Release update and spooky coincidences

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In the awkward silence that followed, Joseph glanced over her shoulder and his blood froze. “Exit.” The word came out as a hoarse whisper.

There was something wrong with the willowy avatar sashaying towards them across the hall. The customization was phenomenal, but porcelain skin didn’t quite hide the hint of golden scales. He stood, transfixed by dead black eyes.

“What?”

Joseph snapped back to reality. “Exit! Now!”

“I don’t—”

“Just exit, while you still can.” Without waiting to see if Serena was obeying, Joseph pushed past her and ran at the menacing apparition. He hoped this zone enforced physical rules about cohabiting space. He should be able to block the approaching danger while Serena escaped.

It seemed as if his eyes couldn’t quite focus, or as if two avatars were occupying the same space. The tall and curvy blonde in a red kimono had initially caught his eye, but scales and fangs were coming into sharper focus. Claw-tipped fingers reached for him. Ghostly wings enfolded him.

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Tiamat’s Nest is on schedule for official release August 29. Although everything is ready and waiting, and in principle I could release it for sale anytime now, I’m sticking with the schedule as previously announced. It also means you still have a chance to get the e-book at the pre-order offer price of $0.99 until the end of the month.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but be slightly spooked by a post on Chuck Wendig’s blog yesterday.

Chuck is launching his new book, Zer0es, this month. It’s a man-versus-machine end-of-the-world thriller. At that 40,000-foot level it has themes in common with Tiamat’s Nest, though of course the actual stories are entirely different. But what caught my eye was that Zer0es features a computer program called Typhon. Tiamat’s Nest features a computer program called Typhoon. Spooky, huh?

OK, back on planet Earth, the paperback version of Tiamat’s Nest is now available on Amazon, and speaking of offers, I have reduced the price of Ghosts of Innocence to $0.99 through to the end of September.

The third leg

When breaking camp, we’ve always packed up neatly - stowing things like camp stove and barbecue and picnic shelter in their proper places before moving off. By now we were getting good at packing up quickly and throwing things into the trailer ready to drag out again at the other end. This traveling day marked the midpoint of our trip, saying goodbye to Penticton and heading north to Shuswap lake.

Ali and I stayed at a campground on Shuswap years ago, and we chose this spot as a good base to explore the region further. We weren’t able to get into the same campground again, but were just around the corner ... weren’t we? OK, the map really doesn’t do justice to how big some of these lakes are. From the turnoff to that old campground, it was another hour’s drive along the highway and then on a narrow twisty lakeside road before we reached our destination for our third stay.

6 nights at Magna Bay resort, Shuswap Lake

If first impressions of Penticton were bad, first impressions of Magna Bay were awesome. So good, in fact, that I wondered what the downside was going to be. There had to be a downside, didn’t there? Well, really there wasn’t.

The campground is very new and spacious. They are geared up to selling the pitches to permanent buyers and there was already a growing community of “regulars” there. Megan and Matthew soon made friends with other teens on the campground, and hung out a lot on the beach and the on-site games room.

Being so out-of-the-way, we were pleased to find a very well-provisioned store a few minutes’ walk away. We also didn’t do as much traveling off site as we’d intended. We took one day trip (3 hours’ drive each way) to Roger’s Pass to show the kids some real mountains. This was one of our must-do activities, revisiting the scenery we remembered from years ago.

The kids were excited to see up-close some of the mile-long freight trains that accompany the highway across the province.

Apart from that, we made the most of facilities on the lake and nearby...

After scorching temperatures the previous week, it was actually a blessing to get some rain this week. We had one torrential downpour one night...

...and sporadic showers breaking the sunshine on other days, but it brought the temperature down to tolerable levels and eased some fears about the many wildfires breaking out across the province this summer.

Our BC tour part deux

Our camping trip this summer broke new ground for us in many ways. It was our first foray off the island with the trailer, the first time the kids have seen anything much on the mainland beyond Vancouver, our longest camping trip (since moving to Canada, anyway) and the first time we’ve planned multiple stops. After an activity-filled few days at Cultus Lake, it was time for our first move...

5 nights at Lake Skaha, Penticton

After a four-hour drive meandering through Manning Provincial Park and twisting minor highways to Penticton, our first impressions of Lake Skaha campground were not good. When we saw the pitch we had to cram ourselves into, tempers frayed and we came close to tears realizing that this was our home for almost a week. Positioning ourselves to open the slide on one side with less than an inch to spare before we hit the utilities post, we still couldn’t open the awning fully on the other side, it was that narrow. Our carefully-planned vacation seemed to have taken a nosedive.

We normally have everything unpacked and camp set up inside an hour of unhitching the trailer. This time, we had to take a stroll through a nearby park to collect our thoughts before tackling the question of how to lay out our living space. Eventually, we squeezed Megan’s tiny tent into the gap between our trailer and our neighbors, and set up picnic table and cooking area around the hitch at the front instead of alongside the trailer. It was cramped, but workable.

We determined to make the best of it and soon forgot those disastrous first impressions. Although the site was small, the location had a lot to offer. There was a beautiful park, beach and lake just across the road where we spent many hours walking, sitting, and swimming.

We had to walk all of 50 yards from our trailer to find ourselves here...

This was an early-morning shot. The lake is normally buzzing with activity...

In the end, we had a fabulous time in Penticton. These were the hottest days of our trip, with temperatures in the high thirties (Celcius - around a hundred Fahrenheit) most of the time. As well as the beach on our doorstep, we checked out a couple of other beaches a short drive away where dogs were allowed, and took a day trip to Wildplay at Kelowna.

Wildplay - an aerial obstacle course. Rope swings, cargo nets, bridges, ziplines...

BTW - yes, we are wearing safety harnesses and are hooked on at all times

One evening, we treated ourselves to a wonderful meal at Theo’s restaurant which Ali and I remembered from our fist visit to Canada 19 years ago. We were glad to see it was still there, and the food still as good.

Touring (a corner of) the BC mainland

After six consecutive years we decided to give Pacific Playgrounds a miss this year and go further afield for our main camping trip. Nothing against our regular spot, but it was time for a change, and we’d often talked about showing the kids some more of this vast province.

This expedition took more planning than usual if we wanted to avoid horrendously long days of traveling, so we booked short stays near Vancouver on the outward and return journeys, and two longer stays in the Interior. Ali is our family travel agent, and she was close to tearing her hair out looking for decent spots with good facilities on the days we needed, but a plan came together in the end.

We have a well-worn routine these days when setting off for camp. The trailer is loaded and ready during the days beforehand, and hitched up ready to roll the night before. This just leaves the last-minute ritual ferrying of bags of groceries across the drive as we empty fridge and larder, and we’re away.

Usually this marks the start of a long drive, but we live just a few minutes away from the ferry terminal so the majority of that first journey was actually spent on the ferry. No great hardship, because the Swartz Bay to Tsawassen trip is a calm and picturesque glide between islands with views of rugged coastlines and occasional wildlife.

Once on the other side, we’d forgotten what a long trek it was through the suburban sprawl of the Vancouver environs, but memories came flooding back as we hit the open highway and headed into the countryside of the lower mainland. A short while later, we were onto minor roads and our first stop at Cultus Lake.

4 nights at Sunnyside campground, Cultus Lake

A large campground with generous pitches set in trees, and a long stretch of beach on the lake. I think when we arrived they must have recently had rain because first impressions of the pitch were dark and damp, but the ground soon dried out and we know from experience to value shade in a typical BC summer.

Overall, this was a lovely campground that we’d be happy to return to in future years.

The kids enjoyed paddling their kayaks out on the lake, and just a few minutes’ cycle away there was a water slide park and a small but beautifully-laid out adventure park, which happily occupied two of our afternoons. The best part about these out-of-the-way parks was that, apart from a couple of rides, there were no line ups for anything so with our all-day passes it was uninterrupted enjoyment with little time waiting around.

Megan spent a couple of hours on this ride alone

To be continued ...

Tiamat's Nest

Weather forecasting is a life-or-death profession, and hard sciences and technology are all that keep people alive and fed. Anthropologists, soft and useless, rank slightly below politicians and telemarketers on the social scale. This sucks for Charles Hawthorne, Professor of Anthropology.

Worse yet, his research into human behavior has discovered how human history ended up on its current miserable course, and the perpetrator is hell-bent on keeping it hidden.

Worst of all, with everything mechanical under computer control, the most innocuous device is a potential murder weapon to a well-connected villain.

After a series of deadly near-misses Charles flees to the wilds of Greenland where the global network has yet to reach. But to deal with the threat, to save himself and his family, Charles has to confront technology full on and enter the even more hostile world online.

Freeing humanity from a lifetime of slavery comes as an added bonus.

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Release date: August 30
Price: $2.99 after release, or pre-order now for $0.99 
at Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo.

I appreciate any help to spread the word. If you mention Tiamat’s Nest on your blog please drop a link in the comments here with instructions on how to contact you, and I’ll get you a free e-copy once the book is on general release.

If you’d like to do a pre-release review (on your blog, or on Amazon or Goodreads) please let me know. I’ll get you a PDF of the text ahead of time, and a free e-copy of the official version once it’s released.

Many thanks to those of you who’ve already offered mentions and guest posts. I’ll be in touch next month when I return from vacation.

Selfie revenge

Ever been out as a family and your teenage daughter can't stop taking selfies of herself and her friends?

Us oldies can play at that game too!

Family-friendly

When Ali & I toured BC twenty years ago, long before we moved here and before we’d put serious thoughts to starting a family, one of the strongest impressions we had of the place was family-friendliness.

Everywhere we went, we saw facilities, parks and playgrounds, and people having fun as a family. This was a stark contrast to the “adults only” and “children should be kept out of the way” attitudes back home, which we had never even noticed as (at that time) a childless couple.

Every so often, I’m reminded of that childlike attitude to fun that prevails here - one of the drivers for our move over ten years ago. We’ve just returned from the Canada Day parade through Sidney this morning. Yesterday evening we watched a glorious fireworks display from the Sidney pier. I was struck yet again by the happy and casual atmosphere throughout the town as all generations mingle in a friendly and trouble-free atmosphere.

Long may those attitudes prevail.

Happy Canada Day.