Politicking For th Next Six Weeks.

What am I doing up at 5:AM? And to top it off, I look out the window, and the ground is white. Maybe that happens every night, and by the time I get up at 7:AM, it is all gone. We'll see at 7:AM. While I was drinking my coffee, I looked out and it was still there.

The first installment of my story "A Slice of Time" called "Beyond the Fog" was published last Tue. That was very exciting. I'm just finishing off the last part now. That part doesn't come out till Sept. Time to start another one. Fantasy again, though I do have a cowboy one, with one chapter finished.

Oh boy! Another election. We didn't need one. Everything is going along smoothly. So we will end up with a minority again. Then the plan will be to form a government from the other parties, Which has never happened before. The Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff is so despirate to be Prime Minister, he would even do it with a coalition involving the Bloc Quebecois, a seperatist party. Now that's asking for trouble. The other parties that join, know they will never lead the country, but now they have a chance to get a piece of the pie.

I don't like the way Prime Minister operates, but the head of the Liberal party is a dink, the Bloc party want to take Quebec out of Canada, the NDP party thinks everyone should be in a union and we should have everything free, and the Green party is just that, and lets not chop down any trees.

And how is the "not war" in Libya going on. Those dummies. Now they are in a hole and it is only going to get deeper. Us "Crusaders" are now at war with three Arab countries, with others in the pipeline. Just a matter of time before it's "Hey, they are waging a war against Islam, and we didn't even see it."

Read this, "Prince William slips off for secret stag weekend..." Can't be that secret if it's on the front page of Drudge.

Daylight Savings Time

Arizona is the only state in the United States that does not recognize daylight savings.

Saskatchewan is the only Canadian province that does not have it either.
Probably because of "The Old Indian."

Thank You, Old Indian!!!!!

Shakin' Up Young Readers!

Quake
Shakin' Up Young Readers! Electric Shorts


Hi! If you are reading this, you have found the next best place to get super fantastic totally awesome short stories for kids.

Each of these series is designed to make you want to read each and every word to the very end, then sit on the edge of your chair waiting for the next episode.

We really want you to enjoy these stories. And we are always looking for ideas for new series and stories, so if you’ve got someting you would like one of our authors to write, you send us an e-mail and we’ll see what we can do to make it happen.

Here’s what you can look forward to for the next six months.

Week One:
Tales of Ever by Jen Wylie
Laramie on the Lam by Deborah Dee Harper
Chasing the Golden Treasure by Tim Champlin

Week Two:
A Difficult Decision by Ella Grey
Into the West by Julie Campbell
What You See is What You Get by Nicole Zoltack

Week Three:
The Magnificent Carnival of Professor Pelusian Minus by Sean and Connor Hayden
King of the Marshmallows by Lydia Ondrusek
The Olive Branch Mysteries by Gale Borger

Week Four:
Delbert Dallas and the Dragon Diaries by J.R. Turner
A Slice of Time by Jack Sakalauskas
The Junior Justice of the Peace Chronicles by Ann Mason

eBooks - Electric Shorts

All over, American kids are crying out, “I don’t like to read!” What they really mean is I don’t want to read THAT!


Electric Shorts is designed for young readers who crave adventure and excitement. Each series contains six short stories presented once a month as electronic downloads (eBooks), much the same as a television series. Geared for kids between the ages of seven and seventeen, each short story will include relevant material to attract and captivate the young reader. From historical settings to futuristic fantasy, across all genres, Electric Shorts will strive to satisfy all interests.

“By publishing the Electric Shorts as eBooks we can cut back our contribution of paper waste and perhaps save a few trees while we’re at it,” says Karen Syed. Echelon Press has been offering their titles as eBooks since the company formed in February 2001. “No heavy books to carry, nothing to clutter the shelves, and eBooks really are cool,” Syed says.

A group of authors from America, Canada, and the UK have signed on to the project. The Electric Shorts will be released every Tuesday, with a new installment of each series appearing once a month. At only $.99 each, the short stories are affordable for all walks of life. Plans to create affiliate programs with schools and other literacy advocates are in the works, including a summer reading program to keep kids on track during vacation.

To obtain a complete listing of authors, concepts, and series please contact Echelon Press.

For advance review copies and requests for interviews and author events for any of the participating authors, contact Karen L. Syed at Echelon Press echelonpress@gmail.com.

Our main sites for sales are Amazon.com/Kindle, BN.com/Nook, OmniLit, Smashwords, and I have included LSI eBooks. The three books this week will first be uploaded to OmniLit, then to the others, over the next couple of days.

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http://twitter.com/#!/PensionersRant

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http://www.facebook.com/#!/delta61

Shakin' Up Young Readers!

Welcome to Quake. You’re probably wondering where we got the name for this division of Echelon Press LLC. It’s pretty simple, really. Having been a long time advocate for literacy and understanding the need for a stronger presence of books in the lives of the young, I decided I wanted to offer young readers a line of books they would WANT to read. To put it simply, I want to shake up young readers. I thought about it for a while. So what shakes? Earthquakes! Long word. Quake! Shakin’ up young readers! There you go.


There are plenty of books out there that kids HAVE to read, and unfortunaty, when you MAKE kids read, they rarely enjoy those stories. So I went in search of authors who would write books for the sole purpose of pleasure. It’s not just about fun and games. We want to make make kids feel things. We want them to laugh, cry, and maybe even get angry when they’re buried deep in the lives of our characters.

Quake hasn’t been around a long time, but we intend to say for as long as readers continue to embrace our stories.

We hope you’ll visit site often and that you let your kids do the same. It’s not really about you and I, it is about young readers and letting them have a say in what they read.

Happy Reading!
Karen Syed, President
Echelon Press LLC

CNBC and Beavers

I wrote a nice long blog the other day, posted it and it never came up.

That CNBC is disgusting. The other day, all they could talk about was, "How can we make money on this catastrophe." A sad excuse for humans. On CBC this morning, who mouths off, but Kevin O'Leary, "I think this is the best thing that ever happened to Japan." What he thinks, he should keep to himself. That ass should be fired.

You've often heard the whining and crying about not enough doctors in Nova Scotia. Here is how it works. If you are white, male, english speaking, and a family member is not a doctor, you're screwed. That's a given. In Med School in Nova Scotia, there are 73 positions for doctors, every year. The population may increase, but it stays at 73. More doctors, less money for each one. That was last year. This year, there are 63 positions. Why, you ask? Because we sold ten of our positions to Saudi Arabia. I guess the doctors are going to give themselves a raise.

The plumber came yesterday for plugged drain. Not totally plugged, just slow and noisy. My bank account is now $225.00 lighter.

You know we have beavers in Canada. I guess we have too many, at least in Saskatchewan. Trappers don't want beaver anymore. They only get $15.00 a pelt. Out west they have become a real nuisance, building dams that flood farmlands, and coming into your yard and chopping down the trees. Kit Carson, where are you when we need you?

Wings of War and Smoked Fish.

I'm convinced spring is on its way. Yesterday, Home Depot had a full page ad for lawn mowers. That must be a good sign. Todays newspaper had a ton of flyers. I flipped through them and the only one I stopped at was the SuperStore. The front page had a big picture of pork ribs. It reminded me of my trip tp California. My son got us ribs, touted as the best in the U.S.A. On top of that, we ate them in our room on Queen Mary I. Ribs were great. It was a meal for four, but there was only two of us, so we had to make do.

Gadhafi seems to be winning the war. What then? "Oh, we're sorry we picked the wrong side." You know how these guys are always firing their rifles in the air. The other day, I was watching them firing Anti-Aircraft Guns. It was just Boom, Boom, Boom. Then I found out, there was actually no aircraft in the air. Just kids, playing with toys.

On CNN this morning, they were talking about Discovery's last flight. There is a major push of cities trying to get a space shuttle for their museum. If they don't have a museum, they will build one. Discovery is going to the Smithsonian. That must be some big place. The Americans don't throw anything away, they put it in the Smithsonian, which is a good think. When they scrapped the Avro Arrow, we cut it up into little pieces. The Americans made us do that. They didn't want the best plane in the world belonging to another country. It was far ahead of its time. The point is, all the engineers and technology went to build the space shuttle. Now you know. I guess Canadians really don't like the "or else."

So it is official now, the Maple Leaf Tartan is the official tartan of Canada. I don't care if I am part Scotch, I'm not wearing any skirt.

Here's another thing I hate. The opposition party, whoever it may be, saying that when they are in power, they are going to cancel some military contract. This time its for the Stealt Fighter. Military needs are left behind and it takes another ten years to upgrade, as long as the government doesn't change.

Today I have to call the furnace man and the plumber. The furnace goes boom before it comes on. I would take a furnace if I wasn't so busy. Just cleaning it once a year would make it pay for itself. My theory is, if a man built it, I can fix it. That is if you want to and have the right equipment. Take the plumbing problem. The pipe from the washing is plugged up. The snake I have is not long enough or big enough to solve the problem. No need to buy a new one that I may not need again for ten years, and I don't know anyone with a larger one.

So much for today's problems and I'm having smoked fish for lunch. I'm doing research about being on a Pirate ship, so I am having smoked fish and rum. I don't have a sword to wave around, so I'll use a butcher knife.