Éric has had an eclectic career which ranges from casino dealer to canal boat captain to radio station DJ. Since 2009, he’s worked as a desktop publisher for the federal government. During his off time, he works as a freelance typesetter for various Canadian-based authors and publishers, roasts gourmet flavoured coffee, runs several pen-and-paper role-playing games, writes, and helps run JenEric-Designs.ca (Home of the TravellingTARDIS.com).
He lives in Ottawa, Ontario with his author wife, daughter, and son.
I got the idea to make shadowbox out of the cover image of our books, and I thought it would be fun for you to have access as well!
Materials:
Paper (or cardstock)
Colour printer
Scissors
Exacto knife
Cutting board
Tape (or glue)
Patience
Instructions:
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2005 film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The influences of World War Two are felt throughout the story and it adds a certain grounding that is missing from some fantasy films. As much as there are some things that bother me about the story, it is extremely well-crafted.
Score: 1
When I first watched it, I disliked the boys but rewatching it, I see the struggles they have both in family and in a world that expects them to do nothing.
The rest of the cast was great, and despite not being a huge fan of the voice of the lion, it isn’t as bad as I remember.
One thing that really bothered me was the stereotype of “beauty is good and ugly is bad”. They went out of their way to make all the good guys look pretty and all the villains, except the witch, ugly.
Score: 0.5
The dialogue is mostly from the book and I’m really glad they removed some of the sexist language. The banter between the characters was nice and family-like.
Score: 1
The special effects, sets, and camera work hold up extremely well for a twenty-year-old movie. The clothing and armour are fantastic and it’s easy to forget that the animals are CGI.
The music is epic and really sucks you into the story.
Score: 1
Jen and I had seen the movie a few times already and knew we liked it. It was really cool to watch the kids watch it. They both liked it but said it was a little scary.
Score: 1
A classic story done extremely well. The acting, music, and special effects hold up twenty years later.
Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5
Hello my friends, Family, and Fans;
Typing in 2025 feels like I’m writting some far off date not the actual year. Not sure I’m in love with the future as it is but let’s concentrate on the things that we can control.
This year, I’m going to be extra ambitious with my resolutions. (Quick reminder, my resolutions are goals that are meant to push me.)
I have a basic outline and I’m going to start re-reading the first four to get back into it. It’s kind of exciting to be working on the penultimate book in the series.
I’m not sure what I’m writing this year, but I will try to get a 1000 word chapter out each month. This is going to be the twelfth year I do it.
I wrote a song for Elizabeth 4 and set up the chords, but between the colds and the medical issues, I didn’t get really good at it. I’m going to do my best to get good enough to record it.
Last year I crushed my reading challenge and I’m hoping I can do the same this year. 12 might not sound ambitious but it is.
Three years ago for Christmas I got a Magical Cafe book nook. Over the three years I’ve made it to page 17 of 40ish I think. There’s so much painting and gluing and it’s really hard. This year, my sister in-law took pity and got me another one that doesn’t need the paint or the glue. Maybe this will help build my confidence.
I also got an epic Van Gogh’s Starry Night LEGO set. It has a lot of pieces.
2024 was a busy year and now that I’m feeling better, I have more time that isn’t just for recovering. I’m having trouble taking that time for me and not feeling bad about it. It’s not selfish to read, it’s not selfish to watch a show on my own, it’s not selfish to do things for me. I know that, but I’m having trouble shutting up the little voice in my head.
I have an idea what it’s going to be, so this should be easy.
I have this idea for a series of short cozy mysteries. The hope is to make them around 40 thousand words and just have fun. It would also give me the chance to play around with self-publishing. The idea would be to write this after Elizabeth 5 before I jump right into the final book.
This one scares me, but I want to do a joint book release* with Jen this summer. (By the way you should totally check out her cover reveal for Winging It!)
*More details in a future post.
I have learned a lot about my body and mind this year, and I know I have a lot of work, both to improve my health and to accept what and who I am. More details in a future post.
I hope that everyone has a productive, healthy, and good 2025.
Éric
I got the idea to make shadowbox out of the cover image of our books, and I thought it would be fun for you to have access as well!
Materials:
Paper (or cardstock)
Colour printer
Scissors
Exacto knife
Cutting board
Tape (or glue)
Patience
Instructions:
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2024 film Holiday Mismatch.
Adorable meddling mothers and a sweet romance. I love the symmetry between the relationships. That being said, it’s just two different tropes smushed together.
Score: 0.5
The mothers had incredible comedic chemistry and the love interests were adorable. Both sets together worked great. The dad and brother were entertaining as well.
I do hate when all the drama comes from a misunderstanding or a character not keeping a secret. It felt a little forced.
Score: 0.5
The dialogue is funny, flirty, and cute. I liked the multiple jokes about the mothers being witches.
Score: 1
The snow was ridiculously fake and a few scenes were obviously filmed in summer. But the camera work and the scenes were well done and excellently decorated.
The music did it’s job and accentuated when it was needed. Could have used more holiday music though.
Score: 1
This was a nice break from the traditional angsty holiday movie. It was sweet and everyone but the 5yo loved it. He thought it was boring.
Score: 1
A fun and rewatchable holiday movie that avoids the angst often associated with romance. It thrives off the chemistry and charisma of the mothers.
Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5
Hi,
At the beginning of the year, I wrote a list of goals for the years that I called resolutions. I reviewed my progress in July. Let’s see how I did.
I managed 12 chapters and an epilogue. I think it’s a really good story and I’m happy with it.
Go read: Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises
I’ve finished it and done a few passes of editing. I’m going to wait until Jen looks at it then I’m going to submit it. I’m excited to share this one.
We finished in early December and it’s with beta readers now. We should be submitting it early in the year.
I’ve done a lot of work but there’s a lot of cleaning and work to do.
I’ve maybe touched each once every few weeks. I want to practise more but it’s hard to find the time.
I really have started to loathe this thing. I need to do more work on it… sigh
I’ve managed 25 books this year and I’m happy with the success. I still need to work on the guilt I feel when I read but I’m trying.
I’ve discovered a few things that have helped me understand myself and I’m working through that emotionally but it makes being kind to myself easier. It’s still a fight but I’m getting there.
I feel like I relied on the mythical “free weekend” too much and didn’t set aside time for myself. I need to learn to internalize that it’s okay to do things for just me and not work, hobbies, family, or writing.
I haven’t missed a week since I started and I have a few set up for next year. It is a little stressful now that all my favourite Halloween and Christmas movies are done but I’m enjoying it and think I’ll continue next year.
Six successes and four fails. 60% is good. I do these to push myself and hold myself accountable and I think I did good. I still need to work on my own needs to avoid burnout.
How did your year go?
Éric
Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Epilogue
A few months later Suzie and I were relaxing on a beach on Earth. Zuri and the Galahad had returned to their home to try and organize the survivors. Where Zuri went, the Myrddin followed. Diamond Stars and the crew of The Revenge returned home with the remnants of Black Sun to try and fix the harm they’d done. Captain Ng and the crew of the Warship Ennill had stayed to learn all they could from the various people.
The other speakers and people of the Sun fleet were given the chance to stay with a quarter of them doing so and the rest returning to their systems.
With all the technology we’d gained, travel between systems was going to be a regular thing now. The universe had shrunk significantly.
I was enjoying the feel of clear water on my toes when we got a call.
“I shouldn’t answer it,” I said.
“They won’t stop,” Suzie replied. She’d seen it was the Hey Sunny Too.
“What is it?” I asked into the coms.
“The Gate activated, get up here,” Adric replied and we had no choice but to get the shuttle and head back to our new ship.
The gate dated from the beginning of the universe and seemed to emit a kind of power we couldn’t recognize. Sol didn’t know what it was. Of course I installed it on my ship.
Once we were aboard, Adric said, “The gate activated and a crude robot came through, left this, and then went back in. The whole thing lasted less than a minute.”
He handed me a nicely embossed piece of paper that had a tree on it. As I stared, the words swam and formed, Yggdrasil Command Aether Earth. If your atmosphere is safe for us, we shall visit you in 24 hours. It was followed by a complex mathematical algorithm.
Adric anticipated my confusion and said, “It’s a formula for figuring out what their 24 hours means using the speed of light and the emission frequency of a hydrogen atom.” He stopped there and I gave him a quizzical look. “Oh. It’s close to our Earth but their day is roughly 80 milliseconds longer than ours which means they are probably from an alternate reality Earth that is further in the past.”
I blinked a few times and asked, “How do you get that from a simple calculation?”
“It wasn’t simple, and I also analyzed the note. It has massive quantities of microplastics and greenhouse gases which was typical of Old-Earth.”
I nodded and said, “I’m impressed. How long do we have?”
“Ten minutes. You really took your time.”
Suzie wanted us to greet them remotely but I figured if we’re going to meet interdimensional aliens, we should do it in person.
The gate lit up with blue energy that looked like waves, which was different from our jumpgates that just shimmered silver.
Two people walked through, a man and a woman in what looked like pseudo-military garb. He had dark skin, was tall, broad, and his long brown hair was streaked with grey and tied in a bun on the top of his head. The woman with him was also tall, but had white skin and blonde hair, just starting to turn white.
They didn’t look like any military I’d met and there was a strange power about them.
The man smiled and it was obvious from the creases in his face that he did it a lot. He moved forward and spoke gibberish.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand you,” I said. I was surprised, we’d installed a translator designed by the Children of the Stars, and it was able to translate almost anything.
The woman said a few words, pointed at Suzie, and at Suzie’s sword.
“I think she wants you to talk about your sword?” I said.
“I don’t want to tell them about my sword,” Suzie said, sounding almost offended.
The man held his hand out for a handshake and said, “Thank you, our translations need two native speakers and a few sentences to parse the language. I am Agent Jason Johnson and this is Agent Kennedy Johnson.”
“Nice to meet you.” I shook his muscular hand. “I’m Hal the Sun Speaker, this is Suzie, and this is Adric. You are on my ship in orbit around our Earth.”
The woman smiled broadly and said, “I love it when it’s a spaceship gate. It’s always so cool.”
“I don’t want to be rude, but why are you here and where did you come from?” These two were likeable, but seemed genuine and not fake.
“We’re from Aether Earth and we’re here with a warning. The Mulciber are coming.”
The word meant nothing to me, but it triggered a vision from Sol. I stood on a tall mountain on Mars and watched as a silver serpent of massive size decimated the Martian military.
At least it was less disgusting than the void-beasts, but it looked like I had another threat to prepare for.
While you wait for the next serial story, check out the previous ones:
I got the idea to make shadowbox out of the cover image of our books, and I thought it would be fun for you to have access as well!
Materials:
Paper (or cardstock)
Colour printer
Scissors
Exacto knife
Cutting board
Tape (or glue)
Patience
Instructions:
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2024 film Red One.
A standard buddy-cop action movie dressed up for the holidays. It has some facinating world building and leaves some unfortunate story threads. (Why bring up that the kid didn’t know his father if it wasn’t important?)
Score: 0.5
At first, I thought the characters were flat, but around half-way through the movie, I started to see their depth… for an action movie anyway.
The two main heroes were the disillusioned cop and the criminal with a heart of gold.
The supernaturals were far more interesting. Their take on Santa was fun and interesting, and I’d love to see more about M.O.R.A.
Score: 1
There were plenty or great quips and ridiculous dialogue said with a straight face. The speech from Jack to his son at the end was nice and heartfelt.
Score: 1
The visuals were great. Lots of over-the-top action and special effects. The fight scenes and camera work were done cleanly and made it easy to follow.
The music was good but could have been done so much better by integrating more holiday music into the action scenes.
Score: 0.5
This was a movie made for fun. Everyone in the family liked it and we all finished with a smile. It also had a lot of great supernatural and fantasy elements that made me happy.
Score: 1
This is a Christmas action movie mixed with a fantasy. It’s not the most original plot, but the setting and action is worth the watch.
Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5
This story takes place the Christmas after the events of Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests and Winging It.
The story was written by Jen and Éric Desmarais with the help of Dragon Desmarais.
Running over to them, Jason checked the boy’s pulse and it was extremely weak but still present. “It’s not petrification. They’re fine.”
“Wasn’t there a tree in the middle of the dance floor?” Kennedy asked, before shouting, “Duck!”
Over a year of training together and a trust built on saving each other’s lives countless times meant he dropped to the floor without thinking about it. The silvery ball that would have hit him in the shoulders flew past and hit Dr. Amita. She froze on the spot, her face contorted in confusion.
People screamed and would have panicked but Kennedy said, “Everyone please move toward the exit in an orderly fashion.” Westmeath had enough strange things happening that people walked quickly but not fast enough to hurt each other. There were still quite a few people left, all frozen.
“Where did that come from?” he asked as he kicked up from the ground and landed on his feet.
“The tree,” Kennedy said, “But I’m not sure which one.” She joined him near the boys.
The five trees seemed to shiver at the sound of her voice. Jason used his shadow power to stretch his senses out and see if they moved.
“How does a tree that’s in a pot move around?” he wondered aloud. He felt the attack and movement before seeing it. Grabbing Kennedy’s hands, he swung her around to avoid a volley.
“I can’t tell which tree it’s coming from,” she said, annoyed.
“Even my shadow senses aren’t helping with that. It moves too fast. But only one is moving”
“The cake!” Kennedy exclaimed and ran to the buffet, weaving and dodging around attacks. She lifted up the large red Yule log cake and said, “We just need to figure out which one moves and we can use the cake to mark it.”
It was a good idea, but a shift in the lighting and shadows made Jason turn away from her. The room had gotten darker as the moonlight from the wall of windows was blocked.
Surrounding the room from outside were massive pine trees. The christmas trees inside stood just over two and half metres tall, the ones outside were easily ten times that height.
Kennedy gave a small squeak and said, “Well, that’s not good.”
The doors flew inward, followed by a figure in silver full-plate armour. He had a longsword on his left hip and a dagger holstered on the opposite side. His helmet was down but he looked around the room and lifted it before saying, “You need to get out of here. It’s not safe.”
Laughing, still comically holding the cake, Kennedy said, “Jeepers, that was dramatic, and we know.”
“Kennedy?” the man said, looking surprised.
“Albert?” she replied. “For heaven’s sake, is everyone I know from Baker magical?”
The armour was the symbol of the Gatekeepers and organization that was dedicated to protecting the world from Aether incursions. Creatures created from imagination and magic could cause havoc if not controlled. The creatures were returned or hunted, while the people or Aetherborn were educated and placed in communities like Westmeath.
“Not to break up the reunion but—” Jason was cut off by a volley of flying ornaments. It seemed the tree took a little time to reload.
“Right. Sorry. I am Gatekeeper Therien. I tracked a part of a rogue tannen-bomb here.” He looked out the window and replied, “and it looks like the rest of it just arrived.”
“Part? You mean this is all one creature? Like a magical Pando?” Kennedy asked. When the knight didn’t reply, she added, “Pando, the giant organism that’s one root system with tens of thousands of trees?”
“Yes.” He drew his sword and swatted at the ornaments that were flying toward them. “Why are you holding a cake?”
“It’s to throw at the tree so we know which one it is,” she replied sheepishly.
“Ah. Good idea, but it’s the one next to your husband.”
Jason whipped around, not used to being snuck up on. He raised a hand in defence but was struck by a freeze bomb. It didn’t hurt, and he could hear and see everything happening.
A cake flew into his vision and smashed into the tree, covering it in red icing, and some splashing on Jason’s face and hair.
“I just have to grab it and I’ll be able to banish the whole thing,” Albert announced.
Kennedy picked up two covers from the warm Hors d’oeuvre trays and said, “I’ll distract it.” With a few long strides, she made it to Jason and whispered, “Sorry and I’ll save you.” then she pecked him on the cheek. “Yum, strawberry icing.”
“Try to get it to run to me,” Albert said.
Banging her trays at the obviously marked tree, she said, “I was being sappy. Are you ent-ertained? Wood you please move toward the knight? No pining and no barking!”
The tree let out a horrifying shrieking noise and ran toward Kennedy.
“You said distract, not taunt,” Albert said, sounding amused.
“It’s following me, so it’s distracted,” she yelled. “Come on tree, are you that easy to needle?”
Despite Kennedy running as fast as she could, the tree was catching up. “Hold on,” she said. “It’s a tree!” Turning around with her makeshift shields, she braced for impact. Surprised, the tree reversed course right into the Gatekeeper.
Putting his hands on the tree’s branches, he shouted, “Ga Bort!” and the tree disappeared, replaced by an equal mass of clear pine scented goo. It was followed a second later by the rest of the trees outside and a wave of goo that covered the windows.
Everyone started to wake up and as Kennedy was distracted, the knight tried to walk away. “Albert, stay and enjoy the party,” she said, before running to check on Jason and the boys.
“If you insist,” he replied, making a magical gesture that transformed his armour into formal clothes.
The guests who had run away had been trapped in the lobby but now they were moving back to the party. It wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen in Westmeath. Not even this year.
Later, as everyone was enjoying good food and drink, minus a strawberry Yule log cake, Jason said, “The thing that bothers me about the whole situation is that I didn’t get to make a single tree pun.”
Kennedy kissed his now-clean cheek and replied, “Next time, when you’re not frozen. But I always have you covered, just leaf it to me.”
Read more holiday stories:
