process appears in this post today on the CBC Books/Canada Reads website along with posts from . . .

Charlotte Ashley of Inklings
Jennifer Knoch of Keepin' It Real Book Club
Chad Pelley of Salty Ink
and
Steph VanderMeulen of Bella's Bookshelves


Apart from the fact that I have the least interesting named blog of the bunch (the dry and boring "Mark Leslie's Blog" as opposed to something interesting I could have named it such as "Book Nerd's Realm" or even "This Guy Who Likes To Post Stuff"), I was honoured to be asked to write something up and appear beside these fine bookish peeps.

My own blurb spoke about the "Brave New Canada" this different approach resulted in.

Unlike many literary competitions, this one, which was a result of opening it up to the general public (with a very heavy dose of active social media buzz taking place), provided not only a fantastic Top 40 and Top 10 list, but also resulted in what I think is a unique and refreshing Top 5 list all contending for the top prize.

There are 3 first novels (The Best Laid Plans, The Birth House and The Bone Cage) competing for this honour as well as one last novel (Unless from the late Carol Sheilds).  One of the contenders is a graphic novel (Essex County) and another was originally self-published (The Best Laid Plans).

In my mind this makes for a great list. But let's take it a few steps back and consider the Top 40 list.  In my post on the Canada Reads website I called it a good yardstick to measure the current Canadian literary landscape.

And to that end, I thought I should post a link to each of the Top 40 books listed and remind people that this competition is about discovering great books they might not have otherwise checked out. Yes, the Top 5 books are going to get a lot of airplay and a lot of exposure -- which is great and something I look forward to.  But I'd like to pause throw out the Top 40 list again to offer people looking for great book gifts to give this Christmas -- because selecting from among this fantastic list of books, you really can't go wrong and chances are you'll find something for almost any reader.  Just click the links below to get to the Canada Reads posting for the book to learn more about it.  Then again, there's always Google, and of course there's always your friendly neighbourhood local bookseller who'll likely chat with you about the books.

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall
Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright
Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
Conceit by Mary Novik
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
Drive-by Saviours by Chris Benjamin
Elle by Douglas Glover
Essex County by Jeff Lemire
Far to Go by Alison Pick
February by Lisa Moore
Galore by Michael Crummey
Heave by Christy Ann Conlin
Inside by Kenneth J. Harvey
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
Moody Food by Ray Robertson
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Room by Emma Donoghue
Shelf Monkey by Corey Redekop
Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
The Birth House by Ami McKay
The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre
The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Fallen by Stephen Finucan
The Girls Who Saw Everything by Sean Dixon
The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe
The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart
The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
Twenty-Six by Leo McKay Jr.
Unless by Carol Shields

A Chilling Halloween Treat

Usually, on the evening of October 31st, by the time that my son is in bed, and Francine and I are shutting the lights off and unplugging the power leading to the front yard decorations (typically a haunted graveyard scene with plenty of tombstones, scary figures either popping out of the ground or lurking among the graves, blue and red floodlights a strobe light and fog machine), I get that same feeling I used to get when I was a child and Christmas was over.

A little bit sad.

The thrill and excitement of Halloween is over for another year.

Since Halloween is the one time of year that most everybody else is in sync with the types of things I most adore (yes, I have a bit of inkling towards the macabre), I'm that much more sad.

I'll go on believing in ghosts and goblins and monsters lurking in the shadows, while the rest of the world moves in into other seasonal celebrations.

Sigh.

I've always wished that Halloween could be extended and not just culminate in a single night.

I mean, wouldn't it be neat if Halloween celebrations could last throughout the week?

Well, in my own little way of trying to extend the Halloween spirit, I'm offering a special Halloween treat.

Starting today and ending six days from now, I'm offering free copies of CAMPUS CHILLS, the anthology of terror stories set on campuses across Canada which I edited. The contest appears on Goodreads.com.


With original stories from some of Canada's finest horror authors, this wonderful collection is certain to offer you a special chill for reading during a dark and creepy fall evening.

There's one copy available for each of the seven days the contest is open.

For a chance to win, simply register your name at the Goodreads contest site. A random selection will be done, and the winners will be sent a copy of CAMPUS CHILLS. No strings attached.

Of course, I'd love if it the seven people who win a copy would be so kind as to write a review of it on Goodreads, on their own blog, on Facebook, or tell some friends if they enjoyed it -- but other than that hope, there's no catch.

Simply, it's a Halloween treat -- starting today and ending at the end of the week. The contest is open to people in the US and Canada.

So, if you're looking for a special Halloween treat and something to offer you some special chills beyond the Halloween season, go sign up for a chance to get your copy of CAMPUS CHILLS.

Best of luck to you if you enter. And if you're not a winner, please note that the book is available at a number of retail locations in Canada -- many of which take online orders and can ship to you. Ask for it at your favourite local bookstore. Tell them to check out www.campuschills.com to find out how easy it is for them to special order a copy in for YOU.

Happy Halloween! Here's hoping that the Great Pumpkin is good to you this year.