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.
Join us tonight for an online launch of Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests, the second book in The Gates of Westmeath series.
As a bonus, Renaissance is going to be revealing the cover designs for their fall releases, so you can get a sneak peak of some of the great stories they have coming out soon.
More details were added to the Facebook page since the creation of this post.
It will be broadcast live to Renaissance’s YouTube channel here!
Hello Readers!
Join us online this Thursday at 7pm to launch Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests.
It will be live streamed on Youtube (Keep an eye on the facebook event for the link)
There will be prizes, books, and a sneak peak at the Fall book covers from Renaissance.
See you there!
Éric and Jen
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2023 film The Little Mermaid.
Disney has been calling these “remakes” but they’re really just copies. That might sound disparaging, but I’ve watched and enjoyed more Cinderella, Musketeer, and Robin Hood movies than I can count.
The changes in this are understandable and it shows that the scriptwriters had a deep love for the animated version. I liked the slight change at the end.
Score: 0.5
Most of the cast made the roles their own. Ariel was amazing and thankfully less whiny. Triton felt more relatable and Eric was less bland.
The actress who played Vanessa was fantastic.
I’m not impressed with Ursula. I thought the actress might try something original, but instead she did a mediocre impersonation of Pat Carroll.
Score: 0.5
The dialogue is very similar but just different enough to sound wrong. It’s not normally a problem but sometimes it was frustrating. The modern updates were good, and again it was nice to see Eric have some more screen time and lines.
Score: 0.5
The visuals were good but the underwater stuff was a little uncanny valley. It was beautiful but felt wrong.
The music was fantastic and Ioved the extra songs.
Score: 0.5
The beginning was a little slow but after that it went fast. The kids loved it and the rest of the family enjoyed it. It was fun overall.
Score: 1
A faithful adaptation to the original that hits all the right notes. It’s unfortunate that Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula was only a poor copy of the original’s soul.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
Join us at the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair! Meet some of our authors and grab one of our featured titles including Iris and the Crew and Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests, as well as Dissatisfied Me and Crushing It, which have sequels slated to come out next year!
@ Our Table:
We look forward to seeing you there!
We are participating in an incredible promotion; 1000 FREE romance books are available for TODAY only!
Go to romancebookworms.com and search through the catgories to stuff your e-reader to the gills!
Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers is in the Urban Fantasy category. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you should go grab it from there.
And while you’re at it, Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests is on sale for today only (on e-book)!
Play along with the Bingo: How stuffed is your e-reader?
Kennedy gripped the flying monkey’s head with both hands and quipped, “There’s no place like home.”
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2020 film The New Mutants.
With shades of the Nightmare on Elm street series, especially 3, the movie could have done with a little more horror but balanced the characters, story, mystery, and atmosphere.
Score: 0.5
A good mixture of damaged and interesting characters. I like the dynamics and character growth.
Score: 1
There are a few cases of silly dialogue but the movie overall is very self aware and does a good job balancing comic book cheese and genuine emotion.
Score: 1
The special effects were well done and kept much sparser than most X-Men movies. The obligatory big battle at the end was much more impactful because of the restraint throughout the rest of the movie.
The music was epic and creepy at all the right times.
Score: 1
I watched this on my own and I fully expected to hate it. Most of the later X-Men movies were pretty bad. I’m a big fan of the whole “Breakfast Club meets mental asylum” vibe they had, and the story letting the characters breathe.
I definitely want to re-watch this one.
Score: 1
A nice change from the usual X-Men movies. This is an atmospheric horror which understands the importance of character development and growth.
Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5
Hello Readers,
The book is finally here! Get the second instalment of The Gates of Westmeath from your favourite bookseller.
The week before Kennedy and Jason’s wedding is busy. There are cake tastings, dress fittings, a formal ball, and, as their superhero personas the Phantom and the Wraith, fighting monsters.
These behemoths are destructive, smell like snack food, and are only after one thing: Door Tech Industries technology.
Adding to the chaos are their friends and families; Jason’s grandmother has returned after having been missing for half a century, Kennedy’s mom is dead-set on keeping things traditional, and Jason’s best friend is kidnapped before the rehearsal.
Kennedy and Jason just want to get married, preferably before the next monster attack.
The second book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
Enjoy!
Jen and Éric
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
The Travelling TARDIS is nominated for the Aurora Awards.
The Voter’s Package is available for download! Make sure you’re logged in, and then go get your books.
Voting started June 8 and runs until July 13. Please consider The Travelling TARDIS, nominated in the Fan Writing and Publication category. Thank you to all who nominated us!
Happy reading!!!
The Aurora Awards are awards “for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy works and activities.” They are administered by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.
It’s a fan-voted award with awesome people.
Sign up, get ebooks, read, and then vote for your favourites. It’s a great deal and you’ll love the books.
So go to https://www.csffa.ca/ and click on the “Become a Member” button.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2013 film The Hunters.
This is a mashup of Indiana Jones and Spy Kids, but it works. The story beats are predictable but interesting, and the world building was fun.
Score: 0.5
There are a few times where I think the writers got confused about which brother was which but besides that, they were passable characters. Thankfully the acting was significantly better than the dialogue.
Score: 0.5
There was a lot of useless explaining and some mixed-up lines, along with some strange reasons for doing anything. That being said, at least the writers understood how to write a romance subplot.
Score: 0
The special effects were bad but the locations were nice (Yay BC!). The fight choreography was passable.
The music did its job but wasn’t particularly good.
Score: 0.5
I enjoyed it but it wasn’t great. The kids got bored a few times.
I usually love when this sort of story mixes myths and reality but the entire made up story of Cinderella’s shoe was frustratingly under-researched and under-utilized.
Score: 0.5
A fun take on the archeology/adventure genre but its special effects, terrible dialogue, and poor research take away from the overall enjoyment.
Final Score: 2 Stars out of 5
