I was thoroughly impressed by this knitted scarecrow!
Parasomnia Cover Reveal and Pre-Order
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
A lot of work goes into a book cover, especially if the author has input and is picky. This cover took a lot of work from the wonderful Caro at Renaissance Press and I think it looks great.
At the Aux-Anges Institute, nestled in the woods outside of North Bay, they study and treat parasomnias, or sleep disorders. Ashley suffers from night terrors, Terrance sleepwalks, Kiri sleep-eats, and Paul sets fires; they are there for treatment. Adelaide took the job as a counselor to discover why she still has an imaginary friend.
When they discover the secret hideout of an old club called the Dreamers, they are shocked to find that the five of them are connected through more than just the Institute.
You can Pre-Order the book from Renaissance Press’s Website.
The book will hopefully have a few early copies ready for Montreal’s Queer Between the Covers.
What do you think of the cover?
Later days,
Éric
Star Trek Cruise
Due to the success of the first Star Trek cruise last year, they are having two consecutive cruises this year!
If you act fast enough (before July 31), you don’t have to pay a deposit or payment until August 15th! The cheapest inside cabins are waitlist only at this time, but there are still some reasonably priced cabins left.
There is also a contest to win a free cabin!
Prices on the website do NOT include air, but how fortunate – you know how to contact a travel consultant! 😉
So if you’re looking for something to do in early January 2018, love Star Trek, and enjoy cruising, this trip is for you!
Are you interested in taking the Star Trek Cruise? Jen has retired from working as a travel agent. Hope you’ve enjoyed Fandom Travel.
Éric’s 5 Rules of Customer Service
I had a particularly bad experience this past week with a company that obviously didn’t care about their customers.
I’ve worked in customer service in one way or another since I was sixteen and nothing pisses me off more than bad customer service. My current jobs are all about customer service. A repeat customer is essential to building a small business or even, as an author, a readership.
5. Don’t complain about customers to other customers
If you can’t be trusted to not badmouth your customers, than there’s no reason for your customers to trust you. It has nothing to do with the person your badmouthing and everything to do with the trust you will lose from the customer you’re complaining to.
4. It’s okay to make mistakes / Never blame the customer
If you made a mistake, people will understand that you’re not a machine. Just apologize and if warranted make amends. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice and above all else, NEVER blame the customer.
3. Treat everyone equally
This shouldn’t be an issue anymore but for some reason racism, sexism, ageism, and classism all seem to still influence our perspective on clients. Don’t judge someone based on what they look like, it’s stupid. Keep an open mind and treat all clients like they are important.
2. A customer wants to feel important
When I walk into a store or go online etc. I want to feel like someone cares if I buy something. That could be a small thing like someone asking if I need help. When you’re dealing with a customer make them feel like they’re important and they’ll want to buy something.
1. Fulfill your promise
When you work in customer service you are making a promise to do what you say you do. If you work retail, you should know what you’re selling. If you are offering a service, you complete that service.
This is more than just the product and the pitch, you have to do all the fiddly bits right too. If you make an appointment, be there on time. If you say you’ll do something, do it.
You could have the greatest product in the world, but if you act incompetently it will reflect poorly on you and your product.
If you liked this list, you should read Éric’s 5 Rules for Being Professional
Cottage
We spotted the TARDIS outside the Seven Dwarf’s cottage. I wonder which dwarf the Doctor was visiting? (Probably Grumpy. He’s my favourite.)
Jadzia Dax
Jadzia Dax from Deep Space Nine brought a tribble to our table at Ottawa Comic Con. I really hope she didn’t feed it anything!
Stranger Things – A Review
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
Since July of last year people have been recommending to me a TV show called Stranger Things.
If I were to describe the show, I’d say it was an homage to 1980’s YA movies with more than a little supernatural horror thrown in. It has D&D, Monsters, Psychic/Magic abilities, Conspiracies, Eighties Rock, and lots of kids on bikes.
It’s eight episodes on Netflix and although the first episode is a little slow, it builds quickly. The special effects are amazing, the locations are great, the music is wonderful, but most of all the acting is fantastic. The actors in this each play stereotypes from eighties movies, but managed to pull those characters out of cliché and make them believable.
The one thing that I found lacking in the show was complexity and surprise. After two episodes I could have given you an outline of the entire season. I wasn’t surprised and was actually a little underwhelmed by the story.
It was a fun watch and the acting alone made it worth it, but this show was too close to my own influences, likes, and writing style for comfort. Seriously, after the last episode, I went to IMDB to make sure I hadn’t written it. I’ll let you decide if that’s a compliment or a condemnation.
In short, if you like Horror, YA, Eighties movies, and/or my writing; you’ll enjoy Stranger Things.
I give it 85% or 4.25/5
Later Days,
Éric
Blush: Teen Vogue and Anal Sex
In case you weren’t aware, Teen Vogue has been stepping up on it’s hard-hitting, serious, and factual articles (seeing as the press, both print and video, is having difficulty with some of those concepts).
One of the things that Teen Vogue has started doing is de-stigmatizing and de-sensationalizing sex. They are doing this through education, something that I think is fantastic. Not to point fingers at specific magazines, but for the most part, they sensationalize (for the lack of a better word) heterosexual sex. Knowing how to “please a man” isn’t the sort of sexual education I would like for my daughter to experience.
Which is why I think Teen Vogue is doing a great job of providing educational articles.
Despite what some parents might think, teens have access to a lot of sexual content. Not all porn has to be paid for, and both video and photos are available through the internet. Literotica is also relatively easy to get access to.
To be clear: I have zero problem with the above. My problem is when teens ONLY have access to the above.
Porn and literotica are not usually the most educational of sources (there are exceptions, I’m sure). They go for flashy, titillating, and evocative. They don’t mention the mundane, like protection, safety, lubrication, stretching, or even the emotions that come through being intimate with another person.
So to have an accessible magazine write educational articles about sex is a really good thing, in my opinion.
Here is Teen Vogue’s most recent article about Anal Sex. It’s causing a lot of controversy among certain groups. Apparently they think that reading an article about how to have anal sex properly might give teens the idea to actually do it. Sure, it might. But I bet they probably already had the idea before they read it…and now they know how to do it safely.
I’ve read mysteries where they describe how the murderer killed someone and where their mistake was so that they ended up getting caught. It doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and kill. (I promise you, I will not kill anyone.) On a less serious note, I’ve also read a lot of articles on how to make cute kids crafts. I’m really not sure I’ll ever do them.
In other words, just because you’ve read something, doesn’t mean you’re going to do it!
Another reason why I think it’s a really good idea to have articles like this is because the sexual education that teens are getting (especially in the US) is abstinence only. This means that they have no idea how to protect themselves, or even safely have sex. Combine that with the outdated patriarchal idea of vaginal virginity, and you get kids who will try anything and everything but PiV intercourse. Cue crude but hilarious (and very much Not Safe For Work) Garfunkel and Oates video The Loophole.
If you’re enjoying the Blush blogs, consider learning more with Blush: The Card Game from Renaissance Press.
Trolls, Broflakes, and Troglodytes… Oh My!
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
The internet is a vile cesspool of intolerance, sexism, racism, hate, and many other horrible things. I’ve come to accept that in an almost Zen like fashion. (Except flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers; they still incite red hot rage.)
Once you accept that there are hateful people everywhere and that they seem to flock to the internet’s comment section, or Nazi Alt-Right politics; you can start feeling joy in their pseudo-righteous anger.
**IMPORTANT** Some people are not beyond reason. There are some that are genuinely ignorant of the issue or misinformed.
This Sunday, the BBC announced Jodie Whittaker as The 13th Doctor. My first reaction was excitement that my daughter would be able to grow up with a Doctor that looked like her. My second was pure joy at the anger and frustration the internet’s comment sections would have. I may have cackled…
When the same feces-maelstrom erupted over John Boyega being a storm trooper, I was angry and frustrated and lost hope in humanity. Now I’ve seen the Ghostbusters hate, the Gunslinger hate, the Rey can’t be a Jedi hate, the Wrinkle in Time hate, the Wonder Woman hate… Etc Etc etc.
Humanity has some shining examples and some terrible troglodytes; I’ve accepted that.
Now down to business:
Dear Troglodytes,
Since Doctor Who has been utterly ruined a woman Doctor, violated beyond measure and so on… I in my infinite generosity will gladly help you dispose of your Doctor Who memorabilia. I won’t even charge you for the time and mental anguish of association with that horribly defiled pile of stuff.
Sincerely,
A Real Fan.P.S. If you need help with your Star Trek items, I’ll make the same sacrifice.
Later Days,
Éric
