Happy Anniversary to the South Branch Scribbler.

 

Photo by Gaelle Marcel.

The Scribbler is eight years old.

Photo by Adi Goldstein.

 

606984 Page Views to date. Wow!

 

354 posts. Mainly visiting authors but there’s been some artists, photographer’s and musicians. I’ve shared short stories, recommended some books I liked – it’s been a challenge at times but it’s always been fun. And still ad free.

 

When I started writing stories, someone mentioned I needed a blog so I could tell the world about them. So, the Scribbler was born. Nobody beat a path to my door for the first year or so but word got around, more and more people stop by.

 

A few of the original blog posts are gone now, errors I made and a glitch on Blogger which couldn’t be corrected properly so they had to be deleted.

 

These are the first ones – maybe you’d like to take a look – August 2013 – one of my earliest guests – Mark Young, visual Artist – see it HERE.

September 2013 – Visit Beautiful Bangladesh with me… - see it HERE.

 

And this one was fun - Adam Hudson on Love of Gaming. Go HERE.

Changes!

 

It’s changed a lot over the years. Got better, I hope.  Different themes and colors.

 

When I started doing interviews, I called it the 4Q Interview, had a neat logo made. I thought four questions would be sufficient but soon realized that four questions would not be enough to get to know a guest and talk about their creations, so the questions increased but the name – 4Q – stuck.

 

Well, as of today, that is changing as well. The new interview portion will henceforth be referred to as Branching Out…

Thanks to my many readers for suggesting different names for the new interview format. We picked the top six suggestions and then our readers voted on the one they liked best – Branching Out.

The suggestion was made by JJ Carrier of Belledune, NB. Thank you, JJ. JJ is a very cool gentleman that is great at sharing the good news of New Brunswick creatives. Check out his Facebook page – New Brunswick Independent Authors Association – Go HERE.

 

Next week we will be rolling out the new interview format – no startling changes but a more personal and open dialogue. Kind of like sitting around a fireplace chatting.

Our first guest with the new changes will be cozy mystery writer, Susan Bernhardt. Susan has been a guest before and I love her stories. 

 

Highlights of the past eight years.

 

Since January 1 of this year, we’ve added a special column titled the Editor’s Edge by Karin Nicely, a professional editor from Florida. She adds a different flavor to the blog and contributes insightful posts for authors and writers. Go HERE.

 

 One of our most popular guests – Chuck Bowie of Fredericton, NB – has been a guest eight times. Here’s a couple to have a look at. Go HERE and HERE.

 

The guest with the most views has been none other than one of the most generous and supportive authors I’ve met. Thriller writer MJ LaBeff. See her most recent visit HERE.

 

Author Susan Toy of the Caribbean Island of Bequia, has been a guest five times. Check out a couple HERE and HERE.

 

Last year the Scribbler worked in conjunction with Mickey Mickelson of Creative Edge by hosting a different authors from across North America. It was successful enough for all involved that we decided to carry it over for this year too and V S Holmes, a fantasy and Science Fiction author will be featured April 24^th.

 

What’s coming?

Photo by Charles Etoroma

The Scribbler already has a fantastic line up for the next few months with Branching Out Interviews, some excerpts and a ton of fun. Watch for these talented authors:

April 10^th – Susan Bernhardt of Wisconsin, US.

April 17^th – Bobby Nash of Bethlehem, Ga.

April 24^th – VS Holmes. (Creative Edge)

May 1 – Ann Shortell of Vancouver.

May 8^th – James Palmer of Atlanta, Ga.

May 15^th – Roger Moore & Jane Tims of New Brunswick

May 22 – ArtShediac with Colleen Shannon & Susan Jardine.

May 29^th – Author C P Hoff. (Creative Edge)

 

 

 

 

What have I been up to beside blogging?

 

I finished the first draft of the third installment of the Jo Naylor series. Tentativley titled Shattered Dreams. The success of the first two – Shattered Figurine & Shattered Lives - has been overwhelming and I am deeply grateful to all my readers. Watch for it in Jan/Feb 2022.

 

An Excerpt from Shattered Dreams:

She had loved her job. Until they had to arrest her father, the prime suspect in a killing spree that she and Thorne had been investigating. The horror of what she discovered still clutches her heart and makes her angry. Questioning her own response to his madness, she sometimes regrets what she did before she fled the country. Giving it all up.

She can’t go back. At least, not yet. Not until she can live with the past. It’s inconvenient to travel under a false name and yet she loves the drama, like the spy novels she’s read, the secret only she and a fast-talking crook who provided the forged documents, who also happens to be a genius. For the right money, you get a new life. In the real world and the web world, at least in all the right places nosy people might look. The slime charged her double because he knew she was a cop.

 

 

I am presently editing and writing the third draft of book three in the ongoing Drake Alexander adventures – The Vigilantes. Dark Side of a Promise – book one – and Wall of War – book two have taken the reader all over the world in the chase for justice, from Bangladesh to Panama, and Peru. Alexander is searching twenty-year-old clues for two murderous brothers that have escaped the law and are in hiding. Can he and his people track them down? The Vigilantes will be ready for publication in the fall of 2021.

An Excerpt.

Anne Chouinard was laid to rest on November 5^th, 1984. Her closest friend, Mireille Lambert, was interred this morning.  The ancestral cemetery is on the highest rise of the estate, overlooking lazy rolling hills, by empty grapevines lined in precision, their weary stems hang in mourning. To the left, the family chateau, a stately two-story edifice, is a five minute walk along the rows. People attending the reception are visible in the wide windows of the downstairs rooms that face the Garonne River. Close by is a low roofed structure with walls of the same brownish stone as the main building.

 Windowless with only a wide door on one end, it squats among the fields of naked vines. Jean-Phillipe Chouinard is a master vintner and has been for the last thirty years at the Lambert Estates, the family vineyard. He is one of three key holders to the storeroom. From the reserves, he carries ten bottles of 1993 Chateau Lambert Bordeaux. Before going into the house from a side entrance, he pauses to look back at the small group gathered around Mireille’s grave.

When he heard their conversation about hunting criminals, he couldn’t help but tell them about his daughter and what happened to her all those years ago. The tall man he talked to, Drake Alexander, he knows him to be from Canada, a former soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces, assured him they would find the men that murdered his precious Anne, even with a trail twenty years old. It’s what he and his team do. Chouinard doesn't hold any hope, it’s been so long. The brothers could already be dead.

 

 

Following the success of The Alexanders, 1911 – 1920, volume two of The Alexanders – 1921 – 1930 – is halfway complete and targeted for publication in the summer of 2022.

 

An Excerpt from 1921.

 

Maria is ahead of them and has the safe open. The bottom section has three wheeled carts with slots for the jewellery pads. They are arranging the displays when Nick comes in. Stiff legged and two canes, discomfort shading his brow, he catches one heel on the threshold. It throws him off balance. He tries to catch himself by reaching out to the counter on the right but is not close enough and tumbles to the floor. Canes fly across the floor. He comes to rest on his side, his back to the other three. He’s not moving.

The women clutch their mouths and their gasps echo in the ceiling. Dominic rushes to his friend’s aid.  Kneeling at his back, Dominic gently touches Nick’s shoulder. About to ask him if he’s okay, he feels shudders under his hand. The stifled sobs tear at his very being. He looks back over his shoulder and nods to Maria. Both ladies stand behind him with stunned looks. A small gesture tells them to carry on. He gives his friend’s shoulder a squeeze.

“C’mon mate, mon ami, let’s get you off those legs before you kill yourself.”

“I’d… I’d be lying if I didn’t think of it sometimes. It’s hard Dominic. They always hurt.”

Dominic abruptly turns Nick to face him. A glare freezes Nick from saying anything further. The voice is trying to be harsh, but out of the ladies hearing.

“Don’t you ever repeat that. Throw that thought away as far as you can. You have too many goods things going. It’ll get better Nick, it always does. Now c’mon, get in the chair. I’d offer to help you but you’re too damn stubborn. At least I’ll pick up your canes, can’t have them littering the store.”

 

 

 

Hats off to all you wonderful, fantastic, agreeable, incredible, phantasmagorical, astonishing, adorable, brilliant, cool and pleasant readers, visitors and guests. You make it all worthwhile.

 

Thank you.

 

Photo by Daniel Andrade

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