Hey, There's A Weasel Eating My Editor

Saturday, 1 February 2025

Autumn’s Summer Amazon ebook Promotion

Autumn’s Summer ebook version is free for download from Amazon until February 1^st 2025. Amazon rates novels solely through reviews; the more reviews it receives, the higher the rating. After reading I would therefore appreciate a review. It doesn’t have to be overlong, a simple “fantastic writing” etc, will do. Unless, of course, you are smitten by the novel and please then do leave an incredible review. It does not have to be posted while the promotion is active but can be written later and let me know if you have a novel you would like to have me review as well.

My email is: twosoulmates@shaw.ca

Link Below.

https://www.amazon.ca/Autumns-Summer-Felicity-Talisman/dp/1738658376

You Tube Video Trailer

https://youtu.be/cJpgmQ1pjSU

Back Cover Blurb

Great loves come and go,

profound ones mark your soul,

in ways that take the rest of your lifetime to comprehend.

What if you were given up for adoption NOT because your mother didn't want you, but because she was trying to protect you from a curse?

After a year and a day grieving for his beloved wife, Richard receives a beautiful leather-bound diary from their lawyers, written in his wife’s hand. He is to discover many secrets from it, but the first is that Autumn had been conducting an affair. Only not with a male, with her best friend Summer, a spiritualist and medium. Richard knew that the friendship, although new, was deep and meaningful, but as she was supposed to be helping Autumn find herself and find her passions, he thought deep and meaningful went with the territory.

He discovers that his lonely empty-nester wife’s life changed profoundly after a purely-by-chance meeting in, of all places, a normal, mundane, corner grocery store. She embarks on a voyage of discovery with Summer to find new meaning to her life, that, once commenced, transports her to realms and dimensions she never knew existed.

Autumn’s spiritual journey begins as she discovers that, just like her and her new-found siblings, she is of Celtic background, as is Summer. It is revealed to Autumn that, like Summer, she has a Wolf Spirit, her protector animal spirit, and they have lived many lifetimes as Anam Cara, Celtic for Soulmates.

With Autumn’s spirituality now in full flow, she begins to dream, and starts the curse that her mother tried to protect her from.

Reviews

I thought I’d have a quick peek at Autumn's Summer and then finish the book I was currently reading. I was entranced and spellbound from that moment, my current read neglected! Couldn't put it down, read it in one day. Yes, the love scenes were intense, passion blossoms in many forms. I enjoyed this immensely!

Shelley W.

In a world where love collides with destiny, this book presents an unforgettable tale of emotions, secrets, and truths that cannot remain hidden. It explores the fragile nature of relationships and the complexities of loving deeply yet imperfectly. The story gently pulls readers into a web of love, regret, and redemption that stays with you long after the last page.

The narrative’s authenticity makes it a reflective experience, tugging at your heart while making you ponder the choices life often presents.

Written with incredible grace, the prose flows effortlessly, offering readers not just a story but an emotional awakening. This is a book for anyone who believes in the power of love, even when it challenges societal norms.

Rakhi Verma

Autumn’s Summer is very complex, and readers will begin to develop feelings for the characters as if they were real people you could become friends with. Each character is multi-faceted, and the storyline is completely believable. The intertwining of Celtic beliefs and legends throughout the story offers readers a wonderful way to get to know Celtic history while reading along. Overall, Autumn’s Summer, by Felicity Talisman, is rich in detail, especially in Celtic legends and traditions. The characters will enchant you and the story will entertain you in unexpected ways.

A fun fact explained in the back of the book is that the author’s name, Felicity Talisman, is a collaboration between Frank Talaber and his wife, Jenny. How wonderful to learn that a husband and wife team worked on creating such an entertaining story!

Reviewed by Diana Coyle for Reader Views

Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookseller and pick up a copy of Felicity Talisman's Autumn's Summer.

I didn't know what to expect from the book, but I was immediately drawn into the world the author has created.

It has everything a reader could want, real characters in a fantasy world while bridging the gap between fantasy and reality.

Great job by this Canadian author!

Right from the start I recognized the amazing writer in you and now all my whip-cracking and your perseverance and talent are paying off ...

Jacquie Argent, Professional Editor

Sunday, 6 October 2024

The Doctor To The Rescue!

Link to the story

https://medium.com/we-paw-bloggers/the-doctor-to-the-rescue-byline-frank-talaber-b5aa29203065

(This Story was entered into a contest where I had to put myself into a TV Series)

The Doctor To The Rescue!

Mark Huang; superb dentist, lousy criminal. Concerned about a Mr. Jones, a very strange patient of his. He thought he was an alien. I asked why?

He replied with, “he has four more teeth than has ever been recorded on a human.”

“And that makes you think he’s an alien, are you kidding me.” I asked him why he doesn’t just sneak into his house for a poke around. I got short shrift about the perils of breaking and entering!

“Well, Frank, if you’re so good at it, why don’t you go along? You can take this mysterious Doctor friend of yours with you,” he challenged me.

“Doctor who?” I hear you ask. Well, just The Doctor. As a novelist, I had regaled Mark with tales of my adventures through time and space with The Doctor and I think he thought they were just fiction. This was the first inkling I’d had that Mark might actually believe them!

That is how I wound up outside the mysterious Mr Jones’ garage with my trusty terrier guard dog, Sparky, and a pouch full of various Endodontic hand files Mark had lent me as I had neglected to grab my lockpicks. Well, I didn’t think I’d be needing them to drink wine with my dentist.

In about ten seconds I heard the audible click of the garage door unlocking. I scooped Sparky up in my arms and stepped over the threshold which triggered a slight but shrill alarm, followed by a flash like a thousand light bulbs. I fell to my knees onto damp grassy earth and bathed in sunlight and tropical heat. "What?"

Suddenly cast in shadow I fearfully raised my head to be greeted by a very quizzical stare from a living, breathing Stegosaurus! Okay. So, Mark was correct. His patient was weird!

"How many times have I told you not to go on those wild adventures? Well at not at least without me!" My wife, Jen’s, voice echoed in my head as I hit speed dial one; the Doctor. A zap from his Sonic Screwdriver and my lowly Android phone could call anywhere and any-when. Only will it work in whatever hundred thousand BC?

A screech rent the air above me and I fearfully looked around to find I’m surrounded by a pack of Stegosaurs and there's Pterodactyls flying overhead. Not what I expected to find in a normal suburban garage! A fifty-six Ford Thunderbird yes, Pterodactyls, no.

The stench of rotting meat assailed my nostrils as I spied Sparky tearing into the massive pile of dead something just below me. I hauled on his leash, nearly gagging on the stench. “I just hope you're not allergic to hundred-million-year-old dogfood," I scolded him. Who'd have thought terriers would love dinosaur meat?

More cries as two Carnivores, either T. Rex or Allosaurus types broke the jungle bushes and tore into one of the herbivores. Obviously, lunchtime. Hopefully neither Sparky nor I were next on the menu. A six-inch-long tooth lay discarded nearby, I grabbed it, more for moral support than anything else as I didn’t stand a hope in hell against such a beast. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I heard the familiar “vworp, vworp” behind me.

“Sure, is hot and humid in 200 million BC, give or take an epoch or three,” The Doctor remarked, as he tugged at his bowtie. “Now, it is usually me taking you on travels into danger and excitement, not the other way around, Frank Talaber.”

We both stared around and watched the two giant carnivores, possibly Allosaurs feasting on a Stegosaurus carcass as I explained everything. He flicked his sonic screwdriver on and scanned around. “The residue seems to indicate that this is a device used by a Draconion, masters of disguise. Your dentist must be very observant; they usually blend in. However, they aren’t a peaceful species, so I think we need to get back in the Tardis and skedaddle pronto before…”

It was too late; a metallic click and a strange buzzing filled the air. A being shimmered into view. The Doctor grabbed me dragging me behind the stinking carcass. “You know how I tell you ‘everything’s going to be fine’ even when I’ve no idea whether it will be or not,” The Doctor said, fiddling with his ever-present bowtie again.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Well, everything’s going to be fine!”

The being, dressed in upper-body armor, pulled a laser from its side and stared at a dial on its arm. “Yup, just what I thought! Your dentist’s alien is a Draconion, and he isn’t in a picture-taking mood.”

The alien trained its laser in our direction just as my small terrier leapt from nowhere and ripped into his leg. Caught off guard, the Draconian looked down, confused, screaming as Sparky teared into him. It dropped its laser in shock and flicked a button to remove its helmet in order to better see his attacker.

“Good God!” It wasn’t human, or even mammalian in nature. It was some sort of reptilian; similar to the Allosaurus, but smaller, more refined, more …

… more evolved! The alien stared up as something large blocked out sunlight as one of the carnivores thumped past us. It had left its meal and moved to attack.

The Draconion bent over, swatted Sparky aside reaching for its weapon. Too late. The huge Allosaurus reptile snapped the screaming being just above the knees, lifted its head straight up and swallowed the alien whole, luckily ignoring us. All that remained were mere shins and blood-filled boots.

A yapping filled the air as Sparky ran up to us, tail a-wagging, and The Doctor smiled and scratched him behind the ears. “You are the most annoying, most troublesome, most incredible little dog in the universe. Let’s get you and your inquisitive master home!”

My wife, Jen, came to me the next day holding the six-inch-long tooth. I had some explaining to do!

A blog for the upcoming All Hallow’s Eve. Care For Some Ghosts With Those Scones?

Care For Some Ghosts With Those Scones?

A blog for the upcoming All Hallow’s Eve

Walking into the stunning lobby of the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, BC, Canada, with its amazing multi-faceted crystal chandelier, you'd never know that, among the thousands of tourists, walk several ghosts.

Its designer, Francis Rattenbury, who died a very lonely death in England after being bludgeoned to death by the very young lover of his second wife is reported to be one. As a bold young architect, he moved to Canada and won his first blind entry into designing the BC parliament buildings by signing it, ‘local Canadian architect’. Then built the five-star hotel that everyone views as they come into Victoria, The Fairmont Empress.

Another is Margaret from Calgary, an elegantly dressed older woman, taking afternoon tea, always searching for her would-be beau. On the outlook for the man that admired her large-brimmed hats. She passed away in her room, having lived there for months on end in the winter. The room later became the un-rentable room as lights would flicker and TV channels would change.

Working on the redesign of the hotel when the Fairmont chain bought it two construction workers quit when they spotted a man hanging from the rafters. In fact, a man did hang himself in that room decades earlier in the fifties.

There are reports of maids being spotted long after their deaths, still servicing the rooms. A woman who knocks on the suites' doors trying to find her room. Guests who try to help her are surprized when she leads them to the elevators and vanishes.

Bastion Square, in central Victoria. The site of the original cemetery was covered over and built on. None of the nearly thirteen hundred bodies moved only the headstones, some of which were found in an old storehouse. "You left the bodies, and you only moved the headstones". Okay, I pinched that from a very famous movie (PS. I’ve talked to some of the store owners and yes, they have crazy stories of things that have happened). Wonder if things fly about in nearby buildings! Perhaps that, and the fact that ley lines are reported to cross the area, is the reason that Victoria is the most haunted city in North America.

The weirdest true story is courtesy of the doorman of the Empress. While waiting for the valet to return my vehicle, I struck up a conversation (as I usually do) and asked if he'd any ghost stories to help me with my novel. Apparently one couple, looking very ashen, told him that they returned to their locked room only to discover the wife's luggage had been taken out of her suitcase and "ghost clothing" put in. "Ghost clothing?" I asked. "Very old clothes," he said.

As a writer, the question I always ask myself is what if? What if there's a ghost walking about on his tourist travels, dressed like us. I think after that sobering thought something stronger than the great tea they serve there is required.

I myself have never seen a ghost. But would love to hear from people that have, I went to a Writers Convention in Calgary, When Words Collide https://www.whenwordscollide.org/ and my talk was the last of the night, nearly at midnight, and after asked if anyone had ghost stories and several told me of theirs, this I’ll put in another blog, some for the first time sharing. Glad they felt free to open up.

So, if anyone want to share their ghostly experiences with me, I might add to the next blog or safe it for a novel idea as well.

PS. I did put the Fairmont Empress doorman’s ghost story into my novel, The Mystery of Ms. Teak and yes, he was walking around in modern day clothing, you’ll have to buy the book to find out who, but all I’ll say is he signs his dinner bills with Local Canadian Ghost.

And if you are interested learning more about Ghosts in Victoria, check out these videos below.

https://youtu.be/rXJT3R8qkGU

https://youtu.be/AklQImD0mzo

Tuesday, 12 December 2023

Yuletide Calling

My newest Short Story published to end the year and at the end is my new interview just done last month.

Enjoy

Frank

https://medium.com/we-paw-bloggers/yuletide-calling-byline-frank-talaber-edea8bf7725c

Monday, 21 August 2023

Past lives & intuition

From Lillian Brummet's Blog

August 18, 2023

Our online friend and fellow Canadian author, Frank Talaber joins us once again with this interesting article about his experiences in researching past lives. Frank is one of those writers who seems to have been born as a natural storyteller, whose compelling thoughts are freed from the depths of the heart and the subconscious before being poured onto the page.

To date he has over fifty articles/short stories, sixty blog posts and fifteen novels written or published. One, The Joining, top three finalist in the Canadian Book Club Awards in 2020, out of nearly two hundred entries. Another, The Lure, finished a quarter finalist in 2018 Screen Craft Cinematic Book Competition. His novel, Raven's Lament, made it to the Chapters Novel Contest semi-finals and one of his short stories, A Sun-catchers Tears, was voted #1 by readers.

Frank invites you to visit his Blog, drop by his Amazon Author Page, or bowse the content available on his Youtube channel

Just Old Souls Reborn

Do you know how often I’ve spooked people by stealing their thoughts? Where the very sentence forming in their minds comes out of my mouth? (My wife's, in particular). I have often visualized things I wanted and knew where to get them. Perfect example was the candle snuffer. Nobody seemed to stock them but suddenly I just knew to visit our local Value Village Thrift store for it. “It is there,” I remarked as the knowing hit me.

My wife was not convinced. “You could probably wait a thousand years” she said “for something so obscure to be at any Value Village, let alone the one down the road.” Well she had to pick her chin up off the floor when I walked straight up to where it hung on the wall. Yup, I do that a lot, sometimes wondering if I was a magician or a mystic in a former life. Some have called me a shaman.

Former lives? Many of us believe in past lives. I do. The eerie feeling of seeing a picture, smelling a particular aroma or hearing a certain sound and visions or feelings of being there, done that, sometimes surface. The old déjà vu principle.

While researching my next book, tentatively titled The Mystery Of Ms. Teak, I again trusted my intuition and walked into the local bookstore, knowing that the first book I touched would be invaluable. Past Life Regression by Ursula Markham, a registered hypnotherapist from London. Some of her experiences have helped many people overcome some severe phobias or attitudes that aren't effective in their lives.

"Write like your soul is on fire and the pencil is your voice screaming."

I'd like to share a couple of examples with you:

A fifteen-year-old boy who wouldn't answer any questions was getting picked on by his schoolmates calling him stupid and simple, but his school marks showed otherwise. Ursula regressed him to find out that in his last lifetime he claimed to be an American pilot, shot down and captured by the Nazis in the Second World War. He would only give his name, rank and serial number and was killed during interrogation. This explained why the boy wouldn't answer any direct questions. She wrote to the American authorities and found out that pilot was indeed real and listed as missing-in-action at thirty-two years of age during the war. I need to add here that this was in the late sixties, so him finding this information would be impossible with no internet. She helped the boy overcome this fear and make his life better.

Ursula regressed an anorexic woman. In her past lifetime, she'd been a male gangster, who abused women, killed and beat up a lot of people, sold drugs; was a completely evil man. He eventually became a very rich and overweight person, dying of obesity.

Another strange case of a man claiming to dream of being in the navy. When he was regressed, he had accurate knowledge of how English navy ships operated in the 1600's. Information so accurate she recorded them. This drew the interest of Lord Mountbatten and he played the recordings to naval experts, which reported back that not only was the information accurate, but that some of that knowledge had been lost.

"You don’t have to be mad to be a writer, but it sure helps."

How does one begin to rationalize this? They say we often come back to learn some lesson for our soul’s growth. I believe the soul is eternal and goes through much evolution before it ascends to another place, be that heaven, nirvana or the fourth dimension. Others claim that the cells retain memory of our past lives or of our human existence. Yup, woo-woo stuff. Now if I could just predict the next set of lottery numbers… Come on winning numbers.

~~~

Find the Brummet's Books @:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0845RLK1X

Find Them Online via:

https://taplink.cc/brummet
or:

https://linktr.ee/LillianBrummet

Sunday, 25 June 2023

Care For Some Ghosts With Those Scones?

Care For Some Ghosts With Those Scones?

Its designer, Francis Rattenbury, who died a very lonely death in England after being bludgeoned to death by the very young lover of his second wife is reported to be one. As a bold young architect he moved to Canada and won his first blind entry into designing the BC parliament buildings by signing it, local Canadian architect. Then built the five star hotel that everyone views as they come into Victoria, The Fairmont Empress.

Bastion Square, in central Victoria. The site of the original cemetery, was covered over and built on. None of the nearly thirteen hundred bodies moved only the headstones, some of which were found in an old storehouse. "You left the bodies and you only moved the headstones". Okay, I pinched that from a very famous movie (PS. I’ve talked to some of the store owners and yes they have crazy stories of things that have happened). Wonder if things fly about in nearby buildings! Perhaps that, and the fact that ley lines are reported to cross the area, is the reason that Victoria is the most haunted city in North America.

As a writer, the question I always ask myself is; what if? What if there's a ghost walking about on his tourist travels, dressed like us. I think after that sobering thought something stronger than the great tea they serve there is required.

So if anyone want to share their ghostly experiences with me I might add to the next blog or safe it for a novel idea as well.

PS. I did put the Fairmont Empress doorman’s ghost story into my novel, The Mystery of Ms. Teak and yes he was walking around in modern day clothing, you’ll have to buy the book to find out who, but all I’ll say is he signs his dinner bills with Local Canadian Ghost.

Bio

A natural storyteller, whose compelling thoughts are freed from the depths of the heart and the subconscious before being poured onto the page.

Literature written beyond the realms of genre he is known to grab readers; kicking, screaming, laughing or crying and drag them into his novels.

Or as he has often said: Write like your soul is on fire and the pencil is your voice screaming.

You don’t have to be mad to be a writer, but it sure helps.

To date he has over fifty articles/short stories, sixty blog posts and fifteen novels written or published. One, The Joining, top three finalist in the Canadian Book Club Awards in 2020, out of nearly two hundred entries. Another, The Lure, finished a quarter finalist in 2018 Screen Craft Cinematic Book Competition. Made top 35% of 106,000 Projects and top 24% of manuscripts entered. In 2000 my novel, Raven's Lament, formerly Haida Windsongs, it made it to the Chapters Novel Contest semi-finals with 48/50 points. It also went to the last round of acceptance and lost out to the non-fiction version of the true story entitled, The Golden Spruce by John Valliant, by Harper press in 2004. One of my short stories, A Sun-catchers Tears was voted #1 by the readers in an anthology of three hundred entries.

Sincerely

Frank Talaber
Canada's Foremost Off beat Author

Hope we will see you next month!!

If you want to be on my group email list for any updates send an email to below.

Email: twosoulmates@shaw.ca

My webpage (blogs available here as well).

https://franktalaberpublishedauthor.wordpress.com/

My novels and reviews on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Frank-Talaber/author/B00UC407R0

My Youtube Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx5ki4gpdokN-9KAIZzu53w

My Goodreads Page.