Happy Valentine’s Day! Are you looking for valentines? Feel free to grab these!





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!
Also – first promo for Winging It!
Materials:
Paper (or cardstock)
Colour printer
Scissors
Exacto knife
Cutting board
Tape (or glue)
Patience
Instructions:
Hello Readers!
As you might have heard on social media, River City Siren Press has agreed to publish my next book. The Copper Tarnish is a Sci-Fantasy inspired by classic monster movies and my own experiences growing up queer in a small town.
Until last summer, I was the most popular girl in school. Then I was accused of killing my boyfriend when he disappeared. Luckily, he didn’t die, but he wasn’t the same when he came back. Murder accusations are nothing compared to the rumours that I kissed said boyfriend’s sister. That rumor proved to be the real killer for my popularity.
Now everyone hates me except the gorgeous new girl who seems determined to ruin any chances of being popular by hanging out with me. There’s also a cute soldier hanging around my mom’s diner and freaky sounds in the woods.
Autumn definitely won’t be dull. All I need to do is graduate…and stay alive.
I’m realy proud of this book and it’s cover. It’s going to be released June 3rd and I can’t wait to have you read it.
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
“What the hell is that?” Grant screamed at me. His long brown hair was in a low ponytail and his normally round pink face was white in terror.
“That is a vampire. Specifically, it’s a Blood Vampire,” I, Albert, said, grabbing the Dracula wannabe by his collar before shouting, “Ga Bort!”
As soon as I spoke, the thing imploded with a sucking sound, leaving a little ectoplasm, or Aethergoo, behind.
I’m only in my mid twenties and have been told I look like a gangly librarian or English teacher. I’m also the only one in the group with a military background.
“This nest must be freshly from the Aether,” Clifford said with a sigh of relief. He was the oldest of the group and the one most in shape. He looked more like an action hero than a mid-forties architect.
The perfectly put together Ursula asked, “Are these the sparkly kind or the classic?” Her perfectly fitted suit and dyed blonde hair would be normal in a country club but in an abandoned factory in Sudbury, she looked out of place.
“Please don’t be the sparkly ones. I feel bad for returning those to the Aether,” Robin said, her black curly hair bouncing in time with her movements. She was the youngest, beating Grant by a few months.
They were joking. If the vampires were anything but blood-thirsty animals, they’d be considered Aetherborn and we wouldn’t be sending them back to the Aether. Sapient blood vampires were becoming more and more common with their portrayal going from monster to romantic lead. Sapience was really the only difference between Aether-creatures and Aetherborn.
Had they been Aetherborn, we would have helped them transition to our world. There were several separate communities of vampires, mostly in the far north to take advantage of the long nights.
These were not sapient, and we didn’t get time to quip further as a dozen more vampires ran at us. Each of us activated the magic necklace we wore and were suddenly armoured in matching plate mail suits.
The five of us are Gatekeepers. We take care of the barrier between our world and pure magic. We strengthen it, we deal with anything that comes out of it, and we stop people from flooding our world with magic.
That last one sounds like fun until you understand that magic, or Aether, only wants to devour, and when it comes close to a human it transforms into whatever the human was thinking about. Let me tell you, we humans are great at thinking about two things: sex and fear. Sometimes at the same time. Hence the lengthy list of vampire types.
Each of the Guardians is chosen, we don’t know by who, and then have to seek out the order and find a mentor. We usually train in pairs but we were special. Mostly that we were the most accident-prone knights in the history of the order.
Not me, I was the poor schmuck that was supposed to teach them how to survive while doing the whole knight errant thing. The other four had been called to duty in the past year. They’d done training and were now getting extra training so they wouldn’t die.
There were less than a thousand of us in North America and I was hoping that number wouldn’t get any lower.
A Gatekeeper knight is chosen when they do something heroic or selfless. When that happens, a magic sword appears in the closest body of water. Mine was a lake not far from where we were fighting the vampires, Robin’s was a fountain, Ursula and Clifford’s were swimming pools, and poor Grant’s was a urinal.
The moment you take the sword, you know to find a senior knight to train you. After six months of training, you are supposed to travel the continent to help people. If you survive that, you are given an assignment. Mine was to take care of these four.
Somehow Grant had managed to get his sword stuck in Clifford’s armour, Robin dropped her sword, and Ursula was trying to slap the vampires without pulling out her sword.
“Guys. Remember your training. Use your dismissal word,” I said, trying not to sound annoyed. I held my sword high in the air and poured my will into the sword as I screamed again, “Ga Bort!” It’s bad Swedish for, “go away”.
My sword glowed with barrier energy and I started to slice through the vampires. When we get rid of an Aether-creature, its magical energy is sent to re-enforce the barrier.
The great thing about fresh Aether-creatures is that they haven’t the time to create any bodily fluids yet. Other than a few, which left some blood behind, they would just disappear with a pop. They were so fresh that they didn’t leave much Aethergoo either.
Once my team powered their swords, we cut through the vampires quickly, only hitting each other a few times. Thank goodness for armour.
When the vampires stopped coming at us we explored what little was left of the warehouse. We found what I was expecting: a young child hiding in a corner. They were maybe five years old and had their eyes closed while they rocked back and forth.
“Jo. My name is Albert. Your parents are worried about you.” I gestured for the other knights to spread out and stay back. They didn’t understand.
“But the vampires are coming,” the child said in a whimper. With his words, vampires appeared around us.
“We’re here to stop them and protect you,” I said. They opened their eyes. I had hoped they’d see me in all my glory and feel better. What they saw was my co-knights being caught off guard and falling all over the place like circus clowns. The kid started to laugh and the vampires popped out of existence.
I picked up the kid and they sighed, curling into my arms.
What my team lacked in combat, or coordination, they more than made up in their ability to shore up the barrier. They worked quickly together, and used their natural abilities to thicken the barrier so no one else would accidentally summon a monster.
For a regular human, to pierce the barrier and pull something out needs great fear or desire combined with a strong imagination. When the barrier is thinner, it means more accidental Aether-creatures.
Jo must have expended a lot of energy, because they stayed asleep the entire ride home and even transferred to their mother without a fuss. Back at the minivan, I said to the group, “We didn’t die, and we saved the kid. Good job. We’ll start more intense combat training in the morning.” I was still amazed that no one was hurt.
Read Chapter 2 (February 2025)
While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:
If you saw me in person at Geeked Out on December 1, or at The Book’s Better Bookshop in Smith’s Falls on December 14, you would have seen a sneak peek of Jen’s next cover.
Or if you were part of our newsletter, you got to see sketches and the background. (Incidentally, sign up for our newsletter here!)
There was a cover reveal party this past Saturday, which means:
I have been sitting on this cover since September and I can finally show it to you!
Art by @pinkpiggy93, of course.
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
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
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
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
As we’ve mentioned The Travelling TARDIS is nominated for the Aurora Awards.
Now the Voter’s Package is available for download! Make sure you’re logged in, and then go get your books.
Voting starts on 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
Hello Friends, Fans, and Family,
Speculating Canada is an award winning podcast and interview series that interviews fantastic Canadian and genre personalities.
You may remember a few months ago that Jen was interviewed by the wonderful Derek Newman-Stille. You can see her interview on their website.
Well I (Éric) was interviewed last week. It was a lot of fun, and Derek is a fantastic interviewer, steering my hectic mind in a semi-coherent direction.
Go watch the interview on their website.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric