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Shiny Math Rocks

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Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

I love dice. I’ve been running tabletop role playing games for over twenty years and playing them for thirty. It’s fun and beyond creating a wonderful shared world with my friends, one of the things I love are the accessories, books, and especially dice.

I’m very fond of Adventure Dice. They have an awesome dice advent calendar each year.

The other day, I saw a post on reddit about using spice jars and racks to display and organize dice and quickly researched how to do it.

So I present to you my dice:

I’m very happy with them and now I even have room for more. 🙂

Do you like dice?

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Parasomnia and Everdome Ebooks

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Hello Readers,

Both Parasomnia and Everdome’s Ebooks are available on JenEric Coffee’s store. They’re the same price as on the major sites but you save the tax and support an author directly.

Parasomnia

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.

Buy the Ebook for Parasomnia now!

Everdome

Will YOU be Everdome’s next hero?

S.M. Ardwur’s epic ten novel series and the world’s biggest MMORPG is a world fractured by a magical disaster and saved from destruction by a brave king and mad wizard. It is now formed of twelve floating continents with magical domes protecting them.

For thirteen lucky contestants, when a man dressed as a knight offers them the opportunity to visit their favourite fantasy world as an immersive reality show, there’s only one answer they can give: YES!

The level of impressiveness is beyond anything they can believe and some of them start to wonder why.

Abigail, James, Krista, Nicole, Richard, and Megan have to learn how to play the game and win; the fate of Everdome depends on it.

Buy the Ebook for Everdome now!

Thank you and good reading,

Éric

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2018 film To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Story

A very simple twist on “fake dating”, the story isn’t all that exciting or interesting on it’s own and follows the usual YA romance beats.

Score: 0

Characters

The characters and actors in this are extremely compelling. Especially the secondary characters and family. Interesting and make you want more of their story.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue vacillates between the usual precociousness of YA characters and some outright hilarious lines. The heart to heart moments are by far the strongest and hold the movie together with a lot of emotion.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals are the usual Netflix stylised shots. Nothing special.

The music is unmemorable but not bad.

Score: 0.5

Fun

There’s a lot of cringe but love wins out once the characters communicate and there’s some fun scenes in between. It’s not great but it’s not bad.

Score: 0.5

Overall

A perfectly average YA romance with the always fun “fake dating” trope. The humdrum story, visuals, and music are elevated by the sheer charisma of the characters and some excellent dialogue.

Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5

Here We Go Again

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Hello Readers,

In case you missed it, Jen and I wrote a book together called Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. It took us two and a half months and was a wild ride. Renaissance Press loved it and will be publishing it in Fall 2022. It’s the first in a trilogy or quadrilogy, called The Gates of Westmeath.

I took some time to finish Elizabeth 4 and now Jen and I have started writing book 2 of the Gates of Westmeath.

We finished the first two chapters this week and I’ll be starting on chapter 3 today.

We’re super excited and can’t wait to share the first book with you. So excited we made shirts for the whole family.

It’s had the adorable (and awkward if in public) side effect of having the kids screaming “Assassins family!”

Well as they say, I should be writing.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Cover Reveal Party – TOMORROW!

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Hello Book and Coffee Lovers!

There’s a cover reveal party for my new book and 6 other fantastic authors coming up on the 29th.

There will be Prizes! Coffee and many other things!

Sign up free here at eventbrite

Here’s what the event says:

Join us for an evening of literature as we announce our next releases! We will reveal the covers to our upcoming releases, show you our brand-new book trailers, and you will hear some exclusive readings.

On top of all that, we have some FABULOUS prizes to give out to the attendees: coffee, signed books, art, and so much more! Make sure to come so you have a chance to win something!

The event will happen over Zoom. You will receive the link via email after registering.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/renaissance-fall-2021-titles-pre-launch-and-cover-reveal-tickets-155217928001
Let us know you’re going on Facebook!

My book is called Coffee Shop between the ‘Verses:

Jackie sometimes likes to have conversations with the characters, and as he reads five novellas in the small Ontario town of Baker…

In The Ridiculous Adventures of Felix Felicitous, the grumpy Felix is thrown into an adventure through time, despite his protestations.

In Only Human, Rachel has accidentally signed up for the University of Monsters.

In Wargrave Island, Inspector Riko Dulac has to find out who’s killing all her former high school classmates before there’s no one left.

In Database of the Ageless Kings, Sophia rebuilds an alien ship, only to find the galactic prince still inside.

In Devices of Desire, follow Artemis, Diana, and Ezekiel as they navigate secret identities, demons, and love in the kingdom of Cillian.

Are the characters Jackie is talking with real? Is he just talking to himself? Or is something else going on?

There will be prizes, readings, and a lot of awesome people.

See you there!

Éric

Cover Reveal Party – May 29th

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Hello Book Lovers!

There’s a cover reveal party for my new book and 6 other fantastic authors coming up on the 29th.

Sign up free here at eventbrite

Here’s what the event says:

Join us for an evening of literature as we announce our next releases! We will reveal the covers to our upcoming releases, show you our brand-new book trailers, and you will hear some exclusive readings.

On top of all that, we have some FABULOUS prizes to give out to the attendees: coffee, signed books, art, and so much more! Make sure to come so you have a chance to win something!

The event will happen over Zoom. You will receive the link via email after registering.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/renaissance-fall-2021-titles-pre-launch-and-cover-reveal-tickets-155217928001
Let us know you’re going on Facebook!

My book is called Coffee Shop between the ‘Verses:

Jackie sometimes likes to have conversations with the characters, and as he reads five novellas in the small Ontario town of Baker…

In The Ridiculous Adventures of Felix Felicitous, the grumpy Felix is thrown into an adventure through time, despite his protestations.

In Only Human, Rachel has accidentally signed up for the University of Monsters.

In Wargrave Island, Inspector Riko Dulac has to find out who’s killing all her former high school classmates before there’s no one left.

In Database of the Ageless Kings, Sophia rebuilds an alien ship, only to find the galactic prince still inside.

In Devices of Desire, follow Artemis, Diana, and Ezekiel as they navigate secret identities, demons, and love in the kingdom of Cillian.

Are the characters Jackie is talking with real? Is he just talking to himself? Or is something else going on?

There will be prizes, readings, and a lot of awesome people.

See you there!

Éric

Abominable – JenEric Movie Review

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How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2019 movie Abominable.

*This was my favourite movie of 2019*

Story

This feels like a modern fairy tale. A YA adventure story set in modern day. The story is cleverly simple and avoids so many of the traditional pitfalls. No forced love story, no double crossing from one of the kids, no parents that disbelieve. It’s about helping preserve magic and finding yourself along the way.

There are a few political issues but nothing truly problematic as far as I can tell.

Score: 1

Characters

Each of the characters, except the goons and the snakes, have a journey and growth. It’s sort of a mini found family that only exists in adventures (mundane ones like trips etc or magical one).

I like the twist with the bad guys and goon Dave is the best.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The movie has plenty of funny lines but the ones that are most memorable are the ones tied to emotions. The little conversations and moments that show both character and move the story forward.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

From the little details like the various wood grains to the big nature shots, this movie is truly stunning. Absolutely beautiful. The animation quality isn’t quite up to Disney/Pixar levels but they created some fantastic visuals.

The music is utterly fantastic. The humming and violin are suitably epic and magical.

The scene at the Leshan Giant Buddha is so beautiful and reflects Yi’s emotional journey perfectly.

Score: 1

Fun

The action always has a reason and everything is strung together in a surprising and coherent way. The movie made me smile and almost cry multiple times.

Score: 1

Overall

This is an adventure story with likeable characters that are trying to help a magical creature. It’s exactly my style of story. The few calmer moments weren’t lulls but one on one conversations that moved the emotional plot forward.

Final Score: 5 Stars*

*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.

An evening of Mystery and Fantasy: virtual book launch

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Hello my Imaginary Friends,

It’s time to release this book! And it’s being released with 3 other fantastic sequels.

Join us for a virtual book launch filled with mystery and fantasy!

We are launching FOUR novels during a virtual party. The authors will read from their book, and we will draw prizes for those in attendance.

The event will be via Zoom, and places are limited so make sure to register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7lICanqfSX-yE56cB0ZtZw

About the books:

A Case of Synchronicity by Éric Desmarais: A young adult supernatural time-travel mystery partially set in the 1980s.

The Unavoidable Quests by John Haas: A fantasy comedy involving dimensional treasure hunting.

Death by Association by Madona Skaff: A thrilling contemporary mystery with a disabled amateur sleuth.

To Pluck a Crow: Death Stalks the House of Herbert by Sue Taylor-Davidson: A gripping historical mystery following a dual narrative and concerning itself on the Shakespeare authorship question.

So come by and see the awesome stuff we’re doing for the launch.

Facebook Event

Zoom Meeting

Hope to see you there,

Éric