I find myself, every once in a while making concessions to the fact that it is winter time here on the Canadian prairies. The first concession was to give up free-hiking and put on a few layers of clothing to continue walking. Thus girded against the weather, I have been able to maintain daily walking. Then, when the wind blows while temperatures are below freezing, I make another concession and forgo the countryside for walks around town so as to take advantage of windbreaks. A third concession happens when the sun is hidden behind clouds and the winds are blowing, and I am inside. The concession has me don a sweater or shirt to fight off the chill. And no, turning the thermostat to a warmer setting is not an option. The house temperature remains at 19 Celsius. Yes, I am a stubborn old man, as well as a hardy Canadian.
It’s Ukrainian Christmas Eve. Of course, that means we will have one or more Ukrainian traditional foods on our table this evening. And no, I’m not Ukrainian. However, let’s not have that get in the way of some delicious food. And another thing, I’m not exactly what anyone would call a foodie. All of this is just an aside as a way of finding an excuse to write up a post. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a great fan of food and Ukrainian food is high on the list of my favourites [along with French, Mexican, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.] As with all of our meals, especially those marking special occasions, I dress up for dinner [and lunch and breakfast]. In our home, clothing is de rigueur when seated for a meal.
Okay, so much for food, it’s almost lunch time and I still have things that I need to get done, one of them being this post. I have recently put a novella up on Amazon for pre-order. It tells the tale of a man from northern France who fought alongside of William the Conqueror at Hastings in 1066 while a young man. The tale follows that man as he eventually fights alongside of King William’s eldest son, Robert, in the first Crusade. Scattered here and there in the story are a couple of Celtic deities who have a vested interest in this knight from Picardy.
The book is called A Journey Through Time: The Crusade of Princes. It is the second in a series of tales that will span a thousand years of history. The only constant presence throughout the books written and yet to be written will be the Celtic Deities. Humans don’t live long enough, And left to their own devices, humans have a tendency to be slightly boring as far as telling historical tales is concerned. If you click on the link here, you will be taken to the Amazon page where you can order your copy.
The first book in the series is called A Journey Through Time: A Tale of Two Vikings, a story that happens a hundred years prior to the second book. Each of the books in the series will be able to be read as stand-alone books. Each book has different characters involved in different historical events. Book three has been begun. It will tell the tale of a French family in Scotland during the rise of the Templars in Europe. And yes, the Celtic deities [who have this tendency to be nude] will be the link between books. I guess that this means the books are historical fiction and speculative fiction at the same time.
However, all that is now put to the side as I format the second book in the “In the Nudist Colony” series. The book is called Romance in the Nudist Colony. No links are yet available for the print or the eBook versions of the anthology of short stories. I will have more to say about that project in February. Unlike the first anthology, I don’t have a short story of my own in the book. Why? It was a matter of time.
I had commitments to my NaNoWriMo story. The book is with my editor at this time and hopefully will be published in the not-too-distant future. Will I write in the third anthology? It all depends on a variety of factors including will there be a third anthology. I don’t want to count any chickens before they hatch, as the expression goes.