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!
Presenting The Copper Tarnish!
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 2025 film Star Trek: Section 31.
A little Bond, a little Star Trek, some Fifth Element, a dash of Firefly, and absolutely no cohesion. This felt like a 2-part pilot episode that was turned into a movie. As hard as they tried to not be Star Trek, it was only the Star Trek elements that were interesting.
Score: 0
The characters were interesting and I’d love to watch them grow into more than pithy stereotypes.
The acting was way better than the script demanded and honestly each actor could have hammed it up but managed to play it straight and I’m impressed.
Score: 1
The dialogue spoken by lesser actors would have been laughable, but most of the time it worked. I particularly liked the “chaos gremlin” jokes.
Score: 1
The visuals were very clean and the special effects were great. The fight scenes were chaotic and used way too much shaky-cam.
Overall the music was good and I like the use of modern music in Star Trek when it’s used well. There’s one song that sings about a phone and it really knocked me out of the story.
Score: 0.5
It was predictable but I liked the characters so I did enjoy it.
I do have a continuity issue with it, however. Georgiou was sent from the 32nd century back in time. According to the star date at the beginning this happens in 2324. However, Georgiou originally came from season 1 of Discovery and that was in 2256. There’s sixty some years between them but San doesn’t seem to have aged 68 years. So how did he come to the future and how did he know she was going to be there? It really bugged me.
Score: 0.5
An interesting start to a series, but as a movie it lacks depth and originality. The only thing that saves it is the quality of the actors.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
Hello,
The Ontario Election is on Thursday the 27th. If you haven’t gone to vote in the early polls, please go vote on election day.
If you don’t vote, you’re letting others decide for you, and that didn’t work out too well the past few provincial elections or down south.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12
“More vampires?” I asked.
“Impossible,” squeaked Robin as she twirled her black curls. “We’re right in a thick part of the Aether. I can feel it. Nothing is coming through here without a Fay or Wizard involved.”
We were alone in the small town’s coroner’s office, if you didn’t count the corpse. It was a strange case. An old friend had sent me reports of three deaths in the past few months.
“You’re probably right. I don’t remember any vampires that drained someone of all fluids,” I conceded.
Smiling, Robin bounced as she said, “There was an X-Files episode… or was it Buffy?”
“I’m sure there was, but unless the killer was cute, we have nothing to worry about,” I said confidently.
“Oh, um, well, the Buffy one was a hot teen Inca mummy.”
I sighed. “Let’s figure out where the bodies were found before we start interrogating the local teens. Actually, let’s leave the teens out of it completely.” I shuddered. My teen years were spent studying or hanging out with my small group of friends. The rest of the time, the other teens hadn’t seemed to appreciate my nerdyness. I did have a teaching degree, but I was hoping to teach middle grade, where they still had a sense of wonder.
“Are there any puncture wounds?” she asked.
I shrugged. “The coroner’s report is right there and so is the body, you’re the one with a medical background,” I said it as calmly and as matter of fact as I could.
“Yeah, I flunked out of medical school when I got my sword.” She’d been on a date with her fiancé and he’d pushed her in the way of a giant carnivorous plant. Thankfully, the fountain next to her produced her sword.
“Hey, I can go get Grant if you’d prefer not to do this,” I said, goading her. If I was going to get someone else, I’d have to bribe the coroner.
Angrily, she replied, “He knows nothing about anatomy that he didn’t learn from comic books. We both know how realistic those are.” She didn’t let me reply. She just dove into the files and then examined the body.
After almost an hour, she said, “He was found on Faught beach in the northern part of town. I’m guessing he floated over from the other side. People would notice a dead body on the south side of the lake. He has two healed bite marks in his back. The coroner said the desiccation and water damage made it impossible to tell how old the wounds were.”
There was soft clapping that came from the doorway and I jumped a bit. Robin gave a squeaky scream. The woman at the doorway was tall and muscled, and she had her unruly red hair tied in a high ponytail. She smiled and said, “Hey Al, great-uncle sent me to liaise with you and your team.”
I walked over and gave her a big hug. Seeing Robin’s confusion, I said, “Gatekeeper Robin Beckett, this is detective Sylvie Therien, my cousin.” I turned to Sylvie and asked, “Isn’t this a little out of your jurisdiction?”
“Nope,” she pulled out an RCMP badge and said, “Inspector Sylvie Therien with Yggdrasil Command.”
“Since when has the RCMP been involved with Yggdrasil Command?” I was confused. As far as I knew it was a military organization.
“Four months ago when the higher ups thought they needed more breadth of help. They even have civilian agents now.” She seemed pleased.
Robin gave Sylvie hero-worship puppy-dog eyes as she asked, “Does this case have to do with aliens?”
Sylvie gave the younger girl a crooked smile and asked, “Why would you think that?”
“An inspector with the RCMP shows up at a weird case and talks about being part of a mysterious organization. It’s just like Stargate or the X-Files.”
Nodding sagely but obviously trying not to laugh, Sylvie said, “I can’t comment on aliens but I’m here to help you investigate.”
“Let’s get out of the morgue and go talk to my contact,” I said. “Who wants pie? I’m buying.”
We left and walked down the small town’s main street. The only way to describe the town was picturesque. It was like something from a kid’s Halloween movie, pumpkins and decorations everywhere, lots of trees threatening to change colours, and big banners announcing the next festival.
Shields Crossing was a town that embraced tourism in the way a dog in heat embraced everything; desperately and without any sense of shame. That meant festivals, activities, and lots of artisanal or quaint shops. My personal favourite was Pie’s Shop, a place that made the best pies in the world.
The rest of the team was already in the store when we got there. There were four little tables and we were taking up two of them.
“Oh, Albert dear, could you give me a hand back here?” asked Piper, or Pie as they called her. She looked like she was in her eighties, moved like she was in her thirties, and talked like she’d been around forever. She was the picture of a perfect grannie. I was fairly certain she was a magic user.
I went to the back and she gestured at two large bags of flour that were blocking the back exit. I picked them both up, wanting to show off, and put them in the small pantry.
She smiled.
In the front, there was a small window between the shop and its neighbour, a small coffee place. I went to the window and ordered everyone a coffee.
When we were all sitting, Pie brought us all slices of pie. No one had ordered, but she still knew everyone’s favourite. Like I said, I think she’s a magic user.
Robin had just gotten the rest of the group up to speed when Grant gestured a little too wildly, knocking Sylvie’s coffee over.
From the puddle of coffee came a French-style epée. Sylvie looked at me confused, and I just sighed. “Welcome to the team, cuz.”
Her only reply was to swear and say, “My fiancé is going to kill me.
Read Chapter 3 (March 2025)
While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2025 film Back in Action.
It hits every beat of a spy movie and does a great job with the family drama. The story is a pile of tropes thrown together and avoids risk with the obvious set-up for a sequel.
Score: 0.5
Excellent acting and characters that are a lot of fun. Diaz and Fox have chemistry both as a couple and as a battle couple. The kids are well picked, and Glenn Close is an inspired choice to play Diaz’s mother.
Score: 1
Snappy and more than a few quips. It has a lot of humour and heart in the dialogue, although sometimes it felt like filler.
Score: 0.5
The visuals were great and the fight choreography was excellent.
The music sounded like someone trying to combine every spy movie’s soundtracks together. It was good but a little over-done.
Score: 0.5
This was a lot of fun but the “key” being still useful 15 years later felt like a stretch. The whole Mcguffin was a little over the top. It also could have been done better for the demonstration. Use it to take over Air Force One, or make the alarms at the tower of London sing showtunes. Lot of wasted potential.
That been said, the kids and the family liked it and we all hope for the the inevitable sequel.
Score: 0.5
A charismatic and excellent cast makes up for a hum-drum spy story. The heart is the family and that’s very well done.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
Hello Coffee Lovers,
As much as I applaud the movement to buy Canadian, there are certain limitations when it comes to producing coffee.
We roast, flavour, pack, and sell all from our home in Ottawa.
Any coffee company that tells you they are 100% Canadian is lying. Canada doesn’t produce any coffee beans.
We here at JenEric Coffee order our beans through two Canadian resellers: U-Roast-It and Green Coffee Co.
We always buy high grown and fair trade beans from Sumatra, Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, or Honduras.
All our beans are roasted in the back yard on our custom built BBQ roaster (it’s only for coffee). The BBQ is Broil-Mate (Canadian company but made in China) and the roasting parts were from RK Drums (US company but the only one that made this when we were buying 8 years ago).
We use Lorann Flavouring, which is unfortunately an American company. We have tried other flavouring, but it’s the best out there for smaller bottles. We do purchase from The Vanilla Food Company, a Canadian reseller.
Once we’ve worked our way through our current stock of bags, we’ll be buying new ones from Pouch Makers Canada.
We used to get all our labels printed at Vista Print Canada, which is the Canadian branch of a Dutch Company.
We’ve recently bought a Lien sticker machine so that we can produce them in-house instead. The company is from Shanghai.
We create our own designs and if we ever have the extra cash, we’d get a Canadian designer.
This blog and everything attached to it is hosted by the fantastic CanSpace. The servers and service are all in Canada.
For our Store JenEric Coffee and Crochet we use Square, which is American but has a free tier which is really nice. We’re looking into an alternative but don’t really want to add extra costs. Also, Square is really easy to use and works extremely well.
The products from JenEric Coffee are processed and put together in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We’re trying our best to have mostly Canadian parts but it’s not easy.
I hope this has helped you understand the process a little better.
May your coffee be stronger than your fatigue,
Éric
Dear Friends, Family, and Fans;
The past decade has been a confusing and scary one for me. I have a very definite sense of justice and I’m often confused when others don’t. The fact that people like Rowling, Trump, or Woody Allen can still have successful careers is baffling to me.
It’s a source of great stress, especially when I see people defending hate. Two years ago when the convoy debacle happened, I got into an argument with a family member. They believed that the convoy was fighting for righteous reasons. I disagreed but could accept that. When I pointed out that two of the organizers had ties to hate groups, they said it didn’t matter because they were fighting for their right to not wear a mask. I still can’t understand that position.
How can you ignore, or forgive, the hateful part of someone just because you agree with something they are doing or saying?
The whole concept has me on edge. Every day in the news, there’s a new, hate-filled event and it’s exhausting and nerve-wracking.
More than ever, I feel like the world is on the edge of something truly terrible happening. I worry that I’ll be looking back at this time and thinking it was the good old days. “Remember when we could afford to drink coffee and we could chat with people around the world?”
I’m trying my best to take joy wherever I can, but it feels selfish and like I’m ignoring the world.
I wish I could do more than just avoiding supporting the cruel and speaking out. I wish I could do something bigger. Unfortunately, that attitude isn’t helpful. If everyone does small acts of kindness, we can start to make a difference. Individual snowflakes are powerless but when they get together they can paralyze a city.
Do what you can, I’ll do what I can, and together we can hopefully start an avalanche of kindness to combat all the hate.
Also… VOTE!
Vote like your life depends on it, because it’s becoming clear that the US is a warning, not an aberration.
There are good people out there and we need to remember that there is still hope.
Take care of each other!
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2021 film The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star.
Taking a completely different approach from the previous movies and making this one a heist movie was a great idea. It made the whole thing feel fresh without losing the Christmassy and romance vibes.
Score: 1
The new love interest for the third look-alike is nuanced and the history between them feels real. There’s a lot of slapstick with the minions and I felt like we didn’t see enough of the original look-alikes.
Score: 0.5
Some excellent double meanings and wonderful quips.
Score: 1
Like the first two, filming on location made the whole thing pop and feel more three dimensional than a traditional Christmas movie. The little amount of CG was well done.
The music was catchy and fun.
Score: 1
I love heist movies, as does the entire family, and this didn’t disappoint. It had all the right pieces to meld the romance, holiday, and heist drama.
Score: 1
Now with a heist, this movie once again shows how good an actor Vanessa Hudgens is, while bringing in new elements and keeping the franchise fresh. If you liked the first two, you’ll love this one.
Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5
Happy Valentine’s Day! Are you looking for valentines? Feel free to grab these!
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
Before being published, I thought books lasted forever. Afterall, I can still go out and by a copy of Oliver Twist, The Scarlet Pimpernel, or Pride and Prejudice.
Unfortunately, the average lifespan of a book is 5-10 years. Most books don’t sell more than 500 copies in their entire life.
Two of my novels, Everdome and Parasomnia, haven’t been performing that well, and I’ve decided to buy the rights back from the publisher. They did a great job with the books, but it’s time I try to get them in more readers hands.
Once the rights and files have been completely returned to me, I will republish them with some minor changes. I’m calling this a “Second Printing”.
Part of the buying of rights back was also buying out Renaissances stock. I’m going be selling those at cons and on our website. In a few months, I’ll do a full update, maybe add a short story to the back, and re-release them. Everdome will be getting a new cover to make it match more with Winging It, which partially takes place in the world.
This is new and exciting, but also kinda terrifying.
More news to come. Thank you for reading.
Éric
