An end to the day

The perfect end to any day is listening to Montserrat Caballe singing, well, anything.  What a voice!

Book Reviews for ‘Harbinger of Secrets’

Two new book reviews of Harbinger of Secrets arrived this week.

Joanne Thomas-Yaccato, best-selling financial author and president of The Thomas Yaccato Group (Toronto) wrote:

World War II England always makes for a riveting yarn but Harbinger of Secrets offers a wonderful twist. The typical storytelling of this era is usually through a man’s lens. Went uses strong women characters in unusual situations to reveal another perspective, both of wartime and equally as important, the lives of the women themselves. This story is truly escapism of the finest kind.

The second review was written by Jim Blundell, editor of the Niagara publication, West Side Story:

A new cottage industry has taken root in West St. Catharines, not to bottle strawberry jam nor to knit woollen wussy warmers, but to produce superior literature.

Rosalind Went was born in Britain and spent a good part of her childhood in Wales and England before coming to Canada. Twenty years ago, she settled in West St. Catharines where she lives with her husband and daughters. She is the driving force behind this literary cottage industry.

Rosalind has written computer courseware and taught computer-related courses since 1985. In the 1990s she wrote articles and reviews that appeared in a Canadian trade publication.

Although writing is her prime focus, she is also a digital photography enthusiast, self-publishing softcover and hardcover books of her many and varied collections.

A keen interest in music inspired her CD, “The India & China Tea Company,” a collection of digitally-created instrumentals. The short score for Harbinger of Secrets was composed to accompany the book’s trailer (see her website at www.rosalindwent.ca).

She might have gone the traditional route in publishing her recent first novel, Harbinger of Secrets, but the publishing industry these days is a tough nut to crack, especially with the myriad options now available to authors through reputable self-publishing sites.  Even after noted Canadian author and biographer Elspeth Cameron wrote a glowing foreword for her novel, Rosalind eventually decided to take matters into her own hands and make things happen. For that reason, she chose to self-publish and says now that she would certainly not hesitate to do so again.

Wrote Elspeth Cameron of the book, “This story of a woman who proves equal to her risky job in a man’s world is not only a vivid recreation of the war years in England, it is surprisingly relevant for today’s world where women must often navigate the demands of career at the same time as battling the forces of passion within.”

Rosalind is effusive in her appreciation of another West End woman, Allison MacIntosh, who helped greatly with preparation of Harbinger of Secrets. She noted she is grateful to, among others: Allison MacIntosh and Ryan Izokaitis, graphic designers extraordinaire, for the book’s cover design, and to Ms MacIntosh for her “painstaking care for all text designs and typesetting.”

Apart from being a wonderful example of one person’s ability to challenge the existing literary system, Harbinger of Secrets is a great read. This novel is based during the Second World War and all the key characters are involved in wartime espionage, but beyond those points, it is less a war story than a study of human interactions in very stressful situations.  The author has been extremely skillful in weaving her fictional wartime events around factual wartime occurrences.  Striving for realism and authenticity through detailed research was of the utmost importance.

In the story itself, one unanticipated kiss on a rainy London night between a Royal Navy Captain and the story’s heroine sets off a series of events for which no-one was prepared. That tryst is of more importance to the novel’s plot than is the chapter detailing the sinking of the Navy’s newest battleship because it dramatically alters the lives of the key characters.

Harbinger of Secrets is a captivating novel, difficult to put down once you’ve started.

To order Harbinger of Secrets you can go to the author’s website at www.rosalindwent.ca.

It is also available through all Amazon.com sites:  the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan.  It is also available through Barnes & Noble as well as Target in the U.S.A., Lulu.com, and distribution giant, Baker & Taylor.  It will also be available in eBook format.

Rosalind is currently writing a non-fiction book titled, In the Shade. This pictorial essay is the story of the late Bruce Bradley, a 1940s St. Catharines Collegiate teenager who shot remarkably artistic photographs while in the early stages of Schizophrenia.

The author is also contemplating her next (untitled) novel, about a woman within the French Resistance in German-occupied France.

Both reviews can also be seen at the Harbinger of Secrets website by clicking HERE.

Insomnia

Aaaargh!!!

‘Nuff said.

Dion’s wife goes rogue? – The Globe and Mail

While I don’t agree with Ms. Krieber’s political views, or her husband’s (Stephane Dion) I certainly do admire her mettle to say exactly what she thinks in no uncertain terms.

In a political climate rife with mistrust, betrayal and backstabbing, Ms. Krieber has the backbone to speak her mind and stand by her beliefs. Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough steely reserve to resist those who urged her to remove her ‘note’ from her Facebook page. It only reinforces my own belief that not many in the political arena have the guts to stand up and say exactly what he or she believes. There are too many spineless politicians and others who are at their best whispering rumour and innuendo, the cowards who only come out in collective masses, too weak-kneed to speak what little individual thoughts they might otherwise possess.

Cue Tammy Wynette to warble the lyrics to ‘Stand By Your Man.’

We still, it seems, live in a society where the ‘little woman,’ ‘the wife behind the man,’ – despite, in this case, Krieber’s academic credentials – still has the capacity to usurp her husband’s perceived dignity, his irrefutable male pride and masculine self-worth. God forbid the wife to speak out, the possibility of feminizing ‘her man.’

It is 2009 isn’t it? In the political world it hardly seems we’ve ventured further than 1959.

As to the article, I can picture clearly the huddle of milquetoast ‘yes men’ scurrying about like worker bees around the queen; in this case, however, the queen could be either Stephane Dion or Michael Ignatieff. It’s a toss-up.

Krieber hit the nail on the head when she wrote:

Ignatieff’s supporters have not done their homework. They did not read his books, consult his colleagues. They were satisfied that he could be charming at cocktails. Some of them are outraged now. I am hearing: Why did no one say it? We told you loud and clear, you didn’t listen.

The Liberals, in my opinion, need to take a breather, figure out who the hell is indeed capable of running this flailing party.

Fence-sitters need not apply.

Dion’s wife goes rogue? – The Globe and Mail.

Food for thought… part 2.

1.  Why would CNN issue a “Breaking News” bulletin, replete with large red lettering and the screen split into three windows to announce that Oprah Winfrey is ending her show in…… 2011???  WTF??  You tune in, see ‘Breaking News’ and an announcer interviewing special people for their comments.  For an instant I thought there was a huge breaking story, but it was bloody Oprah’s announcement that her show is coming to a close almost two years from now.

Am I missing something?

(Personally, I can’t wait for the end of her run; the woman is so out of touch with reality.)

2.  The other thing that’s grating on me is the word that starts off most political pundits’ sentences, the ubiquitous word, “Look….”  I’m sure they’re convinced that we’re all dullards and they have to explain their superior points of view in the most basic of terms.

3.  Possibly the most annoying advertisement on television is the spot for the blanket-you-wear, Snuggie.  Who in their right mind would slip into one of these blankets (with sleeves) and go to the movie theatre with their spouse in matching garb?  I’ll tell you, if I ever caught sight of a couple dressed in blankets and grinning like idiots I’d find a seat as far away as possible.

Have you seen this commercial?  Picture a family of four decked out in these get-ups sitting on deck chairs around a camp fire with hands above their heads as if they’re dancing.

What morons write these commercials??  I ask you!!

4.  And just to let you know, I’m still irked by shop clerks calling out from the counter, “Can I help who’s next?”  What??????  THERE’S NO SUCH QUESTION!  Think about it.

5.  My last rant – for the time being – are the parents and babysitters who give their babies and toddlers their house/car keys to munch on to keep them quiet.  Child cranky?  Hell, give ‘em the car keys to chew on.  Boggles the mind that babies are given filthy keys to put in their mouths.

Alright, that’s it for this morning.

Barnes & Noble

Harbinger of Secrets is now available at Barnes & Noble online:

See it here.

Air Canada adding fee for extra legroom

As if people aren’t crammed into these aircraft like sardines in a tin can already, now Air Canada (and others) are charging us for a couple of inches more leg room.  How soon will it be until they eliminate the seats altogether and have everyone stand for the duration?  Tons more money that way.

It reminds me too much of that hideous and disturbing 1970s film, Soylent Green.

Air Canada adding fee for extra legroom.

Harbinger of Secrets Distribution Update

Harbinger of Secrets is now available through

Amazon.com (USA)

Amazon.ca (Canada)

Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom)

Amazon.fr (France)

Amazon.de (Germany)

Amazon.co.jp (Japan)

Lulu.com*

I invite you to visit my own shop at  www.rosalindwent.ca where Harbinger of Secrets is also available for purchase.

The book will soon appear at Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, and Target stores in the U.S.A.

*Harbinger of Secrets is also available in eBook format where indicated.

 

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Idiomatic (March 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981063004
• ISBN-13: 978-0981063003
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds

Congratulations, Mr. Frayne!

A deserving man who is invited to meet Prince Charles because of his own war effort in WWII.

Local war vet to meet prince – St. Catharines Standard – Ontario, CA.

Harbinger of Secrets goes global

I’m pleased to announce that my novel, Harbinger of Secrets, will be available through Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Barnes & Noble, Target, Ingram Books, Baker & Taylor, and other major booksellers as of December 1st, 2009.

Michael Ignatieff shakes up his team – thestar.com

It may be difficult for some to understand that I was laughing out loud by the time I’d read to the end of the following Star article.  Ignatieff should have been a comedian; his antics are unbelievable.  The article’s last line “It is not known whether Fairbrother will remain as communications chief,” pretty much sums up what I perceive as the party’s dismal failure to promote the visiting Ignatieff as the right man for Canada.

Who in their right mind could possibly want Ignatieff running the country with these sorts of underhanded tactics?  Good God! (And if I could emphasize those two words any more I would!)

I would rather call the article, “Shuffling the Chairs on the Titanic.”

This was the second laugh of the morning, the first being when CHCH News played a part of the song, “Ground Control to Major Tom” immediately following its interview with Dalton McGuinty.  I should add that one of Dalton’s best lines in this morning’s interview was “…I understand we are running a significant deficit, but we’re all going to have to do what we can…”

Screw you, Dalton – you were the one who got us into this mess.

Great way to start the day.

Michael Ignatieff shakes up his team – thestar.com.

Dusting off the lens

I haven’t been out and about with my camera for some time, so on Saturday morning I dusted off the lens and took some shots.  I prefer black and white photography on overcast days, and Saturday was rather dismal here in Niagara.  I took the following at Victoria Lawn (which incidentally, is the only cemetery in the world with a highway running through it.  Bet you didn’t know that!)

Just a bit of trivia.

Copper Leaf Fire in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

We were in Niagara-on-the-Lake this morning and saw the former Copper Leaf shop reduced to ruins.

Books

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I am currently reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows) which came highly recommended from a number of sources.  Although just a quarter of the way through, I can’t say that I’m enthralled so far, despite the huge success of the book.  Hopefully, it’ll get a bit more interesting because right now I’m pretty much reading and turning the pages just to see when the excitement will kick in.  I’m surprised at my reaction (thus far) because normally I thoroughly enjoy books set during the 1940s.

One thing I must say is that the cover design is marvellous.  It’s remarkably well done by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich.

One Christmas in Washington

I am also reading One Christmas in Washington:  Churchill and Roosevelt forge the Grand Alliance (David J. Bercuson and Holger H. Herwig) which I have to say is more riveting at the moment.

I really think my tastes lean more toward non-fiction than fiction.

Hijo de la Luna

The great Montserrat Caballé…