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.

Goodreads Giveaway

I recently worked with my publisher to create a Goodreads giveway for SPOOKY SUDBURY.

It works relatively simply. You determine how many copies of a book you want to ship (it has to be a physical book), WHERE you want to ship it and how long the contest will run.  Goodreads then has to approve it and if so, it's live.



When I contacted my publicist about it, he said, sure, Dundurn would ship 5 copies to any address in Canada.  (Spooky Sudbury is a regional title, focusing on ghost, UFO and supernatural creature stories set in or near Sudbury, Ontario).

We had 197 people enter the contest.  The winners were drawn earlier this week.

Yesterday I popped down to Dundurn's office to sign copies of the winning entries and they are being mailed out today.

Laura Harris (editor), Mark Leslie (author), Jim Hatch (publicist)

I had the pleasure of getting to meet my amazing editor (Laura Harris) and awesome publicist (Jim Hatch) in person. One of the things I love about Dundurn is that the people there are wonderfully supportive. Yes, I toil in the indie-publishing world, and also release self-published products. But I also enjoy working with a great publisher, too. I find that there is much to be gained by embracing both traditional publishing and self-publishing ventures.

Laura was a fantastic editor to work with - she helped Jenny and I take the book from a really good original draft to something really great. She made insightful suggestions, asked great questions, pointed out modifications that would make it even better and kept things on track. And Jim has been tirelessly working at various angles to get some spotlight on the book -- so far, I'll be doing two radio spots and one television spot next Friday when I'm in town. And there's more great promo opps coming.

The results of the giveway are that 103 people added SPOOKY SUDBURY to their Goodreads libraries (only 7 of them are Goodreads friends).  Getting your book added to folk's libraries by getting them to add it to their "To Read" and even better, their "Read" library, help aid in the discovery of a title.  Of course, getting people to rate and review the boo, help best of all. But it all adds up.

Banner for Spooky Sudbury - author photos by www.jorophotography.com

SPOOKY SUDBURY is being released officially next week.  Jenny and I will be signing copies at the Chapters in Sudbury from 11 AM to 1 PM on Saturday September 28th.  Then we're heading over to the Coles New Sudbury from 2 PM until 5 PM.  Here's a link to the event on Facebook.

Here are some places you can purchase the book

Print Book - Chapters/Indigo
Print Book - Amazon.ca      Amazon.com
Print Book - Support US Independent Bookstores
Print Book - Barnes & Noble

eBook - Kobo
eBook - Jan's Paperbacks (Oregon) - US Indie Store I'll be at in Nov. (You can search for the eBook at your favourite local indie bookstore to purchase the Kobo book through them and support your local bookstore - http://www.indiebound.org/ebooks)
eBook - Amazon (Kindle)

eBook - Barnes & Noble (Nook)

Atwood For The Win!

Margaret Atwood's latest book MaddAddam is just out (Kobo eBook / IndieBound Print Book Link / Amazon Link).  Earlier this summer, she was at Kobo's home office in Toronto for a Kobo in Conversation with Carol Off to discuss her new book.

During the conversation, Margaret began discussing the Wattpad novel (The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home) she had co-authored with Naomi Alderman of Zombies, Run! (an absolutely wonderful GPS-based interactive running app).  They ended up having a little side-bar conversation in which Atwood explained how a character could get out of a perilous seemingly dead-end situation being trapped in a cabin with a ravenous zombie trying to break in.

Kobo edited a snippet of that conversation into a video entitled Margaret Atwood VS Zombies.

Is there really any doubt as to who would win such an encounter?  Atwood FTW!

I have long been a fan of her writing. But I am also a fan of her spirit, energy and playfulness.

After decades of enjoying both reading and selling her books, I had the distinct privilege of being able to present her with the Canadian Booksellers Association Lifetime Achievement Award last year, which was an absolute honour for me.  And yes, I never get tired of sharing this picture.

A Bucket-List Type Thrill - May 2012 - Presenting Margaret Atwood a CBA Libris Lifetime Achievement Award

I was too nervous the night of the CBA Libris Awards to remember to ask for her autograph, but I did manage to get her to sign the back of my Kobo Glo when she was here at Kobo.

One thing I did neglect to remember to ask her, though, was for some tips on how to ensure I didn't get ambushed by the random zombie mobs when I run using the aforementioned Zombies, Run! app.

Remembering A Tragedy By Celebrating Their Lives

On the anniversary of the tragic day where 2996 people lost their lives blogger D. Challenger Roe began Project 2,996.

The concept was to bring bloggers from around the world together to remember and pay tribute to the victims of Sept 11, 2001.

Photo from 9/11 Virtual Career Fair article by Kevin O'Brien - Huffpost

Roe instructed bloggers to take the time to get to know one of the people who died and to celebrate and remember their lives rather than focus on the tragedy that befell them that fateful day.

I still love the fact that the focus of this blog meme wasn't on the horror, but on celebrating the lives, the people they had been before 9/11.

Here are my own links to three individuals that I focused on learning a bit about and sharing.  Ever year, on this anniversary, I re-read the posts, think about the lives they lived and the differences they made before those lives were ended.

The posts about the people are listed below.

 Raymond Meisenheimer

 

Remembering Raymond Meisenheimer  (Blog post from 2006)

Deora Francis Bodley

 

  Remembering The Lives of Two Heros (Blog post from 2007)

David Reed Gamboa Bradhorst

  Project 2996 - Sept 11, 2008 (Blog post from 2008)

It's my small way of celebrating these lives, and not forgetting.

Goodreads Giveaway for SPOOKY SUDBURY

In preparation for the book launch for SPOOKY SUDBURY, which will be taking place on Saturday September 28th in Sudbury at two different locations (11 AM to 1 PM at the Sudbury Chapters and then from 2 PM to 5 PM at the Coles New Sudbury), my publisher is offering up 5 copies of the book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway.

Promo Banner for SPOOKY SUDBURY, featuring Barnaby, Mark & Jenny

The giveaway contest is open to anyone in Canada.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Spooky Sudbury

by Mark Leslie

Giveaway ends September 18, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

So go ahead - enter for your chance to win. Good luck.

And if you don't win one, don't worry, there will be plenty of copies available for purchase at the events listed above.

Return of the MAC

I spent 5 wonderful years working at McMaster University for the campus store formerly known as "Titles Bookstore."  McMaster was a fantastic place to work, the people, both at the bookstore as well as the amazing staff and faculty that I got to know while I was there were amazing, and it is an opportunity and experience I cherish.

I am delighted, next week, to return to my old McMaster stomping grounds as part of a pretty amazing multidisciplinary celebration of Robert J. Sawyer's archival donation to the University Library Collection.

In honour of Rob's generous donation, the university is hosting a special three day conference entitled Science Fiction: The Interdisciplinary Genre from Friday September 13th through Sunday September 15th.

Special guests at the conference (apart from Robert J. Sawyer) include John Robert Colombo, Julie E. Czerneda, David G. Hartwell, Élisabeth Vonarburg, Robert Charles Wilson, and Chris Szego. 

Never mind the amazing content and people involved, but get this:  The conference is FREE.

There is more information here.  Here's the Tentative Program.  And you can check out the Facebook Page.

Rob and I in front of McMaster's Espresso Book Machine - 2010

I am delighted to be doing a talk and presentation called "Digital Pi: The Transcendence of Digital Publishing" -- I will be sharing some of the things that I have learned, in over twenty years of bookselling, about how digital technology is allowing authors, publishers, academics, students and readers amazing opportunities to share and explore the world around them in bold new ways.  I will, of course, be talking about the Espresso Book Machine at McMaster, how publishers and universities have embraced a "deliver digital / print local" methodology, how innovative publishers are evolving to embrace eBooks and other born-digital projects that take publishing to exciting new levels.

And I will, of course, tie much of my thoughts back to the writings of Robert. J. Sawyer.  I mean, the man owns virtually every eBook reader known to mankind and has been doing readings off of a handheld digital device of one form or another for as long as I can remember.

Rob doing a reading from his novel WATCH on an ereader March 31, 2010 at Titles Bookstore

When I was at McMaster and working on various POD experimental projects in publishing, such as CAMPUS CHILLS, an all original anthology of Canadian horror stories set on campuses across Canada by some of Canada's most amazing writers of dark fiction and printed and launched on the EBM's at McMaster, Waterloo and University of Alberta bookstores, Rob was an avid supporter of the project, and wrote a wonderful introduction for the book.

Campus Chills Contributors: Kelley Armstrong, Kimberly Foottit, Mark Leslie, Sephera Giron, Michael Kelly, Edo van Belkom (McMaster Book Launch October 2009)

Rob has given so much to the science fiction and academic communities.  It will be a special thrill and an honour to participate in an event that celebrates him and his donation to a wonderful university.

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.

An Adventure To Choose To Support

Remember the old Choose Your Own Adventure books? How would you like to do one in real life?

When I was doing a talk at the Ontario Writers Conference last year on the topic Digital Storytelling 360° I made a point of bringing up the possibility of writers crafting a story or even a mystery based on the GPS and or QR code function of a person's smartphone (it's at about 10 minutes in to the video) that brings them to or relies on physical world locations.

Interestingly enough, being part of that dream happened. 

I am delighted to be one of a group of authors taking part in a new collaborative writing project.  The other writers and I are creating writing Choose Your Own Adventures that you can do in real life!

Not only will the readers/participants actually get to stand where the story is happening but they can dictate what happens next, while exploring the weird and wonderful features of a new (or old!) city.

I will be penning the story that takes place in Toronto, Ontario.

It's a pretty progressive plan and an exciting project to be a part of.

But we need your help to get this project off the ground.

To do this we have set up a crowdfunding page for our project http://pozible.com/chooseadventure.

If you don’t know what crowdfunding is, it’s all explained on the page. But one thing to keep in mind is it involves rewards and they are amazing, including everything from signed books to Skype conversations with the authors.

If you are interested in seeing such a project get kick-started and could pledge to this project I would be greatly appreciative. Even if the only thing you can afford is to pass the word onto your friends, family, and colleges or just pledge $5, every bit counts! It really does.

We launched a couple of weeks ago and the funding and support is coming from around the globe.  But we still have a long way to go and really could use whatever support you can offer.

I mentioned that I am writing the Toronto story, if this project is able to establish the funding required.  But it will cost a lot to get this going, ensure all the writers are paid and that the technology and physical world elements are all in place to make this happen effectively.

Here are some of the stellar writers who will also be writing a choose your own adventure for this project:

Isobelle Carmody, Marianne De Pierres, Sean Williams, Mindy Klasky, Sophie Masson, Michael Pryor, Tansy Rayer Roberts, Kim Wilkins, Angela Slatter, Lee Battersby, David B. Coe, Jennifer St George and Robert Shearman.

If you are able to donate or simply share this cool project I would greatly appreciate it.  And if this project gets off the ground, I look forward to working on the Toronto adventure and sharing updates about it.

The Kobo Writing Life Podcast

The second episode of the Kobo Writing Life podcast went live this morning.

Episode Two (or, Episode 002 if you prefer), features an interview with Robert Levine, author of FREE RIDE.

The interview includes Robert's perspectives on copyright and pricing as well as the difference between writing for dailies, weeklies and monthlies to transitioning into writing a full length book with an entirely different publication schedule.

Episode One (or Episode 001), features an interview with Steve Vernon, author of such items as the Flash Virus serialized YA thriller, The Tatterdemon Trilogy as well as non-fiction books such as Haunted Harbours and Maritime Murder.

Christina (KWL Team), Steve Vernon and me

For Steve's interview we talk about his role as a hybrid author and why he has embraced both traditional publishing as well as self-publishing.  I thought it was interesting that part of the reason is that Steve has SO MANY stories to write and share that traditional publishing just can't keep up with his production pace and schedule.

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 . . .

Get Your Warrior On! (Warrior Dash Barrie 2013)

I ran the Warrior Dash in Barrie at Horseshoe Resort for the third year in a row.

Pierre and I in costume for 2013 Warrior Dash - photo from Barrie Examiner

And for the third year in a row I wore my "Conan the Barbarian" costume that my aunt made for me when I was 14.

My Conan costume - from my early teens (when I was a lot more skinny)

Yes, I know, it doesn't fit as nicely as it used to when I first wore it to the Halloween dance at Levack District High School

No, not even as nicely as it fit when I was in University

Halloween - at one of Pat & Mike's infamous parties in my university days

But it has been the tradition for three years now, that this is the costume I wear for the Warrior Dash.

2012 Warrior Dash - Me, Pierre, Tricia and Chad

For the first year, Pierre, Chad and I ran the race.  Last year, Chad's wife Tricia joined us.  And this year, Chad finally broke down and wore a costume. In previous years, he wore a shirt that read: "I don't do costumes!" -- but, a man of extremes, he went from wearing no costume to wearing a . . . wait for it . . . Borat bathing suit . . .

There are some things that just can't be unseen.

Me, Pierre and Chorat....for some reason, Tricia is nowhere to be seen

Chad, Pierre and I, post-race muddy

Needless to say, Chad's costume was the "talk of Warrior town" that morning.

Also needless to say, Tricia refused to run with us and ran on ahead, keeping a safe 1 KM or more in front of us lest people see us together.

Also needless to say, shortly after the race, Chad changed back into his civies.  But the damage had been done, the eyewash needed to be handed out along with the free beer that came with the tracking chits.

Fun costumes = lots of extra beer from fellow Warriors

Speaking of tracking chits, Pierre and I scored quite a few extra free beers from folks who were driving and couldn't use theirs.  No harm done there. None of us were driving, because we stay both Friday and Saturday at the resort and enjoy it as party of a mini family vacation.  Horseshoe resort has some amazing activities for the kids, and they always enjoy the zip line, the rock wall climbing, the maze, the trampolines and the Aqua Ogo balls (giant hamster balls filled with water that you climb into before it is pushed down a hill)

Alexander coming in on the zip line

Zander on the climbing wall

Cuddling with my better half in the big red muskoka chair

Horsing around with the kids (Alexander, Gavin and Oliver) in the pool on Friday night

This year, thanks to advice from my pal Sean, we booked a couple of the condo suites and had tons of space, a full kitchen, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer and two bedrooms.  (Not that the male warriors got all that much sleep -- we made friends with some cool runners from Sudbury and hung out with them both nights)

I have to say that the race this year was even more challenging, more fun that last year. They continue to improve the obstacles each year. I hurt my knees and elbows falling down the back side of some of the obstacles.  I even rolled through the mud, across the gravel and right off the trail into the woods on one of the obstacles that I fell down.

Here's the washing machine with our Warrior costumes in it. Yikes!

They reversed the course from the previous two years, beginning the race with a climb right up a long slope to the top of the hill -- talk about exhausting the runners right away -- but it served a nice purpose, quickly thinning out the pack that used to bunch up the minute we hit the woods in the previous years.  So it kept things flowing nicely.  Going up and down the side of the ski hill continues to be the biggest challenge of the race -- I mean, who cares about the bared wire (which did slice open my back quite nicely at one spot), and leaping over fire or scaling ten foot walls when you have to go back up that damn ski hill?  At least there was a lot of shade on this year's trail.

After the race, Pierre and I shaved our heads (Chad was already shaved and again, Tricia stayed far away)  We had an audience for this and were laughing about Drunk Barber....

Drunk Barber - free haircuts, if you can handle the fact it's "one cut for all heads"

One of the most hilarious pictures is when I had just jumped off the cargo net and was doing my Warrior Yell for Francine, when Chad ran in front of me. Cheeky bugger!

My Warrior Yell pose "white washed" by Chad's cheeky photo bomb

Kudos to the folks at Horseshoe Resort and Warrior Dash for upping their game yet again.

It was a fun novelty race (we don't race competitively, but rather stick together as a team and run together, enjoying the fun of going through the obstacles, laughing at each other and having some fun) and a weekend that I look forward to every year.  We mixed our time between hanging out with our families, meeting new friends and, given that Pierre and I stayed in our costumes for quite a while on Saturday, posing for dozens of pictures.

I can't wait until next year. In fact, I have already registered for July 19, 2014.

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?

Nine Years Ago

Nine years ago today my son was born.

And my life changed.

Permanently.

For the better.

I can't express just how fantastic it is to be a father - in particular to be Alexander's father.

Alexander at Tobermory

It's funny. I remember thinking (in the way that many teens do), at how little my parents knew about everything when I was in high school, and marveling at just how much they learned when I went away to university.  It was an interesting perception thing.

There's a new perception thing taking place now that I'm a parent.  It seems that now I marvel at just how much my son teaches me about the world every single day -- he helps me see the world with a fresh new perception, with innocence and curiosity; with wonder and a new appreciation.

Sure, I helped give him life, nurtured him, took care of, provided for, coached, taught and played with him -- did all those fatherly things.  But among the most important things I could ever do with simply listen to him. Actually sit and chat with him about the little things, about the big things, about the things that are important to him, the things he wants to express.

And from that, I have learned so much more about him, about me, about the world.

Barnaby, Zander and Daddio on their July 2013 Road Trip

It has become a tradition, ever since his first birthday, for me to take the first week of July off to spend with Alexander.  A fun father-son week.  This year we decided to take a road trip, try some fishing, and do a quick visit with my Mom (Baba Jean).

Alexander demonstrating how he caught his first fish (Georgian Bay near Tobermory)

Though it was a quick three-day trip (I needed to back back in Hamilton on Friday morning so that I could participate in a little Kobo chat about kids and eBooks on CHCH Morning Live), we packed a lot of fun into those days, and it was, as always, a delight to spend so much time with my son where the focus was on doing fun father-son stuff.

The proud fisherman (with his cooler of fish), posing near the Joseph Simon (our chartered fishing boat)

We did some fishing in Tobermory (his first time out, and almost twenty years since I had gone fishing), we took the Chi-Cheemaun ferry from Tobermory to South Baymouth, then drove up through Manitoulin Island on our way to Sudbury and Levack.

Alexander on the Joseph Simon (fishing vessel), just off Middle Island (just before catching his first fish)

A simple, trip, quick, yet the stuff that fun memories are made of. 

Alexander on the deck of the Chi-Cheemaun

And, as mentioned, a chance for me to learn more about everything from my son. Alexander is an amazing little boy and doing stuff with him is an absolute joy, pleasure and privilege.

Relaxing on board the Chi-Cheemaun (from Tobermory to Manitoulin)

I am a blessed father, a blessed man.